Three Days of Happiness

218
I turned toward it.
I needed to be sure.
I couldn’t have possibly misheard.
But until I saw it myself, I wouldn’t believe it.
She chuckled to herself.
“That Miyagi girl really is a good-for-nothing.”
Miyagi put her arm around my neck and hugged me.
---
“I’m back, Mr. Kusunoki. ...I was looking for you.”
I reflexively hugged her back, smelling her hair. That smell was one
with my sense of “Miyagi.”
It was indeed her.
I wasn’t the only one having trouble digesting the situation. Many
of the people around were similarly bewildered and amazed. They
were probably thinking, “Wasn’t this Miyagi girl supposed to not
exist?”
I was stunned into silence when I saw their reaction. Everyone
could see Miyagi.
“Might you be Ms. Miyagi?”, a man in a jersey timidly asked.
“Yes, I’m the good-for-nothing Miyagi,” she answered, and the man
slapped me on the shoulder.
“Thank goodness!”, he laughed. “What do you know, she really
exists. And you’re really pretty, Ms. Miyagi! I’m jealous!”