Chapter 9

CHAPTER EIGHT The Last Night When I turned off the hair dryer, the sound of the rain came back to life. It echoed through the thin walls and roof and filled the room, as if tiny, violent people were all knocking on it at once. “Last year, a little before Mom died…” Since we’d lost our umbrellas, we’d been soaked to the skin by the time we got back to the apartment. Hina had taken a shower first, and then I’d taken mine. “…I climbed up to the roof of that building alone.” In front of the small sink, there were two cups and two toothbrushes. Facial cleanser, hand cream, spray deodorant, hair wax. When I raised my head, I saw my own dazed expression in the mirror. “Up there, it was like a puddle of light. One ray of sunlight shone through the clouds to light up that roof. Grass and little flowers were growing all over it, the songbirds were twittering, and the bright-red torii gate was shining in the sun.” On that day, Hina said, she’d put her hands together and walked through the gate. Gods, please. Let the rain stop. Let Mom wake up and let us walk under clear skies together again. Suddenly, the sound of the rain had cut out, and when she opened her eyes—there was blue sky all around her. That was where she’d seen the grassy plain on top of the cloud and the sky fish, flickering and glittering as they swam. “The next thing I knew, I was lying under the torii, and the sky had cleared. It was the first clear day in a long time. Back then, I—” On the way back home, wet with rain, Hina had told me… “—I think I got connected to the sky.” Ding-dong! The sudden sound startled me so much I almost jumped. It was the doorbell. As far as I knew, it was the first time anyone had ever visited Hina’s apartment, and I opened the washroom door hesitantly, wondering who it could be at this hour. Hina was peeking through the peephole in the front door. “Hodaka, hide!” she hissed, and I hastily shut the door again. The doorbell rang a second time, and I heard a woman’s voice from the entryway. “I’m sorry to bother you so late. I’m with the police—” A ripple of anxiety spread through me. I heard Hina open the front door to who I assume was a female police officer. Apparently, she wasn’t alone; this time, a deep male voice said, “Do you recognize this boy?” My heart thudded. A chill ran through me from head to toe, and my strength drained away. This is about me. I thought it couldn’t possibly be, and at the same time, the part of my brain that was still calm and alert was telling me, Well, of course it is. Of course this life wasn’t going to last forever. I’d always known deep down this would happen someday, but now it was finally hitting me. “Would you take a closer look at that photo? The boy has been sighted around here multiple times.” “No, I’ve never seen him… Did something happen to him?” “We have a few things we’d like to ask him.” The man sounded grumpy. “Besides, he’s a runaway, and his parents have reported him missing.” My knees were trembling as if they had a life of their own. “In addition, Miss Amano,” said the lady police officer. “You’re living here with your little brother, who’s in elementary school, correct?” “Yes.” “That’s also a bit of a problem, actually. Children living on their own, without a guardian—” “But—!” Hina shouted back at them. “But we aren’t causing trouble for anybody!” I heard the front door slam. Apparently, the police were gone for now. Slowly, I got my breathing under control, then stepped out of the washroom. Hina was still standing in front of the entryway, her back to me. “They said they’d stop by again tomorrow, with people from the child welfare center,” she said quietly. I wasn’t the only one in a bind; so were Hina and her brother. I was getting more and more confused. What should I tackle first? Hina turned around, and I could tell she was completely exhausted. “What should I do…? They’ll split us up!” “—!” Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my pocket. When I took it out and checked, I saw the call was from Mr. Suga. Cautiously opening the front door, I poked my head out and looked around. The gloomy shared corridor was deserted. The rain was coming down harder now. On the far side of the street, beyond the spray of the rain, I could see Mr. Suga’s car in the light of a streetlamp. When I ran over to the car, Master Nagi opened the passenger-side door. “Hodaka, we’re in trouble! The police—” “Yeah, I know. Go on inside; don’t wait for me.” I climbed into the car and shut the door. Mr. Suga was sitting in the driver’s seat, wearing black-rimmed glasses, with a hat pulled down low on his head. He leaned back in the seat, not saying anything. “…Mr. Suga?” “Oh, the getup?” Still facing forward, Mr. Suga smiled his usual half smile. “I’m in disguise.” “” From the radio, an impassive voice was giving the weather report: “Temperatures have fallen rapidly since sundown. In the city center, it’s currently fifty-four