Chapter 1 – Splash … 7

Chapter 3 – The Dog Returning to the Sea …160

Chapter 1 – Splash

Something is ringing right overhead. It’s a familiar melody.

At that very moment, I was riding a horse. It was a really weird horse. Its body was a tricolor of red, white and blue. And not like the face paint brushed onto the faces of soccer fans, but it was just naturally like that.

It feels great. It truly does.

To be honest, I wasn’t feeling that great in the morning either. It was different from the pain you get during your period. It was a prickling, stabbing kind of pain around my stomach area. I can kind of understand now how the giant must’ve felt after he’d swallowed Tom Thumb. It was that bad. But, I grinned and bore it because it was the first time in a while that I would be going on a date with Takurou, and also because it was the perfect opportunity for me to wear the Courreges summer blouse that I bought the other day even though I couldn’t really afford it. For Takurou and the Courreges blouse, I didn’t mind pushing my limits a little. Now that I think about it, the blouse was a tri-colored stripe pattern too. Orange, yellow, and blue. It had vertical tri-colored stripes, and it was sleeveless, with sky blue ribbons on both sides of the hem. When you tied the ribbons a bit on the tight side, both of the hems become tapered, and it looked really cute. I wore that, plus denim Sabrina pants, and made my eyes double lidded with Aipuchi, double coated my eyelashes with a black and transparent mascara, lightly brushed my lips with a lip cream, and got myself fired up before I left home.

It’s not like I’m bragging about this or anything, but I’m on the thin side. And even though I’m thin, I’ve got a pretty strong stomach, and no matter what I eat or how much I eat, I never experienced stomach pains.

“You went on a date even though you had a stomach ache, and to top it off, you ate a cream croquette and parfait? You really are moron personified, you know that?”

It doesn’t matter who’s involved or what happens, Misaki would never overdo things. She always does things on her own schedule. If she’s not feeling well, then she’d cancel without hesitation even a date that was a hundred years in the making.

She’d send off a text message along those lines, and she’d turn off her cell. She’d take a painkiller and stomach medicine, and burrow into her bed. She’s a pretty impressive person like that.

As it turns out, I had gastritis. Apparently, a pretty serious case too. I got put on the drip, and I was injected with a painkiller, and as I was back lying down in my bed in my room, my cell phone went off. It was from Takurou.

Takurou asked.

I replied.

I continued.

Takurou faltered. I got a bad feeling about this. That bad feeling became the pointed tip of the needle, and it stabbed my stomach from the inside. It hurt.

I didn’t know where to place the punctuation in the voice that said “hey you know don’t you get this feeling like we aren’t really that great together.” I couldn’t comprehend what he had just said.

Takurou said.

Well if you think so, then what does it matter what I think?

“Well if you think so, then what does it matter what I think?”

“Really? Oh, so you think so too? That’s great. Well, see ya.”

It looks like I’ve been dumped. Thanks to the painkiller, once the pain settled down, I was able to register all that had happened with a fuzzy mind.

In my heart, I cursed at him, and as I cursed at him, tears came to my eyes. To think that I would cry when I lost him made me realize that I liked him enough to be in tears, and I felt even worse. Even if you’re dumped, you shouldn’t be crying in bed alone.

“Joy and sorrow alternate like the strands of a rope.”

It’s “A Bear in the Forest.”* [*a popular children’s song]

I woke up. My cell phone near my pillow is ringing.

I got a text message.

It’s a text from Kisaragi. It’s 1:18 in the middle of the night. I threw my cell phone to my bedside, and closed my eyes. Geez, could he be any lazier?

1:18? What kind of half-hearted gesture is that? Kisaragi probably fell asleep at around ten like he always does, and woke up around 1:15. Maybe he needed to go to the bathroom. Then, he must’ve realized it was my birthday today, and sent me a text message. I bet he’s back in his bed snoring away right about now. Since after all, Fujimoto Kisaragi’s nickname since right around the middle of elementary school hasn’t changed. “Sleepy Cat.” According to him, unless he sleeps at least 10 hours a day, there’s a noticeable drop in his physical capabilities. He sleeps in class a lot too. At the high school that I go to, not even half the class listens to the teacher during class. Despite that though, Kisaragi’s the only one who’s snoring away before we even begin first block.

