Hinako couldn’t skip school forever, so she dragged herself to class. But she couldn’t focus on the coursework; instead, she kept Minato’s smartphone clutched in one hand at all times.
“Here, eat something.” At the cafeteria, Jun bought her an egg sandwich.
Minato made egg sandwiches for us at Chigasaki Beach…and now I’ll never get to taste them ever again.
“Have some coffee too.” Ai handed her a paper cup full of steaming hot coffee.
It smelled wonderful. Minato’s coffee always tasted amazing…
The memories, plus the kindness of the gesture, brought tears to Hinako’s eyes.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Ai pulled out a handkerchief.
However, it was one Hinako had bought for Ai while on an aquarium date with Minato, and it was embroidered with porpoises all over. This brought to mind the porpoise hanging from the Bakeratta’s rearview mirror. Finally, the dam burst, and Hinako broke down into sobs.
“Right, of course… Everything reminds you of him, doesn’t it?” Jun said in a soothing voice as she pulled Hinako into her arms.
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Once they’d heard about the accident, Jun and Ai started emailing Hinako several times a day to check in on her—short messages like “Good morning” and “Have you eaten something today?” Without those emails, Hinako probably would have faded away into an empty shell.
“You guys are so nice to me…even though you always used to tease me for being obsessed with him… You’d always call me a ‘normie’ and tell me to go to hell…”
“I’m sorry,” said Ai.
“We were too harsh,” said Jun.
She could feel Ai’s body heat on her right side and Jun’s on her left. The living are so warm…
“Whose is that?”
“Is that his phone?”
The two of them stared down at the phone Hinako was clutching.
“I don’t know the passcode, so I can’t unlock it,” Hinako said. There was one question on her mind, one she hoped the phone might answer. “We always did everything together…but then, the morning after an all-nighter, he decided to go surfing all by himself…and I don’t know why.”
This mystery was the only thing keeping her going—that much was no exaggeration.
A tiny four-inch octopus floated in the water tank. Its brown body suddenly flared up bright yellow with blue rings all over.
That Saturday afternoon, Hinako had invited Youko to visit the aquarium.
“So this is a blue-ringed octopus, huh?” Youko peered at it curiously. Its blue rings looked like leopard spots.
“When’s your birthday, Youko-chan?” Hinako asked, still holding Minato’s phone.
“February 3rd.”
Hinako entered 0203–no dice.
“Meh, my stupid brother never bothered to remember my birthday.”
“When’s Marine Day?”
“It changes every year, remember?”
Oh. Right. “What’s Disaster Prevention Day?”
“September 1st.”
Hinako entered 0901–that didn’t work either. The phone refused to unlock. She looked around at the different species of jellyfish floating gracefully within their cylindrical tanks.
“It’s none of our birthdays, and it’s not the day of the fire, and it’s not the day we first went surfing… None of these special dates are working.”
Hinako had tried every number combination she could think of, and Youko was her last hope. But it was all in vain.
Just then, Youko stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “Why not ask Wasabi?”
“Who?”
“He came to your house with me to deliver the cardboard box. You remember him, right, Mukoumizu-san?”
“Oh, you mean Kawamura-san?”
Wasabi’s first name was written in kanji on his business card, and she hadn’t known it was pronounced Wasabi. Why does everyone have such complicated names?
“For the record, my name’s actually Mukaimizu.”
But Youko didn’t seem to hear her. “Let’s call him up and invite him to get coffee. He should be off work today.”
“Oh, I recognize this place,” Youko said.
They had arrived at Siren, the coffee shop. Siren was where Hinako and Youko had first met…except this was the Chiba branch, of course. As they walked in through the entrance, they caught sight of the brand-new dumbwaiter on the other side of the room.
“Apparently their main branch is in Chigasaki,” Youko explained—probably secondhand knowledge from Minato—as they headed upstairs to the table where Wasabi was waiting. But Hinako already knew that, of course.
I’d like to run a café of my own someday, Minato had told her as he gazed out at the ocean. But this dream would never be fulfilled.
“The cool part is that they have a wide variety of brewing methods…”
“Whoa, no kidding. Anyway, I’ll take a strawberry soda!”
Hinako remembered the disbelief on Minato’s face after those words left her lips. Today, however, she ordered coffee like she was meant to… She could see her teary expression reflected on its surface.
Then, suddenly, she snapped to her senses. She had walked over to the dumbwaiter to fetch their order, and now she needed to take the tray back to their table.
“Sorry I took so—aaah!” In Hinako’s haste, she accidentally dropped the tray.
“What’s the matter with you?!” Youko shouted.
“Are you okay?!” Wasabi asked.
“I’m sorry!”
“Just stay right there! I’ll go get a dishrag!” And with that, Wasabi raced downstairs.
Meanwhile, Hinako remembered the time at Chigasaki when she accidentally dropped the tray down the dumbwaiter shaft.
Minato, I haven’t matured in the slightest since then… At the rate I’m going, I’ll die an old woman before I ever find my true calling…
When Wasabi returned with some replacement drinks, once again, Hinako saw her weepy face reflected in the liquid.
“Will you knock it off? You’re gonna ruin the coffee,” Youko snapped at her.
“Sorry… I swear, I never used to be such a crybaby…”
“Yeah, well, grow the hell up!”
“Youko-chan!” Wasabi reprimanded her with a sharp look.
“Jeez, excuse me for being such a catty bitch.”
“Nah, it’s all right. You’re fine just the way you are.”
Youko evidently hadn’t expected this response, because she looked at him in surprise, her cheeks flushed.
Unfortunately, Wasabi didn’t know Minato’s phone passcode either.
Why had he gone surfing by himself that morning? Perhaps the answer to Hinako’s question would be locked away inside his phone forever…
Just then, Hinako realized exactly what song was playing over the store speakers.
“Oh, hey, I know this song. Senpai used to sing it all the time,” Wasabi commented.
“Glittering sapphire as far as the eye can see…”
As Hinako sang along under her breath, bubbles sprang up in her water glass. This isn’t sparkling water, is it?
“Bit by bit, you’ll find that—”
Just then, out of nowhere, Minato’s face appeared amid the bubbles.
“Huh?!” Hinako leaned in and stared closely. Was she so hung up on Minato that she was starting to hallucinate? She grabbed the glass, brought it right up to her eye level, and started blinking hard—but the hallucination didn’t go away. Minato was right there, smiling and holding up a shaka.
“Minato?”
He was wearing a white shirt and jeans—not the most ideal attire for swimming but certainly in line with his usual style.
Meanwhile, Youko and Wasabi stared dubiously at Hinako.
“Uh…Hinako-san?” Wasabi asked hesitantly.
“I see Minato,” Hinako murmured. If she told them that he was in her water glass, would they think she was crazy?
“What are you talking about? Seriously, what’s wrong with you?!” Sure enough, Youko started shaking her by the shoulders.
“Ack!”
This knocked the glass from Hinako’s hand. The water spilled all over the table, and Minato faded away.
“Minato…” Hinako stared dazedly at the mess.
“Listen here, you! My brother is never coming back! Now get it through your thick skull already!” Youko snarled.
These words pierced Hinako’s heart like a thousand arrows. Youko was right, though. How is it that a teenager somehow has it together more than I do?
Hinako stared at the floor for a moment, then jumped to her feet and ran out of the café.