degrees, a record low for August—” Click. Mr. Suga switched the radio off. “The cops stopped by my office a little while ago. They’re treating this as the kidnapping of a minor, apparently. I told ’em I didn’t know anything and showed ’em the door, but I’m still a suspect.” “A kidnapping?!” “I hear your folks filed a missing person report? They care about you, kid.” Mr. Suga smiled thinly, lowered his voice, and went on. “And also. The part about you having a gun. That’s a lie, right?” “Huh?” “The cops showed me a photo from a security camera. It was a blown-up still from the corner of a parking lot, blurry as hell, but it showed a kid pointing a gun at a grown-up. Once they pointed it out, I gotta say it did kinda look like you.” I couldn’t take a full breath. My chest hurt. I desperately tried to explain. “That was— I just found it! I thought it was a toy, and some delinquents picked a fight with me, so I just wanted to scare them… I already threw it away!” “What, for real?” Mr. Suga laughed, but there was no humor in his voice. “From what I heard, they suspect you of illegal possession of a firearm.” I felt the blood draining from my face. Mr. Suga took off his hat and put it on my head. “You can have that. Severance pay.” Severance pay? I heard the words, but the meaning didn’t reach my brain. Mr. Suga still wasn’t looking at me. “Listen, don’t come by my place anymore, all right? I don’t want to wind up as a kidnapper.” The rain was pounding on the hood, fierce as a drumroll. “I’m petitioning for custody of my daughter, see. After my wife died, I hit the skids for a while, and her parents took our kid away. Pathetic, I know, but now I’m renegotiating. My income and social rep are real important right now. I’m sorry, but this isn’t a good time for me.” He was waiting for my answer. I knew that. I knew, but the words wouldn’t come. Mr. Suga gave a small sigh. It stung, how small that sigh was. “…Look, kid, go home tomorrow. That’ll put everything back to normal, you know? It’s easy. Just get on the ferry.” He took out his wallet and began counting bills with his fingertips. “It’ll work out best for everybody that way.” He pressed several ten-thousand-yen bills into my hand, and then, finally, he looked at my face. I was a pitiful sight, I’m sure, with tears welling in my eyes. Mr. Suga hadn’t said my name once in that whole conversation. “—Time to grow up, kid.” When I opened the door to the apartment, stuff was scattered all over the room. The siblings were cramming their belongings into backpacks. Hina was still focused on her hands as she explained. “We can’t stay here anymore, so…” “Huh? But where will you go?” “I don’t know, but—” “I’m fine with anywhere!” Master Nagi chirped. “As long as I’m with you, Sis!” Hina shot him an affectionate glance, then let her eyes fall to her hands again. “Hodaka, you should go back to your parents before the police take you in. You have a home to go back to.” She was saying the same things as Mr. Suga. The rain was getting louder. Hina looked at me and smiled, as if she were trying to reassure a little kid. “It’s okay; we’ll be all right.” “…!” My chest tightened. Seeing her smile, hearing her words, my mind was finally clear. “…I’m not going home.” The siblings stopped working and stared at me. I’d remembered what I needed to do. This time, I’d protect both of them. And my legs stopped trembling, just like that. I drew a deep breath, then firmly told them what I wanted to do. “Let’s run away together!” * * * The rain that day had been getting worse ever since evening, and by nighttime, it might’ve been stronger than anything I’d ever seen. Rain poured down into the streets like a muddy torrent, as if a faucet in the sky had broken. In distant shots of Tokyo on TV, the spray from the rain hid the foundations of the buildings, and the tops were shrouded in thick mist. They looked like floating ruins. “A moment ago, an emergency alert for heavy rain was issued for Tokyo,” said the TV. “We may get the sort of rain that comes only once in decades. Take all possible precautions to avoid rivers overflowing their banks and flooding in low-lying areas. Check your TVs, radios, and online for disaster information from local governments and obey any evacuation orders.” I changed the channel. At the south gate of Shinjuku Station, a newscaster was yelling, back to the crowd, lashed by the rain. “Typhoon-level rains have hit right in the middle of the evening rush! We have now had multiple delays on metropolitan trains—” I switched channels again. Every station was reporting on the weather. Several subway stations had begun to flood, and evacuation orders had been issued for areas along the Arakawa and Sumida Rivers. Flights to and from Haneda Airport were getting canceled right and left. The amount of rain that had fallen in one hour was over six inches; manhole covers were blowing off all over the place, and areas behind levees were