Every time we have the morning homeroom, Suzu-chan, the teacher in charge of classic literature, got a kick out of ruffling Kisaragi’s head that’s always down on the desk. I was secretly worried though that Kisaragi might not be able to move on to the next grade. At my school, every time it comes time for people to move up a grade, there’s always around ten or so people that drop out.

“Didn’t we do something like this in grade 6?”

“It’s exactly the same.”

“That means we’re at a grade 6, first term level. And as for you, you’re even below that.”

We started high school with vocabulary from grade 6 for English and three digit multiplication for Math. Even then, our mid-term average for the first term was 31 points for English and 36 points for Math. It’s amazing, really.

“Do you mean my aunt and parents? Or are you talking about me? Hey, so which one is it?”

Oh, and to add onto that, on the day of the entrance ceremony, Misaki’s mom cried too. But in her case, it was out of joy. When she was born, Misaki was born super pre-mature, and she was a certified “weakly child” to the extent that doctors told her parents lots of times that they didn’t know if she’d make it to the age of 10. But there she was, at the entrance ceremony of high school. Inanohara’s school uniform has a beige coat paired with a deep red checkered skirt with a slightly big ribbon in the same shade. It’s pretty fashionable because it was designed by some famous whatchamacallit designer overseas. The daughter who wasn’t expected to live to the age of 10 was a high school student wearing a fashionable school uniform. I’m not surprised her mom had cried out of joy. When I told her that the only mother who’d cry out of joy over her daughter getting into this high school is hers, she turned up her nose and laughed saying:

She replied in a stuck-up way that made it hard to believe that she had that kind of past to her.

“Heaven’s vengeance is slow but sure.” (Literal Translation: Do not let overflow the heaven’s net from neglect)

If their policy is to “don’t chase after those who leave,” then I think that’s a bit heartless. Back in grade 10, I ended up in the same class as this girl named Ayana. We clicked pretty well, but she couldn’t advance onto the next grade because of a double whammy of low grades and low attendance. She had to repeat a grade. So, she dropped out.

She sent me a lot of text messages during that time asking stuff like “Riho, what’s a ‘progressive form’?” and “I have a feeling that it’s my first time hearing the term ‘factorization’—what kinda foreign language is that?” She probably spent more time texting than she did actually studying from the textbook. Even then though, Ayana studied. I know from personal experience, but studying is hard. It’s tough forcing yourself to do something that you don’t want to do. Vocab, math formulas, the names of places, old words, they all bypass through my head. None leave a trace in my mind. When you study, you have to forcibly hold them back and try to memorize them. It’s really tiring. It makes you exhausted. Ayana did that for a whole week, and her face broke out in a rash because of it. Even then though, it wasn’t good enough. Her mark for the make-up exam in English was 16 points, and it was five points short of the minimum.

I wish they wouldn’t just give up on students like that. That’s what I think. Misaki shrugs.

“Me? I don’t. I managed to pass. I only had to do one make-up exam.”

Waving a skinny wrist that looked as if it could snap at any moment, Misaki shifted her gaze from Kisaragi to me. She sniggered.

“Yeah, but Ayana’s…”

She rested her hip against the desk, and she light swung a skinny leg that really did look as if it could snap at any moment.

I was at a loss for words. What Misaki said’s right. She really did hit it right on the target. I probably will forget about her. Ayana and I did click, and I did have a blast talking to her, and I did want to go on to grade 11 with her, but if she’s not here, there’s going to come a day when I’m going to forget about her. Chatting, eating lunch, going to buy drinks at the convenience store, hanging out and having a blast…if we don’t do those kind of things together, it’s really easy for the memories to fade. To us, the time we spend together, seeing the same things, feeling the same things, confirming things face-to-face–those are what’s most important.

“That’s your flaw, Riho. You make yourself out to be this sensible, goody-goody person.”

“You’ll forget. You’ll forget about someone who’s not here. You’ll forget and go on having a good time.”

“Misaki.”

“Even if you stopped showing up though, I wouldn’t be able to forget about you that easily.”

