As they passed through a cluster of trees, they took in the view of the wide ocean. They saw the sky sparkling with sunlight and the fresh blue of the sea.
Haruko and Naota were riding the Vespa along a coastal road. Taking the full brunt of the wind, Naota sat in front of Haruko, who was driving.
'How's the sea?' Haruko asked, sounding satisfied.
'This isn't the season for sightseeing,' Naota replied, but the sound of the engine and the wind drowned out his voice, and his words didn't reach Haruko's ears.
She drove at a terrifying speed, zigzagging across the road. As carefree as the expansive sky and the wide sea, she ignored all the rules, wavering left and right at whim.
'Careful!' Naota yelled at her.
Haruko, who must have heard him, twisted the accelerator instead, shouting, 'Rider's high!'
'Seriously, you're freaking me out! This is dangerous, and I'm not wearing a helmet!'
However, Naota didn't look entirely unhappy as the wind rushed over his face. After all, this was the first time Naota had ridden on a motorbike. And it was the first time in his life he'd felt the wind like this.
'You have no brain, so what are you worried about?' Haruko laughed.
Then, the Vespa sped up all the more.
The cool autumn air blew straight over him. The stimulating breeze whisked past, exhilarating him.
Maybe he enjoyed the feel of the wind rushing past because his head really was empty, exactly like Haruko had said.
Chapter 2
Naota walked down the incline, careful not to slip on the rain-soaked ground.
Mamimi had taken shelter from the rain beneath the bridge.
She sat directly on the concrete, holding a stray cat on her lap. Playing a handheld game, she splashed her legs around in the shallows, although the river wasn't really shallow anymore. Because of the rain, the river had swelled.
It had been raining since that morning. At daybreak, the sky had been gray and cloudy; by afternoon, a heavy downpour had begun.
After walking through the annoying rain, Naota had arrived home from school just in time to get a call from Mamimi.
'I'm at the bridge,' she'd said. 'My shoes got washed away in the river, so could you come and meet me here?'
Naota had thought to himself that he'd been getting a lot of calls asking him to do things lately. First, it had been Haruko's bike parts; now, it was Mamimi's sandals. However, while he told himself he wasn't going to become anybody's slave, he proceeded to put some sandals in a bag and set out, an umbrella in hand.
Since 'that' night, Naota and Mamimi's relationship had taken a strange turn. Yesterday, she had waited for him in front of the school; today, she had called him. It was the first time she'd done either of these things since he'd met her. A little while ago, if Naota had received a phone call from Mamimi, he would have jumped up and run out of the house immediately, heedless of snow, a typhoon, or anything else.
Ducking out of the rain and under the shelter of the bridge, Naota closed his umbrella, removing the sandals from his bag and offering them to her.
Mamimi looked up and grinned at him, showing her teeth as she had yesterday.
'You're in high school already,' he said, 'so what do you think you're doing?'
'I was playing with Takkun, and I lost my shoes in the water.'
'With who?'
She repeated, 'With Takkun,' and continued to stroke the cat sitting on her knees.
'That's Takkun, too?'
The cat was Takkun; Naota was Takkun; apparently, any substitute pet was Takkun. Thinking about his unhappy situation, Naota sighed.
'This Takkun is hungry,' Mamimi said. 'Do you have anything? Cats don't eat gum, do they?'
'Did you find it?'
'I'm like a god,' Mamimi smiled, self-satisfied. 'I'm a protector of the weak, like Cantido, Lord of the Black Flame.'
The God of the Black Flame, Cantido, was a character in the handheld game Fire Starter. Mamimi had been playing it for more than a year now. 'I'm so addicted,' she'd say with an innocent expression; she would play it again and again without getting bored.
Suddenly, Naota realized what was missing and asked, 'Don't you have an umbrella?'
'It's all right. It'll stop soon.'
'It'll stop? Look at it.'
'I never carry an umbrella.'
'Then, what do you do when it rains?'
'I don't mind getting a little wet.'
Naota was getting annoyed again.
'Let's play some,' Mamimi said, not noticing Naota's concealed rage.
By 'play,' she meant their kind of fooling around. Naota liked the smell of her, her softness, and her mischief. Today, though, Naota felt like staying away from carefree girls who didn't think of other people's feelings.
'I'm busy,' he said coldly. Opening his umbrella, he walked away.
'Takkun,' she whispered, touching the kitten's nose.
After about an hour, the rain stopped.
The clouds began to disperse, revealing glimpses of a blue sky.
Mamimi put on the sandals that Naota had brought her; then, she stood up, still holding the cat. Whimsically, she walked along the riverbank, wearing the oversized sandals and looking at the dragonflies that had come out after the rain had stopped.
And then…
She saw something that took her breath away.
Next to the river, the tall grass grew thick. In that tall grass, an odd-shaped figure stood, the likes of which she hadn't seen before. It was big, had a dark blue body, and looked like some kind of idol. It wasn't a statue, though; it was alive.
It took three giant steps toward the riverbank, gazing at its surroundings.
'God?' Instinctively holding her breath, Mamimi hid in the grass and watched the figure with excitement.
The odd-shaped figure was none other than the robot that had come out of Naota's head. It must have seized an opportunity when Kamon wasn't looking to leave the shop. What it was doing in this forsaken place was a mystery.
After loitering on the bank for a while, the robot climbed up the concrete shore and began walking off somewhere.
Mamimi, heart pounding in her chest, followed after it.
The place the robot was headed appeared to be the burned-down wooden school building by the side of the
