(Taken from rec.arts.anime)

Yep, for those who missed it, here is a re-post of the translation of 
the KOR Novel.  Note that this is TRANSLATION VERSION v1.3, edited to 
eliminate any margin problems in any text reader.  *Whew!*

If your mailer cannot receive the whole text from r.a.a, please e-mail 
me at ryoohki@netcom.com, so I can mail you a copy.

For those who couldn't handle and convert the funky Mac text on their 
PC clones, this is a PC-edited version Payne's translation of the KOR 
novel.  Doing my best to remain absolutely faithful to Payne-sensei's 
translation, I've only re-paginated, spell-checked, and re-marginated 
the text to a final version that's easy to read like any book.  Much 
kudos from me goes to Payne on this wonderful translation; indeed, a 
most laborious job done by him for us KORies fans.  If I look back on 
this now, if it wasn't for his KORies newsletter some 3 years ago, I 
would not be the KOR fan I am today.  :)   Enjoy!

- Lionel "Kyousuke" Lum



********* KOR NOVEL TRANSLATION v1.3 **********
Revised by Lionel Lum  
Dated 1-13-95


SHIN-KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD
Capricious Orange Road

A novel by Matsumoto Izumi and Terada Kenji

(C) 1994 I.MATSUMOTO K.TERADA
Printed in Japan

Published by Kabushiki Gaisha Shueisha
Tokyo-to Chiyoda-ku
Hitotsu-bashi 2-5-10 JAPAN 101-50

Translation by Peter Payne
c/o Yanai Shoten 4235 Hashie-cho
Isesaki-shi JAPAN 372

Translator's notes

_SHIN KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD_ is a novel by the original creator of 
Orange Road, Matsumoto Izumi, and Kenji Terada, a novelist and 
screenplay writer who has written scenarios for games like "Final 
Fantasy" and others. It details the lives of the Orange Road characters 
three years after the end of the Orange Road Movie.  To Orange Road 
fans, it is a very important document.  When I finally tracked down a 
copy of the book, in a rural book store in Isesaki, Japan (incidentally 
the birthplace of Adachi Mitsuru, an artist of _Touch_, _H2 _and many 
other mangas), I knew I had to translate it for the enjoyment of 
American fans of the series.

Note: I am a spoiled Mac user and unused to the inconvenience of 
"vanilla ASCII," but I am told we live in a PC-dominated world, and 
this is the standard.  Would everyone please buy Macs so we can move 
technology forward a little? The novel has 15 or so black and white 
illustrations and one color one, all of which will be posted in JPEG 
format. Please enjoy.

Legal stuff: This is an unofficial translation done without the prior 
knowledge or consent of the authors or publishers of the original work. 
It was not done for the purpose of profit or intention of denying it 
to the authors or publishers. Rather, it was made to enlighten fans of 
Orange Road who aren't lucky enough to read Japanese.  I did the 
translation partially as a way of saying "thank you" to Matsumoto-sensei 
for all the Japanese I have learned from the Orange Road manga and 
series over the years, and to try to give back something to anime 
fandom in the English-speaking world.

For purposes of future corrections, etc., this is _translation 
version 1.1_. I have done my best to check the text for typing errors, 
omitted words, and so on, but some will no doubt remain in the text.  
I invite anyone with an interest to inform me of errors so that they 
can be corrected in the future.  If anyone is competent at programming 
with Hypercard and would like to make an EB of this file, please 
contact me. If anyone is good at gaming and would like to turn the 
Orange Road RPG into a real gaming system, please contact me.

_Shin Kimagure Orange Road_ is a "postcard translation"--if you read 
it, send a postcard of wherever you are from to me, Peter R. Payne.

I am an "English" "teacher" who "teaches" at a private "school" in 
Gunma-prefecture, Japan, in the exact center of Japan's main island 
of Honshu. I have resided in Japan since October, 1991. I am one of 
the founders of "SEISHUN SHITEMASU: a bunch of guys with a VCR," a 
group from San Diego, California making fan re-dubs of Japanese 
animation into English. (Our name comes from Kyosuke's narration 
before the opening credits in episodes 1-15, and means "I'm living 
the springtime of my youth.")  Our titles include "Robotech III: Not 
Necessarily the Sentinels," "Robotech IV: Khyron's Counterattack," 
"Laputa II: The Sequel" and many others. Orange Road fans might get 
a kick out of one of our earlier productions, "Kimagure Orange Road: 
The Akira Story" (warning: you might hate it).  These videos are  
available free.  Mail videocassettes (regular or SVHS, no Goldstars, 
please) with SASE to Adam Chaney, P.O. Box 261702, San Diego, CA 
92126, USA.  For more information write Adam in the States or me in 
Japan at the address above.

Finally, as you read the translation, I would like you to have some 
inkling of the scale of this project, how many hours I spent, sitting 
in Skylark and Denny's restaurants with my Powerbook with my shoes 
off, having Japanese people staring at me like I was the only gaijin 
they'd ever seen pecking away on his Powerbook (like maybe 75 to 100 
of them). I hope you read this translation and spread it around to 
other fans. Long live anime.

Thank you.

Peter R. Payne
October 1994




PROLOGUE

	A freighter headed for some foreign country blows its whistle in 
the distance: two times, three times.  Sitting on the handrail of the 
bridge, you stare at the lights out in the bay, not bothering to turn 
your head at the sound.  I look at your silhouette and feel happy.
	Yokohama Bay Bridge...
	The wind blows off the surface of the water and carries a sweet 
smell to the tip of my nose. It passes through my whole body, until I 
feel like I'm going to pass out.
	It's always the same.  That sweet scent that Madoka Ayukawa gives 
off.  Like the particles of light that Tinkerbell uses to charm people 
with.  Always the same, this whimsical angel, who pours the sweet smell 
into me.  I breathe deeply, and let the smell enter me.  Sometimes I 
get angry at myself for being such a pervert.  But tonight it's okay.  
Ayukawa has promised me, tonight is "that" kind of night.
	"Stop it, Kasuga-kun."
	"Huh?" I said.
	"You've got something dirty on your mind don't you?" Ayukawa said.
	I got ruffled. "What are you talking about?"
	"I knew it." She pointed a slender forefinger at my nose.  Her hair 
moved, sending the angel smell to me again. "I can tell whenever you're 
thinking about sex."
	"No, I wasn't--"
	"You're just a sex fiend!" she said, then laughed.
	She's really been laughing a lot tonight, like someone full of too 
much life. The couples around us all turn and look at us like we're 
bothering them somehow.  Ayukawa laughs even more loudly, this time on 
purpose.
	"Ayukawa, everyone's looking this way."
	"It's okay, let them look."
	She laughed again, but then made a serious face suddenly, grabbing 
my shirt collar and pulling me towards her.
	"Ayukawa."
	"Let's kiss, Kasuga-kun."
	My heart stopped for a moment.
	She said, "Don't be stupid. I'm nervous, too, being here, alone 
with you.  This is all a new experience for me, too, you know."
	So, that's why Ayukawa's been acting strangely tonight--she's 
feeling giddy, too, just like me.  She was acting the same way back 
in Chinatown, laughing and talking too much.
	"Ayukawa--"  I put my arm around her shoulder, and pressed my lips 
against hers.

	We were in a bar on the top floor, that looks out on the Bay Bridge. 
A black man was playing jazz piano softly at the back of the room.  We 
were the youngest of any of the patrons there, so whenever Ayukawa 
laughed, everyone glared at us.
	"Anyway, congratulations," Ayukawa said. "For the third time this 
evening, _kampai!_"
	We touched our glasses together.
	"You know, it is really incredible, Kasuga-kun. I think your 
father's talent as a photographer must have rubbed off on you."
	"It was just a coincidence."
	"No, you're wrong.  Kelly Toyama wouldn't have chosen your work if 
it was just a coincidence."
	"Jeez, Kelly, Kelly, you've been talking about nothing else this 
evening."
	"Don't be jealous.  He's a really popular fashion photographer. 
You've got a bright future ahead of you, but compared to him, you're 
just a newcomer."
	Then she laughed again.  It must be the alcohol.  Her cheeks were 
a little red.  You see, tonight is our night of quiet celebration.  I 
won first prize in a photo contest sponsored by our university (1).  
The judge was the famous fashion photographer and alumnus of my 
university, Kelly Toyama. I didn't know it before, but Ayukawa has 
been a big fan of his for a long time.  Anyway, that's why we're at 
this hotel, celebrating.  We've promised to stay out all night and 
greet the morning together.
	"What present would you like?" Ayukawa had said to me when I was 
chosen for the award.
	"Hm?" I had said.
	"Yeah, I'm going to give you a present, for winning the contest.  
You know, it hasn't been announced yet, but I'll bet whatever you get 
as first prize will be something valuable."
	"You think so?"
	She nodded eagerly.  Her eyes were beautiful.
	I entered the same university as Ayukawa this spring, but for some 
reason, I hadn't been able to decide what I wanted to do there.  I 
think Ayukawa had been a little worried about me.
	I looked into her eyes and said, "Let's see.  From Ayukawa, I'd 
like to get..."
	"Yes?"
	When she spoke, I got my courage up a little.
	"From Ayukawa, I'd like something worth at least as much as 
whatever I get for winning first prize.  Something very personal.  
Maybe even you."
	My courage left me at that point, and I just laughed nervously and 
shrugged.  Now that we had the College Entrance Examination behind us, 
Ayukawa and I had gotten into the habit of kissing casually.  But we 
haven't done _it_ yet.  Ayukawa's parents are famous musicians, and 
they're always out of the country giving concerts.  We've had plenty 
of chances to do it while they were away, but then there was the issue 
of betraying her parent's trust.  We'd been good so far.
	I'm Kasuga Kyosuke, 19 years old.  If I said I had no desire for 
sex, it would be a lie.  I just haven't been able to get up the courage 
to coax her into it.
	Ayukawa seemed a little surprised by what I had just said.  But 
when I smiled at her, she looked at me with those teasing eyes of hers.
	"Wow, that's great, Kasuga-kun. I admire your confidence."
	But I had been too bold, I knew, and now I was embarrassed.
	Still in her teasing voice, she said, "Keep on being bold like 
that, and you never know..."  That was her way of saying yes.
	Now, back at the hotel bar, Ayukawa picked up the fresh glass 
that had been brought, and stood up. "Okay, here's my present to 
you, Part One."
	"Part One?"
	Ayukawa looked at me with tipsy eyes, and winked.  She raised 
the glass, making a signal for another _kampai_, and said, "I've 
written a song for my brave, self-confident Kasuga-kun.  The title 
is _Kyosuke #1_."
	She went over to the piano, put her glass on it, and whispered 
something to the black piano player.  In a way that told me he had 
been consulted about this ahead of time, he finished his song with 
a quick ad lib and handed his seat over to Ayukawa.  Ayukawa didn't 
look at me anymore.
	She swallowed the contents of her glass, and suddenly started 
to play.  The song had a forceful opening that immediately went to 
work on your emotions.  It went on to suggest a gentle, vast sea, 
before suddenly increasing in volume again.
	_Kyosuke #1_, the song was called. _Kyosuke #1_.
	I wasn't sure if this kind of violent, forceful song fit my 
personality.  Unless it meant that, in Ayukawa's eyes, this is the 
Kyosuke she wants me to be.  Or perhaps the song represents how she 
feels about me.  Could it be such a intense thing?  Whatever it 
means, what is about to happen tonight is somehow, somehow, so 
severe, so exciting, I can't stand to contemplate it.
	As I got more and more interested in Ayukawa's song, I realized 
my throat was dry.  I swallowed the drink I had been sipping with 
one gulp and ordered another.  I took the glass that the boy brought 
me.  He was muttering something about the minimum age for alcohol 
and tobacco being 20 years old.
	How beautiful Ayukawa is, playing with so much passion.  She was 
like a goddess, brilliant and beautiful but totally unapproachable.  
By the time Ayukawa's song reached its climax, my vision seemed 
covered with a bright light.  For a moment, I lost consciousness.
	When I came back, I felt like a bird floating on the wind.  I 
lifted up my hands, and wandered towards the swirls of light that 
were all around me.  I couldn't hear any sound at all.  Not 
_Kyosuke #1_, not the admiring voices of the people in the bar.  All 
noise was gone.
	I continued to fall into that world of light.
	As I fell, I heard the sound of sea birds.  Next I heard the 
fog horn of a ship.  Then, a crashing sound.  I was lying on top of 
something.  There was no pain; on the contrary, it was a pleasant 
feeling.
	The light faded from my view.  No, actually, another light came 
to me as the first light disappeared.  It was the morning sun.
	White, white sheets.  A sweet smell.  I was sitting on a bed.
	At my fingertips was Ayukawa's long, black hair.  She was still 
breathing deeply in sleep.  Her long hair.  Her milk-white cheek.  
I lifted up the sheet to see her body, naked as the day she was born, 
inhaling and exhaling innocently, like a child.  Had we joined?
	Outside the window, a sea bird made a high-pitched cry.  The 
angel sleeping by my side opened her eyes.  She smiled a little 
shyly, then said:
	"Good morning."
	But just then, the phone beside the bed rang with a piercing 
sound.  That's the beginning of this story.
	It was a man.  He sounded upset.
	"Kyosuke!  Watch out for cars!"
	"Cars?" I said.  "Who the hell are you?"
	"I'm you!  I'm Kyosuke Kasuga!"
	This brought me out of the dream I had been having and pulled me 
back into reality.
	

PART I

	"You're me?  What the hell are you talking about?!"
	I sat up in bed.  At that moment, Jingoro, who had been in bed 
with me, let out a cry.
	"Nevermind that, just listen!  You have to be careful of cars!"
	"Don't try to jerk me around!  What are you thinking, calling a 
person like this!  Even pranks have a limit, you know!"
	My anger got control of me, and I slammed the receiver down. 
	I had been experiencing a wonderful dream of spending the night 
with Ayukawa.  When a dream like that is interrupted, even Kyosuke 
Kasuga--usually quieter than most people--is going to get angry.
	Shit!  It was just getting interesting, too.
	Then: "Oniichan (2), I need to use the phone. Are you awake?" It 
was my sister Manami's voice.
	"I'm going to switch it back to the living room now. Do you mind?"
	After eleven p.m., the telephone is set so that it switches to my 
room.  Ostensibly, the reason for this is so that emergency calls 
from our father, who is overseas on a photography assignment, can get 
through directly to me.  But in reality, the reason is so that I can 
talk to Ayukawa late at night.
	"Go ahead," I answered angrily. "There might be a weird phone 
call, though."
	"What's wrong with you?"
	Manami's twin sister, Kurumi, opened the door and peered in.
	"You don't mean a perverted phone call so early in the morning, 
do you?" Kurumi said.
	I let slip without thinking: "No, no, a phone call that 
interrupted something perverted."
	"Oh, gross, Oniichan!  What are you talking about with Madoka-san 
every night?" Manami said.
	"Manami-chan, Oniichan's talking about 'a' and 'fu' and 'u.'"
	Manami didn't know what Kurumi meant.
	"_A-fuhn ! (3) A-fuhn!_ And _touch me there_ and _oh_ and _not 
there!_"
	"_Baka!_"
	"Now that you mention it, Oniichan has been going through an awful 
lot of tissues recently."
	"Oh gross!" Manami said.
	I threw my pillow as hard as I could at the open door; Kurumi 
and Manami fled.
	"Jesus!  Was I like that when I was in high school?"
	The damage was already done, so I got out of bed, picked up 
Jingoro, trying to escape off the Veranda, and headed into the 
bathroom.  This slightly fat tortoise-shaped cat has tried to 
escape from our house time and time again--things like that really 
say something about my family.  
	The bathroom also serves as Dad's darkroom.  For the rest of the 
time he's overseas, I'll be developing the film he sends me.  Back 
when he was working as a landscape photographer, he used a company 
to develop his pictures, but recently, he's been taken with a kind 
of do-it-yourself-ism, and has been trying to do the developing 
himself.  I help him when he's away.
	It's up to the photographer, Dad often says, to capture the 
right moment.  But sometimes, he says, when work is handed from 
one group to another it gets stolen.  I'm not sure I agree with 
him on that subject.
	He also talks about how much he loves being a landscape 
photographer, but if so, I can't understand why he suddenly became 
so interested in social problems, and went with the PKO (4) to take 
pictures of refugee camps.
	I shouldn't criticize him.  It's all thanks to Dad's hard work 
that we're able to eat everyday.  I guess it was because of Dad's 
influence that I was able to win first prize in the photography 
contest.
	Which led to _Argh!_
	My winning first prize in the photo contest is the reason 
Ayukawa and I will be having our celebration next weekend, that's 
why we've got reservations in the hotel overlooking the Bay Bridge.
	I took off my pajamas and had a shower.  The sound of the water 
mixed with Jingoro's cries as he tried to get out of the bathroom.  
I had sweat a lot during the night.  That's to be expected, I guess, 
because I dreamed about doing it with Ayukawa.
	I can't quite remember what happened after Ayukawa's song ended, 
back in the hotel bar.  But at least we greeted the morning together.
	Wait a minute!  Maybe that dream was a prophetic dream!
	Or maybe not.  You see, the Kasuga clan has the super-blood 
flowing in its veins; I, Kyosuke Kasuga, also possess super powers.  
Sometimes I even have dreams about the future before breakfast.
	Now that I think of it, when I got the reservations for the 
hotel, Ayukawa said, "Let's go to Chinatown for dinner instead of 
eating at the hotel."  I'm sure we'll go see the night view of 
Yokohama, too.
	Maybe Ayukawa is busy writing _Kyosuke #1_ now...
	"Oniichan, hurry up and finish your shower. I'm waiting," came 
the voice of my demanding sister.  Morning in the Kasuga house is 
always like this.
	"High school girls don't need to take a shower in the morning 
every day," I said.
	"Don't you know?  It's dangerous for girls to smell sweaty 
these days.  Crazy people follow you around.  Just the other day, 
Komatsu-san and Hatta-san asked me to sell them my sweaty leotards."
	"What?!"
	Seiji Komatsu and Kazuya Hatta are my evil friends from high 
school. It seems like they're planning something with Kurumi and 
Manami again.
	"Those perverts!"
	"Don't tell me you sold them your stinky leotards to them?" Manami 
asked.
	"_Buun buun!_" Kurumi replied, once again using words no one can 
understand.  I opened the bathroom door.
	"Don't just say _buun buun_.  You didn't sell your leotards to 
them, right?"
	"I didn't sell them," Kurumi said. "I mean, I'd lose money if 
I did."
	"It's not a matter of losing or gaining money!" I said.
	"Oh, but if I sell my leotards to Komatsu and Hatta, they said 
they'll pay me twice the original price.  They'll even take pictures 
of me, for free!"
	"Do you mean those perverted _buru-sera_ (5) shops?"
	"Yes!" she said.
	"Kurumi!"
	Without thinking, I ran out of the bathroom.
	"Help! Oh gross, Oniichan!"
	I covered myself up, but it was too late.  These two high school 
girls, brimming with curiosity, got a good look at my _musuko_ (6) 
even as they were screaming and running away.  Thanks to the commotion 
of the morning, I forgot all about the mysterious phone call.  What 
reminded me of it was the Master of ABCB (7), talking about the phone 
call he'd gotten from Hikaru-chan in Hokkaido.
	
*****
	
	"What? Hikaru-chan's going to New York?"  
	I drank down my hot caf latte in one gulp.
	"Yes," Master said. "A few days ago I got a call from Hokkaido.  
She said, someday I'm going to New York, absolutely positively.  How's 
today's batch of caf latte?"
	"Ah, it's good.  But maybe a bit too much milk.  It's kind of 
sweet."
	"Ah, of course, I should make it foam a little more."
	Master shook his head and, taking a big cup reserved for himself, 
turned again to the caf latte machine.  Master had gone all the way 
to Seattle in America to buy the caf latte machine.  You use the 
machine to foam some warm milk, then add espresso coffee to it.
	"Some might say that this place is just a small coffee shop," he 
had said, "so there's no need to go to all the trouble to get this 
machine.  But I don't agree.  I think a person has to stay interested 
and energetic in his work all the time."
	These days he's been talking a lot like that. 
	Ayukawa, who comes to help out from time to time, usually tells 
him, "It's good that you're putting effort into your work, but you 
really should stop keeping to yourself all the time and get out more.  
If you don't stop thinking of your ex-wife, there's never going to be 
anyone else."
	"Well, it's good that Hikaru-chan's _genki_," I said now.
	"Yes, Hikaru-chan made lots of friends up there.  She apologized 
for moving away so suddenly, without even saying goodbye to me.  She's 
a good kid."
	At Master's words, I felt a sharp pain in my breast.
	
