2

Nonō said that she wouldn’t leave the shrine until after sunset, so Kei and Haruki agreed to keep her company. Looking up at the stars wouldn’t help them find Kusakabe Shouta, but it was summer vacation anyway. Sometimes it was just a good idea to stargaze. Kei and Haruki walked down the mountain, past the main shrine, and to a nearby convenience store. They bought rice balls and sandwiches, bringing them back up to share with Nonō. The cats were willing to give up their spots on the wooden steps so Kei and Haruki could sit with Nonō, but only after an offering of rice balls. As Nonō bit into her sandwich, she mumbled, “There’s cheese in this.”

The sun set somewhere around 7 PM, but the pale white moon had already been visible in the east for about an hour beforehand. It was waxing just slightly larger than the half-moon phase. As the sunlight faded, the moon began to reflect more and more light, shining beautifully. The moonlight was clear and cool, despite the heat of the season. If there really was a boy gathering moon dust at that moment, he would have been very cold indeed.

“Do you know many constellations, Kei?” Haruki asked in her seated position beside him.

There were no street lights, no billboards, and no ambient light around the shrine. Stars were scattered about the navy-blue, practically black sky.

Kei gently shook his head. “Only enough to get a decent science grade.” Kei didn’t like how constellation charts ruined the image of the stars up in the night sky just doing their thing. He certainly didn’t hate the night sky, but he had never been interested in constellations. He pointed up at the sky. “As far as I can tell, that looks like Orion.”

Little did Kei know the Orion constellation only showed up during the winter season. It could be seen in the early morning of summer, but would not be viewable at night.

“Do you know any constellations?” Kei asked.

“Not very well. However, I believe that is the Summer Triangle over there.”

“Oh, Deneb’s in there.”

Deneb was one of the three stars making up the Summer Triangle, being a first-magnitude star some 18,000 light-years away from Earth. From what Kei knew, it was extremely bright, and emitted at least 50,000 times the energy of the sun. All that knowledge didn’t tell him where exactly the star was, though. He thought he had an idea, but the star wasn’t exactly going to answer if he called its name. Besides, from his perspective on Earth, even the moon’s reflection of the sun looked so much brighter in comparison.

Staring up at the sky, Kei asked, “What would Shouta typically talk about?”

Nonō’s answer was calm and relaxed. “He was always going on about the moon and stars. Oh, and that cat. Now that I think about it, I didn’t really know much about him at all.”

“He never talked about school or anything?”

“Nope. He didn’t like talking about himself very much.”

“Sounds a lot like you.”

“Takes one to know one. You’re not exactly an open book either,” Nonō remarked with a giggle. “I think Shouta and I had this exact conversation. Who knows, maybe that’s why he struck my fancy.”

“Because you don’t like talking about yourself?”

“Mm.”

“You don’t like long conversations?”

“It’s not about my preferences, I just don’t care. If I’m having a conversation, I’m not concerned with the other person’s whole life up to that point, or how they spend an average day. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

“So what, you wouldn’t care if they were a criminal, or the king of a faraway land?”

“What’s that got to do with me? I say something, they say something back. That’s the only thing that matters.”

Kei could kind of see where she was coming from. He could appreciate her honest and impartial perspective. After all, what was true was always true, even if a liar said it. What was wrong was wrong, no matter how honest of a person you were. Each word could be examined individually, regardless of what came before or after. But in that case… “So as far as you’re concerned, it’s all the same, coming from a stranger, a friend, or even someone you loved?”

She nodded. “If it’s all the same stuff, then it doesn’t matter who said it. Makes things a lot easier that way.”

Kei understood her sentiment perfectly. But still, it wasn’t the kind of thing someone should have been proud to say. He turned to look at Haruki’s profile. She was staring up at the sky silently. “Did you say the same things to Shouta-kun, Nonō-san?” he asked.

“Mm.”

He almost didn’t say anything, but slowly responded, “That philosophy is so fair that it’s actually kind of unfair.”

“That doesn’t really make sense. It’s contradictory,” Nonō said, though she didn’t appear very confused.

On paper, a conversation without regard to background was very sincere and honest. But in reality, nothing about it would feel sincere in the slightest. It was fair for the conversation, but unfair for relationships. A crucial part of intimacy was being more capable of moving someone with your words and actions. The desire for a relationship was the desire for one’s words to carry more weight in the other’s life, even if the same words had been said by someone else before.

Kei asked a truly malicious question. “With Shouta-kun gone, if someone else came by here to talk about the moon and the stars, would it just feel exactly the same to you?”

Kei didn’t really know how Kusakabe Shouta felt about Nonō Seika. But he had disappeared before her eyes with the promise to return before he moved away. No doubt the boy thought more of her than just being an acquaintance.

Nonō’s gaze dropped ever so slightly. “No. It wouldn’t feel the same at all.”

“Right. I understand.”

“Even I know what it feels like to treasure someone.”

“Yes, of course. I understand.” Kei sighed internally. He had gone too far. Kusakabe Shouta and Nonō Seika’s relationship wasn’t something that he could butt into as he pleased. It was their problem. They didn’t need coaching from the sidelines.

Haruki pointed up into the night sky. “I believe that one is Vega.” She had probably been searching for the Summer Triangle that whole time.

But Kei had no idea what star she was trying to point at.

