Chapter 7 (1/2)

The Summer Triangle, or Square

The rain that had fallen since yesterday finally stopped by noon. As I stepped carefully down the road with puddles here and there, children on bikes rushed past me from behind one after another. One of them was shouting something and pointing - at a large, clear rainbow. I stopped and gazed at it for a few seconds. Once I looked back down to start walking again, the children were already nowhere to be seen.

Maybe they’d gone in search of something at the end of that rainbow, I thought.

There’s a superst.i.tion that a pot of gold lies at the end of a rainbow. I never really liked that. I wasn’t pleased with the idea that buried under something beautiful was something beautiful. I was the one of those people who wanted there to be a corpse buried under a cherry blossom.

Things that were “just beautiful” made me uneasy. I worried that someone out there was taking the hit to balance out that beauty. Would be nice for there to be a graveyard at the start of a rainbow, I thought. I wanted those brilliant seven colors to have been brought about by a thousand-some piles of bones. Since maybe then I could innocently appreciate the beauty of a rainbow a little more.

On a visit to the town library, I reunited with the girl searching for ghosts. While putting my 100 yen in the vending machine and choosing my juice, I noticed a girl holding a parasol standing in front of another machine. She was frozen with her 100 yen in hand, staring at the options as if facing the most important decision of her life. Noticing me looking, she raised her parasol and looked at me.

“Ah, mister.” Her eyes widened, then she bowed her head. “Good day. How unexpected we’d meet here.”

“Suppose you wouldn’t be looking for ghosts all day.”

“Well, that’s not quite true.” She hoisted up the bag under her arm. “Both of the two books I checked out today are on ghosts.”

“Fantastic,” I commended.

“You think it’s stupid, don’t you?” Her mouth twisted. “Go ahead. For I truly am stupid. My grades are awful, too.”

“I wasn’t saying it ironically. I really think it’s fantastic. Don’t be too normal, please.”

The girl glared at me in silence for a while, but her expression suddenly softened, and she pointed at a bench on the road facing the library.

“If you don’t mind, can we talk for a bit?”

We bought our juices and slowly drank them on the bench together. From the thicket behind the library, I heard an ear-aching cicada buzz.

“By the way, what sort of ent.i.ties do you think ghosts are?”, I asked. “I mean, people have their own perspectives on them. Some think they’re ent.i.ties that watch over you from close by, and others think they have grudges, cursing and killing people. And some think they can’t interfere with living people - they’re just there. So I wanna know your view.”

“Did you forget? I told you, I don’t believe in ghosts in the first place. A UFO, a cryptid, anything will do,” she said with a demure look. “It’s simply… the town of Minagisa is bountiful with ghost stories, is it not? So for the time being, I’m searching for ghosts.”

“Then I’ll change up the question. What would you like ghosts to be like?”

The girl took a sip of juice and stared into the sky. Her wet lips s.h.i.+mmered in the sunlight.

“Let’s see… I think ghosts should be in much suffering, hateful of the living, lamenting their circ.u.mstances. That’s what I’d want them to be.”

“Why?”

“If that were how it was, living would be a bit more preferable, wouldn’t it?”, she replied, still looking to the sky. “If all ghosts were peacefully watching over the living, I might find myself so jealous that I’d want to join them.”

“Ah. Makes sense.”

Maybe glad about my agreement, the girl’s feet swayed under the bench.

“Though once I grow old, I may come to say the exact opposite thing.”

“To affirm your approaching death?”

“Exactly.” She smiled under the parasol. “You understand an oddball like me so well, mister.”

“I’m not doing anything but talk naturally. If we understand each other, you must not be an oddball. Or else, I’m an oddball.”

“It’s the latter. No doubt,” she snickered.

“Come to think of it,” I said, “I forgot to mention, but don’t call me ”mister.” We’re the same age.“

The girl peered at my face.

”I’d thought you were two or three years older,” she mumbled as her eyes wandered around. “…But can you let me keep on with that a.s.sumption?”

“I guess, but why?”

The girl averted her eyes. “The thought that I’m talking with a boy my age makes me so tense, I might just send back up my breakfast.”

I couldn’t resist a chuckle. “Got it. Let’s just say I’m older.”

“Indeed, that would be helpful.” She closed her eyes and sighed. Then she spoke cheerily to regain her spirits. “Say, I want to hear from you too, mister.”

“From me?”

“It’s unfair for me to do all the talking. Tell me something.”

I thought about it. I was bad at talking about myself. I’d always lived under the a.s.sumption that no one would have any interest in me, so I had far less “things to say about myself” saved up than a normal person.

Ultimately, having no topics worth bringing up, I decided to talk about something that was currently on my mind.

“Lately, I’ve been going to see the stars at night.”

“Ah, how wonderful. To think you had such a hobby.”

