2

The whine of a small insect buzzed near his ear. It kept going in a pattern, three or four times. Eita woke up as he realized it was a vibration sound. He reflexively reached for his phone, which was continuing to vibrate near his pillow.

Although he somehow was able to grab onto his phone, he couldn’t get his heavy eyelids to open. He finally managed to force them open just a crack, and saw the display on his phone telling him it was past 8 AM before his eyes immediately shut again.

He’d had a lot of trouble getting to sleep the night before. He got in bed somewhere around 1:30 AM, but didn’t think he actually fell asleep until maybe 6. At the very least, he had checked the clock and seen it say 5 AM before finally falling asleep.

And he knew exactly why.

What if that person he’d glimpsed on the other side of the street had been Natsume Mio… That single thought was driving him crazy, and it kept his mind so occupied he just couldn’t sleep.

It wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong. Ena was caught up in a situation, and he wanted to help her. Leaving her alone wouldn’t be right, so he walked her to a place close to her house. And yeah, she had hugged him from behind like some sort of piggyback ride, but he hadn’t asked for it or gotten any warning that it would occur. For all intents and purposes, he could write the incident off as an act of God.

Besides, even if Mio had seen him, he didn’t owe her any apology or excuse. There was nothing special between him and Mio, they were practically just acquaintances, at best you could call them friends… As unfortunate as that was to admit.

But it didn’t really matter how objectively correct that take was. The fact didn’t change that his brain was running on constant overdrive.

He had hoped a night’s sleep would leave him feeling a bit better, but the second he woke up, his mind was back on the exact same loop.

But thanks to the mental activity, his mind eventually kickstarted, and his eyes could finally open. Finally, he got to the point where he could check his phone again.

Eita turned his full attention to his phone, lying on his side in bed. He learned that the vibration he’d heard earlier was from a series of LINE notifications. Several new messages had popped into the group chat he’d been put in with Haruto and the other girls a few weeks prior. The first message came from Yoriko.

Are you gonna be okay with the snow, Natsuki-san?

Eita thought about what the message might mean for a second.

Snow.

The second he understood its intent, he threw off his covers and leaped out of bed. He dashed out of his room, phone in hand, stomping all over the place.

“Ah, morning, Eita.”

He ignored his mother in the kitchen and flipped on the TV. It was broadcasting the morning weather forecast. A male forecaster and female newscaster were discussing all the snow that had fallen in the Kanto region overnight. As it turned out, even the city areas of Tokyo experienced up to 4 inches or more. Public transportation was having a slew of delays and suspensions. The news hosts agreed that they were concerned for all the students taking the Center Test.

They followed up with a live airing of Shinjuku Station, which still had plenty of snowfall and huge drifts.

During the whole program, the phone in Eita’s hand was buzzing.

How’s the train? Is it up? Hazuki was asking for Mio, since she needed to take the train to get to the exam center.

Nope. It’s stopped. I don’t know what to do.

As soon as Eita saw Mio’s reply, his body started moving on its own. He rushed into his room, the only thing on his mind being to get changed as fast as possible. As soon as he could, he dashed out again. His mom said something or other behind him, but he bolted out the door without replying.

Eita took the elevator down to the first floor and stepped foot outside. He froze for just a moment as a snowscape that looked entirely unlike the city he’d been in so far came into view.

Countless snowflakes peppered down from above, ranging from insignificant flecks to massive chunks. They were painting the whole city white.

Eita gritted his teeth, carefully stepping out into the white landscape. All the snow on the ground sucked his feet in, making it all that much harder to run. After switching over to a section where one of the condo residents had shoveled a pathway, Eita dashed towards Prefectural Route 32.

Even on busier roads, massive piles of snow had drifted up the sides. Eita tried sticking to the sides of the road, but there was still so much snow that he couldn’t avoid getting it all over himself.

He stopped at a bus stop, hopeful that he could catch a bus to Fujikawa Station. But the traffic coming from Kamakura was slow, and his irritation and impatience were getting the better of him by the second. After waiting a while, there was no sign of a bus coming. Eita cursed in his mind and started running.

The accumulated snow made running quite the difficult task. Some places still had the fresh snow on the ground, and others had even higher drifts from where the road had been cleared. In one spot, Eita tripped over a step buried under the snow, taking a hard fall.

His knee throbbed with pain, but he forced himself back up and got moving again, planning on going even faster.