	Hikaru Hiyama.  I will never forget that name as long as I live.  
Hikaru-chan was Ayukawa's close friend from childhood, and for a 
time, the three of us spent lots of time together, going everywhere 
and having fun.
	In those days, Ayukawa's parents were out of the country a lot, 
and she was kind of a tough girl to get close to.  I was the kind of 
person who could never make up his mind (although that's still kind 
of true now), and as a result, I was always having problems and 
misunderstandings with the two of them.  But when we were with 
Hikaru-chan, every day was happy.
	But the time came when the three of us had to stop just piling 
up happy memories all the time.  We were all becoming adults, and 
no matter how much we tried to keep things the way they were, 
someday it had to end.
	Last summer, when I was studying for the College Entrance 
Examinations, I kissed Hikaru-chan.  That hurt Ayukawa very badly.  
After that, our happy triangle came crashing down around our ears.  
I finally had to tell Hikaru-chan that we shouldn't see each other 
anymore.
	"Madoka-san! Madoka-san, that was so unfair of you!  Have you 
done anything for Kasuga-senpai?" Hikaru had said to Ayukawa at ABCB, 
her words full of blame. "I can do anything.  If it's for senpai, I 
can do anything."
	Another time, she had pulled on my sleeve pathetically, pleading: 
"Is it me?  I'm not good enough for you?  I can't give you up, 
Kyosuke-senpai. Look at me, please.  Don't ignore me!"
	I'm sorry, Hikaru-chan.  I didn't ignore you.  We just couldn't 
go on like that anymore.  Laughing.  Having fun together.  It had to 
end sometime.
	Right about the time Ayukawa and I entered college, Hikaru-chan 
moved to the city of Otaru in Hokkaido.  On the day she moved, I got 
a call from her from Haneda Airport.
	"Is this senpai?  Ta-da!  I know you said not to call anymore, 
but it's me, Hikaru Hiyama, coming to you live!"
	Hikaru-chan sounded so cheerful and bright.  She told me she 
was headed for Hokkaido, thanks for everything, _sayonara_, then 
hung up.  After that, I got a call from Ayukawa.  She had gotten 
a call from Hikaru-chan, too.
	Ayukawa and I headed for the airport on her motorcycle.  But 
the plane departing Haneda Airport for Sapporo had already left.
	"I didn't know.  I didn't know she was moving.  I didn't know."
	"Ayukawa."
	"This is the first time this has ever happened.  Hikaru has 
never done anything so important without consulting me first."
	Next Ayukawa dropped her helmet on the floor of the airport 
and started sobbing uncontrollably.
	Ayukawa hadn't told me, but I could tell she had been upset over 
Hikaru-chan for a while.  In the end, there was no avoiding that 
the two of us had to live apart from her.  Still, I knew that Ayukawa 
would never be able to forgive herself.
	"Ayukawa!"
	I embraced her, but she continued crying like a woman gone insane. 
	She slammed her body against the wall of the waiting room lobby 
again and again.  I couldn't do anything to stop her.  Then I put my 
body between her and the wall, thinking I would take Ayukawa's place, 
and slammed my head against the wall again and again.  Only then did 
her rage at herself subside, but she continued sobbing as she clung 
to me.  That was when I realized how many times stronger Ayukawa's 
sadness was than my own.
	On our way home from the airport, we stopped at Taiba Park, 
across from Tokyo bay.  It was still a little cold, but beyond the 
artificial sand of the beach many windsurfers could be seen.  We 
stared silently at them until the lights on the Rainbow Bridge, 
still under construction across from us, came on.
	After a while, Ayukawa said, "If I had known it was going to 
come to this, I would have taken her here when I had the chance.  
She had always wanted to try windsurfing.  She said to me once, 
before they finish the Rainbow Bridge, please teach me.  By the 
time the bridge is completed, you'll be a famous star, and then 
you won't have the time."
	"Ayukawa."
	"I told her, if she managed to stand up once, I'd give her my 
old board. I told her that!  And now, in Hokkaido, she won't be 
able to go windsurfing.  _Baka_, Hikaru.  You've been that way ever 
since you were a child."
	After that, her words stopped making sense.
	I put my hand on her trembling shoulders, but Ayukawa didn't 
come to me like she usually did.  I knew the reason why.  Ayukawa 
and I were lucky enough to have someone to put our bodies against, 
but Hikaru-chan had to bear her loneliness all alone.  Because she 
had to get away from us.
	No, that's wrong.  Because you threw her away, Kyosuke.
	You threw her away!
	By the time the pleasure boats started casting tiny lights on 
the bay, Ayukawa and I had left the park.  And we never talked about 
Hikaru-chan again.
	
	"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about Hikaru-chan."  Master 
looked at me, then put a new caf latte down in front of me, taking 
my first cup away.
	"Once the milk foam has disappeared, it's best to just get a new 
cup.  You can't keep it forever.  I guess that's like life."
	"Eh?" I said.
	"I think that it was good for Hikaru-chan to move, to find new 
experiences.  It was good timing for her." Master winked amiably. 
"When two people break up, it's sometimes harder to stay in the 
same place.  Every place you go, you're reminded of the person you 
broke up with."
	"Yeah, I guess."
	"That's a fair arrangement, isn't it?  Hikaru-chan got hurt a 
little, and now she's gone.  Both you and Madoka-kun are left, with 
memories of Hikaru-chan to drag around with you.  Someday, Hikaru-chan 
will understand how hard that has been for you, too."
	I tried to smile, but screwed it up.
	"Listen to me talk, I've become the father character in all those 
romance movies I used to watch when I was a college student.  I've 
tried to cheer a young boy up, but instead I've made him depressed."
	"No, it's okay.  I'm okay, Master."
	"Oh yes, about Hikaru-chan and New York.  I hadn't finished 
telling you.  Do you remember the musical she starred in?"
	"Ah, yes. I believe it was called 'Downtown Cats.'"
	She had said to me, whatever you do, don't forget to come and 
see my play.  But Ayukawa and I hadn't gone. Well _couldnUt_ go is 
a little more accurate.
	"Yes.  She really enjoyed being in that musical.  After graduating 
from high school in Otaru, she said she wanted to go to New York.  To 
study dancing."
	"Wow, that's incredible."
	"Yes, she was really excited.  She said, I don't know how far I 
can make it, but I'm going to try anyway.  Isn't that great?"
	This time I made a real smile, and nodded.
	I didn't want Master to think I'm a rotten guy.  I wanted him 
to see me as the kind of person who would give 100% support to a 
Hikaru-chan so full of hope and genki.
	But in reality.  Somewhere deep in my heart.
	I thought, now Hikaru-chan is going to go somewhere even farther 
away from me than Hokkaido.  The truth is... I was a little sad 
about this.
	I'm scum, aren't I?
	"Kasuga-kun, you've got to work hard at your dreams, too, right?  
Now that you've won the first prize in the picture contest."
	Just then, several customers came in.
	"Master, I'll take water to the customers," I said.
	"Hm?"
	"I have to work to pay you back for the second cup of caf latte."
	It was time for me to head back to school for my afternoon classes.  
After taking water to the customers and taking their orders, I left.  
It was the kind of day you get after the rainy season has ended, but 
before summer has started for real, and I felt somehow at peace.  It 
was a pleasant feeling.
	This kind of weather will only be temporary. 
	A few days ago, it was raining every day, and everything was 
humid and sticky.  After this, the hot, humid summer will begin.  
But I didn't have the time to enjoy this season like I should.  It 
would have been nice if I could just stop time.
	Yes.
	Stop time.  Just like in those days.
	Back when Ayukawa, Hikaru-chan and I were three friends, together 
all the time.  I wanted to freeze all those moments in time for all 
eternity.  Like the day when we went to the beach, and played together, 
laughing. I want to go back to that day.
	Anyway, I was glad that Master had heard from Hikaru-chan.  
Continuing that thought, I recalled the phone call that disrupted 
the sweet, sweet dream of this morning.
	"Kyosuke!  Watch out for cars.  I'm you!  Kyosuke Kasuga!"
	What a shocking phone call to get so early in the morning.  And 
to pretend to be me, what a stupid prank.
	But wait a minute.  Who would play a joke like that?  Who would 
go to all the trouble?  Well, maybe Komatsu and Hatta would be capable 
of it.  But that voice.  It wasn't either of them.  Now that I think 
about it, that voice was just like mine.
	Whenever people hear your voice recorded, they usually say, "Is 
this my voice?"  I hadn't been able to put my finger on it earlier, 
but that voice really was a lot like mine.  But, how is that possible?
	I started to hurry to the train station.  I didn't have as much 
time to get to class as I'd thought I had.  Ayukawa is in my art class.  
If I don't show up again this week, she'll probably get angry.
	"Kasuga-kun, don't tell me the traffic was backed up because of a 
traffic accident again this week, too," she'll say.
	Wait a minute.  Traffic accident?
	The man on the phone, Kyosuke Kasuga.  He said, be careful of cars.  
Above me, the train was pulling into the station.  If I hurry, I can 
catch it.  But the light at the intersection had changed to red.
	"What the hell, go for it!" I said to myself, and ran out into the 
intersection.  But just at that moment, something bright red appeared 
at the edge of my vision, coming towards me.
	It was a car!
	Just as I realized that the red thing was a Volvo station wagon, 
my body recoiled with the shock.  Something in my head went boom! 
like fireworks. A loud noise sounded in my ears, then everything 
became white.
	That was when I lost consciousness.
	
*****

	After a time, I woke up.
	I mean, I _thought_ I woke up.  But things were a little strange.  
I had completely regained consciousness, but the people around me 
aren't acting as they should.
	Wait a minute.
	Think very carefully, Kyosuke Kasuga.  What's wrong with this 
picture?  For some reason, I was looking down at my own body.  My 
body was lying in a hospital bed.  A doctor and a nurse were doing 
something to me--they're putting an I.V. into my arm.
	Isn't it a little strange for a person to be looking down at 
himself? 
	Yes, quite strange!
	In addition to the doctor and nurse, Ayukawa, the Master of ABCB, 
Kurumi and Manami were in the room.  Everyone was looking at me with 
saddened eyes.  Ayukawa must have come here directly from school, 
because she was holding several textbooks.  She looks like she would 
start crying at any moment.
	Manami was already crying.  Kurumi was holding Jingoro, making 
circles in the air with his paws, and muttering something that sounded 
like a magic spell: "_Ururu, ururu_."  As usual, no one can understand 
what the hell she's talking about.
	What's happening to me?
	
	"Have you been able to contact your father?" the nurse said in an 
official manner to Madoka.  She thought that Madoka was a member of 
the Kasuga family.
	Manami spoke in place of Madoka. "We called, but haven't been able 
to reach him yet."
	"Please hurry.  With things the way they are, he'll probably..."
	Madoka spoke up. "He'll probably what?!"
	The nurse said, "I only meant..."
	"You don't know what will happen, right?  There are still faint 
brain waves, and his heart is still beating.  You said it was still 
beating, right?  So what the hell?!  What do you mean by 'he'll 
probably...'?"
	The nurse tried again to speak, but couldn't.
	Just then the doctor put himself in between the two women, and 
spoke to Madoka.  "Of course you're right.  There is still a chance 
that this patient will live.  But one thing is for certain.  If he 
were a normal human, he would have died already."
	"What do you mean by that?" Master asked from behind Madoka.
	"I'm not exactly sure.  We've done all we can for the patient.  
>From here on out, it's up to his--how can I put this--his _life 
energy_.  He has a 'soul' that's many times stronger than normal 
humans."
	"Stronger than normal humans?" Madoka asked.
	"Please try to understand.  It's difficult for a physician such 
as myself to use such unscientific words."
	"So what's going to happen?" asked Kurumi and Manami in unison, 
leaning forward.
	"The patient's soul is fighting to stay in this world.  By this 
I mean, the world in which we all live.  What's kept him here this 
far is his unusual life energy."
	After saying this, the doctor couldn't bring himself to continue. 
"Well, anyway, let's see how things are a while longer," he said.  
He gave some directions to the nurse, then left the room in a hurry.
	Master said, "Well, the police and the driver of the car are 
waiting in the lobby.  I'll go talk to them."
	"Thank you, Master," Manami said.
	"Don't mention it.  Both you and Kurumi-chan, make sure you keep 
your wits about you."
	"Okay."
	Master smiled at the three of them, and left the room.
	Master had been the one to inform everyone about Kyosuke's 
accident.  Right after Kyosuke left the coffee shop, he'd heard 
sirens near the station.  Getting an uneasy feeling in his chest, 
he had run to the station.  On his way, he encountered Kyosuke, 
who had been hit by a car.
	After Master left the room, everything was quiet for a moment.  
No--there was Kyosuke's respirator.  That was the only thing that 
broke that silence.
	"Kasuga-kun! Kasuga-kun, don't give up!" Madoka cried. 
	Then, as if she was the only one in the room who knew Kyosuke's 
secret, she whispered: "You're a superman, right?  Just like the 
doctor said, you've got many times more power than normal people, 
right?  Don't give in to this!  Come back to us!"
	"Oniichan!"
	Madoka and Manami were clinging to the bed beside Kyosuke.
	
	Oh, Ayukawa!
	How could things have come to this?
	I guess it's true.  I was hit by that Volvo, all because I was 
in a hurry.  I must have been thinking about Hikaru-chan, instead 
of paying attention.  If things are really as bad as they seem, I 
guess I'm going to die.
	But I can't.
	What about this weekend, with Ayukawa, and _it_.
	On second thought, let's put that aside for now.
	But there are still so many things I want to do.  And now I'm 
going to die.  One thing I know for sure, it's not right for a person 
to be separated from his body.  This is really strange!  If what the 
doctor says is true, that I possess a soul several times stronger 
than normal humans.  Couldn't I just get back into my body?
	I went down to where my body was, and decided to get inside.  But 
something went _bump!_, like the sound of hitting a living fish.
	"No, Kasuga-kun!"
	"Oniichan!"
	What's happening?
	There was some kind of strong barrier around my body that pushed 
me back.  Or maybe it the other way around.  Maybe the soul is 
rejecting the flesh.  Just then my cousins Akane and Kazuya entered 
the hospital room.
	"No, Oniichan!" Kazuya cried.  "Why did you die?"
	"You klutz, Kyosuke!" Akane added.  "Just when you were so happy 
about having gotten to the point where you can have sex with Madoka!"
	Hey, don't say things like that, Akane!
	Manami said, "Wait a minute, Akane and Kazuya.  Oniichan isn't 
dead yet."
	Yes.  You tell them, my cute little sister.
	"You two are terrible," Kurumi said.  "Always jumping the gun."
	Good, Kurumi.  Sometimes even you say the right thing.
	Kurumi went on. "The dying part comes later.  He's just resting 
right now."
	What?!
	"Kurumi!"
	You know, sometimes I'm ashamed to admit that she's my sister.
	Akane said, "Oh, well, it's good that he's still alive.  Well, 
Kazuya, shall we try the plan that we discussed?"
	"Roger!"
	"Wait a minute, Akane-chan. What plan?"
	Akane said, "Kazuya has telepathy, right?"
	Yes, that's right.  I've been made to suffer time and time again 
at the hands of that esper ability.  Kazuya has the ability to read 
people's minds.  For example, in front of Ayukawa, he would say, "Oh, 
Kyosuke-niichan is thinking that he wants to kiss Madoka-neechan 
right now."
	Ayukawa: "I think I understand.  He might be able to find out 
what's really wrong with Kasuga-kun, and what we can do to help the 
situation."
	Akane beamed at Madoka. "Correct! Oh, Madoka-oneechan, you're 
right again.  Unlike these two empty-heads," Akane said, implying 
Manami and Kurumi.
	Meanwhile, Kazuya was resting his cheek on Ayukawa's bosum.
	"Who are you calling empty-heads?!" Kurumi demanded.
	"That Kazuya, he always clings to Madoka-san," Manami said.
	You still haven't gotten over that perverted tendency of yours, 
have you, Kazuya? Cut it out!  I went to poke him in the head, but 
then I remembered I had no body.
	Shit! I'm totally helpless!  This is like that movie "Ghost" I 
saw with Ayukawa.
	Ayukawa's face was very serious. "Go ahead and try the plan, 
Kazuya. We have to try everything."  If it had been anyone else 
hearing what Akane and Kazuya were saying, they would never have 
given them the time of day.  But Ayukawa believed 100% in the 
strange powers of my family.
	I remember the day I first told her about our powers. "Listen, 
Ayukawa," I had said then. "There's something very important I have 
to tell you."
	It was when we had first started going out together, right after 
I had broken up with Hikaru-chan.  I had kept the esper powers secret 
from her for years, but I was unable to do so any longer.
	"What is it, Kasuga-kun?" she said, a little surprised, then: "Oh, 
I'll bet I know."
	"What?" I had said.
	"You kissed Hikaru-chan again."
	"What?  Don't say things like that, Ayukawa!"
	She laughed.  She hadn't completely forgotten about the time I 
kissed Hikaru-chan, apparently.  Up til that time, I had tried to kiss 
Ayukawa a number of times, but she had always rebuffed me.
	I waited until she was finished laughing, then told her all about 
the Kasuga family.  That we were a family of espers, that we've had 
an ancient tradition that forbade the secret of our powers becoming 
known to outsiders, and so on.
	Ayukawa listened silently to what I had to say, her head cocked 
slightly to one side.  To tell the truth, I was a little uneasy.  I 
mean, it sounds really cool to say I'm a superman.  But it also 
means I'm not a normal human.  What if she thought we were monsters?
	Instead, after hearing me out, she let out a long sigh. "I see. 
That explains everything."
	"Huh?"
	"I mean, sometimes you do really strange things, Kasuga-kun.  That 
thought has occurred to me many times."
	Sometimes when I'd promised to go on a date with both Ayukawa and 
Hikaru-chan at the same time, I'd use teleportation to be with both of 
them.  This is the kind of thing she had been talking about.
	Ayukawa said, "Thank you, Kasuga-kun.  For choosing me to tell 
your secret to."
	"Ayukawa."
	"I guess I have to do something to show my thanks, don't I?"
	I'm sure I was making a stupid face at the time.  Ayukawa came 
close to me, and pressed her lips to mine.  That was our first kiss (8).
	
	"Okay, here we go, Kyosuke-niichan!" Kazuya said now, in the 
hospital room.  Kazuya held my body's hand, and took a breath.  Ayukawa 
and my sisters leaned forward.  Even me, floating in the air, found 
myself holding my breath as I watched the turn of events.
	_Oniichan, it's me, Kazuya.  We're all worried about you. Are you 
okay?_
	"How's it going, Kazuya-kun?" Manami asked.
	"It's no good.  I can't get any response."
	What?  No, that can't be.  Why can't you hear me, Kazuya?  I'm 
right here. My soul has just left my body for a while.
	"Kyosuke-niichan!  Kyosuke-niichan!" Kazuya called.
	Kazuya!  Hello, Kazuya!
	I yelled to Kazuya with all my strength.  I hovered in front of 
his nose, screaming Kazuya, Kazuya!  But he couldn't hear me.
	Akane shook her head. "I guess it's not going to work.  Kazuya's 
powers aren't fully developed yet."
	You know, Akane, that's always been your problem--you give up 
too easily.
	Kurumi said, "Well, Jingoro-chan, it's time to say goodbye to 
Oniichan."
	"Kurumi-chan!" Manami said.
	How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not dead yet!
	But even as I said those words, the "me" lying in the hospital 
bed seemed to be getting weaker.  Up til that time, I could feel a 
strong power tying my soul to my body, but now that power seemed to 
be lessening.
	And when that power is gone...
	When that power is gone, my body will die.
	And my soul?  What's going to happen to my soul?
	"Kasuga-kun! Kasuga-kun!  Don't give up! Don't give up, do you 
hear?"
	Like a dam bursting, Ayukawa started to cry.  As if carried 
away by that, my sisters and cousins began sobbing quietly.  But 
five minutes later, the situation changed.  My grandfather, who has 
just rushed here from his house in the countryside, came into the 
room and said: "There's nothing to do now but send Kyosuke's soul 
into the past!"
	
