Several minute tremors ran down my spine and an uncomfortable sweat covered my palms. Beyond the white paper walls, the rain picked out a subdued melody.

"Excuse me. A guest has arrived."

"A guest?"

Takamizawa's face looked just a touch suspicious at the message a waitress brought him. He gave me another calm look and said, "I'll bring your dinner later," then closed the sliding door and left with the waitress.

I was left by myself.

What should I do?

I knew I wasn't in any physical danger. If I just waited here obediently, I would be taken home safe and sound.

Wasn't that best?

I didn't need to get involved in this ridiculous situation any further. I wasn't suited for suspense or for adventure.

And he'd even told me he would guarantee Tohko's safety.

Ah, but Tohko would go out and stick her nose into danger. If she were to run wild the way she always did and something were to happen- There was a flash of heat in my brain and a sharp pain coursed through it, as if I had been pierced.

I just couldn't do it!

I had to get back to the mansion!

I got out of the bed and opened the door. Takamizawa wasn't in the next room. I didn't see my shoes so I gave up and went out into the hall in my slippers.

A waitress walked up to me and my heart somersaulted.

"Is something the matter?"

"Uh, umm...where are your baths?"

"Oh, you mean the hot springs? They're..."

The waitress showed me the way.

Outside, a fine rain was falling. At the entrance to the covered walkway, I told her, "I can find it from here," and she left me on my own.

When I was sure that I could no longer see her, I went down the walkway in my slippers, then lost myself among the trees and murkiness in the garden before I ran off.

Luckily for me, the town was a narrow strip, so when I reached a major road, I could pretty much guess how to get back to the mansion.

The road was dark, but it was still only drizzling so I thought I could work with this.

I hurried forward in my slippers, although they made it harder to walk.

As it turned out, things started to get bad after I left the town for the mountain itself. The fact that there were no lights to illuminate my path utterly crushed me for some reason. I had been raised in the city, where having light even at night was taken for granted.

The absolute blackness that fell overhead obliterated my vision in the darkness and the outlines of objects were indistinct-even with my arms stretched out I was engulfed in the eerie blackness. The total darkness reminded me of primeval nights, thriving even now in the mountain.

It was inky black whichever way I turned. The rain-slicked faces of the leaves would glint every now and then, but other than that I couldn't see anything. It was as though I was groping my way forward with my eyes closed.

I would get smacked suddenly on the cheek by a tree branch, or ivy would dangle in front of my face and I would think it was a snake and jump back, or my foot would catch on a root poking out of the ground-the fundamental fear of the unseen made me choke and threatened to crush my chest.

Unfortunately for me, the rain intensified, the ground turned to mud, and my vision blurred. Even my sense of hearing was frustrated by the sound of the pounding rain. My soaked body grew colder and colder, and though it was summer, I was shuddering with cold as if I had gone out into the middle of winter in only a T-shirt. My fingers and toes were even getting numb.

My throat tightened, my breathing intensified, and I thought my heart would tear in half.

The cold rain stabbed at my skin. From time to time, the water that had collected on the leaves cascaded down like waterfalls.

I had gotten small cuts on my arms and face, the only spots where warmth gathered. The bottoms of my slippers got soaked by the rain and started slipping off. There were plenty of times I thought I would fall over.

Light flashed over my head and a rumble rolled across the sky.

Lightning!

Terror coursed down my spine.

I'd be in danger if I was under a tree. Plus I'd heard that being wet made it easier for lightning to strike you. But with the rain falling on the mountain at night, where could I go?

There was nowhere to run- Lightning cracked explosively and I flinched. I'd left my despair behind for surging anger.

What in the world was I doing? I didn't know the way back. This was an utter disaster. I was out of my mind. Crazy!

Wouldn't it be best to stay put until it got lighter at dawn? I was tired. I didn't want to walk anymore.

Even so, when I recalled the sad look that I had seen Tohko wearing that day at dawn, my feet moved forward of their own accord.

Tohko didn't know that I'd gone out. She'd suddenly lost track of me, so I knew she would be worried. She could be making that heart-wrenching face again. She could be sad somewhere.

She could be terrified, frightened by a ghost. Because even though she put on a brave face and acted tough, she was actually so unbearably scared of ghosts that she forced her way into my room and snuggled into my bed every night.

