“Serizawa, we’re about ten kilometers away, right?”
I can’t stay stuck here any longer. Serizawa slides into the doorless car, checks the navigation system, and yells back.
“According to this, it’s more like twenty! Still kind of far!”
“I’m walking! Thanks, Serizawa! Thanks, Tamaki! I appreciate you bringing me this far!” I shout. Then I take off running. I can hear them yelling after me in surprise. But it’s not too far for me to run. The black cat follows with Daijin in its mouth. I don’t know what they are or what they want, but I’m starting to feel reassured by their constant presence.
“She’s going to run there? Seriously?!”
The grown-ups gape in shock as I disappear into the distance. Tamaki tells me later that as she watched me run straight down the road without looking back, she made up her mind what to do. She looks around like she’s been slapped, locates a bicycle buried in some weeds, and runs over to it.
“What are you doing?” Serizawa asks, but she ignores him as she pulls the bike free. She lifts its rusted frame with both hands and sets it upright. It’s a yellow bike with a basket, and it’s unlocked. Miraculously, the tires are full.
“Serizawa, I’m going after her!” she shouts, gripping the handlebar and pushing the bike up the embankment.
“You’re what?!”
“Thanks for taking me this far!” She sets the bike on the road and straddles it.
“Hey, wait!”
“I think you might make a good teacher after all!” she yells and starts pedaling.
“Hold on a minute…!”
When he scrambles to the top of the embankment, Serizawa sees me and the cat running in the distance, with Tamaki following us on the bike. Eventually, we round a curve and disappear into the shade of some trees.
“…What’s with those two?” he mutters, hands on hips. He looks back over his shoulder to his beloved red Alfa Romeo, which had in fact taken quite a chunk out of his savings. It seems to shoot him a sympathetic gaze from where it sits at the bottom of the embankment. “Seriously, what’s their deal?” he says to his car. He drove them around for eight hours and even chose music he thought someone Tamaki’s age might recognize to lighten the mood. And now his car is destroyed, and to top it all off, they’ve abandoned him. That gloomy aunt and her gloomy niece took off without sparing him so much as a backward glance.
Suddenly, laughter bubbles up from his belly. As it comes out of his throat, he begins to feel utterly ridiculous.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha…!”
He feels almost refreshed. After chuckling for a while, he looks at the sky and takes a deep breath of green air. Words rise in his mind, and he lets them flow from his mouth.
“Souta, you lucky dog!”
I guess I’ve served my purpose, Serizawa thinks, though he doesn’t know where the thought comes from. I guess I can leave the rest in Suzume’s hands. And Suzume has her overprotective aunt and those two weird cats with her. Yeah, she’ll be okay, too. I better get back to my own life—especially now that I have Tamaki’s stamp of approval.
He fishes a crushed cigarette out of his pocket and lights it. He’s never really cared for their taste, but this particular cigarette fills his whole body with a comfortable sense of accomplishment like he’s never experienced before.
“Get on,” Tamaki says. When I do, she pedals on without another word.
Pampas grass grows high on either side of the narrow road, with only the unbroken line of utility poles guiding us into the distance. Evening locusts surround us with their cries. The September sun is tilting low in the sky, beaming down on the world from our left.
I watch Tamaki’s back as she pedals and pedals. It’s a little smaller than I remembered. Her white tank top is stuck to her skin with sweat; big beads of it are rolling down her neck in a steady stream.
“…Tamaki?” I say softly. I don’t understand why she’s pedaling so frantically.
“Whatever,” she mutters between pants.
“What?”
“You want to go to your boyfriend, right?”
“…Wh-what?!”
“There’s a lot I don’t get, but the bottom line is, you fell in love, right?”
“What? N-no way! I’m not in love with him!” I yell at the back of her neck, completely caught off guard. I can hear her giggling. She clearly has no idea what’s going on. I can feel my face flushing up to my ears.
“Anyway, what’s up with these cats?” she asks casually. The black one has been stuffed against its will into the front basket, and Daijin is squeezed between the black cat’s front paws and the basket’s wall.
“Um…”
I realize belatedly that she saw both cats talk.
“Uh… I heard they’re, like, gods.” Remembering something Souta once said, I add, “Capricious ones?”
“Capricious gods?! What are you talking about?”
Tamaki bursts out laughing. She sounds happy for a moment. It’s a natural reaction. I giggle, too—it’s like I haven’t laughed in years. I suddenly wonder if the whole reason Sadaijin showed up is so the two of us would laugh together. Our shadows stretch dark and long across the ground to our right, shaking with our laughter.
“Hey,” Tamaki says suddenly, still facing forward. “Those things I said in the parking lot…”
I look at her. The wind is ruffling her short hair, which is damp with sweat. For the first time, I notice a few white hairs mixed in with the black.
“I’ve had those thoughts…but that’s not the whole story.”
“I know.”
“Those aren’t my only feelings, not at all.”
I laugh a little, just air escaping my lips.
“…Me too. Sorry, Tamaki.”
I put my hand on her sweaty shoulder and fit my cheek against the nape of her neck. It smells like her—that sunshine scent that’s always made me feel safe. I love that smell.
“Returning home after twelve years, huh?” she says.
I nod without saying anything. Far in the distance, I catch a glimpse of a gray seawall.