“How stupid.”

“Who asked you to remember me?”

“Whoa, I thought that was a killer line for sure.”

“’Killer lines’ don’t suit you, Kisaragi.”

Kisaragi opens his mouth into a big yawn in front of me.

It was raining. The rain at the end of the rainy season is always pretty intense, and it splashes against the earth, and even though it’s something that’s supposed to trigger a crash of thunder, the rain itself was pretty quiet. Soundlessly, it drenches the town’s roofs and the cherry trees of the castles. The only noisy sound is the croaking of the frogs.

Kisaragi’s gaze moves around the four people with a swift motion. Me, Misaki, Suu-chan, and Kei-kun.

Kei-kun nods. Kei-kun, with his short blonde hair, had a super serious look on his face. I folded my arms and leaned back against the chair at the family restaurant we’re currently at.

“Carbonara and an onion salad. 810 yen excluding tax.”

Misaki stretches out her neck and peers down at the menu.

“Just short of 600 yen.”

“Well then, the total comes to 3,520 yen. Everyone okay with that?”

Whenever it’s someone’s birthday, we always play this game. The rules are simple. In the order of whose cell phone goes off the earliest, they’re off the hook when it comes time for the bill. Whoever doesn’t get a call until the very end has to pay the entire bill. And if no one’s cell goes off by the time we finish the meal, the star of that day, in other words, the birthday boy or girl has to pick up the tab. It’s pretty simple, but it can get pretty intense. RCR. We dubbed the game “Russian Cell phone Roulette.”

“Well, at any rate, Riho-chan, happy birthday.”

The glasses make a clinking sound. The other 3 are gazing at their cell phones.

Suu-chan pouted her lips. Suu-chan, Nagahara Yoshie, is the most overweight out of everyone in the class. She’s the top scorer of our grade.

Kamanashi says that every time he gives back the graded tests. And Suu-chan, with a smile, answers every time: “I prefer being here.”

Kamanashi sighs. And in a lowered voice, he says “You’re going to regret it later,” with a furrowed brow.

“If you don’t put your best into everything while you’re still young, you’ll come to regret it in the end, Nagahara.”

Absentmindedly gazing at the blackboard, Misaki mutters almost as if she’s saying it to herself. Even though she muttered it, her voice was louder than Kamanashi’s lowered voice. Misaki’s seat is located in the very middle of the first row. If she reaches out, she could touch the teacher’s desk. That’s how close it is.

“No, it’s just—I’ve heard that if you don’t make regrets while you’re still young, you end up paying for it later.”

“I learned that you end up becoming 30-something geezers and old bags moaning about what could’ve been. When that happens, you’re more likely to put on airs and give lectures to others. How pathetic, is that, right? Adults need to be graceful, or else they just come off as foolish.”

“Who taught you that?”

Misaki turns over to me. To be honest, I was a bit taken aback because I was buffing my nails underneath my desk. Don’t turn the convo to me all of a sudden.

“Yes, we did. We learned that ‘In eagerness for matters of less consideration, we grasp at trifles, and let go things of greater value.’”

Kamanashi blinks his eyes. They’re narrow double-eyelid eyes.

“What is that? You learned those kind of things during Classic Literature?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of La Rochefoucauld?”

“I never thought I’d hear the name ‘La Rochefoucauld’ from you students.”

“Well it seems Suzui-sensei is teaching classes that are of use to you. I’m envious that this class is filled with such excellent students.”

“Sensei, there’s also a saying that goes ‘We hardly find any persons of good sense, save those who agree with us.’”

Misaki turns, and gives me a thumbs up. Kisaragi goes back to being a sleepy cat. It’s not that we learned these quotes of La Rochefoucauld during Classic Literature class. Sorry Suzu-chan, but that was a lie.

“You cut your hair because you got dumped? Don’t you think you’re being a bit transparent?”

“We don’t need it, so you can have it.” The next week, I let Misaki and Kisaragi borrow the collection of quotes that became mine. Kisaragi’s reaction to the book wasn’t really that great, but Misaki seemed to really take a liking to it. Even though we have absolutely no interest in English vocab or Math formulas, if it’s something we take interest in, our brains absorb it really easily.