flooding. There were lines waiting for taxis at lots of stations. “There is a possibility commuters will be stranded,” the TV was saying. “Please take immediate steps to keep yourself safe.” The breath of the people on TV was white, and everyone was rubbing their arms to keep warm. “It’s abnormally cold for August. At present, the temperature in Tokyo has fallen below fifty degrees—” “Frigid air is flowing into the city center from a region of low atmospheric pressure in the north. The temperature has dropped more than twenty-five degrees in the past hour, and it could fall even further—” The newscasters’ voices were growing graver and graver. “I repeat, an emergency alert for heavy rain has been issued for Tokyo. This may be the kind of rain that comes only once in decades. Please watch for updates and take immediate action to keep yourselves safe—” “Centered on the Kanto-Koshin region, even after dawn, active rain clouds will remain overhead—” “The unseasonably acute drop in temperatures is severe enough to be dangerous to vulnerable populations. Please get your thick jackets out of storage—” “It’s safe to call this an unprecedented, extremely critical atmospheric anomaly—” Suddenly depressed, I turned off the TV. I knew it didn’t make any sense, but I felt like everyone was blaming me. Why…? I dropped onto my bed face-first. I tried to think of the reason. —It couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. But… I remembered what I’d said to Hina in the park that afternoon. “Weather priestesses are human sacrifices,” the priest had said, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that telling Hina about it had caused this rain. Even though that made no sense at all. But— “Hey, Natsumi, where are you going on a night like this?!” my dad yelled after me as picked up my helmet and opened the front door. * * * The Yamanote Line train we were on stopped at Ikebukuro Station. As the conductor made the onboard announcement, he didn’t try to disguise the fatigue in his voice. “Um, due to disruptions in public transportation caused by the heavy rain, we don’t currently know when operations on the Yamanote Line will resume. There are widespread delays and suspensions of service across all JR lines. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we request that all passengers arrange for alternative transportation. I repeat…” “Oh, c’mon, so it’s not gonna move after all?” “Let’s get off.” “What do we do now?” “I’ll get my parents to pick us up.” Everyone was grumbling as they got off the train. “What do we do…?” Hina asked uneasily, and I forced a smile. “For now, let’s find a place to spend the night.” “I’m very sorry, but we have no vacancies at present—” “Do you have a reservation?” “We’re already full up today.” “It’s just the three of you? Where are your parents?” “We’ll need you to show your IDs—” However, there were no rooms at any of the hotels we went to. I couldn’t tell whether they were all truly booked up, or whether they were just suspicious of two high schoolers and a grade-schooler, but we kept getting turned away. In the end, we even tried going to a shady-looking rental room in the basement of a mixed-use building, but they suspected us, too (“You kids aren’t runaways, are you?”) and chased us off (“Reporting you would be a hassle, so get lost, all right?”). As we searched for a place to sleep, we made trip after trip through the underground hallway linking the station’s east and west sides. All three of us were carrying big backpacks and wearing our raincoats over them. The temperature was cold enough to make us shiver; the rain was as sharp and cold as it was in winter, and to top it off, the shallow pools of floodwater everywhere in the streets soaked our sneakers completely through. We were freezing, our toes were especially cold, and our packs were heavy. We were exhausted. Running away together was my idea, and yet I couldn’t even find us a place to spend one single night—I was furious with how useless I was. “Look at that!” Master Nagi called out. He was pointing at the exit to the underground hallway. “Isn’t that snow?” Startled, we stepped outside. It really was snow, swirling and glinting in the streetlights. When I looked at Hina’s face, her expression was something close to fear. I probably looked the same way. I mean, it was August. The people on the street were all looking up at the sky, startled. Large snowflakes fell onto the water-covered asphalt, soundlessly creating circular ripples one after another. Now that the trains weren’t running, the road along the tracks had fallen into an eerie silence. The temperature was still falling. I was wearing short sleeves, and I rubbed my arms under my raincoat. Is this divine punishment or something? The thought abruptly crossed my mind. We’d changed the weather by our own whims, and some godlike figure way up in the sky was angry because we humans hadn’t been content with the