Mamimi came over!
Mamimi had stopped by his house, knowing his brother wasn't there. It was the first time that had happened. Although all he knew was that she'd attempted to visit, the non-event had propelled Naota to run out, ecstatic.
They'd never made any particular promises to meet each other, but Naota had faith. Mamimi was definitely at Mabase Bridge, waiting—alone—for Naota to arrive.
They were two parallel lines that would have continued forward into eternity… now, though, one of them had shifted direction, if slightly. Naota ran with all his might, spurred on by the hope that their lines would meet now. At times like this, young men glimpse, if dimly, how big the love they seal inside themselves can be.
Mamimi!
His quivering breath disappeared into the darkness of the street.
A line of white smoke ascended into the starry sky. It was Mamimi's cigarette smoke.
She was leaning against the rail, looking down into the dark water. Despite the hour, she still wore her school uniform.
Naota pulled up and began walking toward her. He seemed unable to slow his quick, gasping breath.
Looking sideways at Naota, Mamimi discarded her cigarette into the river.
"I have a lot," she said, indicating the bag of bread crusts at her feet.
She sat down next to the bag and began silently eating one of the crusts. She wore the same expression on her face that he'd seen so many times after school.
"They're not very good," she commented.
"You said you weren't smoking anymore."
Naota had started to regret that he'd run here as fast as he could.
Why did you stop by my house? he wondered. He couldn't ask Mamimi that question, no matter how much he wanted to—not when she had those same after-school eyes.
All the hopes he'd nurtured while hurrying here were nothing but illusions.
"Takkun, you're out of breath."
Now, he silently leaned against the rail and looked down at the black, flowing water.
What did I hope she'd say?
When he thought about it objectively, he realized what he should've known already. He understood why the fickle Mamimi had visited his house out of the blue.
"You want some?"
"No," he said, thinking, You couldn't have come over simply because you wanted bread crusts. He couldn't say the words aloud, though.
Mamimi stood up and brushed dirt from her skirt. As usual, she hugged Naota silently from behind. She didn't ask why he had sprinted there. It was very late at night, but everything felt exactly like it did after school.
The night river reflected a ghostly moon.
As Mamimi kept clasping Naota, he resolved, I can't do this anymore. This can't go on any longer.
"Have you gotten any letters?" Naota asked.
He felt Mamimi's body stiffen slightly against his back.
"Have you heard anything from him at all?" Naota said, knowing his words were out of pure spite.
He knew Mamimi understood that her relationship with Tasuku was over. Although she recognized this truth, she was too scared to admit it to herself. Tasuku hadn't thought of Mamimi as his lover in the first place; that was why he'd found it so easy to let Naota know he had a steady girlfriend in America.
It was a cruel thing to say, but Naota had to ask, "How much do you like my brother?"
Mamimi held her breath. The moment seemed to last forever; he never felt her exhalation.
"Like watermelon," Mamimi replied, after the silence passed. "Or like a panda with a mean face, or like a store that carries sandals just my size, or like when you wake up and realize it's Sunday… Well, I like him more than old bread crusts, anyway."
"Then, why don't you stop doing this?"
She didn't respond.
"You know, my brother, he…"
Suddenly, Mamimi covered her ears with her hands. It was the first time Naota had seen such anguish. Like a cat clinging to a branch as it washed down a river, Mamimi pushed her hands over her ears, hunching up. Her entire body was begging him not to continue.
Watching her, Naota felt as if his body, too, would burst. Why not want me instead? I'm here. What's wrong with me?
Finally, Mamimi, still slumped over, whispered painfully, "I'm going to overflow."
Eh?
"Really, I'm going to overflow…"
"What?"
Abruptly, Mamimi screamed, and Naota panicked.
Denial of this magnitude has to be hysteria, doesn't it?
As he stared in horror, Mamimi closed her mouth, lost consciousness, and collapsed on the ground, as though the lights had been turned off inside her.
"Mamimi!"
Frightened, Naota propped up her body, but—
"Ow!"
In that instant, Naota's head was consumed by a violent, burning pain. He went rigid, as if he'd received an electric shock. His forehead started to ache.
At that exact moment, inside the large MM factory that sat on the small hill overlooking Mabase, something started to happen. Suddenly, inside the factory—which, since its inauguration, always ended the work day and turned off the lights at five o'clock—every light switched on. The building, which looked like a giant iron, lit up, striking a dignified position against the night sky. To nearby residents' surprise, sirens started blaring, and searchlights spanned across the factory's surroundings.
The building suddenly seemed less like a factory and more like a prison from which a convict had escaped.
And Haruko Haruhara, who had been lying down in Naota's room, suddenly sat bolt upright.
"It's here!"
Her green eyes sparkled with a new intensity.
Like a magnet, the bracelet she wore on her left wrist was reacting to some specific kind of energy wave. Haruko jumped from the second-floor window without hesitation, landed gallantly astride her Vespa, and punched the accelerator.
The frightful sound of the speeding scooter ripped through the city.
What Naota had feared before now became his reality. He had stuck on the bandage using extra-strength instant adhesive, but the bandage suddenly had torn. The horn had come bursting out.
Now, both of Naota's legs were several inches off the ground; he was floating in midair. The horn had begun to emit some sort of anti-gravity power and was levitating Naota's body.
It was a flying horn.
Naota clawed desperately at the horn protruding from his own forehead, terrified now that his feet were no longer on the ground. He shook in horror.
It's gotten bigger!
The horn was longer and fatter than before. Indeed, it was still growing. Could it be "overflowing," too?
Keeeeeeen.
He heard a loud ringing echo through his ears, and his eardrums threatened to burst. Strangely, he felt no pain in the rest of his body. The actual horn itself was numb to the touch, like some bizarre, paralyzed limb. As if in a dream, he felt only the horrid sensation of a foreign object protruding from him.
He stared at the dark blue horn extending from his forehead, pointing straight toward the sky. There was nothing he could do but leave his body to its fate.
The "horn" wasn't a horn at all. Naota's stomach had turned over, as he helplessly watched the ghastly horns growth. The dark blue horn that he remembered from yesterday revealed itself to be a finger. Of all things, it was an index finger.
And slowly following that index finger was an enormous hand, complete from little finger to thumb. The wrist and arm appeared in turn. As though trying to grasp the stars in the night sky, a massive hand reached up from Naota's forehead.