That’s how we came to be at the family restaurant now.

The melody of the bear.

The other four’s tensed bodies relax.

It’s a voice that brings back memories. There’s only one person who calls me that.

“Wow, long time no talk!”

“Pretty good. What about you?”

“Huh? ‘Won’? Won what?”

Kisaragi’s eyes meet mine. He probably figured out who I was talking to.

“Huh? Uh, no, no. We’ve only won one game…oh, I thought you’d be at least a little curious about it, but I guess not, huh?”

“Sorry, it’s just, I don’t really read newspapers, you know?”

“Mutsuki!”

“Why didn’t you call me before you called Riho?! You idiot! Do you even know how much I was sweating over the results of your game?! I was so worried that I couldn’t even concentrate in class!”

I shook my fork lightly in front of Kisaragi’s face.

Misaki shrugs.

Suu-chan pretends to blow a whistle.

“Yellow card! Yellow card!”

“Player Fujimoto, due to deliberate attempt at extorting a phone call, is going to have to have his cell turned off for five minutes.”

“Noo, wait! This is my brother we’re talking about here! What’s wrong with me trying to encourage a phone call out of my own brother?”

Kisaragi’s head drops. Wordlessly, he hands me my cell phone back.

“Yeah, it is.”

“Mutsuki, are you tired?”

“Did you hit any?”

“How many?”

“That’s great.”

“Oh, so what, the other team was like a really easy team?”

“Hey, how many more games do you have to be able to go to the Nationals?”

“Really? I don‘t think I‘m talking any different from usual. So, how many?”

“If it’s the National High-School Baseball Tournament, would you think about coming?”

“It’s in August, right?”

If it’s in August, I’d rather go to the beach than the tournament. When you live in a small town that’s surrounded by mountains for seventeen years, it makes you miss the ocean. I want to see the unobstructed horizon. I want to see the clouds that seem to well up directly from the horizon line. I want to experience first hand that the Earth really is round. I want to get psyched over finding a jellyfish. I want a new swimsuit. I better get cracking on that part-time job….

Mutsuki’s manner of talking becomes a bit stronger. But, that fizzles in an instant, and he goes back to his mumbled, unclear way of speaking.

“If you’re going to be playing, then I wouldn’t mind going.”

“Yeah, you’re right–oh, but maybe not.”

“I could always go to check out the guys there–you know, for the hot guys.”

“You’re not going to find any ‘hot guys’ at the tournament.”

Mutsuki was always the quiet type even as a kid, and he wasn’t very good at talking, but he was really good at listening. I was always talking to Mutsuki on top of the swings and jungle gym, while we walked down the road along the river, and under the sofa in the living room. He never became tired and weary of listening to me like Kisaragi did, or ignore me like Misaki did. He listened to me quietly with a serious look on his face. This reminds me of those times. I wonder if Mutsuki’s still that quiet guy who’s good at listening?

Mutsuki drew in a breath.

“Yeah, I worked at this gas stand during the winter break for three days. That’s where I met him, but he dumped me. Mutsuki, what about you? Do you have a girlfriend?”

He added in a quick “bye,” and hung up. I hate the sound that’s left in your ear after the person on the other end hangs up on you. It beeps in a really cold manner. I associate it with denial and rejection, which are the two things that I hate.

I bad-mouth him. Misaki and Kisaragi glance at each other.

“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my EX-boyfriend.”

“Why?”

“It’s none of our business whether you’re laying around reading manga or going out on dates with guys or shaping your eyebrows or slipping into love hotels, but while you’re doing all that, Mutsuki’s busy practicing. The very least you could do, is to not say anything to shake him up, at least during the preliminaries.”

“No way!”

“You dated the guy for half a year and you guys didn’t even do it?”

“Riho, no wonder you got dumped.”

“My personality isn’t the kind that does that.”

“Yes? Moritsugu Keishi-kun, go ahead.”

“That’s right.”

“For real?”