*****

	"To the past?" Ayukawa said, her eyes filled with tears.
	Ojiichan said, "Oh, you're that Madoka girl, Kyosuke's you-
know-what."  He held up the pinky of his right hand in a gesture 
that meant girlfriend.  Once, we had all gone to Ojiichan's house.  
Ojiichan was the head of my mother's branch of the family, and 
thus, capable of great esper powers.
	However: "Well, you're looking sexier than ever.  Have you had 
sex with Kyosuke yet?"
	How can he be like that when his grandchild is probably going 
to die?
	Manami said, "Ojiichan, we don't have time for that.  What do 
you mean, send his soul to the past?"
	Kurumi piped in, "Yes, what do you mean?"
	Go, my sisters.  They've finally started concentrating on the 
problem at hand.
	"Okay, okay, I'll explain it to you.  Because our family has 
powers different from normal humans, the balance between our souls 
and our flesh is very important.  Isn't that right, Baachan?"
	"Yes," Obaachan agreed, sitting in a chair.
	Ayukawa said, "Balance?"
	"That's right, Madoka-kun.  And now Kyosuke, lying in that bed, 
is just one step away from death.  But!  The life energy of this 
family is very powerful.  That's why Kyosuke is still alive, why 
his soul is trapped between worlds, unable to return to his weakened 
body."
	"His soul is what?" Ayukawa said.
	Akane put in, "Which would mean that is spirit is wandering 
around this room somewhere."
	Ojiichan said, "Off course, Akane."
	Kazuya: "Hey, Kyosuke-niichan, where are you?"
	I'm here, Kazuya, I'm here!
	Kurumi said, "I'll bet Kyosuke is looking down Madoka-san's 
shirt or something right now."
	Would you two stop talking like that?  Let me think.  When I 
tried to get into my own body a few minutes ago, it didn't work.
	Manami said, "So, what's going to happen to Oniichan?"
	"According to what the doctor said, they've done all they can," 
Ayukawa said. "If his body recovers, won't everything be okay?"
	"No, even that may be too late," Ojiichan said. "The time during 
which a soul can be separated from its flesh is a day.  No, more 
like half a day.  And if the flesh should die during that time...
	Oh no!
	But what's going to happen to "me" if my body dies?
	Ojiichan continued. "If the flesh dies, then Kyosuke's soul 
will disband with a _whoosh_!"
	Disband?
	Ojiichan said, "Isn't that right, Baachan?"
	"Yes," she said.
	Madoka said, "Kasuga-kun."
	Ayukawa.
	I guess I only have one more day to live.  No, just half a day.  
The same goes for our night gazing at the Yokohama Bay Bridge together.
	And _it_.
	It will all die with me, for all eternity.
	Kurumi said, "So you said you were going to send Oniichan's soul 
into the past.  What does that mean?"
	Way to go, Kurumi.  We still haven't heard Ojiichan's explanation 
about that yet.
	Ojiichan cleared his throat. "Yes, well. Kyosuke's soul is 
rejecting his weakened body, and so no matter how hard he tries, 
he will be unable to re-enter his flesh. So we're going to send 
Kyosuke's soul to the past.  If we sent him into the future, he 
would probably already be dead."
	Stop talking that way, I told you!
	"In the past, that balance is unaffected, so if he meets himself, 
he can re-join with the flesh then.  When that happens, the Kyosuke 
of the present should come back to life."
	Hmm, this isn't as easy as I'd hoped.  I need to find myself in 
the past, and with his cooperation, get myself out of this predicament.
	"Okay, let's get started right away," Ojiichan said, and began 
chanting something.
	"Kasuga-kun!" Ayukawa said.
	I looked down at her, and to my sadness, I couldn't feel the 
warmth of her hand holding mine.
	Ojiichan's chanting filled the room.  I'm sure he was chanting it 
normally, but to me it seemed like a flood of sound filling my ears.
	Then everything that I had been looking at Ayukawa, so sad, my 
own body, groaning in agony everything began to waiver in front of 
me, like the horizon in the desert on hot day.  Then, just as it 
seemed that Ojiichan's spell would break the walls of the room, I was 
cast into a blinding world of light.
	Then I found out that even ghosts can lose consciousness.  In the 
center of that light, I began to fade away.  Just then, I heard 
Ojiichan's voice:
	"Oh no!  Instead of sending Kyosuke's soul to the past, I've sent 
him to the future!"
	
PART II
	
	The future?
	But I had no way to ask what Ojiichan had meant.
	I came out of that world of light, and fell through a space 
filled with colors that changed all around me.  I was flying through 
other dimensions.  Ojiichan said he'd sent me into the future, but I 
think he was wrong.  I was dead, and I was falling straight down 
into heaven.  As if to prove I was right, I found myself gently 
touching down on a cloud, with angels all around me.
	But in reality, it wasn't a cloud. It was a thorn bush.
	"Ouch!"
	I hit my head hard against the ground, and that was when I 
realized that I wasn't among any angels.
	"Where is this?" I said.
	It was a place I was very familiar with.  I was at the bottom 
of the Hundred Stairs.
	But why was I here?
	I felt a little it at a loss as I looked up those never-ending 
steps. If you climb to the top, there's a small park, and beyond 
that, my family's apartment building.  It was here that I first met 
Ayukawa.  I remember that day well.  I had just moved to this area.
	On my way back from picking up the nameplate for our new 
apartment, I had climbed these stairs, counting: "ichi, ni,..."  When 
I was near the top, I witnessed a bright red UFO flying above me.  
But it wasn't a UFO.  It was a red straw hat which Madoka Ayukawa had 
cast into the wind for fun.
	
	I jumped up and caught the hat.         
	"Got it!"
	From above me, I heard her voice.
	"Nice catch!"
	That was the first time I laid eyes on Madoka Ayukawa.
	"I threw it into the wind just now.  I'm glad you caught it.  I 
thought it was going to go all the way down."
	I'm sure I was making the ultimate stupid face.  It was all I 
could do to utter a meaningless laugh, as I took in her long, black 
hair, her deep eyes, her soft, pert lips, that grown-up look that 
could only be called sexy.
	"It would have been terrible.  These stairs go on forever."
	"Um, yeah. They do."
	What a stupid line! _Baka!_
	"Yes, there are ninety-nine of them."
	"Huh?" I said.  Continuing my count, I climbed to the top.
	"Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred!"
	"What?" she said. "You're wrong.  There are only ninety-nine!"
	"But I counted them all the way from the bottom."
	"That can't be right.  When I counted them, there were only 
ninety-nine."  She was riled up now, and it made her even more 
beautiful.  I struggled to calm myself.
	"Are you sure you didn't count wrong?" I asked.
	"What about you? Maybe you counted wrong."
	"No, I'm sure.  There were one hundred stairs."
	"Ninety-nine!"
	"One hundred!"
	"Ninety-nine!"
	I've been told I was too passive ever since I was a child, but 
just then, I had a good idea.
	"Well, how about this?  We'll compromise.  There are 99.5 stairs!"
	Ayukawa looked surprised for a second, then laughed with that 
sweet voice of hers.
	
	Ayukawa.
	But I don't have time right now to sit around and bask in 
memories.  I've found out _where_ I am, but I have to found out 
_when_, and what's happened to my body in this time.  I know I 
heard Ojiichan say, "Oh no, I've sent him to the future!"
	But if that's true...  And if I did die back there.  Then that 
means I don't exist in the future.  So _what_ am I?  A ghost?
	That was when I noticed something strange.  Even though I was 
supposed to be just a spirit, I now possessed a body.
	"Possess" is kind of a strange way of putting it, but I was 
here, body and all.  And my head, which I bumped back there at the 
bottom of the stairs, still hurt.
	Standing here confused wasn't going to accomplish anything, so 
I started for home.  The apartment building looked a little more 
worn than I'd remembered, but everything else was the same.  But 
when I started to enter the building, I looked at the nameplate in 
the lobby, and was instantly shaken.  The Kasuga name was gone from 
apartment 307.
	Maybe they changed apartments.  Maybe that was it.  I checked 
the other floors, but the name of Kasuga wasn't there.
	There was more.  I looked at the date on the circulating 
message board, used to tell tenants about meetings, events, etc., 
and was shocked.
	The date on it was July 23, 1994!
	1994?  That's three years in the future!
	Three years.  And now my family has moved out of this apartment 
building.  Maybe they had to move because of Dad and that recent 
interest in social problems of his.  We were making a good enough 
living back when he was a landscape and studio photographer, but 
maybe he was killed while overseas?  Unable to pay the rent, Manami 
and Kurumi were forced to move?
	But it wasn't the time or place for me to be making random 
guesses like that.  Was I even alive in this world of three-years
-later?  What about Manami?  Kurumi?  And what about Ayukawa... 
I realized and started panicking.  Anyway, this is how I found 
myself in the world of the future, searching for myself.
	
*****

	"What?  1994?" Ayukawa asked Ojiichan.
	"Yes.  Probably."
	Manami: "Wait a minute, Ojiichan, 'Probably' isn't good enough!"
	"Yes," Kurumi said, "you said 'Oh no!' when you sent Oniichan's 
spirit to the future."
	Ojiichan was flustered. "Sorry, I did it backwards."
	"Backwards?!" the twins exclaimed.
	There was no guarantee that Kyosuke would be alive in the future. 
If his body in front of them were to die, then his spirit would 
disappear, even though it had been sent into the future.
	But just then, Kyosuke's body, lying in the bed, let out a little 
moan, as if to stop the arguing that had begun around him.
	"Kasuga-kun! Kasuga-kun!" Madoka held tight to his hand. "He's 
not dead, he's not.  Look at him breathing.  His body isn't dead!  
How can you say that his soul has left his body?"
	Madoka swallowed the rest of her words.  Even if the spirit 
disappeared, you couldn't be sure if the body would follow suit and 
die immediately.  There might be a time delay, so that later, the body 
will pass away.
	Kazuya said, "Hey, Ojiichan, Kyosuke-niichan looks worse than he 
did before."
	Manami shushed him. "Kazuya! Watch what you're saying!"
	"That's right, Kazuya.  You're not supposed to say things like 
that, even if it's true," Akane said, poking her brother in the head.
	Ojiichan said, "You're not going to have a fight here, you two!  
Everyone listen to me.  It's true that Kyosuke looks worse than he 
did earlier.  There's nothing we can do about that--his soul is not 
here."
	"So you're saying that the Kyosuke in front of us is nothing more 
than a mass of broken flesh?" Manami asked.
	"That's correct.  Right, Baasan?"
	Kyosuke's grandfather sought the agreement of his wife of many 
years.  But she was in her chair, sleeping soundly, oblivious to the 
commotion her grandchildren were making.
	"I can't believe it." And with that, the oldest living Kasuga (9) 
let out a great sigh.
	But Madoka Ayukawa felt the power of the Kasuga clan.  She spoke 
to herself, as if in prayer.
	It's okay.
	You'll come back to us, I know you will, Kasuga-kun.
	Because you...you're a superman.
	
*****

	Unaware of the events in the hospital room three years ago, 
I found myself in front of ABCB.  I thought that Master would be 
willing to listen to what I have to say, and help me out.  I had 
to find out so many things about this time period, including whether 
or not I was even alive.  Also, Ayukawa's whereabouts.
	If I am dead, then Ayukawa would be twenty-two years old.  It's 
even possible that she might be going out with someone other than 
me.  That that would hurt me more than being dead.
	Suddenly overcome with worry, I went to the window and peered 
in.  At the counter was a girl I hadn't seen before, resting her 
head on her hands.  She was wearing an ABCB apron.  She must be 
a part-time worker.  So Master is out right now.  I gathered my 
courage and opened the door.
	She was apparently one of those "body-conscious" types, with 
a little too much makeup.  She looked at me with eyes that seemed 
half asleep.  Something about her didn't seem to fit in with the 
atmosphere of ABCB very well.  But then, the place was pretty 
cluttered.  Was it possible for a place to get this dirty in just 
three years?  There were no other customers besides me.
	I said, "Where's Master?"
	"Oh, are you a friend of his?  He's probably still playing 
pachinko."
	"Pachinko?"
	In the past three years, the coffee shop's atmosphere wasn't 
the only thing that changed.  When the pachinko parlor in front 
of the station first opened, I remember Master saying to me, 
"That's terrible.  Now the refined taste and culture of this area 
is going to be swept away by a new pleasure quarters."
	Well, I can't do anything about that.  Now is not the time for 
me to concern myself with Master's hobbies.
	"Give me a caf latte," I said, seating myself.
	But she just said, "What's that?"
	It was my turn to be surprised.  But as I looked around, I 
couldn't see the caf latte maker.  I guess he must have given up 
on it.
	"Well, I'll have coffee."
	"Comin' up," she answered.  She poured coffee from a pot into 
a small pan and started warming it.  I was shocked.  Master had 
always insisted on serving coffee that had been freshly made. 
"Coffee should be made one cup at a time," he had always said.
	I got more and more worried.
	You often hear that people can change easily, but I wonder.  
Could Master have changed not only his tastes and interests, but 
also his personality, in just three years?  If that's so, will 
he be happy to see me?
	"Here you are.  Hot enough to kill you."  She put the coffee 
in front of me.  It was as hot as she said.
	"Thanks.  Um, by the way, is Master still wearing a beard?"  
Before I met him again, I wanted to know some things about him.
	"He sure does.  Really bushy."
	"Bushy?"
	I was confused.  Master wore a beard and moustache three years 
ago, but I wouldn't exactly call it bushy.
	"I see," I said. "He's still wearing one."
	"I guess you haven't seen him for a while."
	"Yes.  Three years, actually."
	"Three years?  That's strange.  He's been that way for a while."
	"What way?"
	"You know. _Koochi koochi koo_."  She stuck her chin out a 
little and wiggled her head from right to left.
	"What's that?"
	"Well, with part-time girls like me, he likes to rub his beard 
against the nape of my neck when I'm washing dishes."
	I thought I was going to throw up the coffee I had just started 
to drink.
	"Master did that?"
	"Sure.  It's been a month since I started here, so I'm used to 
it by now."
	I don't care if Master takes up pachinko or changes the way he 
makes his coffee, but there is no reason why he should be 
harassing girls who work here like that!  I thought that if Master 
had changed that much, then maybe he wouldn't be willing to help 
me in my situation now.  My uneasiness was starting to give way 
to anger.
	Just then, the door opened behind me.  The part-time girl 
said, "Ah, Master."
	Master?
	I'll admit that I am usually indecisive.  But we who have 
Kasuga blood in our veins try to have a sense of what is right 
and wrong twice as strong as most people.  Furthermore, Master 
is like an older brother to Ayukawa. I don't know what kind of 
troubles Master has gone through in the last three years ago, 
but there's no reason to go and tickle girls who work for you 
in the napes of their necks!
	Unable to take it any more, I slammed my coffee cup down 
with a loud noise and turned around. "I'm ashamed of you, Master, 
laying your hands on your employees like that!"
	The person I'd yelled at said, "Huh?" and moved back towards 
the door.  He was more or less an old man--a totally different 
man from the Master I knew.
	It turned out that the rights to ABCB had been sold to this 
man, silverware, fixtures and everything.  He said it was a 
common thing for owners of coffee shops or bars to do when they 
wanted to get out of the business.  I couldn't figure out what 
had happened in Master's life that he would have wanted to sell.  
But according to the old man, he had bought the shop a year and 
a half before, and had never met Master directly.
	I bowed my head and apologized to the owner for yelling at 
him while the girl laughed.  If there had been a hole, I would 
have put my head in it.  After hearing the situation from the old 
man, I paid for my coffee and left.
	I didn't know where Master was.  That didn't mean that no one 
knew.  But I didn't have the courage to ask the cigarette lady or 
the owner of the ramen shop where Master always went.  I guess I 
must be dead in this time.
	I looked up.  Without realizing it, I had returned to the station.
	A footbridge now spanned the intersection where I had been hit 
by a car three years ago.  It was almost as if the footbridge was 
built as a result of my accident, and it amused me for some reason.
	A gentle breeze blew, giving me a pleasant feeling.  I started 
to climb the stairs up the footbridge, counting the steps as I went.
	"Ichi, ni, san,..."
	My feet touched each step, one at a time.  So am I dead in 
this time period?  Am I just a spirit, floating in time?
	"Nijuu-go, nijuu-roku,..."
	As I reached the last step, I heard a voice above me.  It filled 
me with memories somehow.
	"Nijuu-nanna!  Twenty seven!"
	I looked up slowly, and in the next instant, bitter-sweet 
memories flooded into me.
	Above me on the footbridge stood a woman, her face still 
betraying shadows of girl-hood.  She was sampling the gentle 
beginning-of-summer breeze.  No, she was not a girl at all.  She 
was a woman.  If I hadn't had hundreds of memories of that face 
in its younger years locked away in my memory, I might have thought 
she was just an attractive woman, a little older than me.
	It was Hikaru-chan.
	I let out the breath I realized had been holding, and called 
her name.
	"Hikaru-chan!"
	She turned and said instantly, "Gosh, I can't believe it, it's 
Kasuga-senpai!  I never expected to bump into you out here!"
	Her hair was slightly longer than her shoulders, all one length.  
Her salmon pink dress matched her red-brown hair well.  I'm 
positive she had grown in the three years--three and a half years--
since I'd met her.
	"Hikaru-chan,...you've... you've gotten taller."
	_Baka!_ What a stupid thing to say!
	Hikaru-chan looked at me with surprise on her face, then said, 
"No, I haven't, senpai.  You know, it has been over three years 
since we've seen each other."
	I looked embarrassed.
	She laughed, her mouth wide open like an 'o,' like she always 
used to.  Like she always used to, back when we were three friends, 
together all the time.
	"How about you?" she continued. "I can't believe it.  You 
haven't changed at all, really.  You look like you're still in 
high school."
	She was right.  I was my 19-year-old self, but Hikaru-chan 
was 22 now, one year older than me.
	"Well, you know what they say about men maturing more slowly 
than women," I said, trying to change the subject. "That's why I 
look so young.  Um, did you come here from Hokkaido?"
	"No, senpai. I live in New York now."
	"New York?"
	"Yep. Pretty cool, isn't it?"
	"Ah, that's right.  Now that you mention it, Master was saying 
something about that.  After you graduated from your high school 
in Otaru, you wanted to go there."
	"I said that?  I don't remember saying that.  Do you know when 
that was?"
	"Hm?" I said quickly. "Um, no, I can't remember.  But if you 
live in New York, why are you--"
	I was interrupted by her "pocket bell" beeping.  Hikaru-chan 
took it out of her shoulder bag and checked the number of the person 
who had beeped her.  For a moment, her face seemed to cloud up with 
emotion.
	"Gosh, just when I was talking with an old friend," she said. 
"Can you hang on a sec?"
	"Ah, sure. I don't have anything to be doing right now, 
anyway."
	Hikaru-chan flashed a smile at me, and ran down the stairs 
of the footbridge to a phone booth.  I stared at her receding 
shape.  She was probably taking dance lessons in New York.  It 
seemed as if Hikaru-chan, once so small and slim, had grown larger 
and bolder in the last three years.  To tell the absolute truth, 
Hikaru-chan's body seemed to be filling her one-piece dress more 
than it would have before.  It was incredibly arousing to me.  
For a moment, I forgot my own current predicament.

