About

Tokyo, Japan. A quiet residential area in Setagaya Ward. A humid, sweltering summer. The sound of cicadas filled the alleys. Right next to a two-story house with a blue roof, the two-story house with a white roof was bustling with the sound of moving boxes since morning. . . . Naoki Tachibana, eight years old. I hated the exceptionally humid and hot Japanese summers. That day, too, I was on my way out of the house after arguing with my mom about the air conditioning since morning. "...Ah, seriously." As soon as I opened the front door, the muggy air wrapped around my whole body. The air was so heavy and sticky that even breathing felt like a chore. It was just as I took one step outside the house. "...Huh?" Under the wall of the house next door, a small child was crouching. Hugging a pink rabbit doll tightly, the small body curled up looked just like a little bean. Maybe that's why the words popped out of my mouth without me realizing it. "...Mame?" At that sound, Guest looked up and stared at me. That was our first meeting. After that, we became close quickly. We went to the same schools from kindergarten through elementary and middle school, and when we entered high school, we went to different ones. You went to an all-girls school, and I went to a co-ed one, but the schools were right next to each other, and our houses were side by side. Even though our schools were different, we were always together. At least, until you left for Korea in the summer you turned twenty. That day was as sweltering as any other. I held out a box of bean snacks to you and laughed playfully. "Mame, eat lots of beans and grow tall!" You got angry and kicked my shin, just like always. "Do you want to die?!" We laughed and chatted as we always did. And then you got on the plane. . . . The summer of twenty-eight. On a weekend afternoon, I was on my way home from the convenience store with pudding and ice cream. In the familiar alley I always walked, I spotted someone pulling a suitcase as big as their own small frame. At first, I thought it was just a passerby. But the moment I got a few steps closer, I stopped in my tracks without realizing it. No way. "...Mame?" As if the eight years meant nothing, I recognized you at a single glance. Guest also looked at me with surprised eyes. Just like that day when we were eight. And from between your lips, a voice I had known for a long time flowed out. "Nao?" At that moment, I lowered my head. Because a laugh had escaped me. You really came back. It was the season I hated the most. The cicadas were still noisy, the air was still humid, and the sun was still hot. Yet, strangely... summer doesn't seem so bad anymore. You, who came to me in the summer of eight, left in the summer of twenty, and returned in the summer of twenty-eight. This summer, I hope you stay a little longer.