The old me would have surely looked away immediately. Hell, I would have expected the new me to do the same…but I couldn’t. There was something in Akari’s eyes—some fathomless, murky darkness, as if someone gathered a skyful of rolling black clouds in the midst of a thunderstorm and somehow distilled them directly into her pupils—and it made it impossible for me to look away. Like I needed to find out what it was, or it might consume me too. In the end, Akari was the one who looked away first.
“…Okay, you can stop staring now. This is officially awkward,” she announced.
“Huh? Oh, uh… Sorry. I didn’t mean to,” I flustered, turning away as the embarrassment set in at last. I tried to sneak another peek at her out of the corner of my eye and saw that her face had gone beet red too. A few moments passed, and then she jumped up to her feet with a “Hup!” and spun around to face me. Then she tucked her hands behind her back and leaned forward, bringing her face closer to mine.
“Hey, um. Kanae-kun?”
“What’s up?”
“Have you decided what college you’re going to next year?”
“Yeah—U of I. But you knew that already.”
The high school I was attending now was a feeder school specifically for U of I hopefuls. My admittance would be guaranteed so long as I didn’t get held back a grade.
“Yeah, I know… Just thought I’d double-check since we haven’t talked in a while, y’know? Anyway, I should probably start heading home.”
“Okay. Hope I see you around.”
Akari flashed me a quick smile, then trotted off. I remained seated there on the seawall for a moment, stretching out my back. That was the first time in a while I’d talked to another person for such a long time, and it felt good. Somewhere in the tiniest recesses of my mind, however, the thought of that darkness I’d sensed lurking in her eyes kept gnawing at my brain.
I pulled out my cell phone to check the time. It was 5 p.m. I still wasn’t ready to go back and face Eri, so I decided to kill time for a little while longer. I slid my cell phone back into my pocket and stood up, doing a few arm stretches as I pondered over where to go. Then I spied a plum tree in the front yard of a nearby house. Its deep red flowers caught my eye and made me realize I hadn’t seen any cherry blossoms yet this spring. Since today was April 1st, they should be in full bloom—and I knew the best spot on the island for cherry blossoms was the temple grounds outside of the Sodeshima Shrine. Thinking that might be a good way to kill another hour or so, I chose to make my way over there.
I took my time walking down the vacant streets and enjoying the pleasant spring air. When I passed by the old tobacco shop, I saw a police officer on a bicycle at 12 o’clock, pedaling his way toward me. As soon as he noticed me standing right in his trajectory, he slammed on the brakes. He was one of the few law enforcement officers stationed on the island—a man in his late thirties with an oval-shaped face.
“Well, look who it is,” he said with a mischievous grin. “Thought I recognized you. Long time no see, huh?”
He hadn’t changed one bit either—still the friendly jokester he’d been when he first came over from the mainland, way back when I was in elementary school. Everyone on the island loved him, kids and adults alike.
“Yeah, it’s been a while,” I replied.
“You visiting for spring break? Man, I miss being a student.”
“What, police officers don’t get a spring break?”
“Heck no! You kidding me? They work us year-round till we can’t take it no more. It’s a rough life, believe me,” he complained. I was about to make a quip about how he couldn’t be that busy if he had the time to stop and make small talk with me, but then he went on: “Heck, I just got done handling another stupid call.”
“Oh yeah? Some sort of incident?”
“Yeah, nothing serious, though. Couple of crotchety old folks got into a bit of an altercation up at the shrine. Had to go over there and break it up.”
“Oh, I was on my way over there now. Were there a lot of people there?”
“A pretty decent number, sure. The Sodeshima Senior Society’s having a meetup there today. Think they’re playing some croquet right now, if you wanted to go up there and join in.”
I gagged. Suddenly, I’d lost all interest in seeing the cherry blossoms.
“Yeah, thanks but no thanks… I’d have to be pretty desperate to want to spend my spring break knocking balls through hoops with people five times my age. No offense.”
“Ouch, kid. I mean, I get it, but ouch.”
“Man, aren’t there any events aimed at people my age around here? If they don’t start trying to appeal to a younger demographic, this island’s gonna be a ghost town before you know it… What with the declining birth rate and all.”
“Weh-heh-hell! I see someone’s been studying up on social politics over there in the big city. ‘Demographic,’ huh? That’s a pretty big word for a guy your age!” the officer exclaimed with a hearty chuckle.
“All right, I’d better get going,” I said, turning on my heels so that I wouldn’t have to endure him talking down to me a moment longer. I walked off in the exact opposite direction of the shrine, determined not to let my precious spring break go to waste.
After waving the officer goodbye, I wandered aimlessly around the island for a while. I didn’t want to risk bumping into any senior citizens, or even any of my old classmates, so I chose one of the least-trafficked roads on the island and began making my way down it. Before I knew it, I was walking through alleyways in between rows of old, dilapidated houses. This part of town was virtually in ruins; none of the islanders I knew ever came around these parts anymore.