“Isn’t that like, amazing?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? ‘Cause he’s famous! Everyone’s talking about him. He’s been the clean-up hitter for the powerhouse Soushuu since he was in the 11th grade, and the newspapers’ve been saying what an amazing batter he is, and how it was unfortunate what happened last Summer, but it’s a sure thing that the team will make it to the nationals this year… Oh, now that I think about it, I think I read somewhere about him being from this town…”

“Wow Kei-kun, I’m impressed. I didn’t know you read the newspaper. Good for you.”

“What?!”

“I didn’t know that. Kei-kun, you’re on a sports team?”

“Now that I think about it though, once, I saw these guys wearing uniforms smoking behind the club room.”

“Well I for one will let you know that we do indeed have a baseball team. It’s one where they use a hard rubber ball though. Kei-kun hardly ever goes to club practice, but he’s a member. Oh and–”

“Mutsuki-san was a grade above us back in junior high. I didn’t know him that well, but Riho-chan and the others have known him since back in pre-school.”

Misaki pokes at her cell phone which had yet to ring.

“What?!”

“Fujimoto, is that true?”

“So you have a famous brother?”

“Is he going to like, turn pro?”

Kei-kun rags on Kisaragi to get him an autograph. Kisaragi nodded in a noncommittal way.

That’s why, when I saw a newsperson wearing a bright red pant suit with a huge smile on her face pointing to his house while saying:

It felt a bit weird. The blue roofed house that I was so familiar with suddenly looked all distorted.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“If you know someone that famous, I guess that gives me something to brag about now, huh?”

Misaki snorts.

Kei-kun stiffens. He has shaved eyebrows, so when he narrows his eyes, he looks really intimidating. Kei-kun’s Suu-chan’s boyfriend. It’s only been a month since they started going out, but we’ve all gone out together twice to karaoke. Our school has three divisions: a general division, a machinery division, and an agriculture and forestry division. Kei-kun’s in the agriculture and forestry division. The second time we all went out karaoke-ing, he brought tomatoes that he learned to grow himself. Of course, he brought them even though he wasn’t allowed to. Apparently they spent a year preparing the ground by mixing organic fertilizer with the dirt in order to grow them. The tomatoes, which were grown with love and care, tasted so good that it shocked me. Compared to this, the stuff they sell at the supermarket is like dry fruit.

These are the times that I realize that I really don’t know anyone. Even if you hang out with that person a lot and you talk to them often, you don’t know anything. That unknown part of them rears its head.

Now that I think about it, it’s laughable really. Me being the kind of person who loves watching B Horror movies, I could watch images overflowing with blood and gore and guts while eating a beef stew, but back then I was still in elementary school, and I found the woman, who was dripping wet and bloody with her whites showing in her eyes, so scary, that I broke out crying.

Kei-kun, who’s usually cheerful and fun does a 180 with a flip. What will appear, I’ve yet to know.

Misaki adds. She’s not scared of anything. It doesn’t matter whether Kei-kun glares at her, or the atmosphere changes, or does a 180, or whether the convo moves in circles—none of that matters to her.

“The cucumbers that I grow taste a hundred times better than this.”

Suddenly, a cell phone rings. It’s “Orange” by SMAP. Suu-chan lets out a shriek.

“I’m happy too. That means that the two of us get our tabs paid.”

My ringtone melody goes off. I’ve got mail. It’s from Mutsuki.

The words are stretched out across the screen.

Kei-kun pops a piece of sweet-and-sour pork in his mouth.

Kisaragi does the same thing.

“Well, to put it another way, he doesn’t know any other girls. Misaki’s got that crabby side to her, right? And the school that he goes to is an all-guys school that’s all about baseball, so the only image of ‘girls’ that he has is pretty much only Riho.”

“What is that supposed to mean? What do you mean I’ve got a ‘crabby side to her,’ huh?”

Kisaragi groans with pain. It’s because he was kicked hard with the pointed end of a loafer. That must’ve hurt. I did go easy on him, but apparently Misaki was unmerciful with her kick.

Kei-kun trembles in an exaggerated manner. Suu-chan giggles.

“We’re punishing him.”

“Misaki and Kisaragi make a good combo, because Misaki’s a sadist, and Kisaragi’s a masochist. Before long, I bet Kisaragi’s battered body’s gonna be found floating in some river.”

