The train pulled out of Ino Station headed for Susaki, its diesel engine chugging. I showed the stationmaster my commuter ticket and walked through the ticket gate, headed home from school. A girl sitting on a bench in the waiting room saw me and stood up.
“Hi, Suzu.”
I turned around.
“Ruka?”
What’s she doing here?
She looked upset and very anxious to talk to me. Her alto sax was over her shoulder, but it was too early for practice to be over. Whatever she wanted to talk about must be important enough for her to skip band.
We got on the bus and sat next to each other as it bumped along the mountain road. Ruka said the contrast of the blue Niyodo River and the white banks was pretty. I appreciated her kind words, but I knew she hadn’t come here to sightsee. She must’ve been having a hard time bringing up the real reason.
We got off at my bus stop and crossed the Chinka Bridge. The shadows of clouds drifted over the mountains.
“I struck out,” she suddenly said.
“You what?”
“Your text gave me the courage to shoot my shot.”
“Uh-huh?”
“But once I was with him, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.”
“Ah.”
“And then he said, ‘Why are you acting like that? You’re creeping me out.’”
Ruka stopped in the middle of the bridge.
“What the heck?! That’s awful!” I shouted.
“No, I deserved it. I have zero confidence. And I really was being creepy…”
She smiled and shook her head, but she was looking down at the ground and had her eyes squeezed shut. How could he say a thing like that to such a pretty girl?
“That’s not true!” I insisted. “You didn’t deserve that! Shinobu’s such a jerk!”
She looked up with a start and waved her hands in protest. “What? No, not him.”
“Huh? Then…?”
She looked down again and muttered, like the words were hard to get out, “…It was Chikami.”
“Who’s Chikami?”
She glanced around nervously before finally managing to say, “Shinjiro…Chikami.”
“Kamishin?!”
Ruka closed her eyes and nodded.
When we got home, I made a snack in the kitchen: slices of chilled peaches in iced tea. Ruka was in the yard, scratching Fugue’s head and chin. She had her face right up next to his. I guess she wasn’t put off by his missing paw.
“You’re so cute!” she cooed. Fugue wagged his tail and licked Ruka’s cheek.
She and I sat on the veranda and drank peach tea. The ice made a refreshing clink in my mug.
“This is delicious,” she said.
“Oh, I’m glad.”
Fugue was sitting with his tail up against Ruka’s feet. He seemed to like her.
Ruka shot me a sidelong glance, setting down her glass. “I figured out who you like now.”
I waved my hands in a panic. “Don’t say it! I’ll die of embarrassment!”
“Okay. So how long have you liked him?” she asked, peering at me.
I looked up at the sky, trying to remember. Thunderheads were gathering.
“When I was six years old, he promised to protect me. At first, I thought he was proposing to me. But what he really meant was that he’d protect me from bullies. He wasn’t proposing at all.”
She didn’t respond.
“After my mom died, I used to cry all the time. It scared the other kids in class, so they kept their distance. He must have thought they were bullying me…”
I took a sip of iced tea from my chipped mug. Ruka watched me until I put it down, then she smiled and turned away as if to change the subject.
“This might sound weird, but I’ve always thought he acted a bit like your mom.”
“My mom?”
“I mean, he’s always asking you if you’re okay, even when nothing’s happened, right? Shinobu’s not like other guys…”
Realizing what she just said, she brought one long finger to her cheek.
“Oops, I said it.” She giggled.
I did, too. “And now I’m dead.”
We laughed together.
We took the bus back along the Niyodo River and got off at Ino Station, still talking as we entered the building. A train bound for Kochi Station was waiting.
When she got to the ticket gate, Ruka looked back at me.
“You should take me to the elementary school where you guys met one of these days.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll come again.”
“Right.”
I smiled back at her. She glanced at the corner of the waiting room and let out a little yelp. I followed her gaze. A boy was sitting at the end of the bench, staring at his phone.
“…Kamishin?”
“Oh, hey.”
He looked up at me but remained seated. Ruka stood rooted to the ground, staring at him. Kamishin also kept looking at us, unmoving. An awkward minute passed. The train and bus both left, like they were tired of waiting. I looked back and forth between Ruka and Kamishin, on opposite sides of the room.
I have to say something. I have to break the deadlock—!
“H-hey, guys, let’s go somewhere over summer break. Ruka, where do you want to go? Kamishin, know any good places?”
“I’m out,” he answered.
“What?”
“Championships.”
“Oh, right. I remember now. We’ll go watch the game. Where is it? We can get there.”
“Hokkaido.”
“…Um, that’s way too far.”
“Not my fault.”
“Can’t they do it any closer?”
“Don’t be dumb.”
“I—I—I…,” Ruka suddenly said. “I—I—I’ll root for you.”
“…Huh? Root?”
“At th-the championships…,” she said so softly I could hardly hear.
The word “root” seemed to trigger something in Kamishin. He stood up, holding his sports bag.
“You’ll root for me…?”
“Kamishin.”
“Hey, Suzu?”
“What?”
“She said she’s gonna root for me.”
“Yeah.”
“Does that mean—ahem—that she likes me a little?”