	Hikaru Hiyama entered the phone booth and sighed.  It was 
something she always did before going on-stage to help calm 
herself.  
	I wasn't ready for that, bumping into darling, no, I mean 
Kyosuke-senpai, on the street like this.  
	Hikaru had anticipated that she might run into Kyosuke or 
Madoka by chance when returned to Tokyo.  She was even hoping 
for it, somewhere deep inside her.  But it had been so sudden, 
and now her heart was racing.
	I'd promised myself earlier that, whenever I did meet senpai 
again, I would be a woman, grown-up and stylish.  But I'm really 
just a stupid fool.  Blurting out such childish words like that. 
_Gosh, I can't believe it, it's Kasuga-senpai!_  He'd never think 
that I was grown-up, talking like that.
	Hikaru sighed again, and began to dial the number displayed 
on her beeper.  On top of everything else, the man who had 
interrupted her conversation with senpai was the lowest scum 
on Earth.
	She'd tell him off now.
	This is Tokyo (10).  Where I was born and where I grew up.  
Don't think you can treat me the way you did when I first got 
to New York!
	Hikaru went there right after graduating from high school, 
declaring her stay as a one-year English study to the U.S. 
immigration officials.
	For the first three months, she took classes in ESL--"English 
as a Second Language"--an English program mainly for native 
speakers of other languages.  She had gone to study dance, but 
students without English ability couldn't get a visa to study at 
dance schools.
	To her surprise, ninety percent of the students in the ESL 
classes were Japanese.  What's more, they weren't really interested 
in studying Englishor even in engaging in cultural interchange with 
Americans while under the financial wings of their parents, but 
instead were just grouping together into herds with other Japanese.  
Faced with the loneliness and helplessness of living on her own in 
a foreign country, Hikaru spent a little time with such people, 
but eventually she decided to change schools and make a new start.
	That was when she met Sugizawa, a Japanese man working 
part-time at a small travel agency in Greenwich Village.  Sugizawa 
had just graduated from a university in New York, and was looking 
for work as a dancer.  He was a sportsman, with an athlete's body, 
and his white teeth impressed Hikaru immediately.
	In the Village were many "off Broadway" houses which featured 
smaller plays and musicals.  Sugizawa appeared in such houses 
occasionally, and was thus somewhat well-known in the Village.
	Sugizawa impressed Hikaru further with his fluent English 
and extensive knowledge of the Village.  She had yet to make 
much progress even in her study of English.  They accompanied 
each other to many off Broadway plays and musicals, and were 
quickly becoming closer and closer.  On an Autumn-tinged Halloween 
night, in Sugizawa's room over the Hudson river, they were joined.
	It was Hikaru's first experience.
	But afterward, he soon became unyielding to Hikaru.  He 
began to completely monopolize her.  He began to ask about 
every detail of her schedule for the day, and always went to 
pick her up when she was finished.  At first, Hikaru thought of 
his actions as an expression of his affection for her, but 
gradually it got to be too much.
	On New Years Eve, Hikaru was invited to a home party by her 
dance instructor.  It was the first time she'd been invited to 
such an event.  Hikaru enjoyed the party, and tried hard to use 
her English.  Outside, snow had started to fall.  Early in the 
morning, the party finally ended, and the instructor said he'd 
escort everyone home.  In New York with its high crime rate, 
this is not unusual.
	But when Hikaru went outside, Sugizawa's Corvette was waiting 
for her, covered with snow.  That was when she realized her 
feelings had begun to grow apart from Sugizawa's.
	"Let me do my own thing!" she had told him, and for a moment 
his eyes became round with surprise.  She didn't go back to his 
room after that.
	Sugizawa called her many times, but she let the answering 
machine answer the phone for her.  One day, after returning from 
her dance lesson, Hikaru heard the following tear-choked voice 
on her answering machine.
	"It's always this way.  Whenever I let myself love someone, 
it ends up like this, the more I love her, the more I end up 
hurting her, and in the end, it turns out that I wasn't really 
in love with her, I was just in love with myself."
	His words ceased to be words after that.  Sugizawa said he 
was going home to Tokyo the next day.  Hikaru had no regrets 
over Sugizawa.  But after hearing his voice on the answering 
machine, a memory she'd been trying to forget for a long time 
suddenly resurfaced.
	It was just like that summer.  
	When I couldn't think of anything but Kasuga-senpai.  
Kasuga-senpai, studying so hard for the university entrance 
exams.  And me chasing him, pestering him.  Just like what 
Sugizawa was doing to me.
	The next day, Hikaru went to the airport to see Sugizawa 
off.  He was overjoyed.  He gave her his address in Tokyo, 
and asked her to visit him when she came back to Japan.
	Hikaru agreed, but as soon as his plane lifted off, she 
threw the paper he'd given her in the trash.  Just then, Kyosuke's 
face had come back to her.  She knew the reason why.
	"Hello?" she said now into the phone.
	As soon as she spoke, Sugizawa's voice came on at the other end.
	"Hikaru? That's you, isn't it?  When did you get to Japan?  Why 
didn't you tell me your flight number?  What about your hotel?  
Where are you now?  Should I pick you up?"
	Hikaru had no plans to visit her parents in Otaru.  She had had 
a friend she had met in New York make the hotel reservations for 
her.  That friend must have told Sugizawa that Hikaru was returning 
to Japan, and given him her beeper number, thinking she was being 
helpful.
	Hikaru waited for the first volley of questions to cease, then 
said, "Could you tell me all that one more time, Sugizawa-san?  
There were so many questions, I couldn't answer them all without 
writing them down."
	Hikaru was sad to hear such bitterness and cynicism coming out 
of her mouth.

	"What? An audition for a musical?" I said, surprised.
	Hikaru-chan had run back up to the top of the footbridge where 
I had waited for her to finish her phone call, and told me her 
reason for coming back to Japan.  She was going to audition for 
the musical.
	"Yes," she said, "and it's a pretty big production, too.  A 
friend I had made while in New York called to tell me about it."
	"Wow, that's really great," I said.
	"No, it's really nothing," she said, giggling a little. "I'm 
just going to audition for the part; it's not like I've passed it 
or anything.  My instructor in New York tells me all the time, 
Hikaru, you aren't good enough to get a real part yet.  But he 
thought it was a good idea for me to try out some of what I'd 
learned in New York back in Tokyo."
	"That's great.  He speaks to you in English, then, I guess."
	This set off more embarrassed laughter, and she balled her 
hands into little fists and pretended to hit me.  Some people 
crossing the footbridge from the station looked at us.
	"Hikaru-chan."
	Hikaru was as innocent and child-like as always.  So full of 
light and energy.
	Someone approached us on the footbridge, and I moved nearer 
to Hikaru to let them pass.  When I did so, the light smell of 
her _eau de cologne_ struck me.  I moved away.
	I tried to change the subject: "So where are you staying?  
I mean, your parents are still in Hokkaido, right?  Oh, at a 
hotel.  Wait a minute, are there any hotels around here?"
	"No, the hotel is near the home of the girl who told me 
about the audition.  She's going to audition for the play along 
with me.  She offered to let me stay with her, but in the end 
we are rivals, so I decided to stay by myself."
	"Wow, that's great," I said.
	"Oh no, there you go again, saying how great I am," Hikaru 
laughed. "My friend gave me her beeper, so she could contact 
me if anything came up."
	"I see.  So that's who you were talking to back there."
	Hikaru beamed. "Senpai, did you think I was talking to a man 
or something?"
	"Me? Well, I..."
	You hit the bull's eye, Hikaru-chan.  I'd been thinking of 
nothing else for the past few minutes.
	Hikaru-chan laughed, then continued. "I came back to the old 
neighborhood as a favor to my mother.  She told me, if you can't 
come visit us in Otaru, at least go to where we used to live and 
say hello to everyone.  Can you believe she's kept contact with 
everyone in the neighborhood for three years?"
	I felt bad.  Ayukawa and I hadn't even tried to keep up 
contact with Hikaru-chan.  Meeting her by chance like this, I 
feel like a cold bucket of water had been dumped over my head.
	"Well, I guess I'd better be getting back."
	I said, "Oh, well, so do I."  After I spoke, I thought to 
myself, where do I have to go to?
	Hikaru-chan was looking at me strangely.
	"Um, senpai, are you sure you're feeling alright?"
	"Hm?"
	"Well, I mean you seem to be full of memories all of the sudden."
	"I'm okay, I guess."
	But I was feeling kind of funny again.  Hikaru-chan was right.  
I must have tired myself out, walking around thinking so much.  
I considered telling everything to Hikaru-chan.
	But no, I couldn't do that.  It was probably even a good thing 
that I hadn't been keeping contact up with Hikaru-chan for these 
past three years, so that she wouldn't think anything was strange 
if I was really dead in this time period.
	"No really, what's wrong, senpai?"
	"Huh?"
	Hikaru-chan made a strange face. "This is what you look 
like," she said. "But then, you have always been a little odd.  
I used to talk about it with Madoka-san every once in a while.  
Once she said to me, Kasuga-kun always seems like he's keeping 
a secret from everyone."
	"That's not true!" I blurted.
	Hikaru suddenly got serious. "Can I ask you a question?"
	Just then in the street below us, a large bus lumbered by 
noisily.  Because of this, I couldn't hear clearly what Hikaru-chan 
said next.
	"Are you taking care of your health?"
	I answered, "Well, you know how it is.  Things could be better."
	Hikaru-chan made a strange face, and I thought that she must 
have misunderstood what I had said or something.  But I thought, 
there's no way she could take what I just said the wrong way.  I 
dismissed the thought.
	But Hikaru-chan hadn't asked about my health.  She had really 
asked, "Is everything okay between you and Madoka-san?"  It wasn't 
until later that I realized this.
	After the sound of the truck had receded, Hikaru-chan took a 
few steps down the stairs down to the street.  She looked a little 
unsettled.
	"Well, senpai, I'll be going now."
	"Okay," I said.
	Hikaru-chan shot a happy smile at me. "Bye bye!"  
	Then she ran down the steps.
	She had said, _Is everything okay between you and Madoka-san?_ 
And I had answered, _Well, you know how it is. Things could be 
better_.  It's only natural that she would look a little upset 
after hearing that.   Not having realized this yet, I said, 
"Bye bye!" and thought to myself how warm and friendly her smile 
was.
	I watched her as she disappeared among the trees that lined 
the street.  I'm sorry, Ayukawa, I thought to myself.  Kyosuke 
Kasuga, nineteen years old.  I had to admit, I once again found 
myself attracted to this older, more grown-up Hikaru-chan.
	But a few minutes later, something happened which made kept 
me from thinking of Hikaru-chan.  I overheard the following 
statement from my evil friends from high school, Komatsu and 
Hatta: "And Kasuga, he's only twenty-two years old.  Poor Ayukawa."

*****

	My bumping into Komatsu and Hatta was also by chance.
	After parting from Hikaru-chan, I decided to go to the station 
and buy a newspaper from a kiosk.  I knew there wouldn't be anything 
in the paper about where the Kasuga family had moved to, but maybe 
reading it would give me a toe-hold into knowing more about this 
time period.
	"Oh, there goes one hot woman!  You look delicious, baby!"
	I heard the voice through the crowd and stopped instantly.
	The kind of high-pitched voice that sticks out in your mind. A 
voice which could fire out pick-up lines at women in rapid 
succession, like a machine gun, even though they never amounted to 
anything.  It was Komatsu Seiji.  He had his sidekick Hatta with 
him, and was about to enter a bookstore that was in front of the 
station.  The girl he had just described as "one hot woman" was 
putting up some kind of sign in front of the station.
	"Thank you, thank you," Komatsu said to the girl. "You really 
do your job well, you know that?  I'm Komatsu, the manager."
	Having said this, he entered the bookstore, acting like someone 
important.
	What the hell is going on?
	Komatsu was talking with the owner of the book store, acting 
like they were pals.  This book store is famous for people standing 
around and reading all the books without buying them, and I had 
seen those two getting chased away several times by the old man.  
Why are they here now?
	The riddle was solved immediately.  I looked at the sign the 
girl had been putting up.  It said, "In celebration of the debut 
as a stand-alone comic of Weekly Shonen Jumbo's manga _I'll let you 
do anything_ there will be a signing by the author, Kazuya Hatta."
	My heart wouldn't stop beating.  In just three years, Hatta 
had become the number one selling manga artist in Japan.  And 
judging from the title of the manga, his personality hadn't changed 
any.  Looking through the stack of mangas next to the sign, I could 
tell they were for sex perverts, with lots of girls who could be 
either junior high school or high school students wearing cute, 
suggestive sailor suits.
	So that's why Komatsu and Hatta are wearing suits and ties and 
acting so haughty.
	Komatsu's voice: "Okay now, Hatta, do you understand?  You're 
the one the fans want to see."
	"Okay," Hatta said.
	"When they come, sign the boys' books and get rid of them as 
fast as you can.  But only the ones who buy the comic.  I'll shoe 
away anyone who tries to get you to give your autograph without 
buying a copy."
	"Okay."
	"But there'll be young girls in line for an autograph, too.  
Be sure to say, please give your phone number to my manager."
	"Manager?  Who's the manager?"
	"I am, you fool!"
	"Oh."
	"We're going to tell the girls we're recruiting for a special 
fan club."
	"A fan club?" Hatta said. "Why?"
	"Well, it'll really be a sex club, of course."
	I can't believe those two.  They haven't changed a bit.
	But I was a little envious of Hatta.  It must be great to be 
able to turn your hobby into such a good living.
	Komatsu continued, "I do wish Kasuga was here, though.  All 
this just isn't the same without him."
	I was taken back for a moment.  I didn't know Komatsu had such 
warmth in him.  But then their stupid conversation ended.  When I 
heard what Hatta said next, my heart stopped.
	"Yeah, I know.  Kasuga, he's still only twenty-two. Poor Ayukawa."
	"Yeah.  He's in the next world by now, I'll bet.  It makes you 
feel like crying, doesn't it?"
	What the hell?  What did they mean?
	I'm only twenty-two?  Poor Ayukawa?  Someone tell me what's 
going on!
	Their conversation kept rolling around in my head.  Did I die 
back in the world of three years ago?  I couldn't stop myself from 
confronting them any longer.  If I was dead, then what did I have 
to lose?  I started towards them.  But just as I did so, a herd of 
Hatta's fans who was being led by one of the book store employees 
appeared, gathering around the two.  I was pushed back by the crowd.
	"Wow, can you believe how many people there are, Hatta?" 
Komatsu said.
	"Yeah.  Don't push me."
	"But wait a minute, Hatta.  I can't see any young girls in 
the crowd."
	"Yeah.  Actually, if you think about it, it is a manga for 
sex perverts and _otakus_.  I can't imagine girls reading it."
	Komatsu got angry. "Well, I'm getting out of here, then.  I'm 
going to go hit on the girl in the book store."
	"Wait a minute, Komatsu!"

	It was a bit of a shock.
	I guess I did die back in that hospital room, three years ago.
	I continued to be pushed back by Hatta's fans, until I found 
myself back at the footbridge where I had said goodbye to Hikaru
-chan a short time earlier.  Looking past the crowd, Komatsu and 
Hatta were nowhere to be seen.  I had lost the energy to fight the 
crowd any further.
	But at the same time, I couldn't stand not knowing for sure.
	Well, in that case, I'll go to ward office.  They'll show me 
the death certificate, if I ask them.  If there isn't one, then 
I'm safe.  If there is one...  In any event, I have to make sure, 
one way or another.
	After hurrying to the ward office, I said to the old man at 
the information desk, "Excuse me, I'm looking for a certain 
person's death certificate."
	The old man, who had been drinking green tea, looked shocked 
for a moment.  That was understandable.  I must have looked like 
one of the Deva guardians (11) who stand outside Buddhist temples.  
That's how desperate I was to know the truth.
	He told me the department that handles death certificates was 
on the second floor.  I thanked him and ran up the stairs.
	I've got to make sure!  I've got to know!  Did I die in that 
world of three years ago?  And where is Ayukawa?  What is she 
doing now if I'm dead?
	I need the truth.
	Even if...even if she's going out with someone else now.
	Ayukawa.
	She appeared before me, her face full of love.  Pouting, 
now.  I knew that face was something from my past, from three 
years ago.  Now, in the present, I wonder how beautiful and 
grown-up she is.  I'll bet she's got her own kind of seductive 
appeal now, different from Hikaru-chan's.
	My heart screamed, _I want to see Ayukawa!_
	I stopped short on the stairs.
	I don't know how much longer I've got til my soul disperses.  
But there was a science fiction movie I saw a long time ago, in 
which a man who had traveled from the past disappeared the moment 
he saw proof of his own death.
	If that's the case, then before that, I want to meet Ayukawa 
just once.
	I'm usually the kind of guy who can't make up his mind easily, 
but when it's something this important, I never hesitate.  I turned 
on my heel and ran back down the stairs.
	As I ran out the entrance of the ward office, the sky was 
beginning to turn a faint shade of orange.  A cool evening wind was 
ruffling through the town.  I started off towards Ayukawa's house, 
feeling like a child who had been playing quietly by himself only 
to look up and find that all the other kids had gone home.
	
*****

	The Ayukawa mansion hadn't changed in three years.
	The ajisai--hydrangea--were in bloom along the path that goes 
to her front door.  Just like three years ago.  I had been here 
just a few days ago to pick up Ayukawa for school--well, a few 
days ago three years ago.  Ayukawa often waters her flowers in 
the morning.  That morning had been no different.
	"You're a lot like those flowers," I said to her. "That's why 
you get along so well with them."  I had actually happened to learn 
a little about the flowers the night before.
	"What do you mean by that?"
	"Because hydrangea change their colors so often, they're also 
known as 'the flower of seven changes.'"
	"Seven changes?" Ayukawa said.
	"Yes.  In other words, they're _kimagure_, capricious or 
whimsical.  Just like someone else I could name."
	She started to get angry. "That's not funny, Kasuga-kun."
	Kyosuke laughed. "I think I'll ask the flowers themselves."
	"Ask them what?"
	"Why do they suddenly get quiet and moody for no reason?  The 
moment I think they're angry, they suddenly laugh.  Why is that?"
	This time Ayukawa laughed. "You're making me sound like I'm just 
a spoiled brat."
	I kissed her.  It was a slightly longer kiss than usual.  
	Then I said, "Good morning, Ayukawa."
	I put my arms around my beautiful angel.  I felt her breath 
against me.
	"What's wrong?"
	Instead of answering, she dug her fingernails into my chest. 
"Kyosuke, you used your super-abilities just now, didn't you?"
	"What? What are you talking about?"
	"It was too perfect."
	"What was?"
	"It just was.  That kiss.  And if I catch you reminiscing about 
it during class, I'll make you buy me lunch."
	"Ayukawa."
	This time, Ayukawa kissed me.
	Ayukawa.
	I repeated her name to myself, shaking my head to get myself 
back into reality.  I don't have time to get caught up in memories 
of the past.  I've got to concentrate!
	I jumped up onto the wall, being careful to avoid the flowers.  
If I walked along it, I knew I would get to the courtyard, where I 
could see into the living room.  But when I got up onto the wall, I 
saw something I hadn't expected to see.
	The wall I was standing on is more than just a border separating 
Ayukawa's house from the one next door, but was also part of the 
roof to the garage.  There were two cars parked there.  One of them 
was familiar to me.  It was a bright red Austin Mini that Ayukawa's 
parents had bought her when she was admitted to university.
	"That's great!" I had said when she told me about the car.
	"Not really," she had said. "They can't fool me.  They've stuck 
me with watching the house while they were away for years, and this 
is all I get as a reward."
	The other car, that was the problem.  It was a silver-grey BMW 
of a type I hadn't seen since three years ago.  Ayukawa's parents 
spend the larger part of every year overseas performing, and while 
they're away, Ayukawa's sister and her husband drive her father's 
Mercedes.
	So whose car is this BMW?
	I felt my heart drop.  Someone was paying a visit to Ayukawa 
at this moment.  I didn't know if it was a man or a woman.  No, it 
had to be a man.  You have to face reality, Kyosuke.  There's no 
way a woman would be driving a sleek BMW like that, is there?
	She's with a man.  A man is here, with her.
	Trying to get a hold of myself, I slapped myself in the face 
with both hands.  Making an intense face like those Deva guardians, 
I continued along the wall.  
	That was when I heard the sound of a piano.
	Looking for a key to play in.  The kind of sliding of the fingers 
up and down the keys that a person who had been familiar with a 
piano ever since childhood would make.  Ayukawa used to do that every 
time, before she would play.
	It was Ayukawa.  She was playing the piano.
	I had heard the song somewhere before.  A strong opening.  Then a 
sensual melody, like running up a hill.  That's it, then comes the 
image of a calm, great sea.
	This song is _Kyosuke #1_!
	My depression left me immediately, and I reached my hand out 
to the branch of the white birch tree for support and peered into 
her living room.  I couldn't see much more than the grand piano 
inside.  But I could see fingers striking the keys.  And long, 
black hair.  It was Ayukawa.  She was totally absorbed in her 
playing, with her head bent forward, so I couldn't see her face 
clearly.  But I knew I was looking at Madoka Ayukawa, twenty-two 
years old.
	I was suddenly on the brink of tears.  I wanted to rush to 
her side and spill out everything.  I knew she'd help me.  After 
all this time, she still plays the song she wrote for me, wasn't 
she?
	But wait a minute.
	I don't know _for sure_ that the title of that song is, in 
reality, _Kyosuke #1_.
	I did hear it in a dream.  If that dream wasn't about the 
future, if it was just a normal dream...  The title of the song 
might not be _Kyosuke #1_ at all.
	I felt confused again.  But at that moment, I heard a voice 
which dispelled my confusion immediately.
	"Madoka!"
	It was a man's voice.  A young man.  That voice was saying to 
me: stay dead, Kyosuke.
	I don't mean to brag, but I'm not brash enough to call Ayukawa 
by her first name yet.  Even though we're officially going out, we 
haven't gotten to that point in our relationship yet.  Some might 
say that I'm unable to call her by her first name.
	On several occasions, I've thought that there was no reason to 
go on calling her "Ayukawa," but whenever I tried to it, I failed.  
I really was dying to be able to call her "Madoka," casually.  And 
now, the young man coming up from behind Ayukawa had done so as if 
her first name meant nothing.  I decided he must be the owner of 
the BMW.
	Then I looked more closely at the man.
	It was him!
	I knew who he was.  More importantly, all of Japan knew who 
he was: the famous idol singer, Mitsuru Hayakawa!  
	It appeared that he had graduated from a mere idol singer to 
a full-fledged pop star.  He was wearing his long black hair behind 
him, tied into a pony tail, with an expensive-looking double-
breasted suit, and an "aloha" shirt that seemed to say, I'm so 
famous I can get away with wearing outrageous clothes like this.  
No necktie.  And a bright, shiny ring that somehow blended well 
with everything else.
	But why is Mitsuru Hayakawa at Ayukawa's house?
	Ayukawa and I met Mitsuru Hayakawa a while back.  But he didn't 
go around calling her by her first name, at least, not three years 
ago.

