Our time had run out, apparently—and the three of us were forcibly snapped back into our bodies where we left them at the abandoned airfield. The sparkler I was holding hours prior fizzled out and fell from my fingers down onto the runway. As the sudden headache hit my brain, I looked around. Ayane was nowhere to be seen.
“You guys remember where that place was?” asked Ryo.
“More or less, yeah…” Aoi mumbled.
“Hell yeah! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about! Way to go, Aoi!” cheered Ryo.
“Wait, what?” she asked. “What did I do? Are you being sarcastic?”
“Hell no, dude! You found the suitcase! All by yourself!”
The two of them then turned to me as if waiting for some sort of signal.
“Let’s go check it out,” I said, and the two of them nodded.
We left the abandoned airfield and set off in that direction using the GPS maps on our phones to determine where exactly we had just been. It was about an hour’s walk from where we currently stood—across the floodplain, down along the edge of the prefecture, and through some residential neighborhoods. We stopped just once at a convenience store along the way to take a short breather and buy some bottled beverages.
“I wonder what’s gonna happen to Ayane-san once we unearth her body,” Aoi said as we walked. “You think that’ll give her inner peace so her soul can finally move on, and we’ll never see her again?”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “She told me she doesn’t believe in an afterlife, though.”
For religious people, the notion of one’s soul “moving on” to the next life generally implied entering into the Kingdom of Heaven, or Sukhavati, or whatever equivalent that person believed in. But even assuming some such paradise existed—which I was doubtful of—would it even be possible for a non-believer to enter?
I noticed Ryo was lagging pretty far behind us. He didn’t seem to have the same level of stamina as the two of us, judging by his shortness of breath.
“You okay, Ryo-kun?” Aoi asked, jogging over to his side.
“Man, I’m such a loser…” he muttered, his voice and expression both full of chagrin. “Gettin’ all bushed from a little walk like this… You two go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”
“No way, buster,” said Aoi. She then turned to address me. “I’ll hang back here with him. You keep going, Tomoya-kun.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
I left the two of them behind and hurried on toward my destination. It wasn’t long before I reached the area we were exploring earlier. A passenger train with its windows aglow loudly passed through down the tracks that stretched through the suburban streets. I followed them all the way to the edge of the neighborhood, where the buildings got sparser and there was more untouched nature than developed land. In a thicket up ahead, I could see the silhouette of the radio tower, jutting defiantly upward into the starry sky overhead. The suitcase was buried beneath its feet. I was close now, I realized—and so I broke into a sprint.
The lot containing the radio tower was situated right up against the tracks and enclosed by a chain-link fence nearly three meters high. The only feasible way in seemed to be by climbing up and over. I slowly made my way up, using the gaps in the fence as makeshift footholds. There was apparently a sharp portion of wire at the top of the fence and when I gripped it to pull myself over, it tore open my palms—but I was too focused on my objective at that moment to pay the pain any mind. I hoisted myself over and jumped down inside the property.
The suitcase had been buried directly beneath a small bed of white flowers at the tower’s feet, so it didn’t take long to find the right spot. However, it was only then that I realized that I neglected to bring along digging implements of any description. Having no other choice, I grabbed a piece of scrap lumber lying on the ground nearby and started shoveling away—stabbing it into the ground until the soil was soft enough to scrape out. It was slow going, but eventually the hole started getting bigger and bigger.
As I plowed away at it, bits of mud splattered up onto my face and sweat started trickling down my cheeks. I took a short break when I felt my phone buzzing. I looked to see who was calling me, but it was only my mother. Presumably, she was confused about getting home from work late only to discover that I was nowhere to be found and was now calling to ask my whereabouts. I turned my phone off and got back to digging.
Eventually, I heard someone calling my name. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Ryo and Aoi were now standing on the other side of the chain-link fence. Neither of them seemed to have enough energy left to climb over it and help me dig, so all they could do was watch as I drove the plank repeatedly into the hole and scooped out clump after clump of dirt. After a while of this, my arm muscles started to burn, and all I could hear were the sounds of earth being displaced and my own labored breathing. The exhaustion built up faster than I expected, and I started getting so lightheaded that I was honestly worried I might pass out.
A train ran right by the lot—its window lights briefly piercing the darkness as it rumbled thunderously through the woods. And then, it happened—my makeshift shovel struck against something, and I felt the reverberations course through my arms. I scraped away the surrounding dirt, and finally unearthed the silver lid of the suitcase.
Seeing me stop dead in my tracks, Ryo and Aoi called out from behind me—but I was too exhausted to even make out their words. I could only assume they were asking if I found it. I wiped the sweat from my eyes with my mud-caked forearm. I brushed away the last of the dirt on the suitcase lid—there were a few scratches on its surface, but it was in extremely good condition overall, and was definitely large enough to fit a person inside. I felt around for the metal fixtures to unlatch it, and although there was a bit of resistance, my efforts were eventually rewarded with a satisfying click. There didn’t seem to be any other locks or anything on the suitcase itself, so I lifted the lid and opened it up.
I could feel Ryo and Aoi watching with bated breath behind me.
I gazed down at Ayane, curled up inside the suitcase.
“Phew! That’s better.”
She sat up, stretched out her arms, and took a deep breath of the crisp night air. After filling her lungs, Ayane turned to me with a warm, satisfied smile on her face.
“Thanks, Tomoya-kun,” she said. “This means a lot.”
But that was just a hallucination.
The Ayane that was curled up in front of me was only a lifeless corpse.