lthough the temperature in the room wasn’t that low, he felt as cold as if

he were trapped in a refrigerator. Was it the blinding whiteness of the walls?

The long, narrow table and the pipe chairs only served to increase his

anxiety. He had been in the same room before. It was right after his father’s

death, when the whole family had been brought into Nihonbashi Police

Station to identify his possessions.

Yuto was on his own. Kurosawa had been brought into the station with

him, but he must have been put in another room. He wondered what was

happening to his friend. Although they had managed to meet in the burger

joint, Yuto hadn’t gotten around to saying what he wanted to say; he had

been waiting for Sugino to show.

He had no idea what was going on. What got that Kaga fellow so

worked up that he started shouting about locating Sugino? And what were

they planning to do, bringing him and Kurosawa to a place like this?

He looked at his cell phone. No reply from Sugino yet. Should he call?

No. He’d already called him countless times and not gotten through once.

Yuto had just put his phone back in his pocket when there was a knock

on the door. He pulled himself upright in his chair.

Kaga and Matsumiya came in and sat down, facing him across the

table.

“We haven’t managed to track down Sugino yet,” Kaga said. “We’ve

got the police all over Tokyo looking for him. Under normal circumstances,

we’d be part of the search, but we’ve got a job of our own: our job is to get

you to talk.”

Yuto tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry.

Kaga looked him in the eye. “I need you to tell me everything you

know. Starting with the accident three years ago.”

Yuto looked down and began inspecting a small crack on the surface of the meeting room table.

“I know you feel guilty,” Kaga said. “That’s got to be the reason you

made those paper cranes. Why you went to Suitengu Shrine. And the reason

why, when that still wasn’t enough for you, you started visiting all the

Seven Lucky Gods shrines in Nihonbashi. That’s right, isn’t it?”

Shocked, Yuto lifted his head. He couldn’t believe that the detective

already knew so much.

Kaga’s gaze was deep and piercing. This wasn’t a man who could be

fobbed off with cheap lies. Even so, he was no longer the frightening person

he had been in the burger joint. He exuded bigheartedness. Yuto felt that he

would hear his confession, no matter what it was, with an open mind.

“You’re the original Tokyo Hanako, aren’t you? And the person who

took over the handle from you was Takeaki Aoyagi, your father?”

Hearing Kaga’s words, Yuto realized that he had reached the end of

the road. The time had come for him to tell them everything.

“You’re right,” Yuto replied.

Kaga exhaled sharply. “You’re ready to talk?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Where shall we start? The accident at the pool?”

“Fine. I’ll start there. Could I get a glass of water first?”

Matsumiya stood up. “You’re okay with water? There’s tea or coffee,

if you want.”

“Water’s fine,” Yuto responded. In his mind, he had already jumped

three years into the past.

Tomoyuki Yoshinaga was an uppity second-year student.

More precisely, he was a second-year student whom Yuto and his

mates—who were all third years—regarded as uppity. It wasn’t Yoshinaga’s

fault that the other boys thought of him like that. He trained hard and always did what he was told. He was a serious and cooperative member of

the team.

It was a casual remark from an alumnus who came by to help with the

coaching that first brought Yoshinaga to the attention of the third-year boys.

After watching them all swimming for a while, the alumnus got them all

together and made a little speech.

“Yoshinaga here has the best stroke of the lot of you. You should all

study his form. And I don’t just mean the first and second years; I mean the

third years too.”

Yuto was there and the alumnus’s comments came as something of a

shock to him. The comments crystallized something that he’d been doing

his best to ignore.

There was no doubt that Yoshinaga had beautiful form. He still lagged

in terms of his physical strength, so Yuto’s times were faster, but he knew

that would probably change before long. And he wasn’t alone in feeling that

way.

After practice ended, the third-year boys all got together. They quickly

started bad-mouthing Yoshinaga and the alumnus coach.

“That alumnus fellow doesn’t know the first thing about swimming.

Yoshinaga wallows around in the water like a hippo.”

“You don’t need to tell me that. Conceited little jerk. Grinning like a

monkey.”

From that day, the attitude of the third-year students to Yoshinaga

underwent a complete transformation. None of them would speak to him,

and if he ever approached them for advice on technique, they would

respond with sarcastic put-downs like, “How should I know? What could I

possibly hope to teach a great master like you, Yoshinaga?” When

Yoshinaga’s times were bad, they would all exchange high fives behind his

back.

It may not have been hardcore bullying, but it was right on the

borderline.

That was what was going on when a major swim meet took place.

