Page 62 of Water Moon
Five Years Later
College. Marriage. Kids. These were the big decisions that people believed mattered. They were wrong, of course. In reality, it was the choices that people didn’t even realize they were making that set the course of their lives. The shifts were small, even minute, but, by the tiniest of angles, they pointed one in the direction of what was going to happen next.
In Keishin’s case, everything that was going to define the rest of his life was decided the second his eyes shifted from the instant spicy pork ramen to the chicken-flavored one, then back to the pork. He reached for the bright red pack and dropped it into a green plastic basket. This was not the time to experiment with new flavors. His flight to Switzerland was at six the next morning, and the last thing he needed was a bad stomach. In less than twenty-four hours, he was going to stand in front of an auditorium filled with scientists and press and announce the greatest scientific discovery of the last five decades. He rehearsed his speech in his head. His phone rang over his thoughts. “Okaa-san?” he answered.
“Keishin, make sure that you do not eat anything spicy before your flight,” Takeda Izumi said from the other end of the line. “You do not want to have a bad stomach before your speech.”
“Don’t worry.” Keishin smiled. “I won’t.”
“I think I am more nervous than you are.”
“As someone with some authority on the matter, I can tell you that that is scientifically not possible.”
“I am so proud of you, Keishin. I love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll see you when I get back.” Keishin stuffed his phone in his pocket. He took a step back from the ramen shelf, planting the thick heel of his boot squarely on top of something that was clearly too soft to be the convenience store’s tiled floor. A sharp yelp shattered any hope that he’d wronged a wayward pastry instead of a stranger’s foot. He twisted around, an apology tumbling from his tongue ahead of him. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right.” A woman with a ponytail that pulled her hair back from her heart-shaped face smiled at him. “I’m used to it.”
“Hana…” Keishin dropped his basket. He scooped her up and broke down in sobs.
“I’m sorry I’m late.” Hana wept into his shoulder.
Keishin set her down, refusing to blink, worried that if he did, she was going to disappear. “I went back to the restaurant so many times, but the pawnshop never appeared. I began to think that everything that had happened in your world was just a dream.”
“You could not find the pawnshop because I tore it down.”
“What? Why?”
“My world was broken, and someone had to fix it. The children in the tunnels made me realize that we never needed the choices the pawnshop acquired. We had told ourselves a lie for so long that we made it real. We trapped ourselves in a myth that we forgot we created. Learning to live with freedom is almost as difficult as learning to live without it. But the work has started. There is still a long way to go, but there are many who are now paving a new way. They do not need me anymore.”
“Does that mean…”
“I’m staying,” Hana said. “With you.”
Keishin pulled her into an embrace. “I can’t believe you’re here. If you destroyed the pawnshop, how did you get here?”
“Collecting rainwater is always a good idea. You never know when you are going to need it.” She pulled a little amber bottle from her bag. “A little bit goes a long way.” She tucked the bottle back into the bag and extended her hand to him. “Hello. My name is Hana. What’s yours?”
Keishin arched a brow. “What are you doing?”
“Starting over. It should be interesting trying to get to know each other when we are not running for our lives, don’t you think?”
Keishin laughed and realized that he was crying at the same time. His chest lightened as his tears fell. It was remarkable, he thought, how much tears weighed. “Starting over without any lies.” Keishin smiled through his tears and shook her hand. “My name’s Keishin. I’m a doctor. The useless kind.”
“It’s nice to meet—”
“Hana, wait. On second thought, I think we may want to reserve the right to have a few lies now and then.”
“Oh?”
“Small ones, you know, for the times when you might ask me if an outfit makes you look fat or if I ask you what you think of my cooking.”
Hana laughed and clasped her hands around Keishin’s nape.“So…” She smiled up at him. “Have you changed the world yet?”
“Not yet, but I will.” Keishin checked his watch. “In about twenty-four hours, the world will finally discover what a bag is really for. And I don’t want to spend another second of it standing in this store.”
“It’s raining.”
“What’s new?” Keishin led Hana outside and ran into the downpour. “It’s just the weather telling us that we don’t belong here.”
“Or maybe, all this time, it’s been trying to tell us something else.” Hana held his rain-streaked face.
“Like what?” Keishin brought his lips next to hers.
“That we belong to each other.”