	My first meeting with Mitsuru Hayakawa was two years ago.  
Which means five years ago, from this point in time.  At that time, 
he was still just an up-and-coming idol.  Hayakawa and I accidentally 
bumped our heads together, which caused us to exchange bodies.  
Changing bodies basically means swapping two minds completely.  In 
our case, my personality changed places with Mitsuru Hayakawa's.  
Because Hayakawa is so popular with girls, I had a lot of adventures 
with the opposite sex using his body.  At the same time, Hayakawa 
made some passes at Ayukawa, who naturally thought it was me.  Well, 
to make a long story short, Ayukawa was unharmed, and in the end we 
were able to put it all behind us.  But after that...
	Setting his sights for the musical genius Ayukawa had inherited 
from her musician parents, Hayakawa had kept in touch with her.  
But in the end she decided to go to college with me, and I thought 
he'd given up for a while.
	Once, when I asked Ayukawa about Hayakawa's attempts to recruit 
her into the music business, she said, "Kasuga-kun, I think you're 
jealous of him."
	"Of course I am!" I replied, raising my voice for once.
	Ayukawa seemed a little off balance to see me get flustered, and 
apologized: "I'm sorry, Kasuga-kun.  I am."
	I looked into her eyes.  They looked like the eyes of a scared 
little girl.

	But in the twenty-two year old Ayukawa of the present, I couldn't 
see any traces of such childishness.  In Mitsuru Hayakawa's hand were 
two cans of beer.  He put one on the piano, and she thanked him with 
her eyes, continuing to play.  Hayakawa opened his beer and drank it 
in one gulp.  Then he looked at Ayukawa and said, "Well? How's it 
going?  Did you finish my song?"
	Ayukawa continued playing, ignoring him.
	"You still haven't gotten over him, I see."
	Who is he talked about?  Me?
	"For God's sake, stop fucking around and forget about him."
	Angry, Ayukawa slammed her hands down on the keys.  She glared 
at Hayakawa.  He seemed used to those eyes, and he raised his hands 
in mock surrender.
	He continued. "You have to understand, I went to a lot of trouble 
to get the producer to let you write another song."
	"I didn't ask you to do it."
	Ayukawa stretched out her hand to take her beer, and cracked it 
open.
	"You really don't know the way things work in this business, do 
you."
	"I don't need to know how things work."
	Hayakawa got defensive. "Hey."
	As Ayukawa drank her beer, Hayakawa proceeded to tell her about 
"the business."  This is basically what he said.
	Ayukawa had written several of the songs on Hayakawa's last 
album.  One minor song happened to catch on, and became a big hit.  
The song was then chosen as the opening theme for a TV drama, and 
the name of Madoka Ayukawa, songwriter, spread like wildfire in the 
Japanese music industry.
	Hayakawa said, "Your sudden rise to the big time has been quite 
a Cinderella Story.  Still, I hope I wasn't expecting too much, 
putting you in charge of writing my next single."
	He leaned over and, brushing up against Ayukawa,s shoulder, 
started to play a song on the piano.
	It was the song Ayukawa had just been playing.  It was the song 
I hoped was called _Kyosuke #1_.
	"If you like, I can use this song instead."
	"What?"
	"It's a pretty good song.  Kind of rougher than most of my recent 
stuff, but it's packed with your emotion, your 'shout.'  It would be 
perfect for the climax of a concert."
	"Forget about it, okay?  I didn't write this song for you."
	"I know."
	"There aren't even any lyrics."
	"I can write some."
	Mitsuru Hayakawa reached over and played part of the song, 
ad-libbing some words to fit the melody:
	"I love you.  I love only you."
	I knew those words were what he wanted to say to Ayukawa right now.
	God damn you, Hayakawa!
	"Stop it!" Ayukawa pushed him away and got up from the piano.
	But Hayakawa just raised his hands again in apology, smiling.  
He hadn't meant to push her that far.
	Ayukawa bit back, "What happened to your girlfriend, anyway?"
	That's right.  There was a girl named Shiori who had been with 
him from the beginning of his rise to fame, which he had kept 
separate from all his female groupies.  When I changed bodies with 
Hayakawa, I came very close to spending a dangerous (?) night with 
her.  Her face was cute, similar to Hikaru-chan's, but with a more 
sensual side to her as well.
	"Girlfriend?" Hayakawa said. "Which one?"
	"I thought so.  Even though you graduated from idol to full-
fledged pop singer, you still aren't capable of anything but using 
women for sex."
	Hayakawa said, "No, you're wrong."
	"What?"
	"I'm different, Madoka, but you can't see the truth."
	"The truth?"
	"That I, Mitsuru Hayakawa, am the only one who can save you."
	"Get out!"
	"I'm leaving.  But if you ever decide you're ready to change 
the title of that song, give me a call.  You'll never be able to 
write songs if you don't forget him.  Kyosuke would agree with me."
	At that moment, I nearly lost my grip on the tree branch.
	I knew it!  The song Ayukawa had been playing was my song.  The 
title is almost definitely _Kyosuke #1_.  Ayukawa must have written 
it for me at some point in the past.
	Ayukawa refused to look in Hayakawa's direction.  She stared at 
the piano keyboard, her mouth a tight line, unmoving.  Hayakawa 
made a gesture of shooting an imaginary gun in her direction as a 
gesture of goodbye, then left the room.  The moment he closed the 
door, Ayukawa burst into tears, which fell onto the piano keys.
	Suddenly, everything started to go black.
	Except for Hikaru-chan, who had moved to Hokkaido, and from 
there went straight to New York City, everyone seemed to know of 
my death.  I really must be dead.  The courtyard of the Ayukawa 
mansion was turning bright orange as the sun moved lower and lower.  
The most beautiful moment of sunset.  After this, the darkness of 
night will come.
	For Ayukawa, a long, sad night.
	I made up my mind.
	If the situation were reversed, even if Ayukawa were a ghost, 
I would want her to appear before me.  Even if I couldn't reach out 
and hold her, I would want to be with her, for whatever short time 
we were allowed.  I decided to go to her, and ease her sorrow as 
much as I could.  I jumped from the wall to the tree branch, preparing 
to jump down to the living room window.  But as I jumped to the tree, 
I felt a strange dizziness, like when you stand up too quickly.  Then 
I looked in horror as my hand started turned transparent before my 
eyes.  But not just my hand.  Now my whole body was starting to 
disappear.  It was time for me to fade away for good.  If that's 
my destiny, then I'll accept it.  But to die without even being able 
to say one word to Ayukawa!  That's too much!
	Please God, give me just enough time to say one word.  Just one 
word, any word!
	I gathered all my strength and jumped from the tree to Ayukawa's 
living room window.
	Ayukawa!
	But my body had already started to disappear, and I fell 
"through" the wall to her house.  I was suddenly unable to see or 
hear or feel anything.

*****

	It can't be Kyosuke?
	Madoka Ayukawa looked up, sure that she had just heard Kyosuke's 
voice calling her.  Through the open window, she could see the white 
birch, painted orange by the setting sun.  The voice seemed to have 
come from that direction.
	Madoka got up from the piano where she had been sitting and 
picked up her beer.  A pleasant evening wind spilled in through 
the open window.  As if pulled by that warm breeze, she went to 
the window.  The tears in her eyes dried out.
	There was no one at the window.
	Madoka managed a sad smile.  As she drank more of the warm 
beer, she said to herself: 
	Kyosuke Kasuga.  You're a superman, right?  So use your magic, 
and come back to me.
	_Come back to me!_
	After receiving word that Kyosuke had turned up missing, Madoka 
had immediately tried to catch a plane to where he was.  But there 
was no room for women in Bosnia.  Her parents, who happened to be 
performing in Eastern Europe, told her to wait in Japan until she 
had more information.  But for ten days no, there had been no word.
	Madoka continued to stare lazily at the orange-colored garden.  
The wind, which had been pleasant a moment ago, now annoyed her.
	Ever since she had been a child, Madoka had been mistrustful of 
things that gave her pleasure.  The reason for this was, whenever 
her parents would return to Japan, she would be happy, but she knew 
that they would leave, and she would be alone again.  She knew, too, 
that the warm evening wind meant that the lonely night was not far 
off.
	In the slowly-darkening garden, Madoka's sobs sounded once again.

	Back at her hotel, Hikaru had just gotten out of the shower when 
her attention was captured by the picture on the TV.  It was the 
news on the war in Bosnia.  News of the ongoing chaos there could be 
seen in New York.  But the news in New York hadn't reported the 
story of a Japanese photographer who had disappeared.
	There must be some kind of mistake.
	She slid down onto her knees in shock.
	It was senpai.  Kasuga-senpai.  Whereabouts, unknown.
	But,...
	"Who was the Kasuga-senpai I met today?"
	Hikaru reached out for the telephone.  As long as she lived, she 
would never forget Madoka's phone number.  Hikaru pushed the button 
to get an external line, and felt a chill on her just-showered body.


PART III


	"Kasuga-kun!" Madoka shouted at Kyosuke's body, which was being 
wheeled away. "Kasuga-kun! Don't give up!"
	Kyosuke was experiencing the last stage of agony.  The doctor 
had decided to move him to the emergency treatment room.
	"Oniichan! Keep fighting!"
	Manami and Kurumi followed the stretcher, followed by the 
grandparents.  Down the hallway was the treatment room.
	Half insane, Madoka clung to Kyosuke. "You're not going to die, 
right?  Your body's still warm.  You'll be okay, right?  Live, okay?  
Live!  Do you hear me?  Kyosuke!"
	Then, _bashi! bashi! bashi!_ Madoka slapped Kyosuke's cheek.
	"What do you think you're doing?"
	The doctor grabbed Madoka's hands.  But Madoka pulled away from 
him, and kissed Kyosuke hard, as if she wanted to cover his whole 
body with hers.  Everyone standing around was surprised by the force 
of her action, and moved back.
	That was all Madoka Ayukawa could do for him.
	Some nurses wheeled Kyosuke's stretcher into the treatment room.  
Madoka stayed outside.  But at that moment, Kyosuke's wandering soul 
was receiving some kind of power from Madoka.  Kyosuke's grandfather 
picked up on that energy.
	"Madoka-kun, you did well.  It seems that Kyosuke has heard your 
voice."
	Madoka said, "What?"
	Manami said, "What do you mean, Ojiichan?"
	"Kyosuke's soul, trapped in the future, seems to have regained 
some energy."
	"R-really?"
	"Ojiichan, how do you know that?" Kazuya wanted to know.
	Grandfather said, "It's not that I can see Kyosuke's spirit 
directly from this point in time.  But when Madoka-kun kissed 
Kyosuke's body, now in the treatment room, I felt that his spirit 
was filled with the memory of the joy of living, which had almost 
been forgotten."
	Madoka: "The joy of living?"
	Grandfather nodded deeply. 
	Grandmother put in: "In other words, Madoka-chan, your feeling 
towards Kyosuke have given him courage, even at the brink of death. 
The flesh communicated those feelings to his soul, trapped in the 
future."
	"That's right," Ojiichan said. "If Kyosuke's spirit can borrow 
power from the Kyosuke of three years into the future, then..."
	"Oniichan can come back to us."
	"Probably.  That's if Kyosuke's flesh can hang on til that time."
	Madoka stared blankly at the door to the emergency treatment room.

*****

	"Ouch!"
	I realized I was back in my body just as my head hit the ground. 
I was lying in the same place I had ended up the first time.  The 
bottom of those long steps where I first met Ayukawa.  There was a 
newspaper discarded by the side of the road.  A glance at it told 
me it was still July 23, 1994, three years into my future.
	I didn't know what happened to me, but it seemed that this point 
in space acted as some kind of inter-dimensional doorway for me.  It 
also seemed that my spirit hadn't faded away just yet.
	That thought didn't make me any happier.  The current situation 
was still the same as it was.  I finally find out the truth about 
myself in this world of the future, but now I haven't a clue about 
what I should do next.
	The sun which had painted the Ayukawa mansion's courtyard 
bright orange had set about thirty minutes ago.  I was seized 
with the desire to run to Ayukawa's side immediately, but now I 
asked myself, did I really have the right to appear in front of 
her like this?  I was suddenly uneasy.
	I wandered away from the steps, towards some shops.  The bright 
lights of the stores hurt my eyes.  I felt like the light was 
penetrating into the center of me, and the feeling was unpleasant. 
Then, as I was passing in front of an electronics store, I stopped 
in shock.
	In the store window, many new electronic gadgets that hadn't 
existed three years ago were on display.  But what had stopped me 
in my tracks wasn't electronics.  My picture was on the TV.  It was 
then that I first learned that, in this time, I was a missing person.
	So this is was had really happened to me!

*****

	"Thank you very much.  Next, please."
	The cold voice of the director echoed off the ceiling of the 
studio.  The dancers who were waiting to audition all let out a 
sigh of relief.  Only Hikaru Hiyama remained stiff, as if she were 
thinking hard about something.
	"Hey, Hikaru, what's the matter?  Are you okay?"
	Shuri Anzai looked at Hikaru's face.  Compared to Hikaru's 
large eyes, her eyes were narrow, more Asian-looking.  Those eyes 
now looked at Hikaru.
	"What?" Hikaru said, then laughed. "Jeez, Shuri, do I really 
look so strange?"
	"Yes, there's something wrong with you.  The Hikaru I know 
would be making a bigger fuss about the audition, running around 
saying, oh my God, I'm on in a few minutes, that kind of thing."
	"Hold on a sec.  Acting happy now doesn't change the fact that 
I'm going to be a heartbroken woman by tonight, my dreams in pieces 
on the floor, after I fail this audition.  Would you be able to be 
so jovial under those conditions?"
	"I guess not."
	"Jeez, some people expect so much." Hikaru laughed again.
	Hikaru had met Shuri in a Japanese restaurant in the East 
Village when she had first started her dancing lessons.  Shuri had 
come to New York with the same dream as Hikaru, but when she 
exhausted her financial resources, she had gotten a job as a 
waitress in the restaurant.
	She had a body that had no problem competing with American 
women, and the Asian flavor of her catlike eyes gave her a slightly 
different appeal than Hikaru.  The past winter, when her visa 
period had expired, she returned temporarily to Japan.  When she 
heard about the audition, she had told Hikaru about it immediately.
	"Stop worrying about me, Shuri.  Aren't you up next?" Hikaru 
nudged Shuri towards the stage.
	Shuri was the kind of person who never stopped worrying about 
her friends.  Hikaru didn't want to lie to her.  The truth was, 
Hikaru had rather a lot on her mind.
	Back at the hotel, she had tried to call Madoka after seeing 
Kyosuke on the news, but in the end she had changed her mind.  She 
knew she had met Kyosuke that afternoon.  They had only talked for 
a short time, but their conversation had been pleasant.  She had to 
admit to herself that, somewhere deep inside her, she had felt the 
fire of emotion re-light for Kyosuke, who she had been trying so 
hard to forget.
	Then to hear him say, after asking about him and Madoka-san: 
"Well, you know how it is.  Things could be better."
	Hikaru had felt awful after hearing those words.  She had been 
through so much pain; it had been so hard to give Kyosuke up.  But 
then to be told, "Things could be better," when she asked how he 
was getting on with Madoka... Well, hadn't it all been for nothing?
	Hikaru had thought this way at first, but then she reconsidered.
Kyosuke had done nothing more than opened his heart to Hikaru and 
spoke honestly.  From the beginning, the three of them had had that 
kind of genuine friendship, and Kyosuke, suddenly meeting an old 
friend, had inadvertently spoken his true feelings.  
	Hikaru thought that some kind of obstacle must have come between 
Madoka and Kyosuke.  That Kyosuke had become missing in Bosnia at 
least temporarily was fact.  But he was actually alive, and was 
going to great pains to conceal that fact from others.  Why?  There 
could be only one reason.  He wanted to avoid Madoka Ayukawa.
	That must be it!  But why?  Is he cheating on her with some 
other girl?  He can't face her for some reason?  Maybe he forced 
some woman overseas to marry him.  Or maybe he gave up his Japanese 
citizenship!  That could have happened!
	Ever since she was a child, Hikaru had a tendency to get carried 
away when thinking about a problem.  This was one of those times.
	In any event, she had tried to called Madoka back at the hotel, 
but thoughts like these had made her replace the receiver in the end.
	"Hikaru, I'll see you after my audition."  It was Shuri now.
	"What?"
	"I'm up.  Didn't you hear them call my name?"
	Shuri put all her nervousness inside her and smiled at Hikaru, 
then went out onto the stage.
	"Shuri, good luck!" Hikaru called after her, but her voice was 
lost in the music on the stage.  A famous wide-show host on TV all 
the time was introducing Shuri over the speakers.  The TV network 
that was sponsoring the production was also recording the audition 
session for a documentary about dancers.  Participants in the dance 
audition would all have their faces on TV.
	Her turn approaching, Hikaru wrapped her arms around herself in 
an effort to get a grip on herself.  When she did so, she 
unconsciously touched a small doll sewn into her leotard.  It was 
similar to those "Troll" dolls, and she gripped it now.  Whenever 
she got nervous at a dance lesson back in New York, she would hold 
the doll in her hand, getting strength from it.
	I can do this!
	--I can do this!
	She chanted the words like an incantation.  They aided her 
whenever she had a problem back in America, the ultimate land of 
"individualism" and "do-it-yourself-ism."
	You can do it, Hikaru!  I know you can!
	The troll sewn into her leotard had been a present from Madoka 
Ayukawa. Hikaru had received it right after she got to New York.  
Soon after Hikaru transferred to the high school in Hokkaido, she 
started sending postcards to her friend.  The problem of Kyosuke 
still existed between the two women, but Madoka had been like an 
older sister to her forever.  Ever since Hikaru had been a child, 
she had been a crybaby, and had followed Madoka around everywhere.  
No matter what had happened with Kyosuke, her feelings for her "big 
sister" could never really change.
	But still, something kept her from talking with her directly.  
So she had sent postcards.  She wrote about unimportant things, 
and never talked about what was going on between Madoka and Kyosuke.
	Madoka guessed Hikaru's feelings, so instead of sending a reply 
letter, she had sent little trinkets.  First there was the Troll
-like doll good-luck charm, then a hand-made hat, and finally some 
pressed, dried flowers that Madoka had grown herself.  Hikaru hadn't 
asked for any gifts, but receiving them gave her a warm feeling.
	They didn't need to talk face to face.  It was enough for each 
to know that the other was thinking about her, keeping the warmth 
alive.  Hikaru had sworn to herself that, when she had become 
grown-up enough to talk about what had happened with Madoka as one 
woman to another, she would go see her.
	But it was hard.  Just coming to this audition had been a pretty 
big step for Hikaru.  Hikaru knew about Madoka's becoming an up-and
-coming songwriter.  Japanese living in New York loan videotapes of 
current "trendy dramas" to each other quite often.  She knew about 
the song Madoka had written becoming a big hit in Japan.  Hikaru 
immediately wrote a postcard congratulating her friend.  She didn't 
write about the audition or her planned return to Japan.
	"Hikaru Hiyama-san!"
	The announcer's voice reverberated from the speaker.
	"_Hai!_"
	Startled at her own voice, Hikaru walked out on stage.  Shuri 
Anzai was walking off-stage to the applause of the audience, her 
face flushed.  She was smiling.  She had done her best.  Hikaru 
raised one spread hand and said, "Give me five, Shuri!"  Slap!  
Shuri hit her open palm against Hikaru's, in a gesture of good luck.
	As if pulled by the music that suddenly overflowed from the 
speakers, Hikaru leaped out into the bright lights.

