Chapter 04
HIBARI AND HIKARI walked around the side of the house they’d visited countless times as children. One wore a white beanie, while the other wore a black one; both were wearing matching tortoiseshell sunglasses. They exchanged a glance.
“Looks like she’s not home. What should we do? Put it in the mail slot?” Hikari asked, like the ditz she always was.
“But then she won’t know it’s from us!” Hibari argued. “Ugh, man, we didn’t bring anything to write a note… What do we do…?”
If only they could leave a short note, they could simply put the gift in the mail slot and call it a day. But their true goal was to meet with Himari in person. They wanted to thank her for the scarves they were currently wearing.
“Should we just wait around somewhere nearby? It’s really cold, though… Should we go buy some hot corn potage while we wait?” Exhaling a cloud of white fog, Hikari glanced around, but couldn’t spot any vending machines in the vicinity of the Takakura house. “Or maybe some hot cocoa?”
“We can’t just stand around or we’ll be late for our next gig! Good grief, Hikari-chan, get it together!” With a small sigh, Hibari pondered their dilemma. They could try to come back next time they had some free time, but there was no telling when that would be. Besides, they couldn’t be seen loitering around someone’s house in these less-than-subtle disguises or else…
“Hey, you!” a shrill voice shouted, and they both nearly jumped out of their skin.
They whirled around to find a girl in a school-issued balmacaan coat standing there with her hands on her hips, glaring at them. She wore her hair in a casual bob cut, her sharp eyes peeking out from beneath her thick bangs, sizing the other girls up like prey.
“What business do you have at this house?”
Ringo took one look at these girls, dressed conspicuously in sunglasses and scarves, and determined that they were quite possibly in league with that tabloid journalist. Or maybe they were journalists for some other publication. If so, then they probably came to snoop around without permission.
“We…we’re not criminals!” Hikari blurted out, waving her hands.
“She never said we were! Now she’s going to think we are!” Hibari hissed.
“Yeah, I do!” Ringo adjusted her book bag on her shoulder and stood her ground.
“Well, um…we’re really not trying to cause any trouble,” Hibari mumbled, faltering in the face of Ringo’s intimidating glare. Reluctantly, she pulled off her hat and sunglasses, then nudged Hikari to do the same.
“Double H?!” Ringo yelped. It was the same ultra-famous kitschy pop idol unit she saw on billboards every day of her life—what on earth were they doing here? Her jaw dropped as she stared at the celebrity duo, currently clinging to each other with guilty looks on their faces. “Oh my god, it’s really you!”
“We came to see Himari-chan,” Hibari explained.
“We’re old friends from elementary school,” Hikari chimed in with a pained smile. “So yeah…”
But the three of them couldn’t stay together forever. Thirteen years after the subway incident, sickly Himari became even sicker, and all the kids at school started to see the Takakura family in a different light. They were all unified against Himari, and neither Hibari nor Hikari could stand up to them. At the time, they were just as scared as everyone else. Himari’s parents had committed a terrifying atrocity the likes of which they couldn’t even imagine…and since Himari was their daughter, she was terrifying too.
“See, Himari-chan knitted these for us,” Hibari explained, patting her scarf.
“As a token of friendship. She said she wishes us nothing but the best,” Hikari chimed in, blinking back tears.
The teachers told them that Himari wouldn’t be coming back to school due to her illness. The following year, Hibari and Hikari applied to an idol audition, then debuted as a two-girl unit. Their lives became fun and exciting, but incredibly busy, and although they never forgot about Himari, they eventually stopped talking about her. But she was always meant to be the third member of their group, standing right there alongside them.
“So we really wanted to see her in person and thank her for the scarves. This is our only chance…” Hibari looked away.
From Himari’s perspective, perhaps their desires were extremely selfish. But Himari was precious to Hibari and Hikari, and they desperately wanted to make up for the cowards they had been as children. It was their one regret.
“Right,” Ringo nodded sadly. “I’m sorry, but Himari-chan’s not home at the moment, and she won’t be back for quite a while.”
She couldn’t explain to them what was happening to the Takakura family—it wasn’t her place. But Himari had left this house. That was all she could tell them for sure.
“Gotcha.” Hibari and Hikari slumped their shoulders in disappointment.
“Sorry,” Ringo repeated, feeling strangely guilty even though it wasn’t her fault.
Hibari and Hikari exchanged a playful glance, just like they always did on TV. Then Hibari held out the little paper bag she was carrying. “In that case, could you give this to her for us?”
“It’s our new album—we thought she might like to listen to it. We’ll come back to thank her for the scarves another time.”
The logo of their record label was printed on the front of the bag. Ringo took it and peered inside, where she could see a single CD wrapped up in a cute red ribbon.
“Okay, no problem. I’ll give it to her, I promise.”
In her eyes, Hibari and Hikari were taller, healthier, and far stronger than Himari. Sure, Himari was doing better lately, but compared to girls her own age, she was markedly different. Every part of her was small, or pale, or muted, or fragile…and Ringo didn’t even know where she was.
“We named the album after the words that always meant the most to her.”
After a forlorn farewell, Double H put their sunglasses and beanies back on, bowed politely, then jogged off down the street. They must have stopped by between gigs. Ringo waved goodbye, and as they disappeared into the distance, she let out a sigh.
“Oh, hi, Oginome-san,” said a very familiar voice.
“Shoma-kun!” She whirled around to find Shoma trudging in her direction on leaden legs, carrying a grocery bag, his expression dead-eyed and defeated.