weather we were given. Because of our selfish wish for clear skies. I shook my head. That couldn’t be. But—I remembered what Hina had said. “Back then, I think I got connected to the sky.” I looked up and saw thousands of snowflakes over our heads, like summer fireworks. Hina is connected to this sky? * * * By the time I got to Kei’s office, the rain had turned to snow. I couldn’t believe it. I parked the Cub behind the building. Regretting my careless decision to wear shorts, I went down the stairs to the office, opened the door, and went in. “Brrrr! Hey, Kei, it’s snowing in August!” I was brushing snow off my shoulders as I spoke. “Huh?” There was no reply, and I found Kei facedown over the bar counter. The TV on the bar was chattering, its volume turned down low. “Impossibly, snow is falling in the city center. The heavy rainstorm that began this evening has caused widespread flood damage, but now, as of nine in the evening, it has turned to snow over a large area. According to the forecast, it’s expected to turn to rain again in the small hours of the—” I switched it off. There was a half-empty whiskey on the counter and several cigarette butts in the ashtray. I wonder what happened. I watched Kei, fast asleep on the bar. Come on, you quit smoking ages ago… He was snoring quietly, and he looked so grumpy. His skin was dry and rough, and there were white hairs on his head and in his stubble. He’s aged a bit, too, I thought. Rain the cat was curled up asleep on the stool next to him. His sulky expression reminded me a lot of Kei’s, and I cracked up a little. “Kei, wake up. You’re going to catch a cold.” When I shook his shoulder, Kei’s eyebrows came together in annoyance. “Asuka…,” he murmured. His voice was so weak and sad. I was a little startled. So he still dreams about his wife— Suddenly, I remembered another summer day, four years ago, when we had a small party to celebrate the opening of the office. The place had only just been remodeled from its days as a bar; it was still practically empty, and the congratulatory flower arrangements stood in a proud row. Moka was not much older than a baby, and I played with her the whole time Kei and Asuka were entertaining their guests. I was still in high school then, so I was probably wearing my uniform. Oh yeah, and after most of the guests had gone home, I’d taken a commemorative photo for the three of them. I remember the window with K&A Planning written in the background. Asuka was holding Moka, and Kei was so proud. “…Natsumi?” Kei was finally awake. He sneezed loudly. “Ugh, damn, it’s cold in here. Let’s turn on the heat.” When he switched on the heater with the remote, there was a dusty smell, and then warm air started blowing. I went behind the counter and fixed myself a whiskey and water. “You’re a bona fide old-timer now, huh, Kei?” I commented as I worked. “When people age”—Kei scrubbed at his face with both hands, just like an older man would—“they forget how to change their priorities about important stuff.” “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” I sat down on the stool next to Kei’s. “By the way, where’s Hodaka? Isn’t he back yet?” His expression immediately darkened. “You ran him off…? What? You’re kidding, right?!” “No, look, the cops came here. You think I could keep a kid like that around?” “Wha—?” Kei’s got a habit of acting like a real ass when he’s feeling guilty. “Everyone knows it’s more important to hold on to your way of life than to keep everyone else afloat,” he said. “What? So you quit your no-smoking streak, get drunk, and wallow in guilt?” I picked up Rain from where he slept on the stool and pushed him at Kei’s face. “‘You’re a meowserable old man…’ See?! Rain thinks so, too.” Rain backed me up with a lazy little meow. “Seriously, it’s pathetic. The way you’re acting is so last century. Can you not sit next to me? I don’t want to start smelling like a gross old man, too.” I put Rain down where I’d found him, then moved to the stool on the very end to put us at opposite ends of the counter. He chased Hodaka out? At night, in weather like this? “Geez, Kei, you never follow through on anything. If you’re going to throw him out, just don’t pick him up in the first place. You’re trying to be a big bad tough guy, but you’re really just too chicken to let go of common sense. That’s the worst type there is.” “What the hell? Oh, that’s rich, coming from the girl who ran here to get away from her dad. If you hate common sense so much, then drop the job hunting and be a poet or a traveler or something.” I glared at Kei. He drank a mouthful of whiskey and water, then glared back at me and went on. “If I’m pathetic, so are you. That girl—what’s her name, Hina?” I flinched uncomfortably. He knew we both had guilty consciences. “You told her that stuff about weather priestesses being human sacrifices, didn’t you? If it’s true, she’s gonna disappear one of these days. You think you can