“Riku,” Sedge called out.
Without answering, Riku entered the bathroom at the bottom of the stairs and slammed the door.
27
The kura entrance had been pulled shut and behind the high windowpane in its door it was dark. Sedge wasn’t bothered that Riku had left for town without telling him.
He sat at the dining table, drinking the last quarter of a bottle of sake. He had been drinking slowly, trying to read Milky Way Railroad in Japanese, with a second cup sitting across from him. On the off-chance Riku came inside again, he would fill the cup and, despite the boy’s age, invite him for a single drink. But Riku hadn’t come back, and after ninety minutes of waiting Sedge poured out the last drops for himself.
At six-thirty he changed into a yukata and slipped on a pair of geta Mariko had bought him. He set off into town and quickly found himself walking behind other villagers in their samue outfits and yukata who were going into town as well.
He walked the back way, close to the mountain, until the road ended and veered sharply left. Soon he crossed Cricket Bridge, with its old Bashō kuhi on one side of it and a small shrine to the gods of the gorge on the other. Beneath it roared the Daishōji River. The path on the other side rose steeply to meet Yugekai Road, and the festival music that had been but a murmur before grew louder here.
He didn’t expect to see Riku on the way to Yamanaka-za, but he looked for him nevertheless. From halfway down the street he could see the Kikunoyū baths and, all around it, white tents in which the owners and employees of local businesses ate and drank together while waiting for the evening’s traditional dancing to begin.
When he reached Yamanaka-za, a woman’s voice called his name. He turned toward where the voice had come from but didn’t see anyone he recognized. He jumped when the voice came again from his side. Yuki stood next to him, her face red and shining in the summer heat.
“This must be the hottest night this summer,” Sedge said by way of greeting.
“I’ve been outside all day preparing for the festival. I’m exhausted.”
Sedge hadn’t seen or spoken with her other than for a few pleasantries since moving out of the ryokan. He was glad to see her, and yet seeing her reminded him that Nozomi might still stay there sometimes. He asked if she was here tonight.
“She nearly came back from her mother’s house for the festival, but she didn’t want to make things awkward for you. She talks to me about you sometimes.”
“She invited me to stay with her for a few days in Kanazawa. I turned her down.”
“Did you tell Mariko?”
“It would have only upset her.”
“I see.” She looked around the bustling crowd, then turned back to him. “Nozomi seems to have had a delayed reaction getting over you.”
“I really don’t care.”
“It’s probably better that way. Takahashi thinks so, too.”
Sedge hadn’t expected Takahashi to side with him, but after Kōichi’s arrest it was hard to do otherwise. “He’s not worried I’ll go to the police now?”
She shook her head. “You’re the least of his problems these days.”
“You mean Kōichi . . .”
“He’s relieved, at least, that Nozomi came back unharmed.” She glanced at the clock tower and said, “It’s nearly seven o’clock and I have things left to do. It was nice seeing you.”
He bowed to her as she disappeared into the crowd.
When he arrived at the first tents, he couldn’t find the one for Takahashi and Yuki’s ryokan, and he had to thread the barely walkable space between rows of food and entertainment booths before looping around to the opposite side of the plaza. He found Mariko’s tent only because he spotted Riku in front of it, watching the top of the clock tower open and turn, and the figurines inside perform Yamanaka Bushi. Festivalgoers’ voices drowned out its song, but Sedge had heard it so many times he knew it by heart:
Haaa—
Don’t forget the road to Yamanaka
To the east, Pine Mountain
To the west, the temple of the Healing Buddha
In the valley, the sound of water flowing
On the peak, a rainstorm
In between hovers the fragrance of Yamanaka’s hot waters.
He looked back at Riku. His bandage, which Sedge had only partially seen from inside the kura, ran nearly to his elbow, and he was holding his injured hand close to his body. As he turned and saw Sedge, he stepped to the side of the tent and disappeared.
Mariko stood inside with a dozen of her coworkers. Takahashi sat at a folding table, drinking sake from a paper cup with his employees. When he saw Sedge, he loudly called him over. On his way to the table, Sedge touched Mariko’s arm.
She smiled brightly at him. Like everyone else in the tent, her face was red from a combination of the afternoon’s lingering heat and drinking. “Have you seen Riku?” she asked. “He said you were pestering him in the kura.”
“I offered him my help and some company, but I guess he didn’t see it that way.”
“Consider all he’s been through. Please try to be patient with him.”
Takahashi called him again, and Sedge joined him at the table with the others.
“I want to thank you and your mother for helping Nozomi return some of my money,” Sedge said out of earshot of those around them.
In his drunkenness, Takahashi struggled to make a proper reply. “I guess you’ll both find a way forward somehow.”