“Nah, it’s not my hobby. I’m just going along with it.”

“Hmm. Sounds like fun,” she said sulkingly. “I suppose you’re going with a girl?”

“Girls, and a guy too.”

“As I thought, so many friends.” Her shoulders drooped. “I feel betrayed.”

“For your information, counting you, I have about five friends total right now,” I explained with a pained smile. “It’s a mish-mash group. I’m the only one who’s acquainted with all of them, and I’m always struggling to make them get along.”

The girl stared closely at my face.

“That doesn’t sound like your kind of thing, mister. Tiring, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, deathly so.”

Her cheeks softened at once. “Because you’re reaching out into unfamiliar territory. A good feeling.”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed.

After getting home, I put the radio on a music station and continued to read the books I checked out from the library. Even with the windows open and fans blaring, it was hot enough to make sweat stains on my s.h.i.+rt. After dinner, I took a bath, then went straight to bed. At 1 AM, the alarm clock at my bedside went off. I slowly got up, quickly got ready, and left the house.

Even in the middle of the night, cicadas were buzzing in places on the road. Maybe they were confused by the streetlights and the persistent heat into thinking it was day. Or maybe cicadas who weren’t able to make noise during the day were doing their best to make up for it now. Lately, I’d seen the phenomenon of cicadas stopping all at once during the at hottest part of the day numerous times. I guess it makes sense, but it seems even cicadas hate extreme heat.

The heat this summer was abnormal, to be sure. The news was reporting new record highs for days in a row, and even adults said this was the hottest summer they’d ever seen. The rainfall during rainy season had also been less than half the average, there were water shortages around the country, and some places were cutting off the water at night. Maybe all the ambulance sirens I’d been hearing were because of people collapsing from heat exhaustion.

After walking along, occasionally brus.h.i.+ng away spider webs that came out of nowhere, I arrived at Yui Hajikano’s house. As expected, Chigusa Ogiue was already waiting by the gate, and gave a little wave when she noticed me. Chigusa always faithfully wore her uniform when going out, but probably thinking a school uniform would just be suspicious at this hour, tonight she wore a s.h.i.+rt one-piece with thin stripes.

“Regular clothes today, huh?”, I pointed out.

Chigusa tugged on the sleeve of her one-piece worriedly. “It isn’t odd, is it?”

“It’s not. It suits you.”

“I see. Does it, now?” She smiled, swinging slightly left and right.

While talking with Chigusa about the heat wave, the back door opened silently and Hajikano appeared. She saw my face, then looked to Chigusa.

“Good evening, Hajikano,” Chigusa smiled, and Hajikano silently bowed her head.

The three of us went to Masukawa Hotel together. Opening the door to the rooftop, we saw Yuuya Hinohara there early, setting up a telescope. Seeing us arrive, he just said “Hey,” then beckoned to Hajikano. “Hajikano, help me with this.”

Hajikano stood beside the telescope, and Hinohara began to instruct. “Okay, I taught you how to tune the finder last time. You can do it yourself now, right?” Hajikano nodded wordlessly.

Chigusa and I watched from a distance as Hajikano tuned the telescope in silence and Hinohara supervised. Chigusa took peeks at me with a complicated smile on her lips.

“Why did it end up like this, you think?”

Yes, why had it come to this?

I retraced my memory to recall the day that had set it all off.

*

Back to the day Hajikano and I had a call together. The day a phone booth at an empty train station where Hajikano was and the phone at my house rang simultaneously.

Finally getting the chance to have a proper conversation with her, I at last spoke the feelings I’d kept in for years. The call ended before she could reply to them, but for the time being, it seemed like the roughness between us had been smoothed to some extent. I’d learned that Hajikano didn’t really hate me, and got Hajikano to realize that I wasn’t just pitying her. Just those two things made for a big step forward.

That night, right at 2 AM, I visited Hajikano’s house. When Hajikano came out the back door in less than five minutes, she saw me and stopped.

I raised my hand and greeted her, and she glared at me like she wanted to say something. But that expression didn’t have the hostility and hate there had been before. Depending on your point of view, it could be seen as merely covering for her embarra.s.sment.

“Well, let’s go see the stars, as usual,” I said. “Like the night with the shooting stars.”

Hajikano lightly shrugged with an amazed look, and giving neither a “fine” or “no,” began to walk. For the first time, I got to walk toward the ruined hotel not tailing behind her, but alongside her.

As she sat on the chair on the rooftop and looked at the sky, I casually asked a question.

“If you like looking at stars this much, why not use a telescope?”

“I want to,” she honestly replied. “But those things are expensive.”

“Ah,” I nodded. Then I suddenly thought of something. “Actually, I have a friend with a fairly pricey telescope.”

Sure enough, Hajikano latched on. “…Really?”