tell her about that, ditch her, and hope everything will be fine?” “Well, I mean, that was… What was I supposed to do, then?!” “Huh! Don’t take it so seriously. It’s all just bunk anyway, right?” Half smiling, Kei put a cigarette in his mouth. He was dodging the question. He lit the tip with a lighter, then blew out a full breath of smoke very deliberately. “Although…well, hypothetically—” The blue-tinged smoke thinned and dissolved, like a drop of paint in water. “If sacrificing one human would make the weather go back to normal, I’d say go for it. It ain’t just me; if you’re being honest, you would, too, wouldn’t you? And so would everybody else. Society runs on sacrifices. Somebody always ends up with the short straw. You just don’t see it most of the time.” “What are you even talking about?” My voice came out sounding angry. I was getting more and more frustrated—at Kei, who was trying to show off how much he didn’t care when it was obvious he was full of crap, at this crazy weather, and at myself for being convinced by what Kei said on some level. He was right; I’d come all the way here because I couldn’t stand to sit tight at home, and yet all I was doing was drinking liquor and grumbling drunkenly. I was mad at myself for that, too. I didn’t want to think about anything anymore, and I downed my whiskey and water in one go. * * * “Hey, kids, just a minute.” Someone caught my shoulder from behind, and when I turned around, a shiver crawled up my spine. It was two uniformed policemen. The three of us had been walking down a downtown street. “It’s dangerous for children to be out on their own at a time like this. What are you doing? Are you all siblings?” The sudden interrogation left me floundering, but Hina took a step forward. “We’re on our way home now. I’m in college, and these two are my little brothers.” “Hmm. So you’re the big sister? Can I see your student ID?” “I don’t have it with me.” Suddenly, I made eye contact with one of the officers, and he reacted with surprise. My goose bumps grew worse. I had a bad feeling about this. The officer turned his back to me, had some sort of conversation on his radio, then came to stand right in front of me, blocking my view. “You’re in high school? That’s a really big backpack you’re carrying.” He leaned forward, not even trying to hide that he was staring at my face. “You mind pushing your hood up a bit?” They couldn’t be looking for me, could they? But then Mr. Suga’s words came back to me: “They suspect you of illegal possession of a firearm.” I whispered to Hina next to me. “Hina.” “Huh?” “Run!” Before I even finished speaking, I’d launched myself into a sprint. It was too late now, but I realized that just being with Hina and Nagi would cause trouble for them. “Stop!” Footsteps came after me. I ran for dear life without looking back—until someone promptly grabbed the edge of my backpack. I violently shook the arm off. “This is obstruction!” the other policeman shouted furiously, tackling me from the side and shoving me down onto the pavement. He almost had me pinned. I fought it for all I was worth. “Hodaka!” Hina shouted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her running toward me. “No, stay away!” But she body-slammed the officer who was on top of me, knocking him to the ground. “You little—!” The man’s eyes were blazing with anger. He raised his nightstick. Impulsively, Hina folded her hands. “Please!” she screamed. Just then, there was an eardrum-splitting roar, and my vision flashed pure white. Lightning had hit a truck on the shoulder of the road, about fifty yards ahead of us. The impact lifted it into the air for a moment as time slowed to a crawl. A beat later—the truck exploded. It was chaos all around us. Some people were fleeing the scene, while others were running toward it with their phones out to get a better view. “…What in the name of—?!” The police officers had been briefly stunned, but they came to their senses and ran toward the fire. I looked over at Hina, and she’d frozen up, gazing at the flames. Her hands were folded the way they were when she prayed for clear skies. No way, did Hina—? I grabbed her hand before I could even finish that crazy idea. “Now’s our chance—let’s go!” Master Nagi was standing stock-still. I tugged him along with us, and we ran for it. We dashed down alleys, heading straight for the shadows. Before long, we began to hear emergency sirens behind us. The snow was falling thicker now. “It’s twenty-eight thousand yen a night.” “Huh?” The middle-aged lady looked up at me through the narrow window. She sounded annoyed just talking to us. I hadn’t been expecting that answer, and I couldn’t find a reply. “Like I just said, twenty-eight thousand yen. Can you pay?” “Uh, oh, yes, we’ll pay!” The place was a run-down love hotel. The three of us were soaked to the skin. The woman at the front desk had glanced at us, but she didn’t say anything. We rode a rickety