Misaki’s lip curls. Her lips are thin and nicely shaped. Misaki wasn’t blessed with color. Her skin and hair are sparse of pigment. The only thing that’s prominent are her black eyes. She looks frail and gentle, and if it were my parents, they probably would’ve wanted to stick “Handle with Care” stickers all over her. And the fact is, Misaki’s parents do treat their daughter as if she’s a fragile object. However, the daughter who’s supposed to be frail and gentle who would crumble if handled too roughly contorts her lips and says:

She says those harsh things without batting an eyelash.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Fujimoto, don’t you get sick of that shit?”

“Naw, I wasn’t talking about that. I meant, like with your brother.”

“Huh.”

I was fascinated by a guy’s neck, but apparently, Misaki had no interest in stuff like that.

She asks with a slight smile on her face.

Kei-kun lifts his head up.

“That’s pretty impressive, ain’t it?”

“Yeah, you’re right. That IS pretty impressive.”

“A public university’s medical division IS located on Earth, you know. It’s not up in space somewhere, so you don’t have to look up like that. If you’re at the top of Ryo-High, then it must be something that’s easily within each for you.”

“Keep that in mind, as you try your best to take even a step forward in the direction of those diamonds.”

He said that all high-and-mighty like he knew what he was saying, but I don’t know what a coal is. I’ve never seen one in real life. I’ve seen diamonds before though. Even though I’ve never actually held one or put one on or received one as a present, I’ve at least seen someone wearing it on their finger or on their neck, or inside a show window. The coal is the mystery to me. I wish I could see it just once. To think that it’s glossy and black and flammable–it’s a pretty mysterious being in and of itself. But, having a diamond of an older brother while you’re the coal of a younger brother might be tough.

Before Misaki could say anymore, I showed Kei-kun my sympathy.

“Well, not like I care or anything, but my old man’s always ragging on me and saying stuff like ‘If we add the two of you and average you out, then the result is just about your average person.’ It seriously made me want to snap.”

“Nah, he didn’t go that far…Yoshimura, did your dad say that to you?”

“Well, this IS our high school we’re talking about, after all. The tragedy of being compared to your better-abled older brother or sister is something that’s as common as trash in a trash can. It’s nothing surprising really.”

“There’s no way that we’re stars.”

Kisaragi finished eating his Chinese-style lunch set, and finished off the water in his glass with a gulp.

Kei-kun raised an eyebrow.

“Mutsuki? Really? I had no idea.”

“But isn’t it because he doesn’t open up to people about his feelings that it gets really tiresome? Those who bottle up their feelings are really missing out.”

“You should learn to bottle up more. Seriously though, if you add you and Mutsuki and average it out, you’d end up with your average person.”

“Whoa, I’m not gonna be able to have kids then!”

I smiled an easy smile and gazed at Kei-kun, Kisaragi and Misaki one at a time.

Misaki shakes a fist.

“Damnit, you good-for-nothing cell phone! If you don’t ring right now I’m going to pickle you!”

“Hello…oh, what? The rain? …yeah, you’re right. I’m just out with Riho and the others right now, so I’ll call you. You can come pick me up then..yep, that’s right. Okay, bye.”

“Yipee, that means I’m the third person off the hook! Thank you parents!”

“Yep. She asked me if I wanted her to pick me up because it’s raining. Haha, my parents probably thinking their daughter’s going to melt if she gets wet.”

“It’s not like I caused you any trouble because of it. Just leave me alone. You can be really annoying, you know that, Riho? Maybe you should put some super glue on those lips of yours instead of coating them with two layers of lip gloss.”

“It’s no sweat off my back whether you get hospitalized or get sick or die or get murdered by someone. It’s just, I feel bad for your mom. It’s because you’re going around on a whim on rainy days without carrying an umbrella like you do that she has to constantly worry about you and wait on baited breath.”

“Don’t bring up my parents’ jobs. That has nothing to do with this.”

I heard a lowered mumble. It was from Suu-chan. In an instant, everyone at the table settled down.

Suu-chan, who had been slurping on the Chinese-style spoon, gazes over at me.

“Who?”
“The coach.”<