The group whiled away their time looking up into the sky in front of the shrine until about 8:30 PM. They then began descending the mountain, their way lit by the moonlight. Kei could hear frogs croaking far off in the distance. The road beneath the mountain was brightly lit with street lamps and traffic lights. Eventually, the mountain path gave way to a set of narrow stone steps, which wove down into the side of the main shrine. The road was just a bit further down.

Kei offered to walk Nonō home, but she refused, saying, “I shouldn’t take up any more of your time than I usually do.” From what he could tell, her house was fairly close by, so he decided not to press the issue, and saw her off from the shrine.

He found himself walking down the nighttime streets with Haruki. His strides were just a tad shorter than they were when he walked alone.

Haruki was looking back up at the sky. “What exactly is moon dust?”

“Basically sand particles, mostly composed of basalt.”

“Do you think it would be particularly beautiful, Kei?”

“I dunno. I think the moon’s a lot prettier from our perspective here on Earth.”

“Why did Kusakabe Shouta leave to collect moon dust?”

“I dunno. He probably couldn’t think of anything else to get.” Shouta was likely trying to get a gift that could impress Nonō. Not even Kei knew enough about her to guess what she might like to receive. She enjoyed cream puffs, but they wouldn’t exactly leave a lasting impression. She didn’t seem very interested in jewelry or clothes.

The only thing he could be certain about was that she liked cats. Of course, trying to give her a cat as a present probably wouldn’t go over well. Her relationship with cats was quite different in that way.

“It’s really hard to find a meaningful present for someone else,” Kei remarked.

“I was overjoyed by the barrette you gave me,” Haruki responded. Exactly ten days prior, Kei had gifted Haruki with a red hair clip.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly playing fair with that one.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“That’s a secret. I’m really glad you liked it, though.”

Words were meant to convey things, but not everything had to be conveyed by words. Even so, Kei got the feeling that a few more conversations could have helped Kusakabe Shouta and Nonō Seika immensely.

“Alright, so say you wanted to buy someone a present,” Kei proposed.

“Right, I was just considering the perfect return present for the barrette you gifted me.”

“Well, I appreciate that, but you really don’t need to bother.” Shaking his head slightly, Kei continued, “If you were trying to find the perfect present, but didn’t know what the other person liked, what would you do?”

“I would ask them what they wanted.”

“Well, that’s a good start, but it’s not always the best strategy.”

“Why would that be?”

“There are some things you’re just better off choosing yourself. You have to guess what the other person will like from their words and actions.”

Haruki tilted her head slightly. “So I need to come up with a return present for the barrette myself?”

“That’s really… not what I’m talking about.” Kei was quite miffed about Nonō and Shouta getting sidelined, but Haruki was moving full steam ahead, so he decided to settle in as a soundboard for her.

She continued, “Since I received a hair barrette, I thought some form of jewelry or accessory would be appropriate, but you do not tend to wear such things.”

“Nah. Interesting thought, but that kinda stuff never really fit my image.”

“You have worn a watch from time to time.”

“Only when I had to. I can just use my phone to check the time.” Kei didn’t want to put himself in situations where he needed to know the time at a moment’s notice or else.

“Then how about a book?”

“I really prefer to just buy and read them myself.”

“Come to think of it, I have never even seen you in a library.”

“Libraries really aren’t for me. I don’t like the return dates anyway.” Kei liked to keep his schedule as free as possible. The best calendar was an unmarked one.

Haruki nodded. “I understand now.”

“You understand what?”

“Choosing a present truly is difficult.”

Kei and Haruki walked side-by-side down the nighttime streets. The moon slowly traversed from the eastern to the southern sky. Could that moon really have been holding Kusakabe Shouta?

The only known fact was that a boy had disappeared the night before.

✽

The following day was July 26th, and Kusakabe Shouta still had not come home.

Kei met up with Haruki at 11:30 AM at a small park bench.

A large clock was placed in front of them, but it was exactly five minutes late. It had always been five minutes late, no more and no less. How had nobody ever been assigned to fix it? Was it five minutes behind for some other, greater purpose? Then again, perhaps it was a message to the world that park clocks didn’t have to be exact.

Kei and Haruki were alone in the park. They were surrounded by empty sandboxes, swings, and slides. The play equipment felt fake when there were no children to play on it, as if it were only an imitation, or some form of art piece.

Cicadas loudly buzzed all around them. Somewhere in the distance, the faint sound of a television played out, though it was too quiet to understand what it was playing from the park.

Their last save had been made just around noon on July 23rd while sitting together on the same bench in the same park. It had nearly been 72 hours since then, so that save was on the verge of expiring.

Kei glanced at his cell phone display. 11:45 AM. The clock in the park, always five minutes behind, would read 11:40.

“It’s time,” Kei announced.

Haruki Misora’s ability was called the Reset. It allowed her to restore the world to a previous save that she had created. She could effectively rewind time up the three days prior. It was a powerful, selfish ability.

Kei’s role was to act as the switch for that ability.

“Haruki.”

He always hesitated when it came to instructing the use of her power. But no matter how much he hesitated, he never failed to give the word.

He spoke under a blue sky, in a way that might seem calm to an outside observer.

“Let’s reset.”

Those words always resulted in the destruction of the world. Each and every time, it was broken over and over again.

There was but a brief moment where it seemed that the unending buzz of cicadas was put on pause.