Three Days of Happiness

112
Once more I prayed at that shrine surrounded by the buzzing of
cicadas.
I noticed quite a lot of time had passed. I heard Miyagi’s pencil
against her notebook. The festival was drawing to a close, the
shadows of people growing sparse.
I raised my head, gathered up the trash, and gently stood up.
There was a figure coming up the steps.
It was too dark to see their face, but the instant I saw her outline,
time stopped for me.
Some things are too good to be true. So people say.
And yet, though people may not notice it, things do come together,
in this sort of perverse, prankstery way.
I felt the cells of my body trembling with joy.
With each step she took, everything from the day we first met at 4
years old, to the summer day she went away and moved schools,
ran through my mind.
Though she looked different from ten years ago - well, no matter
how much she changed, it wouldn’t mean I wouldn’t be able to
recognize her.
By the time we were close enough to see each other’s faces, I called
to her in a hoarse voice.
“Himeno.”
The girl stopped and looked at me with hollow eyes.