elevator up to the eighth floor, used our key to unlock a heavy iron door, went into the room, and locked it. Immediately, we all sank down right where we were. We couldn’t take any more. “Haaaaah…” All three of us heaved deep sighs. “Guess I’m an actual wanted man…,” I muttered gloomily— “Pretty awesome!” Master Nagi gave me a thumbs-up. “Huh? Really?!” “Heh-heh!” Hina cracked up, and we all giggled. “I had no idea how we were going to get out of that one…” “Well, yeah! Hodaka was totally gonna get arrested!” “That was priceless!” “I was seriously panicking. And hey, it’s not funny!” We laughed louder and louder. As we did, all the fatigue that had built up inside us dissolved away, along with our anxiety. It was like having 2 percent left on your cell phone battery and managing to plug it into a power source just in time. We could see each other coming back to life. “This room is so big!” Master Nagi yelled. “The bed’s huge! And the bath’s giant!” Everything about the room seemed to impress him. The room was a chic one, coordinated in beige, black, and gold, and the decoration scheme was quiet and composed. Nagi filled the bath, and Hina cheerfully boiled some water and made tea for us. I took the opportunity to shove the adult video program menu and sundry other things I couldn’t let the siblings see into the back of the closet. It was probably the most suspenseful thing I’d done since coming to Tokyo. “Sis, Hodaka!” Nagi yelled to us from the bathroom. “Let’s all go in together!” Hina and I both spit out our tea at the same time. “Bathe by yourself!” we chorused. “Awww! Then, Hodaka, let’s go in together as the guy team.” “Huh?!” “Have fun.” Hina was laughing. “So warm…” Master Nagi and I soaked up to our shoulders in a bathtub full to the brim of hot water. “Hmm? What’s this?” Nagi pressed a button on the wall. Suddenly, the bathroom lights went out in favor of lights inside the bathtub, and jets of bubbles started streaming in. It was a whirlpool bath. “Whoa, cool!” “That tickles!” We played around in the water for a bit. “Next bath!” The siblings high-fived each other. While Hina was soaking, we got dinner ready. When we opened the cupboard under the TV, we discovered a vending machine full of hot snacks and instant foods. Yakisoba, takoyaki, cup noodles, curry rice, fries, chicken nuggets. Just looking at the paper packages made my mouth water. “Whoa, there’s all sorts of stuff! Hodaka, which should we get?” Master Nagi asked me excitedly. “Let’s just get all of them, Master!” “Huh? Can we?!” “Yeah, I got severance pay!” “Yesssss!” My mentor yelled toward the bath. “Siiiis! We’re having a feast tonight!” “I can’t wait!” Hina answered from the bath. The heavy echo in her voice was enough to make my heart beat faster for some reason. While we were popping the snacks in the microwave one after another, Hina opened the door of the bathroom. “I’m done with my bath.” “Oh, welcome back,” I muttered, then gulped involuntarily. She was wearing a pure-white bathrobe, and her long hair was pulled over to one side and wrapped in a towel. Her pale skin was flushed faintly pink. Realizing I’d been staring for a full five seconds, I hastily tore my eyes away. Hina didn’t seem to notice; she was too busy squealing happily over the hot snacks lined up on the table. “Thanks for the food!” The three of us spoke and clapped our hands together in unison. “The yakisoba’s so good!” “So’s the takoyaki!” “And the curry!” We all had to praise the food, which was unbelievably delicious. We passed the boxes of snacks around and around, making sure everybody tried everything. We put the chicken nuggets in the curry to make chicken curry and freaked out (“This is amazing! The discovery of a lifetime!”), then made the cup noodles in only two minutes and lost our minds over that, too (“It’s, like, super–al dente! Way better than a restaurant!”). After dinner, we had a karaoke competition, and after that, we had a pillow fight, hurling pillows and cushions at each other as hard as we could. Whether we missed or hit or got hit, we loved every second of it. I was so happy and having so much fun that I almost wanted to cry. If the gods exist, I thought as I flung a pillow. Please. This is enough. We’ll be all right now. We can get by. So please don’t give us any more than this and don’t take anything away. My pillow hit Hina in the face, and her counterstrike landed squarely on mine. Gods, please, please. As we laughed together, I prayed more fervently than I’d ever prayed in my life. Let us stay like this just a little longer. The digital clock by my pillow made a tiny electronic click as midnight arrived. At some point during our crazy antics, Master Nagi had conked out on the bed right by the wall. The mattress was huge, and Hina and I were lying side by side on our backs. Hina smelled like the same shampoo I’d used, a fact I was proud of for some reason. The room was mostly dark, and the