I sat on the floor of the train with my back against the seat bottom.
Nazuna laughed at my pitiful figure. “Huh? What’s wrong? Why are you making that face?”
My eyes and mouth were both wide open. It was apparently comical to Nazuna, as she began giggling even harder.
For a moment, that laughter made my heart leap. It was good to see her back to her happy, smiling self. But my joy didn’t last long.
“Oh, crap, they saw us… They saw me with you…”
“What are you talking about? Does it matter if they saw us?”
“Yeah. Oh man, this is bad…”
“Why?”
“’Cause I told those guys I was gonna watch the fireworks with them today… Well, it’s more than that. Yusuke thinks you’re…”
“Thinks I’m what? What’re you saying?”
“Um…well, I mean…”
Even I was unimpressed at how lame I was acting after my earlier heroics. But I really panicked when I heard Yusuke’s voice outside the train.
“Norimichi! You better get back here!!”
I hurried to the window at the back of the train car. Outside, Yusuke and the others were running along the tracks after the train. It looked like they were about one hundred feet away…
No matter how slow the rumbling old train was, the legs of a bunch of junior high students were still no match. But when we neared the next station, and the train started to slow…
And why was Yusuke so pissed off anyway?
It’s true I’m on a train with Nazuna, but…
I recalled what happened in front of my house. I was supposed to go to Moshimo Shrine with Yusuke, but instead I’d ridden away on my bike with Nazuna sitting on the back… To Yusuke, it must have looked like I was stealing the girl he liked… And now there we were, on a train together. It seemed like a good reason to be pissed off. But on the other hand, it also seemed kind of silly…
This isn’t the time! I’ve gotta figure out what to do!
“Huh? Why are they chasing after us?! This is really creepy!” Nazuna had followed me to the window. She watched Yusuke running after us with murder on his face. She seemed both scared and repulsed.
“Like I was saying…you’re someone Yusuke l—”
I started to tell her, but Nazuna looked in another direction and shrieked.
“Huh?! Mom?!”
“What?!”
I followed her gaze. On an inland road running parallel to the train tracks, we saw a small car speeding along.
I could make out Nazuna’s mother sitting on the passenger side and the man in the driver’s seat. The woman was saying something while pointing at the train. I didn’t know how to read lips, but I could imagine her words: “There they are! Drive faster!!”
“What do we do, Norimichi?!”
Nazuna clasped the sleeve of my T-shirt.
Yusuke was chasing us from behind. The car was alongside us, now driving faster than the train. I tried to think.
Pretty soon, we’d stop at the next station. Yusuke would probably climb up from the tracks onto the platform. The car would get to the station before us, and Nazuna’s mother and the man would come in from the ticket gate…
At this rate, we’ll be surrounded.
I noticed that the interval between each click-clack made by the train was growing larger. We had begun to slow.
“Let’s get off…”
“Huh?”
“At the next station. We’re getting off the train!!”
Unlike the moment where we’d jumped aboard at Moshimo Station, this time my resolve came quickly. I took Nazuna’s hand and felt its warmth bleed into mine.
No matter what happens next, there’s no way I’m letting go of this hand!!
I squeezed more tightly, as if to seal my decision.
Back along the tracks, Yusuke and the others had almost reached the edge of the platform. I saw the small car already parked near the little roundabout at the station entrance. Nazuna’s mother and the man were climbing out.
Scree-ee-eeech!
The train slid into Moshimo Lighthouse Station with an earsplitting whine of its brakes. I knew that the doors wouldn’t open until the train had stopped completely. Nonetheless, we waited in front of them anxiously.
Whoosh! The door began to open with a great sigh. Nazuna and I glanced at each other.
“Here we go!”
I jumped through the doorway with Nazuna, her hand still firmly in mine. A shrill cry rang out across the platform: “Nazuna!!”
Nazuna’s mother waved off the station attendant, who had tried to stop her at the ticket gate. She was heading toward us with fire in her eyes.
Then, from the direction we’d just come, Yusuke barked as he hoisted himself up on the platform. “Norimichi! You better have a good explanation for this!!”
We were trapped: Nazuna’s mother on one side, Yusuke on the other. I could feel Nazuna’s hand trembling.
“This way!”
I pulled her along, running straight forward from the doorway. A hedge extended out from the sides of the station building, but it was largely withered, too weak now to fill its role as a fence. We weaved through a gap in the branches and found ourselves on the outside of the station.
“Run!”
I pulled harder on her hand, leaning forward as we dashed toward the sloping road on the far side of the roundabout.
“Okay!” Nazuna’s short reply came from behind. It felt like she was agreeing to more than just our flight. I felt a rush of confidence, like I’d become a little bit more of a man.
More shouts came from behind.
“Nazuna! Get back here!!”
“Stop! Norimichi!”
A twinge of unease tarnished my newfound confidence. I pushed myself to run faster.