“Yeah. Would you want to borrow it?”

She kept silent. But if Hajikano didn’t instantly refuse, that usually meant agreement, I felt. Silence was her way of resistance.

“Okay, leave it to me. I’ll have it ready by tomorrow night.”

I didn’t get my hopes up for a true response, but after seeing two shooting stars, Hajikano spoke in a voice so quiet as to be practically inaudible.

“…Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” I bowed my head overly low. “I didn’t expect to get thanks. I’ll have to write that in my diary when I get home.”

“Hm.”

Hajikano turned away with displeasure.

The next morning, rubbing my sleepy eyes and walking under the blazing sun, I visited Hinohara’s house.

The flowers in the pots in a row under the shop overhang were all terribly wilted without exception. Only the morning glories wrapped around the window lattices had healthy blue and purple flowers. The drab mortar walls hadn’t been painted over for years, and there were dark cracks all over them. The entrance said “Bar” with a paper lantern hanging down, and the white electronic sign in front had the name of the place in deep blue letters, “Sea Roar.” The outdoor air conditioning unit under the second floor window made a strange rattling noise.

It was still only ten, and the cicadas were holding back. I opened the creaking gate, went around to the dwelling-side door, and rang the doorbell. I counted to thirty, then rang it again, but there was no response.

I heard a familiar engine noise from the back of the house. I went to check it out and found Hinohara in a cramped, messy garage, fiddling with a scooter. Probably changing the oil; next to him was an oil can, a box wrench, and a cut-open water bottle.

“Want some help?”, I asked.

Hinohara turned around, and his eyes widened as he saw me. “Ohh, f.u.kamachi! Rare for you to visit. …Here to have your revenge for three days ago, maybe?”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea.” I picked up a monkey wrench in the corner of the garage and tapped it in my palm. “But I’ve got other business today. Hinohara, as I recall, don’t you have a telescope?”

“Yeah, I do. What about it?”

“I’d like to borrow it for a little while.”

He wiped the sweat off his brow with his arm.

“That’s real abrupt. Sheesh, you make fun of my hobbies so much, and now you’ve got an interest in astronomy?”

“I don’t remember making fun. And I’m not the one interested in astronomy. Someone I know likes to look at stars.”

Hinohara stared me down with his mouth half-open.

“Sorry, I’ve got no intent of lending it out. It’s valuable, so I’m not letting some ignorant amateur touch it.”

With that, he returned to work. He stopped the warmed-up engine, put on vinyl gloves, removed the drain bolt, and caught the dripping oil in the water bottle. Once the old oil was all poured out, he retightened the bolt, opened the oil pump cap, and poured in new oil from the can. He closed the cap, started the engine, and again let it run for a while. I’d helped him with this many times in middle school, so I learned the process well.

“I really do need it. I’ll repay you. And I’ll forget all about the other day. I’ll treat it with extreme caution so I don’t break it.”

“Do you know how to use it?”

“I’ll start learning now.”

“Come to me after you learn.”

“I’m in a hurry. Please, I’m serious about this.”

“Doesn’t seem like you to beg like this,” Hinohara said curiously. “Is there a woman involved?”

“Depends on your point of view,” I said, muddling the answer.

“Then all the more reason you’re not getting it. I don’t want my precious telescope being used just to get a woman’s attention.”

I shrugged. “A girl I owe a lot to is really in the pits right now. She usually stays locked up in her room, but goes out at night just to see the stars. It seems like the only time she can feel at peace is when she’s looking at the night sky. I want to help her out.”

Hinohara stopped the engine, removed the oil cap, wiped it with a rag, then stuck it back in and checked the amount of oil. Confirming it to be sufficiently full, he tightened the cap and removed the vinyl gloves.

After taking the scooter to the back of the garage, he brought a folding table leaning against the wall over and set it up in front of me. Kneeling in front of the dent-filled wooden table, he rolled up his sleeves and put out an arm.

“The rules are simple,” Hinohara said. “We’re gonna arm-wrestle. As many times as you want. If you win even once, then I’ll lend you my telescope.”

“Arm wrestle?”, I repeated. “As if I have a chance of winning that?”

“I’m the one lending the telescope. What’s the point of giving you the advantage?”

“That’s still too unfair for me. I was hospitalized from graduation to the middle of last month. My whole body’s gotten weak.”

“Then give up. I don’t intend on changing my conditions.”

I reluctantly kneeled in front of the table. And I looked again at his shoulder, upper arm, and forearm in order. He worked out regularly, so they were all trained up very well. He was a man who wasn’t in the exercise club, but ranked first in the school in numerous physical tests. I had no shot at victory.

And yet, I couldn’t give up before I even started. I put my elbow on the table and grabbed Hinohara’s hand. With my left hand, I gripped the edge of the table.