only light came from the dim yellow glow of the bedside lamp. The snow seemed to have turned into rain again; I could hear it pouring down outside the window. It didn’t sound as violent as before, though. It was much softer and friendlier, like a distant drum being played just for us, traveling across vast reaches of time and space to find us here. The sound knew both our past and our future, and no matter what we resolved or chose, it would never blame us. It silently accepted all of history. Live, the sound was saying. Live. Live. Just live. “Hina.” Encouraged by the sound of the rain, I took out the ring box. “Happy eighteenth birthday.” I set it down on the sheets. Hina stared at me, startled. “It’s nothing expensive, but I found one that seemed like it would look good on you.” She opened the box. Slowly, a smile spread across her face like a flower blooming. “Thank you…!” I gave a brief, awkward grin. “Hey, Hodaka…” Suddenly, Hina’s voice lowered. “Do you want this rain to stop?” “Huh?” Glancing up from the ring, Hina looked at me. Some sort of emotion rippled across her faintly blue-tinted eyes, deep beneath the surface. I didn’t know what it was, though, and I simply nodded. “—Yeah.” Just then, like an answer from the sky, there was a low rumble of thunder. Maybe it had struck something; the bedside lamp flickered. Slowly, Hina looked away from me and lay back, gazing up at the ceiling. Oh— Then I realized what I’d seen in her eyes. “I’m a sacrifice, apparently,” she said. “…Huh?” “Natsumi told me what happens to sun women. She said they disappear, and then the weather goes back to normal. We’re sacrifices.” I realized that emotion had been despair. “Wha…? No way.” I gave a clumsy smile. That couldn’t be true. But my chest was filling up with regret. “No, those guys never know what they’re talking about… That couldn’t actually… I mean, disappear? There’s just no—” As if to silence me, Hina sat up and silently undid the belt of her bathrobe. Slowly, she withdrew her left arm from the sleeve. I couldn’t look away. Before long, the left side of her chest was exposed. “…!” The bedside lamp was shining through it. Half her body was transparent. The area from her left shoulder to her breast was as clear as water, and the lamplight reflected inside her body, glowing faintly through her skin. I just stared at her, dumbfounded. “…Hodaka,” Hina finally said. Tearing my eyes away from her body, I looked at her face. Although she seemed ready to burst into tears, she suddenly smiled softly. “What exactly are you looking at?” “I’m not looking at any—!” I started to say on reflex—but it was no good. No, I can’t cry. I can’t— “I’m looking at you, Hina…” The tears welled up and overflowed, as if my eyes had broken. I desperately wiped them away with both hands and pressed my fists against my eyes, wanting to shove the tears back until they’d never been there at all. “…Why are you crying?” Hina smiled gently. Even when you’re dying, you smile. I cried harder. “It was nothing at all at first, but after a certain point, I started noticing. The more I wished for the sun, the clearer my body grew.” Why hadn’t I seen the sadness in her expression when she looked up at the sky through the palm of her hand? Or had I seen it after all and just pretended I hadn’t? “If this keeps up and I die…” Hina’s voice was very, very gentle. “I’m sure summer will go back to normal again. Take care of Nagi, okay?” “No!” I screamed. “You can’t, Hina; you’re not going to disappear! We’re gonna live together, all three of us!” It sounded so childish that even I had trouble believing there was hope, but I couldn’t find any other words. “Hodaka…” Hina looked at me with concern. “Hina, let’s promise each other.” I took her left hand and slipped the ring onto the fourth finger. The ring was silver, in the shape of a little wing. Her finger was faintly transparent, too. Through her skin, I could see tiny air bubbles welling up in the water. “” Hina gazed at the ring on her finger and exhaled wordlessly. She turned to me again, and her eyes seemed about to brim over. I knew I was talking like a little kid, but I still desperately tried to reassure her. “I’ll work, okay?! I’ll make enough money for us to live a good life! You already quit the sunshine girl stuff, so your body’s bound to go back to normal in no time!” Tears finally spilled from Hina’s eyes, and a wave of guilt washed over me as I realized I’d made her cry. Then, out of nowhere, she hugged me. “…!” She softly stroked my head, comforting me. There was nothing I could do, and I put my arms around her, squeezing her tighter. I fervently wished it would be enough to keep her here. I believed it. I convinced myself that was how it had to work. That was how the world was made. If I wished hard enough, it was bound to become true. I thought it; I wished it; I prayed it. Crying, Hina kept stroking my hair, and in the distance, thunder rumbled again.