Chapter 35

Kotori had been acting strangely lately. Kotori, “little bird” in Japanese. Her surname was Mori, “forest,” which added to the potential for confusion. It wasn’t any little forest birds I was worried about, though, but my classmate, Kotori Mori. Her name suited her; she was as small as a little bird, although she had very unbirdlike fangs, which she didn’t hesitate to put to use. She thought of biting as a valid form of conflict resolution. Kotori was what you’d call a problem child. When she got in a heated argument with someone, she’d resort to head-butting, too, so you had to be careful around her. I had foolishly thought she’d outgrow that habit by the time she graduated to high school, and just last fall, I’d learned firsthand that was not the case. Kotori had let her hair grow out. Her longer, naturally wavy hair would convince most that she was a sweet, gentle girl. Or, simply put, she was cute until she opened her mouth. I’d known her for a long time, and at some point, I’d decided I had to protect her from getting in trouble. I was the sort people called “goody two-shoes.” Kotori’s house was close to mine, so I’d been seeing her around since we’d been little, and we had gotten to know each other pretty well. It was probably her cuteness that’d cemented our friendship, though. When her behavior changed, I was quick to notice. We were walking home from school, and Kotori was being strange again. It was that time of day when afternoon hands off the sky to evening. The sun was low, its rays tracing lines on the asphalt to compete with the traffic markings. Students from different schools were walking home, footsteps overlapping, school uniforms brushing against one another. Our uniforms were whiter than any others when seen from behind. Seen from the front, our pale blue scarves were the most noticeable detail. The setting sun was just above a line of tall buildings, with some clouds in the sky. Kotori and I were chatting when she suddenly froze mid-sentence with her mouth hanging open. She stopped, looking up at the sky, so I unwillingly stopped, too. Other students had to walk around us. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Were sunsets always so pretty?” “Say what?” That was so random coming from Kotori. The rays of the setting sun fell on her hair and her tongue in her still-open mouth. “Look at that yellow cloud over there… It’s so pretty.” She pointed to where the sky and clouds blended into a sea of gold around the setting sun. It was pretty. But… Kotori’s pale brown hair cast off multicolored reflections in the evening sunshine. “Is it really you, Kotori?” “What do you mean?” “The most materialistic girl I know waxing lyrical about the sunset?” Kotori growled at me, more like herself again. She snapped her teeth at me and started walking again. “Things happen. People change,” she spat. “What happened?” “Stuff. Can’t be bothered to talk about it.” She brushed me off like a bit of dust on her clothes. I was annoyed, but I didn’t know what to say, so I just pursed my lips, making a droning sound like a cicada. We walked on in silence. Kotori hadn’t hidden things from me before. That was the biggest change. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, I thought, scratching a mosquito bite. Summer was impossibly hot. I hated overheating, so I opened the window to let in cooler night air, and as a result, my legs got bitten by mosquitoes. The itchiness made me consider turning on the air-conditioning instead. Scratching the bites, I went to sit down on a chair on the small second-floor balcony. I was thinking about Kotori. From the balcony, I could see the roof of her house. Then I thought I could hear her voice. I looked down at the street. “Kotori?” I saw her walking down the residential street, dressed in her school uniform even though she’d been home after school. She didn’t notice me as she passed by my house. It was pretty late to be out. I turned to look at the clock in my room. High school girls didn’t normally hang out in town at this hour, especially still in their uniforms. “…” I thought about how strange it was, and after briefly hesitating, I went back inside and then sneaked out of the house, careful not to alert my parents on the first floor. I scratched the bites on my legs one last time before hurrying after Kotori. She was dressed as though she were going to school, minus her bag, but I was sure there were no school activities this late. I kept my distance, but Kotori didn’t turn back to see if anyone was following her anyway. She walked purposefully down the streets, easily finding her way even where there were no streetlights. Nobody at her house would tell her off for going out late. She’d normally invite me along… She was going to the station, the biggest one in our town, which always seemed to have some construction work going on. She passed the bus stop and the taxi bay, and she was about to go inside the station building when her gait changed as she saw something. Her steps quickened with excitement, and she was almost skipping. I had to hasten, too, running on my toes, a terrible premonition making my mouth dry. Each of my feet was in a rush to join the other, as if scared of the gap between them. It was a strange feeling I’d never experienced before. What was it that Kotori was being drawn to at such speed? I couldn’t see anything unusual at the station. Kotori and I used to always hang out together, seeing the same things, but now, she seemed to be looking at the world through a new lens. She stopped, like a bird landing, next to a young woman. Just as the question “Who’s that?” popped into my mind, Kotori stood up tall and greeted the woman with a kiss. “…What?” I couldn’t believe my eyes. The woman and Kotori stood pressed against each other with an aura of mischief. My eyes unfocused, and their silhouettes blurred against the station lights. What? What? What? So many questions were swirling inside my head. Kotori… But… We… Everything that had been between me and Kotori was unraveling, twisting, warping. Blood and sweat rushed up to my neck, and I felt like it was swelling. When the woman stopped kissing Kotori, she cocked her head, noticing me. She was looking straight at me, her gaze pinning me to the spot, making excuses impossible. Kotori saw the woman was looking at something, and she turned, too, her blissed-out face freezing when she saw me. I could swear I heard a rumble when Kotori and the woman separated. The woman put her arm around Kotori’s shoulders and walked with her toward me, smiling as if she’d seen through me. She might have been four or five years older than me and Kotori. Her long, golden-blond hair, which appeared to be natural, shone brilliantly beneath the streetlights. It bounced as she walked, softly caressing the night. When her bangs swayed out of the way, I saw the woman had a faint scar on her forehead. Kotori and I froze, while the woman was perfectly at ease. She smiled at me, radiant like a star. “Sorry, but only short girls are my type.”