For one brief moment, I looked back. Nazuna’s mother, the fiancé, Yusuke, Junichi, Minoru, and Kazuhiro had tried to follow us through the hedge. But they’d been stopped and now seemed to be arguing with the station attendant.
“Hold it right there! Just what on earth do you think you’re doing?!”
“That’s my daughter! She’s…”
“Our friend just ran off that way!”
“And what were you kids doing on the track?!”
“What? Oh, come on, that was…”
“I’m going to have to call the police!”
This is our chance! I thought. They’d undoubtedly be after us again soon, but the argument would buy us some distance. My heart silently thanked the unknown station attendant as we passed a sign reading MOSHIMO LIGHTHOUSE, 0.3 MILES and began to climb the gently ascending road.
I noticed that the wind whipping through the air now held a slight chill. The orange in the sky had retreated almost completely behind the horizon—all but conquered by the deep indigo.
Soon the fireworks display would begin.
“Hey!”
“What?!”
“Where are we going?!”
“I dunno!”
“Huh?”
“I just told you! I don’t know!”
“What kind of answer is that?”
As we continued to run, I caught the faint sound of her laughing softly behind me. We’d had an exchange like this when I rode off with her in front of my house. I hadn’t known where I was going then, either.
The sign that had flashed by my eyes earlier popped into mind. If we kept going up this slope, it should take us to Moshimo Lighthouse. It seemed funny. Just as I’d agreed to with Junichi and the others, I was going to the lighthouse, after all. I hadn’t meant to come. It was just a peculiar coincidence.
“But, you know…” I spoke up, still facing forward.
“Huh?”
“I… If… Even if you’re really going away, you know…I still want to be with you right now!!”
“…”
“…”
It was a once-in-a-lifetime declaration, but I was met with piercing silence. Nazuna didn’t say a word. It suddenly felt like an inane, embarrassing thing to have said. And even though I’d scraped up all my courage to say it straight, now she was just letting my words awkwardly hang… How lame could I get?
Crap. I shouldn’t have said anything af—
But just then, I felt something different in my left hand. It was still clinging to Nazuna’s right. She had released my hand for a moment, then clasped it again—this time with our fingers interlocked.
She squeezed tight. I squeezed back.
It would take more than just petty problems to pull us apart now.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nazuna’s mother, the man, Yusuke, Junichi, Minoru, and Kazuhiro have lost Norimichi and Nazuna. They crane their necks to look in all directions as they run.
✦ ✦ ✦
Far away, the wind turbines stand along the ridge of the mountains. Their propellers are at rest.
✦ ✦ ✦
The sound of fireworks being launched drifts in from the direction of the coast and mingles with the lights and chatter of the festival.
JUNICHI
Aww! They’ve started!
MINORU
Are they round or flat?
KAZUHIRO
There’s no way we can tell from here!
NAZUNA’S MOTHER
(To Junichi)
Do you know where those two might have gone?!
JUNICHI
No idea.
✦ ✦ ✦
Out of the crowd appear Mr. Mitsuishi and Ms. Miura. The two are walking arm in arm. Ms. Miura is wearing a yukata.
MR. MITSUISHI
Huh?
MS. MIURA
What? Oh, shoot!
✦ ✦ ✦
Junichi and the others notice the pair.
JUNICHI
Ms. Miura?!
✦ ✦ ✦
Ms. Miura quickly shifts a few steps away from Mr. Mitsuishi.
JUNICHI
Oh man. They really are dating!
MS. MIURA
No, we’re not!!
(Trying to change the subject)
What are you all doing, running around like that?!
MINORU
What do you mean? We’re going to the fireworks sh… Hey! Don’t you guys still wanna go to the lighthouse?
MS. MIURA
L-lighthouse?
JUNICHI
That’s right! We have to go find out!
✦ ✦ ✦
Yusuke, silent up until that point, reacts to Minoru’s mention of the word lighthouse.
YUSUKE
...!!
✦ ✦ ✦
Yusuke begins to run back in the direction they’ve come from.
KAZUHIRO
Hey! Where are you going?!
YUSUKE
(While running)
The lighthouse! That’s where they went. I’m sure of it!!
JUNICHI
Seriously?!
NAZUNA’S MOTHER
You’re sure?
✦ ✦ ✦
The group takes off after Yusuke. Mr. Mitsuishi and Ms. Miura are left in silence.
MS. MIURA
What on earth? Honestly, those boys…
MR. MITSUISHI
…Huh? Um, Haruko? Was your chest always that small?
MS. MIURA
What?!
MR. MITSUISHI
Uh, by small, I mean, like, were they always kind of…flat like that?
✦ ✦ ✦
Mr. Mitsuishi reaches out to check Ms. Miura’s chest.
MS. MIURA
What do you think you’re doing, you pervert?!
✦ ✦ ✦
Ms. Miura slaps Mr. Mitsuishi.