He held his phone in hand, and it was buzzing from more and more incoming messages.

What about the alternate train route?

That’s down, too.

In Eita’s mind, the same thoughts were coursing through. I gotta get there, even if it’s just one second faster. I gotta go just that one foot farther.

Could you take the bus?

Even when it does get here, it’s late, and it’s always packed with people.

Eita knew that going to the station wouldn’t change anything. He couldn’t force the trains to run again, and he couldn’t stop the heavy snowfall.

What do I do? I don’t know if I’ll make it in time for the exam.

He couldn’t magically create a new way for Mio to get to the exam venue. The station wouldn’t open up any new options for him.

Besides, how would Mio feel if he just randomly showed up?

But no matter what rose to mind, he only had one thought in return…

“Oh, who cares?! I already knew all that!” Eita shouted out loud, sprinting through the snow. He was winded, his legs were killing him, and his knee still hurt from that tumble earlier. And even after all that, getting to Mio wouldn’t solve her problems. If anything, it would only serve to make his feelings for her obvious. She’d find out.

With every step that he took, new excuses not to go popped into his mind.

But even putting all of them together wasn’t reason enough for him to stop now.

And since he didn’t have any reason to give up, Fujikawa Station eventually came into view.

The station was all in a hubbub and commotion as various services were suspended or stopped due to the snow. “We apologize for the terrible inconvenience” was spouted by the staff on all corners of the station. Some passengers looked disappointed as they listened to the continual warnings, announcements, and apologies. Some were getting impatient, while others were downright irritated. Everything came together to create a supremely unpleasant atmosphere.

Eita walked through all of them, only looking for Mio. He was wheezing hard, and didn’t think he’d be able to relax any time soon. Sweat poured down his forehead, and wiping it away was too much of a bother.

There were just too many people.

He could never find her in the crowd.

But being unwilling to give up made it surprisingly easy for Eita to accomplish the impossible.

She was on the second floor of the station, near the JR ticket gate. She watched the digital signboard, staring anxiously at the “Service Suspended” almost like she was praying.

A disgruntled salaryman bumped her shoulder as he passed, and kept on walking towards the terminal without even apologizing.

Eita wanted to chew the guy out, but the impact had pushed Mio over, and she slipped and fell down, her phone clattering on the floor. He couldn’t just leave her like that.

Without even a moment to catch his breath, Eita ran over to Mio.

“Why today? I can’t do this any more… And after I studied so hard…” Mio reached for her phone, sounding ready to burst into tears. Eita picked it up first.

“Here…” He handed it to Mio, unable to speak in more than a short burst. He was absolutely winded, and couldn’t talk for long.

“Thank y… wh-, huh?” Mio looked up, and her eyes went wide as she saw Eita. “How did…”

“I was in the area…” Eita tried to casually wipe the sweat dripping down his face, but he couldn’t really cover up his condition. He didn’t look for a second like a guy who just happened to be in the area. But he hadn’t really thought far enough ahead, so he didn’t have anything else to say.

“That can’t be possible.” Mio tried to protest, but Eita cut her off, pulling her up by the arm.

“Get up. They just said that the trains are back on.”

A station attendant was excitedly announcing the return of the train service. Delays were still expected, but they were at least moving.

Eita held onto Mio’s arm after she stood up, pulling her through the ticket gates.

“Wait, Izumi!”

He ignored her confused exclamations. There was a train coming in on the floor below them, and getting on that train, which was guaranteed to be packed, was his top priority.

“Please take a step back!” warned a station attendant on the platform. “Doors closing!”

Eita, packed like a sardine within the train, prayed for the doors to close quickly. As if in answer, the doors began hissing closed. The hubbub outside was cut off, and Eita and Mio traveled away from Fujisawa Station on the train with all the other passengers.

Mio stood beside the far door of their car, and Eita was in front of her, both of them grabbing the same handrail. The packed train was practically suffocating them.

She was so close that he could almost hear her breathing.

But he wasn’t feeling excited or embarrassed by the closeness. He was more concerned about the way that Mio had been staring at the floor the whole time, her face wrought with anxiety.

“I’m not gonna make it in time…” she mumbled softly, almost in a whine.

“Did they announce a delay of the exam?”

“Huh?”

“There’s a delay broadcast on the news basically every year.”

“…Oh.” Mio shifted against Eita’s chest, pulling out her phone. She tapped it a few times, then said, “There it is!” looking up with a brighter expression. But her anxiety quickly took over, and she began looking ready to burst into tears again.