“You ready?”, Hinohara asked. I nodded.

On his signal, I put all my energy into my right hand. It didn’t budge. Without exaggeration, it didn’t move a millimeter. As if his arm were affixed in place with screws. He gave me a c.o.c.ky smile. Putting some slight force in his wrist, my wrist buckled at once. And he took it to the end in one motion. “One win,” he counted. My entire arm was numb, and sweat poured from my body. “Well then, round two?”, he said.

After ten rounds, my right hand shook against my will, and I had trouble moving my fingertips. The inside of my elbow hurt like it was inflamed, and everything from my shoulder down felt incredibly hot.

Once my arm felt a little less numb, I doggedly put my elbow on the table. Hinohara, convinced of his victory, coolly talked to me in the midst of the match.

“Where did you get to know her?”

“Her?”, I looked up and asked. Sweat from my forehead went down my cheek and neck.

“The girl who almost got involved in the quarrel with Nogiyama three days ago.”

I attempted a surprise attack as he was talking, but he predicted it and instantly pushed back with even more force. I clicked my tongue, then answered him. “Ogiue? She’s just a cla.s.smate. She has the seat next to me.”

“You go see the stars in the middle of the night with ”just a cla.s.smate”?“

”Stars?” I twisted my neck. “Oh, Hinohara, were you under the impression I’m stargazing with Ogiue? She’s totally unrelated to this. The one I see stars with is a different girl…”

Just as I got that far, the force in Hinohara’s arm suddenly weakened. I wasn’t sure what happened, but I noticed it, and used all my remaining might to bring his arm down.

For a while, Hinohara looked curiously at his arm which suddenly became non-functional during the match.

“…A promise is a promise.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Alright, fine. I don’t want to, but I’ll lend you my telescope.”

“Thanks,” I said, wiping the sweat from my brow and ma.s.saging my right arm all over.

“But I have a condition. If you don’t accept, we’re back to square one.”

“I’ll accept most conditions,” I replied. “What is it?”

“When you use the telescope, you have to take me along.”

“…Uh, hold on. That’s a problem.” I shook my head. “I’ll study up on how to use it, so don’t accompany me, please.”

“No way. I won’t yield to this one.”

“A guy like you would scare her, Hinohara.”

“If she’d get friendly with you, f.u.kamachi, I’m sure she can get friendly with me too.”

“We’re old acquaintances. You, not so much.”

The dispute continued until noon, and Hinohara really wasn’t going to submit. So I decided to borrow his phone and call Hajikano’s house.

Hajikano’s older sister Aya answered the phone.

“Can you hand it over to Miss Yui? If you say it’s about the telescope, she should come out of her room.”

“Telescope?, Aya repeated, it not ringing a bell for her. ”Well, whatever. I don’t understand, but if you say so, Yocchan, I’ll try it. Hold on a second.”

Not a minute later, Hajikano came to the phone. “…It’s been handed over.”

“First, the good news,” I began. “After some discussion, I’ve been allowed to loan the telescope. …Now, the bad news is, the guy who owns it won’t allow it to be used without him coming along. I wouldn’t say he’s a bad guy or anything, but I’m turning him down if you don’t agree, Hajikano. What do you want to do?”

“If he’ll lend a telescope, it doesn’t matter,” Hajikano answered simply.

“You’re really sure?”, I pressed. “Isn’t that a special place for you? You aren’t opposed to outsiders knowing about it?”

“I don’t really think much of it. Also, you already know about it, Yosuke.”

“…Well, uh, that’s true.”

Bewildered by Hajikano’s demeanor softening up so much quicker than expected, I suddenly realized something.

“If it’s okay, can I bring another girl along? It might be uncomfortable with two guys, right?”

Hajikano replied with silence showing neither agreement nor disapproval.

“You had a cla.s.smate at Mitsuba Middle School named Chigusa Ogiue, right?”, I asked.

“Maybe,” Hajikano answered.

“I’m thinking of bringing her. Would you mind that?”

After another long pause, Hajikano spoke. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Then I’ll see about inviting Ogiue. Wait for me to come by at 2 AM tonight. See you.”

Lastly, Hajikano softly muttered, “…Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” I hung up.

“It’s decided,” Hinohara remarked, seeing me end the call. “Now, what about the location?”

“Remember Masukawa Hotel? We go there all the time to look at stars on the rooftop.”

“Ahh, the ”Red-Room Ruins.” Hung out there a bunch in middle school,“ Hinohara nodded, full of nostalgia. ”But why go out to such a dangerous place?”

“Hajikano seems to have a liking for the place.”

“The heck? Weird girl.” He tilted his head. “Oh well. Just gotta be on the roof of Masukawa Hotel by 2, right?”

“Yeah. Make sure you do it.”