Everyone on the Shubunkan Junior High School team participated in a race

of some sort, but their results were very far from stellar. Their performance was a major letdown for the team coach, Itokawa, who had been expecting

much more of them. The times they achieved in the two-hundred-meter and

medley relays were far inferior to the sort of times they regularly managed

in practice. Reproducing their normal times would have been quite enough

for them to win.

“You disappointed me today, boys,” said Itokawa, addressing the team

after the meet. “I want you to think good and hard about what you did

wrong today. Once you’ve figured that out, take corrective action. Keep

going the way you are now and you’re just going to keep right on failing.”

Yuto was one of the members of the two-hundred-meter relay team,

with Sugino, Kurosawa, and Yoshinaga being the others. All four of them

got together for a chat after the post-race meeting.

“I suppose Itokawa means we should train harder,” Sugino said.

“We’re already doing more than enough training. We can’t train any

harder.”

“It’s my fault,” Yoshinaga murmured just then. “It’s because of me

that we lost ground.”

What Yoshinaga was saying was true, but the other three were all

aware that his performance wasn’t the only reason for their disastrous

showing. Nonetheless, in their eagerness to find a scapegoat, the three older

boys jumped at the opportunity he offered them.

“Those nice things the alumnus coach said about you went to your

head. You started thinking you’re something special,” Kurosawa said.

Yoshinaga shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”

“What was today all about, then?”

“I’m sorry … I’ll train harder, starting tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s not good enough. You’ll start today. Yes, let’s get to it

right now. Intensive training.” Kurosawa’s eyes gleamed. He clearly felt

that he had come up with a brilliant idea.

“Now?” Yuto looked at Kurosawa in surprise. “Where?”

“The school pool. We can get in easily enough.”

“At this time?” It was already after five and they would probably only

make it back to the school sometime after six.

“Yeah, I’ve snuck in before. There’s this one place where it’s easy to

climb the fence.” Sugino was up for it.

Yuto knew what Kurosawa and Sugino really had in mind. They were

going to use the intensive training as a means to punish Yuto. It wasn’t that

they were angry with him or disliked him. They were just going to use him

as an outlet for their pique at being reprimanded.

“It’s a stupid idea. Don’t do it.”—that was all he needed to say. But he

hadn’t been able to. It was because he didn’t want the other two to see him

as a spoilsport. For all Yuto knew, Sugino and even Kurosawa, who had

come up with the idea, secretly felt the same way.

Yoshinaga couldn’t very well say no, so the four of them snuck into

the school. It was summer vacation and the place was deserted. It was just

starting to get dark.

They got changed on the pool surround and jumped into the water. At

first, they just swam about a bit to warm up, then Kurosawa ordered

Yoshinaga to swim as fast as he could.

“No kicking allowed. Swim only with your arms. We’ll be holding on

to your legs and you’ve got to pull us along.”

What they did was this. One of them (it was Kurosawa) dived down

and grabbed hold of Yoshinaga’s ankles. As Yoshinaga swam, the first boy

was pulled to the middle of the pool, where a second boy was waiting to

take his place. When he reached the end of the pool, a third boy would grab

hold of Yoshinaga’s ankles. Yoshinaga had to keep on swimming with

someone hanging on to him all the time.

He had completed two laps of the twenty-five-meter pool and was in

the middle of his third when the accident happened. Kurosawa, who was

holding on to Yoshinaga’s ankles, was about to make way for Sugino. Yuto,

meanwhile, was running along the side of the pool.

He made out two heads bobbing in the water. It was too dark to

recognize who they belonged to.

“What’s wrong?” Yuto asked.

“He’s gone.” It was Kurosawa speaking. “Yoshinaga’s gone.”

“How can he be? Weren’t you holding on to him?”

“I was about to hand over to Sugino. I let go, then he just

disappeared.”

“Has he bolted?” Yuto looked around the pool. There was no sign of

anyone surfacing. It was too dark to see the pool bottom.

“Oh God!” Sugino shouted. “He’s here. He’s down here.”

Yuto convulsed in shock, then dived in and swam over to the other

two.

Together, they pulled Yoshinaga up to the surface and dragged him

onto the edge of the pool. He was limp and motionless. He didn’t respond to

his own name. He didn’t appear to be breathing.

Sugino started pumping his chest. Yoshinaga remained unresponsive.

Yuto was wondering what on earth they were going to do when it

happened.

“Hey, you lot, what are you doing?”

The sudden sound of another voice sent Yuto’s heart into his mouth.

When he looked up, he saw Itokawa running toward them holding a

flashlight.

“What the hell are you doing?”

None of them said a word. Yuto looked at the inert Yoshinaga.