	In the stands with the other judges sat Mitsuru Hayakawa.
	"That girl!"
	Unconsciously, Hayakawa leaned forward in his seat to get a 
better look at the girl who had come onto stage.  He had seen her 
before.  She had been just a girl then, but the person dancing on 
stage was a ripe, mature woman now.  Quickly, Hayakawa's mind began 
checking his memory like a computer for the file on the girl.

	"Hey, you!  Wait a minute!  Hiyama!  Hikaru Hiyama!"
	Hayakawa's voice echoed towards Hikaru, headed backstage.  But 
she didn't stop.
	A phone!  I've got to find a phone!
	I knew I should have called Madoka-san earlier!
	Hikaru had just finished her audition.  It had started with a 
dancing, then singing, and finally a brief demonstration of her 
acting ability.  After her eyes had become accustomed to the bright 
lights, Hikaru had noticed Mitsuru Hayakawa, watching her from the 
audience.
	Back in high school, Hikaru had appeared on a TV show called 
"Talent Scout Caravan" along with Madoka and Kyosuke's sisters.  
Hayakawa had been on the show as a special-guest.  Hikaru never had 
a chance to talk directly with Hayakawa, but she knew that Kyosuke 
and Madoka had had some kind of trouble with him.  Hikaru had no 
problem with that, but seeing him looking down on her from the 
stands suddenly brought back memories of Kyosuke and Madoka.
	I don't know what really went on with Hayakawa and Kyosuke.  But 
Kasuga-senpai is really alive.  He's reported in the news as being 
missing.  I can't believe he's hiding from Madoka-san like that.
	I hate him!
	Hikaru had tried not to think about Kyosuke during the audition 
itself, but it was no use.  No matter how hard she tried, the faces 
of Kyosuke, who she had met that afternoon, and Madoka, worried 
over Kyosuke's safety, floated in front of her.  After her audition 
was finished, she threw on a jacket and went in search of a payphone. 
They were all in use.  People who had come to audition, wanting to 
call their families or their managers, were waiting in lines to use 
the phones.  Outside the studio, she finally found an open phone.
	But Madoka wasn't home.
	Through the receiver, Hikaru heard Madoka's voice for the first 
time in three years.  It was her answering machine.  Hikaru was 
full of memories, and her heart quivered with emotion.  She 
realized that she really loved Madoka after all.
	But when the recording ended with a beep, she hung up without 
saying anything.  It wasn't the kind of thing you leave on someone's 
answering machine.  Hikaru decided to walk around the memory-filled 
town without going back to the hotel.

*****

	A red straw hat.  A red straw hat.
	Ayukawa's red straw hat.
	This is where we first met--God, that sounds corny.
	I balled up the newspaper I had been reading and threw it in 
a trash can.  I was at the park at the top of the hundred-or-ninety
-nine steps.  I was sitting on a swing.  On the society page of the 
newspaper was an article with a giant headline: _Japanese 
photographer, missing for several days_. 
	Don't make such a big deal about it.  I won't be able to go 
anywhere around here without standing out to strangers if my picture's 
going to be pasted everywhere.  To say nothing of showing up at 
Ayukawa's house.
	The Kyosuke Kasuga of the present turns up missing just as I show 
up from the past.  It has to be a joke, right?
	I started myself swinging.  I had been on these swings with 
Ayukawa many times.  Back when Ayukawa was going to study abroad 
in America at her parents' urging, we had come here.
	"So are you going to America or what?" I had said, trying to 
sound tough.
	"I have to.  You and me; we're still children, really.  We have 
to do what our parents tell us to every once in a while."
	Ayukawa had said this, then smiled in that grown-up way of hers.  
She had ended up staying here, and we had become closer and closer 
after that.  You often hear that you don't realize how important 
people are to you until you lose them.  Just like me, now.
	Everyone I know is gone.  Ayukawa, Komatsu and Hatta, my family, 
even Master.  This is all so new to me.  I never imagined that not 
being able to see the people you love could be this hard.
	The wind picked up.  It was July, but it wasn't really summer 
yet.  It would get cool tonight.
	"Okay!" I said to myself, jumping off the swing.  I started 
down the steps I had just climbed, counting to myself: "Ichi, ni,..."  
I was going to check how many there really were, once and for all.
	Then, from below me, a voice: "Ichi, ni, san,..." I looked up 
to see a girl, coming under the light.
	"I didn't know your hobbies included counting steps, Kasuga
-senpai."
	"Hikaru-chan!"
	"What's wrong, senpai?" she teased. "You look like you've 
seen a ghost."
	"Um, sorry, I..."
	"I knew you'd be here."
	"How did you know?"
	"Everyone else always takes the long way to avoid having to 
climb these stairs, but for some reason, you always seemed to like 
them.  And here you were."
	"Is that so?"
	"Yes, it is," Hikaru-chan answered, suddenly acting like her 
old self.
	"You haven't really changed in three years," I said.
	"That's not true!  I'm twenty now, you know.  Are you saying I 
haven't become woman at all?"
	"Well, that's not what I meant."
	That isn't what I had meant.  You're so pretty, I wouldn't know 
you if I saw you in a crowd.  Like a beacon of light to a lonely 
man, lost in the sea.  To tell the truth, I was so happy I could 
cry, talking to her.
	"Kasuga-senpai."
	"Hm?"
	"Can I ask you a private question?"
	"What?  What's wrong?"
	I was shaking a little.  But Hikaru-chan looked straight at me, 
and I knew I couldn't lie to her.  Sensing my resignation, she 
said, "Senpai, why are you running away from Madoka-san, pretending 
to be dead?"

*****

	Hikaru-chan's hotel, on Aoyama Dori, was what is known as a 
"city hotel," kind of small but elegant.  We had decided to go 
to dinner.
	"Well, let's go the hotel I'm staying at," Hikaru had said. 
"I heard there's a beautiful restaurant on the top floor, but I 
haven't been there yet.  If it's really as nice as they say, then 
who would want to go there alone?"
	I wasn't hungry, and wondered if my soul from three years in 
the past was biologically capable of hunger, but when she asked 
that question of me, I could only say, "Well, let's go to dinner 
and talk about it."
	Luckily, I had had the money for my summer study session in 
my pocket at the time of the accident.  I'm sure even Ojiichan 
wouldn't know why that money was with me now.  But I was ready to 
spend it all tonight on Hikaru-chan.
	"Senpai, what wine shall we have?  Do you prefer dry or sweet 
wines?"
	Sitting down next to a window that overlooked Aoyama Dori, 
Hikaru-chan had immediately reached for the wine list.
	"Um, I don't have a preference.  Which do you usually drink?"
	Hikaru-chan started naming white wines, most of which I had 
never heard of.  This was something that the Hikaru-chan of three 
years ago would not have been able to do.
	Of course! Now that I think about it, she is a year older than 
me.  I'm at a ritzy hotel, about to eat dinner with a sexy, older 
woman.
	"Well, how about this one?" she said to the waiter, after I 
had been unable to decide the wine.  She really had grown up, 
hadn't she?  No doubt it was as a result of her hard life in New 
York.  She had really come a long way.  I suddenly became aware 
of how childish I must look to her.
	"What's wrong, senpai?  You're acting like a body without a soul."
	My eyes went wide at that. "Did you say soul?"  A middle-aged 
couple sitting beside us glared at me.  Hikaru-chan shushed me.
	"Sorry.  I was vegging out for a second," I said.
	"You seem kind of tired today.  If you don't want to answer my 
question, you don't have to."
	"Ah yes, your question."
	Hikaru continued. "You and Madoka are adults, after all.  I 
just...I just..."
	"Hikaru-chan?"
	The words were getting caught in her throat.  I held eyes with 
her for a moment, and she forced a smile.  The kind of cute smile 
you see in American movies.
	"I just want to see the two of you get along together.  That's all."
	Just then, the waiter brought the wine, served in a bucket of ice. 
	"That looks good," she said.
	I pretended not to notice the sadness in her face.

*****

	"_Kampai!_"
	Hikaru touched her glass to Kyosuke's, then took a long drink of 
the chilled wine.  Her throat had been parched.  She realized she 
hadn't had anything to drink since before the audition, when she had 
had some mineral water.  And now she was running off at the mouth 
with Kyosuke.
	_I want to see the two of you get along together_.  What a 
stupid thing to say.  It's like I'm admitting what bad luck I had 
had with men when I was in New York or something.
	She drained the glass.
	"You're incredible, Hikaru-chan.  I guess you can hold your 
liquor."
	"Hm?  No, no, I'm just thirsty, that's all.  Besides, in 
America people drink beer and wine in place of water."
	"Really?  The water in Tokyo has gotten really bad recently.  
I hear it's worse in America, though."
	"It is.  And what's worse, the price of beer or wine or mineral 
water isn't that different from Japan."
	"Well, then I guess you should buy wine instead of mineral 
water," Kyosuke said and laughed, refilling her glass.  As he did 
so, she looked at his face.  He really hadn't changed in the slightest 
in three years.  Same sweet mouth.  Same warm eyes.  A completely 
different person than Sugizawa-san.
	In the end, Hikaru hadn't bothered to call Sugizawa back.  He had 
been the first man she had been with, but that was all he was.  Even 
if she were to see him again, she knew nothing would ever come of it.  
After she had broken up with Sugizawa, Hikaru had slept with two men.  
One had been an Italian-American who was taking dance lessons with 
her.  The other had been a Japanese art student she had met in a caf 
in the Village.  Both of them had been different types of men, but 
both had had many interests in common with Hikaru.  She had enjoyed 
being with both of them.
	She had realized that they hadn't been "steadies," but just 
someone to spend time in bed with.  She saw them from time to time 
back in New York.  Sometimes she would sleep with them, sometimes she 
wouldn't.  The relationships were important to both her and the two 
men.
	But now, her dear friend Kyosuke was here, and she felt 
strangely sad about the changes in herself over the past three years.  
But Kyosuke hadn't changed at all.  No matter what kind of men she 
would meet in the future.  No matter how grown-up and sexy she made 
herself up to look in front of them.  To Hikaru, Kyosuke Kasuga would 
always be different.
	Kyosuke and Hikaru were still reminiscing about the old days when 
the food and more wine came.  Their conversation touched on the 
subject of Madoka from time to time, but for the most part, they 
avoided talking about her. It was surprisingly easy, because the two 
of them had been bound by deep friendship for a long time.
	Some time later, "dinner time" at the restraint gave way to "bar 
time."  The lights were dimmed, and the candles places at each table 
illuminated their slightly reddened faces.  Kyosuke and Hikaru had 
been laughing about the past up til now, but they suddenly grew 
silent.  Piano music had begun to play, and they were embarrassed at 
laughing so loudly.
	That was the beginning of it.
	The two of them went from two friends, laughing and talking about 
the past, to seeing each other as adults of consenting age.

*****

	I knew it.
	I shouldn't have gone.
	Madoka turned on the lights and looked around the room.  She had 
been invited to dinner by her sister and her husband, and had just 
gotten home.  They had been concerned about her because she was 
losing weight, worrying about Kyosuke.  They had shown up that night 
and half-dragged Madoka out the door.  Her sister's children had 
been glad to see her, and the table had been filled with her favorite 
foods.  But no matter how hard she tried, Madoka hadn't been able to 
lift her spirits.  Madoka ate the food her sister had prepared for 
her as quickly as she could, then caught a taxi home, turning down 
her brother-in-law's insistent offers to take her home himself.
	She should have been nicer to her sister's family.  Or better, 
she should have turned down their invitation more firmly in the first 
place.  Madoka picked up a box of Salem cigarettes that she had 
thrown on the couch earlier, and took one out and lit it.
	She took a drag of the cigarette.
	She noticed a light blinking on the telephone.  Someone had called 
while she had been out.  She sucked again at the Salem, as if trying 
to smoke all it in one breath.  She held the smoke in her lungs for 
a moment, then blew it all out.
	Ever since she had been notified that Kyosuke had disappeared, 
the sound of the phone ringing terrified her.  Madoka discarded the 
cigarette butt, smoked down to the filter, in an empty can.  She 
listened to the message.
	There had been three calls.  But the person had hung up without 
leaving any messages.  She ran her long, black hair through her 
fingers, sinking into the couch.  She took another Salem out of the 
pack.
	The phone rang.  
	She immediately thought to herself: what time is it in Bosnia?
	"Hello?"
	The voice on the other end dispelled her anxiety immediately.
	"It's me. I was drinking, and suddenly wanted to hear your voice."
	It was Mitsuru Hayakawa.
	"Use your stupid lines on some other woman. I'm hanging up now."
	"No wait, don't hang up.  I was kidding.  No, there's something I 
have to tell you."
	"I haven't done anything with your song since this afternoon.  
Tell your friends in 'the business,' if they don't like it, they can 
drop me."
	"No, it's not about that.  I met a close friend of yours today."
	"A close friend?"
	"Yeah, you know, the girl from high school."
	"You're not talking about Hikaru, are you?"
	"Yeah, that's her.  Entry number 65, Hikaru Hiyama.  Currently 
residing in New York, attending Actor's Studio College."
	"What are you talking about?  Hikaru is in New York now, but--"
	"She's back in Japan.  I had a feeling you didn't know she was 
back.  She's here for an audition."
	"An audition?"
	"I told you about it a while ago, remember?  My agent is taking 
part in producing a musical, and I was chosen to be one of the judges. 
Anyway, she came to the audition today."
	Madoka sat up, interested now.  She displayed the postcards she 
had gotten from Hikaru.  Counting the ones from Hokkaido, there were 
quite a few.  The most recent one, a postcard from Phantom of the 
Opera, had arrived a month ago.  In it, Hikaru had written her 
congratulations on Madoka's becoming a hit songwriter, and complained 
about how hard it was for poor people like her to buy theater tickets 
in New York.  Madoka had sent Hikaru a cassette tape of the music to 
Phantom of the Opera, which she had arranged and played herself on 
the piano.
	"Madoka, are you listening?"
	"Sorry.  So where is Hikaru now?"
	"She's in that new hotel on Aoyama Dori, I think it's called the 
Kingdom Hotel.  I'm here with her."
	"You're a liar."
	Hayakawa just laughed.
	"I'm just kidding.  That part comes later."
	"Go ahead and try it.  Just remember, Hikaru doesn't look that 
strong, but I'm the one who taught her how to kick the asses of 
scumbags like you."
	"I'm sorry, come on.  Although, she really has gotten sexy in 
the last three years."
	Hayakawa continued talking about Hikaru, but Ayukawa listened 
only halfway, then hung up.  She dialed directory assistance and 
asked for the number of the Kingdom Hotel.  Madoka was sure Hikaru 
didn't know about Kyosuke's disappearance.  If Hikaru had known, 
Madoka was certain she would have called.  Madoka had considered 
writing to Hikaru in New York with the news.  But she had changed 
her mind, not wanting to burden Hikaru with her problems.  But if 
Hikaru is in Tokyo, things were different.  The only one who could 
bring Madoka's spirits out of the shadows at a time like this was 
Hikaru.
	"Hello, Kingdom Hotel."
	A pleasant woman's voice answered the phone.  Madoka gave the 
name of Hikaru Hiyama, and was connected to her room.  The phone 
rang again and again.  After a time it reverted back to the front 
desk.
	"Miss Hiyama doesn't seem to be in her room," said the woman. 
"She just picked up her room key, so I'd imagine she's in the 
hotel's restaurant bar with her guest."
	"Her guest?"
	"Yes.  Um, are you a friend of Miss Hiyama's?"
	"Yes, I am."
	"Shall I transfer your call to the restaurant?"
	"Was she with a man?"
	"Yes, she was."
	Madoka was suddenly hit by women's intuition.
	Hikaru was with a man.  He was probably a boyfriend from Hokkaido. 
If that was the case, it wouldn't be nice to show up and talk about 
Kyosuke with her.
	"Hello?  Shall I connect you to the restaurant?"
	Madoka hung up.
	And felt somehow relieved.  She didn't know what kind of man 
Hikaru was with, but the thought of Hikaru enjoying a quiet evening 
with a male friend was somehow good news to her.  Madoka realized 
she was thirsty, and went into the kitchen.  She took a beer out of 
the refrigerator and opened it.  Coolness spread down her throat.  
She thought of Hikaru, and for a moment was able to forget her own 
situation and smile.

*****

	"Kasuga-senpai, are you okay?"
	Hikaru-chan was calling me.  She seemed far away from me.
	No, that's not right.  She's right beside me.  The smell of her 
was assaulting me, making my head spin.  No, wait a minute.  She's 
not _beside me_, she's _holding me in her arms_, calling my name.
	Where am I?  Am I a ghost?  I took a look around me, and saw 
that I was in her hotel room.  On the sofa next to the bed were 
several pieces of women's clothing.
	"Are you okay?  Hang on a minute, I'll bring you some water."
	Hikaru dropped me on the bed.  Or maybe she laid me down 
gently--I couldn't tell which.
	So this is Hikaru-chan's room.
	I shook my head groggily, trying desperately to remember what 
had happened up to that point.  I think I paid the bill back at the 
restaurant.  She showed her room key to the waiter and said, "Please 
charge it to my room," but I don't care if she's older than me, the 
man should pay. I told her, let me pay!  I think that's what 
happened.
	But my memory gave out on me after that.  How did I get to 
Hikaru's room?  The room into which Hikaru-chan had disappeared into 
was a bathroom.  I heard the sound of water running through the door.
	Hikaru-chan's taking a shower!  That's really not a good idea, 
Hikaru-chan.
	I tried to sit up, but I felt as if my clothes had been sewn 
to the bed.  My body wouldn't respond to my brain's commands.
	I've got to get home.  But where is home?  I have nowhere to 
go.  I've got to get out of this room, in any event.  That much 
I can be sure of.
	I tried once more to get up, and this time I managed to turn 
over onto my stomach.  But it was then I noticed something strange.  
Kyosuke Kasuga, nineteen years old--I was supposedly just a soul, 
but I was experiencing pain now.
	The part of me which proves I'm a man (you know, _down there_) 
was bearing my full weight.  That part of me had become sexually 
excited, and, well...  Even though I was trying my best to do the 
right thing, to leave the room, my thing had 'stood up.'
	Ayukawa.
	I'm sorry.  I don't know what's gotten into me.  
	At that point, I reached my limit, and my mental soliloquy 
came to an end.  I imagined Hikaru-chan's nude body in the shower, 
then saw Ayukawa's angry face, then Hikaru-chan again, then Ayukawa. 
Then, like a giant wave hitting me at once, I entered a world of 
pure white.

