Since "that" night, Naota and Mamimi's relationship had taken a strange turn. Yesterday, she had waited for him in front of the school; today, she had called him. It was the first time she'd done either of these things since he'd met her. A little while ago, if Naota had received a phone call from Mamimi, he would have jumped up and run out of the house immediately, heedless of snow, a typhoon, or anything else.
Ducking out of the rain and under the shelter of the bridge, Naota closed his umbrella, removing the sandals from his bag and offering them to her.
Mamimi looked up and grinned at him, showing her teeth as she had yesterday.
"You're in high school already," he said, "so what do you think you're doing?"
"I was playing with Takkun, and I lost my shoes in the water."
"With who?"
She repeated, "With Takkun," and continued to stroke the cat sitting on her knees.
"That's Takkun, too?"
The cat was Takkun; Naota was Takkun; apparently, any substitute pet was Takkun. Thinking about his unhappy situation, Naota sighed.
This fickle high school girl, she really doesn't care about how I feel at all.
"This Takkun is hungry," Mamimi said. "Do you have anything? Cats don't eat gum, do they?"
"Did you find it?"
"I'm like a god," Mamimi smiled, self-satisfied. "I'm a protector of the weak, like Cantido, Lord of the Black Flame."
The God of the Black Flame, Cantido, was a character in the handheld game Fire Starter. Mamimi had been playing it for more than a year now. "I'm so addicted," she'd say with an innocent expression; she would play it again and again without getting bored.
Suddenly, Naota realized what was missing and asked, "Don't you have an umbrella?"
"It's all right. It'll stop soon."
"It'll stop? Look at it."
"I never carry an umbrella."
"Then, what do you do when it rains?"
"I don't mind getting a little wet."
Naota was getting annoyed again. She doesn't mind getting a little wet? In this downpour, she'll get soaked! She should have said she didn't have an umbrella when she called.
"Let's play some," Mamimi said, not noticing Naota's concealed rage.
By "play," she meant their kind of fooling around. Naota liked the smell of her, her softness, and her mischief. Today, though, Naota felt like staying away from carefree girls who didn't think of other people's feelings.
"I'm busy," he said coldly. Opening his umbrella, he walked away.
"Takkun," she whispered, touching the kitten's nose.
After about an hour, the rain stopped.
The clouds began to disperse, revealing glimpses of a blue sky.
Mamimi put on the sandals that Naota had brought her; then, she stood up, still holding the cat. Whimsically, she walked along the riverbank, wearing the oversized sandals and looking at the dragonflies that had come out after the rain had stopped.
And then…
She saw something that took her breath away.
Next to the river, the tall grass grew thick. In that tall grass, an odd-shaped figure stood, the likes of which she hadn't seen before. It was big, had a dark blue body, and looked like some kind of idol. It wasn't a statue, though; it was alive.
It took three giant steps toward the riverbank, gazing at its surroundings.
"God?" Instinctively holding her breath, Mamimi hid in the grass and watched the figure with excitement.
The odd-shaped figure was none other than the robot that had come out of Naota's head. It must have seized an opportunity when Kamon wasn't looking to leave the shop. What it was doing in this forsaken place was a mystery.
After loitering on the bank for a while, the robot climbed up the concrete shore and began walking off somewhere.
Mamimi, heart pounding in her chest, followed after it.
The place the robot was headed appeared to be the burned-down wooden school building by the side of the river. The grass grew high over the ruins. It was the old Mabase Elementary School. The building still hadn't been demolished, despite all these years, and the ruins were covered in ashes, just as they'd been that night. On the walls, the clocks had stopped at the exact time the fire had erupted.
The robot stood in the center of the building. Suddenly, it turned to face Mamimi. Its television-monitor head stared at her.
Mamimi was taken aback. Had she been chosen deliberately? Yes, she must have been. The girl sensed or imagined some kind of mystical spirit, hidden by that robot's expressionless face.
Among the thin clouds, which had stopped producing rain at that moment, a single shaft of sunlight shone down like a spotlight, illuminating the robot. Cleansed by the rain, the robot sparkled in the light, looking like some sacred object—or, at least, that's how it looked to Mamimi, anyway.
"Oh!" Mamimi exclaimed, surprised.
The heavy metallic body began to float into the air. As it continued to gaze down at Mamimi, the robot disappeared through a parting in the clouds. When Mamimi looked up at the sky, which was now full of light, she saw that a giant rainbow had appeared.
Mamimi felt inspired by the events she had witnessed. In her mind, there was no doubt: She must have seen a miracle.
"You are a god. You really are."
The rainbow cut a clean, brilliant arc across the autumn sky.
In ecstasy, Mamimi stayed for a while, looking up at the place where her god had vanished.
There had been a considerable amount of gossip about the broken-down robot working at the Shigekuni Bakery, which was unsurprising, given how much it had stood out. Neighbors had talked about how it would linger in the convenience store, reading perverted magazines for three hours at a time. They spoke about how it wandered around, checking the vending machines, searching for forgotten change. They gossiped about how it would go to the barbershop, sitting and reading comics in the waiting area before returning home.
Thus, Mamimi rather quickly was able to find out where the robot lived. Although she heard the rumors decrying it as perverted, nothing could shake the firm conviction that Mamimi had derived from her vision. Already, she was wholeheartedly devoted to the robot, for better or worse.
Nowadays, she followed the robot around, her camera in hand. Increasing her photo collection had become an important part of Mamimi's daily routine. She acted exactly like the paparazzi following a celebrity.
Rumors spread that the robot was hitting on girls who hung around the bakery. Therefore, Mamimi now stopped by Naota's place quite often. Of course, it was merely to see the robot.
That evening, the Nandaba family dinner had ended normally. Kamon was cleaning up. Having learned the robot wasn't home, Mamimi had lined up her photos on the porch, showing them to Naota. She elaborated on the ones she particularly liked. Perhaps she thought everyone liked the robot as much as she did. The way she spoke about the robot's greatness made her resemble a fan who wanted everyone else to share her obsession.
Naota didn't know what this new god Mamimi followed was doing there; he was concerned about the robot's actions, though, so he looked through the photos. After all, the robot had come out of his head. Looking at the pictures, he saw the robot had been wandering aimlessly around town. Wearing one of Kamon's old jumpers, it had visited backstreets, the riverside, shopping areas, the library, the school, the kindergarten, City Hall, and the bus stop—so many places.
What does it think it's doing? Is it thinking at all?