Whenever Hinako was at home, she always sat nestled between the boxes.
Once she regained her composure, she thought back over her experience at the café. Had it really been a hallucination? It felt so real…
Closing one eye, she held up her water bottle. But all she saw was clear water, sparkling in the sunlight streaming in through the window.
Come on out, Minato! She donned a grin and thrust out a shaka.
But he was nowhere to be seen.
The next morning, rain poured down in thick sheets as Hinako waited at the bus stop to catch a bus to school. Her mind wandered to a memory of her and Minato, sharing an umbrella as they walked down the street. At that time, Minato had sung their song: “I see you there, looking at the water… Glittering sapphire as far as the eye can see…”
Just like that, it was like Hinako had gone back in time. Before she knew it, she was singing along with him.
“Bit by bit, you’ll find that its color will change… Kaleidoscopic majesty…”
As Hinako immersed herself in a happy delusion, she failed to notice the truck racing down the road in her direction, splashing up water from the puddles.
“But our lives won’t always be sunshine… Now and then the rain will—huh?”
The next thing Hinako knew, something miraculous happened: the puddle water sprayed over her, creating a tunnel. And then—for the briefest of moments—she caught a glimpse of Minato in the water, flashing a shaka.
What’s happening to me?
Back in reality, she could only stare into space in shock.
At college, Hinako spent the whole day ruminating on these strange occurrences. She was in the restroom, staring at herself in the mirror as she dried her hands.
“Why does he keep appearing in the water…?”
Hinako put her hand back under the faucet, triggering the sensor to turn the water on. But how could she get Minato to show himself again?
“Is it the song…?”
Come to think of it, in both instances, she had been singing. Hesitantly, she began to sing again.
“I see you there, looking at the water… Wha?!”
Minato’s smiling face rose up in the water pooling in the palm of Hinako’s hand. Reflexively, she yanked her hand back; he splashed into the sink with the rest of the water, where he made shaka gestures with both hands.
Then, as Hinako watched in disbelief, he disappeared down the drain.
At this point, she couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. She needed to tell someone…and the only people she could turn to were her two best friends.
“Hey, um…”
“What’s up?” Jun replied.
“Is something wrong with me?” Hinako asked, staring at the ground as they walked. She had already decided not to comment on the crazy blue lipstick Jun was wearing.
“Physically or mentally?” Ai quipped, but Hinako ignored her.
“I mean…it’s not normal to hallucinate, right?”
“You’re not on an acid trip, are you?”
“God, I hope not. She’s already a hot mess without adding hard drugs to the mix.”
Uh, guys? If you want to dunk on me, could you at least sugarcoat it a little?
“I haven’t done any drugs, but…I keep seeing Minato in the water.” Hinako took a deep breath, then started to sing at the top of her lungs: “I see you there, looking at the water! Glittering—”
Then she dashed over to the campus pond and peered into the water. Sure enough, there he was!
“Minato!”
In response, he held up a shaka.
Then, when Jun and Ai ran over to join her, Hinako pointed down at the water. “See? He’s doing a shaka!”
“Okay…maybe there is something wrong with you.” Jun pulled Hinako into a tight hug.
“What if you went back to see your parents for a while? You should rest, Hinako,” said Ai, placing a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
Honestly, she didn’t blame them for reacting the way they did.
It rained the next day too.
Hinako had forgotten her umbrella, so she raced across campus to the library, humming to herself as she went. She didn’t seem to notice the raindrops dodging around her.
The library was newly built, with a big, fancy atrium and a skylight. On sunny days you could see the clear blue sky, but today the view was obscured by thick gray clouds. Raindrops splattered down on the glass in a polka dot pattern.
Still humming to herself, Hinako walked to the occult section and grabbed a book about earthbound spirits.
Let’s see here… “Earthbound spirits are those who cannot accept or comprehend their own death. Thus, they remain trapped in one specific location.” Is that what Minato is now? An earthbound spirit?
On a whim, Hinako looked up at the skylight. There, in the water droplets, was a tiny Minato. Then, right before her eyes, the raindrops gathered to spell out HINAKO, almost as if they had a mind of their own. She gasped, then turned to Jun and Ai and pointed at the ceiling.
“Look! Look at that! Look!”
But by the time they looked up, the water had trickled away.
Minato was everywhere. The café, the bus stop, the restroom sink, the pond, the library skylight…everywhere.
“It’s Minato… I know it’s him…”
Every time Hinako sang their song near a body of water, he was sure to appear.
Hinako crouched down on a bridge and flung a pebble into the low river below. With a splash, it sank into the water, leaving a ripple in its wake.
“So he’s a ghost, and he can’t move on to the afterlife? Is that why he only ever appears in water? Because he drowned?” Hinako rose to her feet and exhaled, then peered down into the water.
He’s going to appear. I know it.
Just then, it occurred to her to pull her phone out prior to singing. She opened her camera app and switched it to video mode.
“Am I seriously trying to record ghost footage right now…?” she snarked under her breath. Then she began to sing. “I see you there, looking at the water… Glittering sapphire as far as the eye can see…”
Instantly, the river began to froth. And there, among the bubbles, was Minato.
“Ack!” I forgot to hit Record! Hastily, Hinako thrust her phone at the water. “Huh?! Gah!”
But her hand slipped, and the phone fell into the river.
Just then, however, the water rose up in a column towards her, carrying her phone on top, as if to return it to her. Timidly, Hinako reached out and took it…and the water column fell back into the river with a splash.
“I see you there, looking at the water…”
As Hinako sang, she hovered one foot in midair over the water—and the column rose up again to support her weight. She stepped onto it and found it surprisingly firm. Then she pulled her leg back. The column lowered.
Hinako stooped down and started singing louder. “Glittering sapphire as far as the eye can see!”
The water sprang up again. Surely it had to have a mind of its own—there was no other explanation. And so Hinako made up her mind. She walked in the opposite direction—then turned on her heel and sprinted toward the edge of the bridge, singing at the top of her lungs as she leapt into the air.
“I see you there, looking at the water! Glittering sapphire as far as the eye can see!”
Flailing her limbs, she plummeted downward. Oh, God, please let me scrape by with some broken bones at worst!
But the next thing she knew, the river rose up sharply to catch her. With a loud splash, she entered the water.
There, among the bubbles, was the same smile she had seen in her dreams.
“Minato!”
Hinako reached out to him, and he reached back. They couldn’t touch. But Hinako didn’t care. At last, she had reunited with her beloved.
As she popped her head out of the water, it slowly lowered down to her ankles. Meanwhile, Minato remained trapped just under the surface. Quietly, Hinako asked the only question that came to mind: “Why…?”
“I promised I’d always be there for you, didn’t I?” he replied in a muffled voice at her feet. Then he threw up a shaka and grinned at her.