*****

	"Senpai, I'm sorry for making you wait.  Here's your water."
	Hikaru came out of the bathroom, holding a cup of water.  Then 
she noticed he was lying on his stomach.
	"Are you okay, senpai?  Where does it hurt?  I was filling the 
bath with water for you just now."
	Hikaru kneeled on the bed, shaking Kyosuke gently.  He was 
sleeping soundly.
	"Don't go to sleep here," Hikaru said. "It's a bad idea, really."
	Hikaru didn't know what to do.
	This is a problem.
	Definitely a problem.
	Back at the restaurant on the top floor of the hotel, Kyosuke 
had passed out right after taking care of the check.  He had drank 
too much.  Hikaru had asked a waiter to help bring him to her hotel 
room, intending to let him rest for a while on the couch before 
going home.
	But now he was in her bed sleeping, and his face was innocent 
and peaceful.  Hikaru had thought earlier that Kyosuke hadn't changed 
at all in three years, but looking at him now, she was unable to 
believe that he was twenty-two years old.  This was the Japanese 
photographer who had flown into war-torn Eastern Europe with just a 
camera?
	Back at the restaurant, Hikaru had asked several times about 
his trip to Bosnia and his disappearance.  But every time he had 
avoided the question.  Kyosuke was, after all, a very indecisive 
type of person who never said things clearly.
	Hikaru knew this aspect of his personality very well.  She 
also realized that a man who was relaxing and talking about the 
past with an old friend might not want to dig up such vivid and 
unpleasant memories.  Hikaru decided to stop asking about Bosnia 
and concentrate on talking about their happy past.
	But there were many things that Hikaru didn't want to remember 
about that past.  In the last three years she had worked hard to 
put those bitter memories behind her.  She had found at some point 
that she had grown up during it all.  
	Being an adult wasn't necessarily all good, either.
	Before, Hikaru had always been a straightforward and trusting 
person, but now she was different.  Now she always thought things 
like, "Is this person telling me the truth?" and "How far can I 
trust this person?"
	This was because she had had many experiences with lovers or 
a friends who hadn't responded to her feelings as much as she had 
expected, or who had actually betrayed her in the end.  Many people 
she had met changed completely whenever it suited them.  Because of 
this, she had been hurt many times.
	But now, lying in her bed, was a man who was totally unlike the 
people she had met in the past.
	He's not my enemy.
	He doesn't want to play the stupid games that adults have to play.
	But I couldn't...I couldn't do that.
	"Kasuga-senpai.  Please wake up," she said, before finally 
realizing that her voice wasn't enough to rouse him.
	Just then, Kyosuke turned over in bed.  Timing it just right, 
Hikaru covered Kyosuke wth the sheet.  She went to turn off the 
water, nearly overflowing in the bathtub, then took off her T-shirt 
and spats and got in the bathtub.
	The hot water mixed with the warmth from the wind, and felt 
good against her body.  Hikaru was not so naive that she didn't 
know what was going to happen between Kyosuke and her tonight.  Nor 
was it true that she hadn't considered what pain both she and 
Madoka Ayukawa would have to suffer after Hikaru crossed that line 
with Kyosuke.  As if to wave all that away, Hikaru submerged her 
head in the bath water completely.  She decided not to think about 
it anymore.  Not thinking about the problem was the best solution at 
a time like this.
	When Hikaru came out of the bathroom, Kyosuke was still sleeping 
soundly.  She put on her pajamas and slid into bed beside Kyosuke.  
When she did so, she remembered the body smells of the men she had 
slept with in the past, but she shook her head, just a little, to 
shake the memories off.  She could hear the sound of the air 
conditioner running.  Hikaru was in the habit of taking hot showers, 
then getting into cool sheets.  It created a pleasant sensation 
against her body.  But when she stretched her legs out into the 
fresh sheets, she moved to touch Kyosuke.
	Just then, Kyosuke said: "Ayukawa."
	A name that Hikaru had been trying desperately to forget suddenly 
jumped up in her memory.  She reached out to the side table and 
turned out the light.  The room became completely dark.  The sound of 
the air conditioner and the never-ending parade of cars on Aoyama 
Dori reached Hikaru's ears. Seeming to completely cover those sounds 
was the sound of Kyosuke's breathing.
	Hikaru smiled to herself.
	This is not my apartment in New York.  This is Tokyo, where I 
was born and raised.  And this is where some people who are very 
special to me live.
	Hikaru wondered why it had taken til now for her to feel like 
she had come "home," and sometime later, she was pulled into a deep 
sleep.

*****

	When I opened my eyes, I knew immediately that I was really in 
heaven this time.  Lying on a fluffy cloud.  Bathing in gentle rays 
of light.  And beside me, breathing deeply in sleep, was a nymph.  
I guess I really am dead this time.
	Wait a minute.  A nymph?  Not an angel?
	Reality returned to me in the next second.  I'm sure I turned 
white. The person I thought was a nymph was really Hikaru-chan.  
She was wearing cute pajamas, and was sleeping with her body resting 
against mine.
	What's going on, Kyosuke?  Why is Hikaru-chan sleeping in the 
same bed as you?  Does that mean I...well, does it mean I did it 
with her?
	That's not good.
	I was a virgin.
	And what about Ayukawa?  I was supposed to do it with her.
	I had gone from heaven to hell in one minute.  An idea occurred 
to me.  I reached my hand down to the lower half of my body.  I was 
wearing my pants.  But that didn't necessarily mean I was out of 
the woods.  Thinking I should check all parts of my body, I started 
to lower my zipper.  If that part of me was wet, well, it would be 
a big problem.
	But then my luck turned bad.  Down on Aoyama Dori a truck blew 
its horn loudly.  Hikaru-chan's large eyes fluttered open.
	"Ah, Hikaru-chan," I said.
	"Good morning, senpai."
	"Good morning."
	"I didn't know you were awake."
	Hikaru-chan looked as if she was still half in whatever dream 
she had been having.  I had my hands on my zipper.  No matter how 
half-awake she was, it looked suspicious.
	"What are you doing?  What's wrong, senpai?"
	I laughed nervously. "It's gets itchy down here sometimes."
	She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Gimmie a break.  Men are 
all the same."  She laughed, then suddenly she looked at me with 
solemn eyes.  They seemed to tease me.
	"Senpai."
	"What."
	"Do you remember last night?  You talked in your sleep."
	"What!?"
	"You kept saying 'Ayukawa, Ayukawa!'"
	"No, I didn't."
	"Yes, you did."
	Hikaru-chan laughed again.
	"Cut it out, Hikaru-chan!  I'm sure I didn't say her name!"
	"But suppose you did say her name.  And suppose, as a result 
of that, a certain beautiful girl decided she hated you.  What 
would you do?"
	"Huh?  Well, I guess then I would have been my loss."
	"Your loss, huh?" she asked.
	"Um, well, it's not actually a matter of losing or gaining 
something," I said.
	What am I saying?!
	Suddenly Hikaru-chan said, "Senpai!  You can stop worrying.  
Nothing happened between us last night."  She showed me a wide 
smile.  The morning sun was shining on her face just then, and it 
was the prettiest smile I'd ever seen.  I knew that I could never 
do anything to hurt her.
	Just then, a sixth sense came out of nowhere and hit me.
	.......Hikaru-chan wasn't a virgin.
	Next to the pillow, the phone rang.
	Hikaru-chan threw the sheet off and answered it.  It was the 
front desk, telling her she had a phone call from outside the 
hotel.  I thought it wouldn't be polite to eavesdrop on her 
conversation, and moved into the bathroom.

*****

	"Hello?" said the voice at the other end of the receiver.
	It wasn't Sugizawa.  Hikaru was immediately relieved.
	"It's me, Hayakawa.  Mitsuru Hayakawa."
	"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry.  I remember now.  I'm sorry about 
yesterday."
	"It's been a long time since I've been brushed off like that. 
It made me kind of nostalgic for the old days."
	"So I guess you have to thank me," Hikaru said.
	Hikaru continued the conversation, but she was thinking about 
Kyosuke, who had disappeared into the bathroom.  She didn't 
particularly want him to see her like this, talking casually with 
a man.  Then she heard the sound of Kyosuke using the shower.  
She relaxed a little, then said, "And why has the famous and 
popular Mitsuru Hayakawa seen fit to call someone like me?"
	"Has Madoka called you yet?"
	"Madoka-san?"
	"Yeah, you know, Madoka Ayukawa.  Has she called you yet?  
I told her about seeing you at the audition.  She's writing my 
new single, so I talk with her quite a bit."
	Idly, Hikaru recalled that the hit song which Madoka-san had 
written had been sung by Mitsuru Hayakawa.  Hikaru had been going 
to call Madoka as soon as she heard the results of the audition.  
She hadn't planned on Hayakawa telling Madoka that she was in 
Japan for her, and was actually a little angry at him.
	"So how is Madoka-san?"
	"She's fine, except for worrying about Kyosuke.  You know about 
him, right?"
	"Yes, I know," she said.
	"She's taking it well.  At least, her defenses are strong.  As 
usual."
	Hayakawa laughed as if he had said something funny.
	Hikaru was worried about Madoka.  She still hadn't managed to 
find out why Kyosuke was hiding from Madoka.  Madoka was worrying 
herself to death over Kyosuke, yet Hikaru had just spent a 
dangerous night with him.  Hikaru felt she had done something 
terrible.
	"Um, about yesterday's audition," Hayakawa was saying.
	Hikaru's ears perked up.  The results of the audition were to 
be announced this afternoon.  There were two positions for leading 
roles and three for lesser parts.  Those five dancers would undergo 
extremely hard dance lessons until the fall, at which time the 
number of roles available would be narrowed down to one leading and 
two minor parts.  The people who weren't chosen for the final roles 
would never be able to step on a stage, unless an accident happened 
to the dancers who had been chosen.
	But Hikaru wasn't aiming for one of the minor roles.  They were 
suitable only for taller dancers, like Shuri Anzai.  She had to get 
one of the major roles, or nothing.
	Hayakawa was saying, "Anyway, I just received word from my 
agent.  The results are out."
	"What?  Already?" Hikaru felt herself tense up.  The tone of 
Hayakawa's voice told her to fear the worst.
	"I'm sorry, but you weren't picked."
	"I see."
	"You were good, though.  Really good.  I voted for you."
	"Thank you."
	"Anyway, I was thinking, will you be in Tokyo a while longer?"
	"Why?"
	"I'm sort of friends with the author of the play.  I was 
thinking...well, if I ask him, maybe he could add a part for you."
	"He could what?"
	"Yeah, it's done all the time in this business."
	"Yes, but..."
	"If it's alright with you, maybe we could have lunch today and 
talk about it."
	It couldn't possibly be that easy, Hikaru thought to herself.  
But she was also aware of the fact that, in this world, nothing was 
more important than connections.  Hikaru heard herself talking to 
Hayakawa, but one thing was bothering her.
	"Um, Hayakawa-san."
	"Mm?"
	"Does Madoka-san know about any of this?"
	Hayakawa lost some of his composure as the mention of Madoka's 
name.
	"Madoka?  This is what she said to me.  She said, 'Hikaru 
doesn't look that strong, but remember I'm the one who taught her 
how to kick the asses of scumbags like you.'"
	He laughed again.
	To Hayakawa, he had told an innocent joke.  But Hikaru was sure 
she sensed Madoka's influence in Hayakawa's generous offer.  Hikaru 
was sure that Madoka had asked him to make a special part in the 
play for her.  And that was a favor that Hikaru absolutely could 
not accept.
	"Hayakawa-san."
	"So what time should I pick you up?  What do you want to eat?"
	"I'm sorry, but I have to decline your offer."
	"Huh?  What are you talking about?"
	"Please say thank you to Madoka-san for me.  Tell her, when 
the time comes that I can call her, I will."
	"Well, I'll tell her.  But don't you want to just--"
	"Thank you very much for calling.  Goodbye!"
	Hikaru hung up the phone with Hayakawa in the middle of a word.  
Just then Kyosuke, having finished his shower, opened the bathroom 
door.  He had obviously been waiting for her to finish her phone 
call.  That thoughtful quality was one of the things she loved 
about Kyosuke.
	"I'm out of the shower," he said.
	"Thanks," she replied, then suddenly stood up on the bed.  She 
began jumping on the bed like a child.
	"Um, Hikaru-chan?"
	Hikaru continued jumping. "Senpai, I'm going back to New York 
tonight."
	"What?"
	"I knew I'd want to return to New York right away if I failed the 
audition.  My return ticket was set for today."
	"You failed?  You failed the audition?"
	"But it was fun!" she said. "But really dangerous, too.  We almost 
did something we would have regretted last night, didn't we?"
	Hikaru suddenly jumped onto the floor, making a sound like an 
airplane crashing: "_Kyuuun!_"  Then she ran past Kyosuke into the 
bathroom.
	"H-Hikaru-chan," Kyosuke said, but the bathroom door slid shut 
with a bang.  The sound of the shower came on again.  Kyosuke realized 
now that he had lingered too long with her.  The warmth that being 
with her brought had distracted him.  Kyosuke knocked on the bathroom 
door.
	"Hikaru-chan!"
	Hikaru turned the water pressure down and said, "What?"
	"I'm going to go now."
	"Okay."
	"Hikaru-chan, thanks for yesterday.  It was really fun."
	"Me too.  I was lucky to have bumped into you again.  I mean that."
	"Thanks."
	Kyosuke realized that Hikaru was waiting to hear what he was 
going to say next, from the other side of the door.  It was his 
intention to say goodbye then leave immediately.  He knew that if 
he didn't go right away, it would be impossible to leave her.  He 
also sensed that Hikaru, a woman now, was struggling with some new 
burden.  But Kyosuke found that, no matter how hard he tried, he 
couldn't tell her _sayonara_.
	"Hikaru-chan, I'll see you later."
	"Bye!"
	Hikaru paused a moment as if to check if Kyosuke had really 
gone, then turned the water pressure in the shower back up.  As if 
driven away by the sound of the shower, Kyosuke left the room.  
Just as he closed the door, the phone in Hikaru's room rang again.

*****

	After that, I decided to head back to my own neighborhood.  I 
had nowhere else to go.  I felt as if my tired body was searching 
for somewhere to rest.  But I wasn't actually tired.  It was sort 
of a painful feeling.  As if being with happy, bright Hikaru-chan 
made me feel dim by comparison.  I needed to rest for a while.
	On my way down the stairs from the train station, I noticed a 
crowd of people in front of the electronics store across from the 
bus terminal.  In the front window was a sign which read, "Our 
Local Hero!" The owner of the shop had put it up, along with a 
large TV set showing news.
	What the hell's going on?
	Having nothing better to do, I went towards the store.  When I 
did so, I heard a voice say, "Hey look, it's Kasuga!"  The high-
pitched voice belonged to Komatsu.
	I thought about running away, but Komatsu and Hatta, stepping 
out of a ramen shop, were coming towards the electronics shop at 
high speed.
	"Excuse us, we're Kasuga Kyosuke's close personal friends."
	"Let us through.  Hey, wait a minute, you're kind of cute."
	They waded through the crowd to the front of the TV.
	Is there something about me on the news?
	I peered at the television in between the people.  My twenty-
two year old face was on the screen.  The newscaster was reading 
the news story excitedly.
	"...We repeat, international news agencies received reports 
late last night that student-photographer Kyosuke Kasuga has been 
found uninjured by the United Nations peacekeeping forces.  
Confirmation of the reports has been slow in coming, so the official 
announcement has been held back til a few minutes ago.  Kasuga-kun 
has been en route to Japan via a UN special plane for several hours 
and will be arriving at Narita shortly."
	The people gathered around the television let out a cheer.  I 
felt embarrassed, but at the same time something welled up inside 
of me.
	I was alive!
	I had been alive these past three years!  Which meant that I 
survived the accident three years ago!
	Now the screen was showing an army of news reporters converging 
on Narita.  Ayukawa's probably with them.  My twenty-two year old 
self was coming home.  Suddenly in a big hurry, I ran back up the 
stairs to the train station.

	Narita International Airport was, as the TV had shown, in a 
total uproar.  The lobby where the passengers and crew from the UN 
jet would be arriving was closed off to everyone except reporters 
and airport personnel.  Being careful to avoid the eyes of the 
guards, I slipped under the rope which led to the lobby.  The crowd 
of reporters was positioned outside the flight gate, poised to 
capture on film the conquering hero as he came through the gate. 
Beyond the reporters was a group of people who looked like airport 
officials.  I pulled the "Apollo" cap I had just bought tightly 
over my face and walked towards the group of officials.  Among them 
were two young girls giving interviews to reporters.  It took me a 
few seconds to realize that they were Kurumi and Manami!  Standing 
next to them, his hair slightly graying in the front, was my father. 
The Master of ABCB was even there.
	Where have they been all this time?
	I started walking towards them more quickly.  But just then, 
the reporters let out a roar as the gate was opened, and I was 
carried away by the wave of people.  I bumped into countless people.  
No one could tell I wasn't one of the reporters.  I struggled to 
move forward, even just a little.
	Just then, I noticed a pair of eyes looking straight at me.  It 
was Ayukawa.  Twenty-two year old Ayukawa was starting straight at 
me.
	Ayukawa!
	I pushed some people to one side, throwing my body forward.  
But she disappeared among the shoving people.
	Ayukawa! Ayukawa!
	I continued to move towards where she had been standing.  When 
I finally managed to find her in the crowd again, I suddenly felt 
some kind of power take me, almost like telekinesis, and move me 
forward.
	Ayukawa was standing next to a man, larger than me, who had 
his arm around her waist.  A million flash-bulbs went off around 
them.  He was Kyosuke Kasuga, twenty-two years old.  The power I 
was feeling was coming from him.  I felt it run through my body, 
regenerating all the cells of my flesh.
	In that shower of flash bulbs, my twenty-two year old self 
was still embracing Ayukawa.  But slowly, he turned towards me.  
He grinned in my direction, then sent me this telepathic message:
	_I've been waiting for you, Kyosuke.  What took you so long?_
	Feeling somehow relieved, I nodded towards him.