“So you will make it there in time.” Eita couldn’t really prove the claim, but he needed to say something, and there just wasn’t anything else he could say.

“But… it’s still snowing, and I fell down, and I’m all wet… I can’t do it like this. There’s no way I’ll remember all that stuff I studied…”

Eita wanted to encourage her somehow, but it just seemed like the more they talked, the more anxious Mio felt. But there wouldn’t have been any point in coming all that way if he was just gonna stand there and do nothing.

“Today’s exam is over Japanese History, right?”

“Well… yeah.”

“Then what’s the oldest surviving handwritten diary?”

“…Huh?” Mio had been looking down for a long time, but her eyes finally moved up.

“It’s a Japanese history question. What’s the oldest surviving handwritten diary?”

“…The Diary of a Mido Regent.” Mio spoke slowly, pulling from her memory.

“And who was the author that left it behind?”

“Fujiwara no Michinaga.” Her voice was a little more clear.

“What is the name of the Buddhist statue at Todaiji Temple made with dry lacquer during the Nara period?”

“The Fukukenjaku Kannon, held in the Hokke-do Hall.” Her voice attained a confident rhythm. Her face had finally relaxed, too.

“See, you do remember.”

Her answers were perfect.

“…How do you know these questions? You’re a recommendee.” Mio shot Eita a somewhat annoyed glare, and she was finally looking like the Mio that he knew. That made him happy, in a way.

“Well, I studied for entrance exams all the way until the fall, when recommendations were announced.”

He wasn’t lying, but it wasn’t a truthful answer to her question, either.

The train shook, and Eita got jostled from behind. He put a hand on the door and desperately braced himself, his teeth clenching so hard they hurt as he tried to make sure Mio wouldn’t get smushed.

He could feel her watching him.

“…Thanks.”

“For what?” Eita was too embarrassed to accept her gratitude, and chose to feign ignorance.

“Then give me more questions,” Mio demanded, suddenly turning sullen. Evidently she didn’t enjoy her thanks being brushed aside.

“The Nihon Shoki quotes passages from an official diary. Who kept a personal record of their dispatch to China?”

“Iki no Hakatoko.”

Asking questions was something Eita could easily do, so he kept on going until they reached the station for the university that served as the exam hall for the Center Test. And Mio kept on answering all the way there.

“There are 30 minutes until the start of the exam! There is no need to rush!”

An attendant stood outside the gates of the university where the exam was taking place, holding his hands around his mouth to make sure his voice was heard by the many test-takers making their way over.

It made Eita and Mio breathe a sigh of relief after having run from the station to get there.

“We made it,” Mio cried in relief.

“Here, Natsume.” Eita stopped her, pulling out a shrine amulet from his pocket and handing it to her. “It’s from Fukuoka, so it should be effective.”

Mio reached out and grabbed the amulet. She took a good, long look at it before asking, “It’s from Dazaifu?”

“Like Suguwara no Michizane.”¹

“That’s a really annoying answer.” Though her words claimed otherwise, Mio didn’t seem that upset as she carefully pocketed the charm.

But then, she turned back to Eita, looking almost pouty.

“What?” Eita had to ask about the sudden negativity.

“I might want to ask you something once the exam is over.”

“You might?”

“I do,” Mio clarified when Eita called out her strange phrasing.

Eita could think of a few things she’d want to say. They were having their first real talk ever since New Year’s Eve, after all. There was the possibility she’d bring up what happened the night before, and the even more terrifying circumstance where she probed into his current actions.

But running away and hiding wouldn’t solve anything. All Eita could do was accept things as they came.

“Okay.”

So Eita answered clearly and concisely.

“Well, I’m gonna go give it my best shot. Thanks.” Offering a small smile, Mio headed towards the exam hall.

Eita watched her go until she was out of sight, then turned around and slowly headed back the way he had come.

His phone buzzed with a notification before long.

I made it! Thanks for your concern, everyone.

Mio had sent that in the group chat.

Hazuki, Yoriko, and Haruto sent her a flood of encouraging stamps. Eita looked for his own stamp to say Give it your best shot!, but stopped himself.

Everything he wanted to tell her had already been put into the amulet.

Footnote

¹ A renowned scholar and poet from the 9th century. Though revered in Shinto as the god of learning, he only ended up in Dazaifu as both a demotion and exile due to his rival’s political maneuverings. return