exactly as he'd left him. Nakata picked up the discarded aloha shirt and jeans, folding them up neatly. He set them down on top of each other next to Hoshino's futon, adding the Chunichi Dragons baseball cap on top like a summary title given to a motley collection of ideas. He took off his yukata robe and put on his usual trousers and shirt, then rubbed his hands together and took a deep breath.
He sat down again in front of the stone, gazing at it for a while before hesitantly reaching out to touch it. 'There's going to be thunder today,' he pronounced to no one in particular. He may have been addressing the stone. He punctuated this with a couple of nods.
Nakata was over next to the window, running through an exercise routine, when Hoshino finally woke up. Humming the radio exercise music quietly to himself, Nakata moved in time to the tune.
Hoshino squinted at his watch. It was just after eight. He craned his neck to make sure the stone was where he'd put it. In the light the stone looked much bigger and rougher than he'd remembered. 'So I wasn't dreaming after all,' he said.
'I'm sorry-what did you say?' Nakata asked.
'The stone,' Hoshino said. 'The stone's right there. It wasn't a dream.'
'We have the stone,' Nakata said simply, still in the midst of his exercises, making it sound like some central proposition of nineteenth-century German philosophy.
'It's a long story, though, Gramps, about how the stone got to be there.'
'Yes, Nakata thought that might be the case.'
'Anyway,' Hoshino said, sitting up in bed and sighing deeply. 'It doesn't matter. The important thing is it's here. To make a long story short.'
'We have the stone,' Nakata repeated. 'That's what matters.'
Hoshino was about to respond but suddenly noticed how famished he was. 'Hey, what d'ya say we grab some breakfast?'
'Nakata's quite hungry.'
After breakfast, as he was drinking tea, Hoshino said, 'So what are you going to do with the stone?'
'What should Nakata do with it?'
'Gimme a break,' Hoshino said, shaking his head. 'You said you had to find that stone, so that's why I managed to come up with it last night. Don't hit me now with this Gee whiz, what should I do with it stuff. Okay?'
'Yes, you are right. But to tell the truth, I don't know yet what I'm supposed to do with it.'
'That's a problem.'
'A problem indeed,' Nakata replied, though you'd never know it from his expression.
'So if you spend some time thinking about it, you'll figure out what to do?'
'I think so. It takes Nakata much longer to do things than other people.'
'Okay, but listen here, Mr. Nakata.'
'Yes, Mr. Hoshino?'
'I don't know who gave it that name, but since it's called the entrance stone I'm guessing it's gotta be the entrance to something a long time ago, don't you think? There must be some legend or explanation about it.'
'Yes, that must be the case.'
'But you have no idea what kind of entrance we're talking about here?'
'No, not yet. I used to talk with cats all the time, but I've never spoken to a stone.'
'Doesn't sound like it'd be too easy.'
'It's very different from talking with a cat.'
'But still, ripping that stone off from a shrine-you sure we won't be cursed or something? That's really bothering me. Taking it's one thing, but dealing with it now that we have it could be a total pain in the butt. Colonel Sanders told me there wouldn't be any curse, but I can't totally trust the guy, you know what I mean?'
'Colonel Sanders?'
'There's an old guy by that name. The guy on the Kentucky Fried Chicken ads. With the white suit, beard, stupid glasses. You don't know who I mean?'
'I'm very sorry, but I don't believe I know that person.'
'You don't know Kentucky Fried Chicken? That's kind of unusual. Well, whatever. The old guy's an abstract concept anyway. He's not human, not a god or a Buddha. He doesn't have any shape, but has to take on some sort of appearance, so he just happened to choose the Colonel.'
Nakata looked perplexed and rubbed his salt-and-pepper hair. 'I don't understand.'
'Well, to tell you the truth, I don't get it either, though I'm the one spouting off,' Hoshino said. 'Anyhow, this weird old guy suddenly pops up out of nowhere and rattles off all those things to me. Long story short, the old guy helped me out so I could locate the stone, and I lugged it back here. I'm not trying to win your sympathy or anything, but it was a long, hard night, I can tell you. What I'd really like to do right now is hand the whole thing to you and let you take over.'
'I will.'
'That was quick.'
'Mr. Hoshino?' Nakata said.
'What?'
'There's going to be a lot of thunder soon. Let's wait for that.'
'You're telling me the thunder's going to do something to help with the stone?'
'I don't know for sure, but I'm starting to get that feeling.'
'Thunder, huh? Sounds kind of cool. Okay, we'll wait and see what happens.'
When they got back to their room Hoshino flopped facedown on the futon and switched on the TV. Nothing was on except a bunch of variety shows targeted at housewives, but since there was no other way of killing time, he kept watching, giving a running critique of everything on the screen.
Nakata, meanwhile, sat in front of the stone, gazing at it, rubbing it, occasionally mumbling. Hoshino couldn't catch what he was saying. For all he knew the old man might actually be talking to the stone.
After a couple of hours, Hoshino ran out to a nearby convenience store and came back with a sack full of milk and sweet rolls the two of them had for lunch. While they were eating, the maid showed up to clean the room, but Hoshino told her not to bother, they were fine.
'You're not going out anywhere?' she asked.
'Nope,' he answered. 'We've got something to do here.'
'Because there's going to be thunder,' Nakata added.
'Thunder. I see…,' the maid said dubiously before she left, looking like she'd rather not have anything more to do with this weird pair.
Around noon thunder rumbled dully off in the distance, and, as if waiting for a signal, it started sprinkling. Unimpressive thunder, a lazy dwarf trampling on a drum. Before long, though, the raindrops grew larger, and it was soon a regular downpour, wrapping the world in a wet, stuffy smell.
Once the thunder started, the two sat down across from each other, the stone between them, like Indians passing a peace pipe. Nakata was still mumbling to himself, rubbing the stone or his head. Hoshino puffed on a Marlboro and watched.
'Mr. Hoshino?' Nakata said.
'What's up?'
'Would you stay with me for a while?'
'Sure. I'm not going anywhere in this rain.'
'There's a chance something strange might happen.'
'Are you kidding me?' Hoshino began. 'Everything's been strange enough already.'
'Mr. Hoshino?'
'Yeah.'
'All of a sudden I was wondering-what am I, anyway? What is Nakata?'
Hoshino pondered this. 'That's a tough one. A little out of left field. I mean, I don't even know what I am, so I'm not the guy to ask. Thinking isn't exactly my thing, you know? But I know you're an okay, honest guy. You're out of kilter big-time, but you're somebody I trust. That's why I came with you all the way to Shikoku. I may not be so bright, either, but I do have an eye for people.'