“What’s going on? What have you done to Yoshinaga?” Itokawa

grabbed Kurosawa by the shoulders.

“We were doing intensive training.”

“Intensive training?”

“Yes. Then he just sank like a stone…”

“You damn fools,” Itokawa spat. He pulled out his cell phone and

glared at the three boys. “Why are you just standing there? Keep massaging

his heart. And give him mouth-to-mouth. Like I taught you.”

Sugino went back to massaging Yoshinaga’s chest. Yuto performed

artificial respiration as best as he could remember how.

When Itokawa had finished his 911 call, he took over massage duties

from Sugino. “All of you, get dressed and get out of here,” he told the three

boys. “The ambulance will be here any minute. Best you’re not around for

that.”

“Where should we go?” Sugino asked.

“Get out of here and make sure no one sees you. Go home and stay

there. Don’t tell anybody about what happened here. Not even your parents.

After the meet, you all went home separately; you didn’t travel with

Yoshinaga. Let’s make that the official story. Got it?”

None of the three boys said a word. “Got it?” Itokawa repeated.

“Yes,” they replied listlessly.

“Good. Now get going. Make sure no one sees you.”

Yuto and his friends hastily pulled on their clothes and went back the

same way they had snuck in. They had climbed over the fence and were

outside the school grounds when they heard the ambulance approaching.

The three boys had no clear idea what happened after that. Yuto,

however, got a phone call from Sugino much later that night.

“Itokawa called me. Yoshinaga made it.”

Yuto felt an overwhelming sense of relief at the news. He had been

tormenting himself, worried that Yoshinaga had died on them. Unable to eat

his dinner, he’d shut himself up in his bedroom.

“Thank God. Seriously, what a relief,” Yuto said. His sincerity was

unfeigned.

“There’s not much to be relieved about.” Sugino’s gloomy tone

contrasted with Yuto’s elation. “He’s still unconscious.”

“No!”

“He started breathing again, but he’s still in a coma and he’s still in the

hospital.”

After a brief moment of relief, Yuto’s emotions were once again a

crushing weight on his chest.

“The whole swim team will be assembled tomorrow morning. They’ll

ask us all loads of questions, but Itokawa wants us to keep our mouths

shut.”

“Is that okay?”

“Itokawa says it’s the best option. The swim club could be shut down

otherwise.”

That was quite possible. Yuto once again had an acute sense of the

enormity of what they had done.

The next morning, a policeman came to the school. He got all the

swimmers to assemble in one place and questioned them about the events of

the previous day. Naturally enough, the three members of the relay team

Yoshinaga had been in were questioned in the greatest detail, but they all

answered as Itokawa had told them to do. The policeman appeared to

suspect nothing.

Yuto eventually figured out what had happened.

Itokawa’s story was that he had returned to the school after parting

from the team outside the sports center where the swim meet was held. He

was busy recording the team’s results when he suddenly realized that he

needed a document and set out for the coach’s room. On his way there, he

spotted a heap of clothes on the side of the pool and checked the pool area

using a flashlight. It was then that he found someone lying on the bottom of

the pool. After getting the boy out of the water as fast as he could, he

discovered it was Tomoyuki Yoshinaga, a second-year student. He

immediately called 911 and started performing CPR. The ambulance

arrived soon afterward and whisked Yoshinaga off to the hospital.

“After the meet, I gave him quite a dressing-down. He must have

blamed himself for us losing the relay and made up his mind to sneak in and

do some solo training,” is what Itokawa told the police.

Nobody questioned his story. Yoshinaga took things seriously and he’d

told some of his fellow second years that it was his fault they’d performed

so badly in the relay.

But Yuto still felt uneasy. Perhaps no one suspected anything now, but

the truth was bound to come out when Yoshinaga emerged from his coma.

“That’s a conversation we’ll have to have when the time comes,”

Itokawa said after calling the three boys in to see him. “We’ll apologize to

Yoshinaga and his parents and explain that we only lied in order to save the

swim club. I’ll be there, bowing in apology, shoulder to shoulder with you.

Until then, you need to keep your damn mouths shut. No blabbing.” His

manner brooked no dissent.

Despite their reservations, Yuto and his friends did what Itokawa told

them to do. They prayed for Yoshinaga’s rapid recovery, while a part of

them wanted him to stay in a coma.

When he looked back on it later, Yuto realized that Itokawa knew all

along that Yoshinaga would never regain consciousness. He never did come

back to school. The months passed. Eventually, Yuto and his two friends

graduated from junior high school, their psychological wounds very much

unhealed.