*****

	The outside of the airport terminal was stained vermilion by 
the setting sun.  The lobby which had been full of reporters an 
hour ago had finally quieted down.  Tourists planning on starting 
their summer vacations early were standing in lines and filling 
out forms.
	"Summer vacation will be here in no time," my twenty-two year 
old self said, gazing at the sightseers-to-be.  "This room will 
be so filled with travelers, there won't be a single place to 
stand.  It'll be like a battlefield."
	The two Kyosukes had moved away from the family and Madoka, 
and were standing in a corridor that overlooked the departure 
lobby.
	"A battlefield, huh?" Kyosuke of three years ago said. "Tell 
me, why did you go to Bosnia, anyway?"
	"I'd like to ask you the same thing.  Kyosuke, what the hell 
happened to you three years ago?"
	"It must have been the photo contest.  You remember, we won 
the university photography competition.  I guess you got carried 
away with all that glory and wanted to become a full-fledged 
photographer."
	"No, that's not it.  It wasn't anything that immature.  It was 
Madoka and Hikaru-chan that made me do it."
	"Ayukawa and Hikaru-chan?"
	"Yeah.  They were trying so hard to make their own dreams come 
true.  So I thought I ought to be doing something, too.  I became 
a photographer."
	"And went to Bosnia?"
	"That started out as a coincidence.  Once you get involved in 
something that big, it's hard to free yourself."
	"I guess life is like that."
	"Yes, it is.  Looking through the camera's finder, you realize 
you have to see it through to the very end, do it right, or not do 
it at all."
	"Even to the point of going into a battlefield?"
	Twenty-two year old Kyosuke smiled sardonically and nodded.  
The younger Kyosuke couldn't help but be impressed.
	"Still, I don't know."
	"What?"
	"I just can't see myself going to Bosnia."
	"Kyosuke."
	"Mm?"
	"Even I don't know what's going to happen in the future.  How 
can you?"
	"Yeah, right.  I guess life is like that."
	"Yes, it is."
	The two men smiled.  But suddenly the older Kyosuke tweaked the 
younger on the head and said, "So, Kyosuke, I'll bet you were too 
scared to have sex with Hikaru-chan.  Am I right?"
	"Huh?  Well, you know how it is."
	"You should be ashamed of yourself.  I would have done it."
	"You what?"
	"I would definitely have been able to do it."
	"Really?  But, what, what about Ayukawa?"
	"I would have made sure that she never found out."
	"It wouldn't have been as easy as that, I'm sure."
	"Hmm.  Maybe you're right."
	"I know I am.  She would have found out.  I wouldn't want to 
be you if that happens."
	The two men laughed together.
	Twenty-two year old Kyosuke had been kidding about Hikaru, 
trying to act tough.  He was three years older than the man across 
from him.  But he knew deep down that if he had been with Hikaru 
that night, he wouldn't have been able to do anything, either.
	The reason wasn't fear of Madoka Ayukawa.  If Kyosuke had 
crossed that line with Hikaru-chan, it would have caused problems 
between the two of them in the future.  No, it had been the wrong 
time.
	"But this much I can say," he began. "Kyosuke Kasuga didn't 
do anything this time, this summer of 1994, but in the future, 
something may happen.  It may begin again."
	"What?"
	"Did I say, may begin?  That was wrong.  It's already begun, 
the wheels are already set in motion between Hikaru-chan and me.  
All thanks to that dangerous night you spent with her."
	"But you're me, right?  We both spend that night with her."
	"Oh, right."
	The two men chuckled, then suddenly got serious.
	Come to think of it, Hikaru-chan is supposed to return to New 
York today.  She was probably somewhere in the departure lobby 
right now.  Maybe they could see her from up here.  The two 
Kyosukes were seized by the desire to run down the stairs and look 
for Hikaru.  But they said in unison, "What the hell are we 
thinking about?"  That stopped them.
	Trying to hide his own embarrassment, the older Kyosuke said, 
"She's a nice girl."
	"Yep.  A nice girl, Hikaru-chan is."
	"Yeah."
	The older Kyosuke took a look at the digital watch on his 
suntanned arm. "Kyosuke, it's time for you to go.  Madoka is 
waiting for you, back at the hospital."
	"Okay.  But wait, how do I get back?"
	"In the past three years, I've gotten some new powers.  I 
certainly can handle something simple like sending you back to 
the past.  Didn't you feel your powers regenerate as soon as 
you saw me in the arrival lobby?"
	"Yeah, that's right."
	"It's all part of the enigma that is the Kasuga clan."
	"I wonder if someday I'll have really strong powers like 
Ojiichan."
	"I wonder, too.  The powers I have aren't as useful as his, 
at least not so far."
	The two men laughed again.
	"Oh, that reminds me.  Kyosuke, this is important.  When you 
get back to the past, there's something you have to do."
	"What is it?"
	"You've got to call yourself the day before the accident.  
You'll have to get some help from Ojiichan for that."
	"Call myself?"
	Then the younger Kyosuke remembered the phone call that 
shattered his heavenly dream of being with Ayukawa.  The person 
had told him, "Kyosuke!  Watch out for cars!" and had had Kyosuke's 
own voice.
	"So the call I got yesterday morning was...?"
	"That's right.  If you hadn't been told to be careful of cars, 
you might have died instantly in that accident."
	"I thought that phone call was just some crank, but I guess it 
was real."
	Kyosuke from the past felt somehow good about himself.  Seeing 
how fate has a real hand in one's life will do that to you.  But 
something was bothering the younger man.  He decided to ask about 
it.
	"Um, Kyosuke."
	"Mm?"
	"When did you start calling Ayukawa by her first name?"
	The older Kyosuke thought a moment. "When was that? Let me see..."
	"You don't remember?"
	"So much has happened with her over the years.  I can't remember 
every little detail.  But I do remember _that_ time."  The older 
Kyosuke grinned and looked at the younger man.
	"That time?"
	"You know, _that time_."
	"I don't know what you mean."
	"_That time_.  The first time.  It was the best!"
	"The best?  You don't mean--"
	The younger Kyosuke wanted to ask more, but the older man put 
his hand over the younger man's mouth (12).
	"Don't ask too much.  You'll find out when you get back."
	With his hand still over the younger Kyosuke's mouth, Kyosuke 
of the present moved them into the shade.  His brow wrinkled up 
with deep concentration.  A powerful energy seemed to appear, 
coming out of his upper torso region.  That energy became an aura 
which moved to cover the younger Kyosuke's whole body.
	You'll find out when you get back.
	_If_ you get back.
	He said it was the best.
	_The best_.
	The Kyosuke from the past repeated the words of his older self 
over and over again, like a magic spell.  But after he had repeated 
_the best_ a few times, he suddenly lost consciousness.  His body 
vanished from the world of 1994.
	"Kyosuke!  Is this where you've been?"
	Kyosuke of the present had just sent his younger self back to 
the past.  Now he heard Madoka's voice behind him.  She was running 
towards him, holding the hem of her slightly daring one-piece down. 
He laughed nervously, like a child caught doing something he 
shouldn't be doing.
	"What do you think you're doing, running out in the middle of a 
press conference like that?"
	"Um, there was something I had to do."
	"Something you had to do?  That happens a lot with you.  Just 
like when you first went to Bosnia."
	"Gimmie a break, Madoka."
	She laughed, and her voice was happy.  But she suddenly grabbed 
him by the collar of his vest and pulled him close to her.
	"You're not hiding anything from me, are you?"
	"What?"
	"I saw him."
	"Saw who?"
	"A very young Kyosuke."
	"Really?  That makes me happy."
	"Happy?  Why?"
	"You were so worried about me that you even saw my ghost."
	"Why you!"
	Madoka moved to kick him, but he caught her right foot in 
mid-air.  It had been a long time since he touched this leg.  Under 
her stockings, her muscles had an almost explosive springiness to 
them.  He put her leg down. "You shouldn't try things like that in 
a mini-skirt."
	"I don't care if people see."
	"Well I do.  Those parts are very important to me, and I don't 
want anyone else looking at them but me."
	"That a fine thing to see after leaving me here while you go off 
to Bosnia for months."
	"I'm sorry.  I'll apologize to you every day for just as many 
months."
	Laughing, Kyosuke put his arm around Madoka's waist, and pulled 
her near him.  He put his face near her ear, close enough to smell 
her black hair, and whispered:
	"By the way, when did I stop calling you Ayukawa and start 
using your first name?"
	"Jesus, did you actually forget?"
	"Well, I..."
	"Until you remember, you can forget about you-know-what!"
	"What?  Forget about what?"
	Looking a little embarrassed, Madoka pulled him closer, and 
said in a tiny voice, "You know, sex. _Baka!_"
	At that, Kyosuke finally remembered when he had started using 
Madoka's first name.



EPILOGUE

	Back at the hotel bar with the view of the Yokohama Bay 
Bridge.  The jazz piano that I had heard in a dream once was 
playing softly in the background.  Ayukawa and I had had dinner 
in Chinatown, had felt the wind on our faces from the Bay Bridge, 
and now were about to have our third _kampai_.  Just as in my 
dream, Ayukawa was talking and laughing more than usual.  There 
could only be one reason.  Ayukawa was nervous.  Our first time 
together was finally approaching.  
	Ayukawa drank down her third drink and said, "Anyway, I'm 
really glad there were no after-effects from the accident."
	Those eyes, shockingly sexy.  To avoid falling into them, I 
ordered her another drink.
	"Yes, but you never know.  What if some show up in, say, 
three years?"
	"Stop it.  Nothing like that is going to happen."
	"You never know, some after-effects might show up, and I 
might suddenly decide to go wander around some foreign country."
	"I'll just have to tie you up, then."
	Ayukawa laughed again.  Then, "I'd like to propose a toast to 
Kasuga-kun's health.  _Kampai!_"
	She touched her still-empty glass to mine.
	A month had passed since the accident.  My body recovered 
normally, and by now I had stopped going back to the hospital 
everyday for treatment.  Ayukawa and I re-made the hotel 
reservation that we had had to cancel once before, and now we 
were having our quiet celebration.
	It was all almost exactly like my dream of long ago.  The 
atmosphere of the bar, the view of the Bay Bridge, and the black 
man playing the piano, were all in my dream.  I guess it was a 
prophetic dream after all.  But on the other hand, I feel 
somehow different.
	I still can't say for sure if my winning the university 
photography contest last month was what was responsible for my 
disappearance three years from now.  My self of three years 
hence had said the same thing.  All you can really say is that 
a person doesn't know where his life will eventually take him.  
That goes for Hikaru-chan, headed for New York in a year, as 
well as Ayukawa, destined to become an up-and-coming songwriter.  
They don't know what's going to happen to them.  Not knowing, 
they're just doing their best to make their dreams come true, 
everyday.  It's the same with everyone.
	"What's wrong, Kasuga-kun?"
	"Mm?"
	"You got so quiet all of the sudden.  I guess you must've 
met some beautiful girl in the future, and were thinking about 
her just now."
	"I wasn't!"
	She laughed.  But it was sort of a cold laugh that, to tell 
the truth, made me a little afraid.  I hadn't told her much about 
my trip to the future.  I told her about things like my family 
moving, and Hatta becoming a famous writer of sex comics, but I 
didn't touch subjects like what Ayukawa was doing in the future, 
or about meeting Hikaru-chan.  Occasionally Ayukawa would ask 
about her future, but I would tell her, "I can't tell you. It's an 
esper family policy."
	Now Ayukawa said, "Okay, here's my present to Kasuga-kun, 
Part One."
	Ayukawa took the drink that had been bought for her and stood 
up.  I knew she was going to play my song.  I leaned forward, acting 
surprised.
	"Part One?"
	"I've written a song for my brave, self-confident Kasuga-kun."
	Ayukawa was a little tipsy.  I cheered, "Yay, yay!"
	She hid the embarrassment she must have been feeling, and looked 
straight at me.
	"The title is _Kyosuke #1_."
	I knew it!  That was the title!  Ayukawa had written this song 
for me.
	When that forceful introduction began, I stopped thinking and 
concentrated on her song.  I knew that we would be joined for the 
first time tonight.  Her song was an passionate one, full of 
emotion.  My throat was dry, so I drank down my frozen daiquiri 
in one gulp.  An incredible heat spread out from my stomach.  Just 
then, as if to announce the coming climax, a ship in the bay blew 
its whistle.

*****

	I had taken a shower and was lying in bed now.  FEN (13) was 
playing softly, some old American strings piece.  I had never 
heard it before, but, slightly intoxicated as I was, it created 
a very pleasant mood.  Occasionally, ships in the bay blew their 
foghorns.  The sounds blended with the music from the radio with 
perfect timing, almost like a jam session.  But in reality, even 
though I was bathing in those dreamlike sounds, I was also hearing 
my heart beating nervously in my ears.
	I can hear the sound of Ayukawa's shower.
	I can hear the sound of her using soap and shampoo.
	The sound of her soft humming.
	_Kacha!_ Ayukawa opened the bathroom door.  All sound suddenly 
left the room, as if erased by the sound of that door opening.  I 
was frozen with fear just then.  I sat up in the bed and looked at 
her.
	Ayukawa was standing in the light from the bathroom, a towel 
wrapped around her.  Her long, black hair was tied up behind her, 
and her shoulders and neck seemed so beautiful, so milky-white, 
that they couldn't have been from this world.
	Ayukawa, I finally figured out who you really were.
	An angel in a T-shirt.
	"Don't stare like that, Kasuga-kun," she said, the light all 
around her.
	I must have been making an incredibly stupid face.  But I was 
mesmerized by her.
	"Come on, stop it."
	I wasn't sure if that was the second or the third time she 
had asked me to stop staring.  But now her voice brought me back 
to reality.
	"Ayukawa."
	"Turn them out, okay?"
	"What?"
	"The light, silly."
	I reached out my hand to turn the light out, but I 
overbalanced, and _bam!_ I knocked the light over.
	Damn! I'm such a klutz!
	Ayukawa couldn't control her laughter.  "God, I can't believe 
you did that."
	I got out of bed and set the light upright again.  But I was 
still in too much of a hurry, and I couldn't get it to stand upright.
	"Damn you, light!"
	I finally succeeded in turning the light out, and the room was 
instantly filled with darkness.  Ayukawa must have turned the 
bathroom light out when I wasn't paying attention.  Suddenly Ayukawa 
was behind me.
	"Ayukawa."
	I turned slowly towards her.  In the darkness, I could see her 
body, wrapped in the white towel.  The only light was what came in 
from the window, but I could see her clearly, as if her body were 
emitting some kind of luminescence.
	"I'll remember that you knocked that lamp over for the rest of 
my life."  She looked at me and smiled. "But being clumsy is all 
part of the Kyosuke Kasuga I've come to love."
	"Gimmie a break!"
	We laughed like two children hiding from their parents in a 
secret place.
	Ayukawa made a serious face. "Kasuga-kun."
	"Mm?"
	"Will I give birth to esper children (14)?"
	"What?"
	I hurriedly reached out for the box of tissue.  For years I'd 
been reading "sayonara my virginity" articles in boy's magazines, 
and it said that in some hotels they put condoms near the tissues.
	But: "It's not here!" I didn't mean to say it out loud.
	"'Not here'?  What are you looking for?"
	"Huh?  Well, I mean, you asked me if you were going to give 
birth to a baby with super powers.  It's a little soon for that, 
if you know what I mean."
	"_Baka!_ Don't be so silly."
	"Eh?"
	"Tonight is a safe night."
	My eyes must have been little black points, with my mouth open 
like I wasn't getting enough oxygen.
	"I can't believe you, Kasuga-kun.  I just asked if, someday, I 
would have esper children.  I didn't mean tonight.  You pervert!"
	Now Ayukawa bent over laughing.  I don't know if she was 
laughing because of my clumsiness, or because of the alcohol in 
her body, but her gesture was incredibly beautiful.  She seemed 
like a free bird.  I reached over to her and took her head in my 
arms, then with strength that surprised even me I held her close 
to me.
	"K-Kasuga-kun."
	"Ayukawa."
	I was filled with a mysterious power, which surprised even me. 
It gave me the self-confidence to look straight into Ayukawa's 
eyes when I would normally have been trembling.
	"I feel strange," I told her. "Kind of like a caveman.  I feel 
like I want to conquer you, to take you."
	"K-Kasuga-kun."
	"Don't get me wrong.  I'm taking your feelings into account 
and everything.  But I feel like I want to throw all that away and 
just take you.  I love you, Ayukawa."
	"......"
	"Enough to cry.  I love you so much, I can't stand it.  I want 
you so much, I didn't know...didn't know I was such a barbarian.  
Oh, Ayukawa."
	Just then a ship in the distance blew its foghorn.  I realized 
that a strings session was still playing on FEN.  As if trying to 
calm the wildness that was welling up inside me, I tried to 
concentrate on the melody.  But it was no use.
	Ayukawa, I've become like a child.  A child that wants what's 
in front of him.  Ayukawa was looking at me.  Her eyes seemed 
distant.  Those eyes were looking at me, but it was as if they were 
looking past me, at some far-off point.
	Ayukawa said, "It doesn't quite fit, does it?"
	"Doesn't fit?  What doesn't fit?"
	"Calling me 'Ayukawa, Ayukawa' at a time like this."
	As if suddenly freed from some spell, I pulled Ayukawa's towel 
off by force.  Acquiescing now, my angel let out a little noise 
in the darkness.  I wouldn't be stopped.  I furiously buried my 
face in the soft, milky-whiteness before me.  Then, as if to justify 
my actions, I called her name again and again.
	_Madoka! Madoka!_
	So that's when I started calling Ayukawa by her first name!

*****

	The next day, Madoka received the first postcard from Hikaru-chan 
in Hokkaido.  It was a postcard of the famous Tropistina Temple.  Half 
of it was a Hikaru's self-portrait.  Then, how are you?  I'm sorry 
for not writing for so long--that sort of thing.  At the end, she had 
written, "When I graduate from this high school, I plan to go to New 
York."
	When I read those words, I remembered something my twenty-two 
year old self had said, three years from now.  Early summer.  It was 
a summer, just like the summer where Madoka and Hikaru-chan and I had 
to stop being "three friends" and moved on.  Will that dangerous 
triangle begin again?
	Was that spark provided by me, nineteen year old Kyosuke Kasuga?
	The summer of 1994.
	It felt just like that other summer, long ago.
	_That early summer of 1994._



Endnotes

	(1) If you care, Kyosuke and Ayukawa go to Waseda University, 
judging from shots of the college in the movie.  I had an opportunity 
to study overseas in Japan at Waseda once, and if I'd known that the 
school was the Orange Road characters' alma mater I wouldn't have 
turned the chance down.  Stupid me.
	(2) I'm only going to cover this once, so pay attention: _Oniichan_, 
older brother. _Oneechan_, older sister. _Ojiichan_, grandfather. 
_Obaachan_, grandmother.  The first 'O' on all family relationships 
is to show respect, although it's optional with family members and 
really has no meaning. _Senpai_ is a term used to refer to 
upperclassmen by lowerclassmen.
	(3) Kurumi's approximation of a woman's aroused moaning.
	(4) PKO, "Peace-Keeping Operations," refers to Japan's sending of 
Self-Defense Forces on a UN-sponsored peace-keeping mission to Cambodia.
	(5) _Buru-sera_ comes from "bloomers, sailor-suits" and is the 
stupidest media-created sex craze to ever seize a nation.  Basically, 
these shops buy dirty panties, sailor-suit high school uniforms, etc., 
from junior high and high school girls, they sell them to sex 
perverts, while recruiting for soft- and hard-porn actresses along the 
way.  There's a whole genre of "_buru-sera H videos_" that feature 
high school recruited in this manner.  You can occasionally find these 
panties in (I'm not bullshitting you) vending machines.  There's one 
near my house.
	(6) _Musuko_ means "son" and refers to a man's penis.  _Musume_ 
means "daughter" and corresponds to the female's similar organ.  Now 
you know some Japanese slang.
	(7) If you want people to think you're an educated Orange Roadie, 
you have to pronounce this "ah-ba-ka-bu."
	(8) Would someone please explain to me why neither of the kisses 
in the "six-years ago" episodes qualify as Kyosuke and Ayukawa's 
first kiss?  What about the end of episode 48?  We know from the 
reference to "the time" they all went to Ojiichan's house that the 
Orange Road movie does follows the series universe, as opposed to the 
manga universe, in which they go to Ojiichan's house two times. 
	(9) If you're wondering why Ojiichan's name is Kasuga when 
presumably the name comes from Takeshi's side of the family, remember 
that the Japanese have a tradition , called _muko ni naru_, of the 
man taking his wife's last name and being adopted by his wife's 
family if her family has no sons.  This must be what has happened.
	(10) For those of you who follow these things, except for "Kyosuke 
Kasuga, Tokyo" scrawled on a letter in the Hawaii manga story, this 
is the first concrete reference to where Orange Road takes place.  Up 
til this time, "_kono machi_" ("this town") has been all we'd been 
told.
	(11) The guardians of Buddhist temples, such as the Toshogu in 
Nikko or Todaiji in Nara.  These are fierce-looking statues carved 
out of wood with fierce, intense expressions.
	(12) Another incongruity.  What happened to Ojiichan's warning 
that, when a person touches his body from another time, that person 
will disappear forever, as seen in episode 48?
	(13) FEN, the Far East Network, Armed Services Radio, "serving 
those who serve in Japan."
	(14) For Orange Road fans interested in knowing the answer to 
this question, checkout Seishun Shitemasu's fan-dub production, 
_Kimagure Orange Road: The Akira Story_, written and directed by 
yours truly.