She'd been the same during the Amemiya thing, too. She would declare that there's no such thing as ghosts, but when we were shut into that basement room together, she'd crouched on the floor and buried her face in her knees and said, "I'm afraid of ghosts," and wept like a child.

I didn't want anything bad to happen to you, Tohko. I mean, you fly off the handle so quickly and do crazy things, so...I was worried.

The curious, bitter sweetness I'd felt when I had knelt down in front of her and comforted her was slowly resurfacing in me.

I wasn't confident or optimistic enough to think I could protect Tohko when something happened. Trying to protect someone other than myself was an arrogant idea. I lacked that willpower and strength.

But-but if Tohko was crying like that, couldn't I at least be at her side?

At the very least, couldn't I give her a handkerchief?

A brilliant light flashed through the sky with a rumble.

The innumerable trees it had illuminated looked like a band of ghouls mocking me.

All I could hear was the thunder, the wind, and the rain.

If this was all a dream, how amazing that would have been.

Gritting my teeth, I steeled my nerves until it felt as if my temples would split and moved forward, relying on the single, momentary flash of lightning.

Mud was clinging to the bottoms of my slippers. They were totally sodden.

Just then, panting raggedly, I saw a tiny light dart faintly across my vision.

A firefly...?

It couldn't be. Not in this violent rain.

Besides, Maki had told us the season for fireflies was over and that no matter how much she waited at the pond, she hadn't managed to see a single one.

Even so, there was definitely a faint, elusive light that seemed as if it would wink out at any moment bobbing before my eyes.

The light glided over the ground.

Thinking the pond might be its destination, I chased after it desperately.

I don't believe in ghosts.

When people die, they just return to the earth.

But still the hope the little light brought me was immense and filled me with unshakable strength. It instantly lifted my spirits. I even thought Amemiya's spirit had come to save me, something I would ordinarily be mortified of to the point of blushing.

When I pushed back the tree branches, now loaded with raindrops, I found the lake, filled with glossy black water.

Above it, a single faint light bobbed, flashing.

There was just one road from here to the house! I was sure of it!

I was saved. I could go back!

Just then, I heard a voice.

"...Aaaaa."

"Ko...haaaaa."

"Konohaaa."

Once again, a shock of disbelief shot through me.

The voice was coming closer and closer, and I held my breath and listened hard.

A voice calling my name in the darkness.

A voice searching for me.

Warm, orange lamplight was bouncing through the branches.

At last, the figure of Tohko appeared, wearing a plastic raincoat over her head and holding a flashlight in one hand.

I'm sure my face looked totally idiotic.

My hands fell limp at my sides and I stood there, soaked to the bone by the rain. Tohko was looking at me, sniffling.

The thunder had grown distant, but the rain still fell fiercely.

For a while, the two of us stood at a distance, looking at each other.

"Konoha...?"

Looking crestfallen, Tohko spoke my name timidly, as if to confirm it was me.

"...Yes," I answered, dazed.

Still looking at me with fright, Tohko tilted her head slightly to one side, and she asked, "You...have feet. So you're...not a ghost, right?"

"I'm cold and soaked and have cuts all over and I'm wearing slippers and everything's terrible, but I'm still alive."

Her slender body, swaddled in the plastic raincoat, sent drops of water flying as she came to hug me.

Water splashed up into my face. Since I was already soaked in the rain, I didn't mind.

"Oh, thank goodness, I can actually touch you. You really are alive. I thought I would have to dredge the lake. That I should have brought a rake. I'm so glad you're alive!"

"Why would you assume I was dead?"

"But I mean, I heard you took your stuff and went home all by yourself, so I was really worried. It's weird that you would leave without saying anything. But then you didn't come back when it got dark, and I couldn't get hold of Ryuto, either, and it started raining, and there was lightning even, and I just couldn't stay inside."

"It was reckless to come looking for me on a night like this, with the rain and storm and lightning."

With her arms still wrapped around me, Tohko lifted her face up and pouted.

"You're one to talk! What were you doing out here in slippers without so much as an umbrella? Where did you go?"

"I was kidnapped by a bad person, but I escaped."

"What're you talking about?"

"Anyway, let's go back to the house," I prompted Tohko. "I'll explain on the way."

We started walking.

Before I realized it, Tohko was squeezing my hand tightly. My hand and her hand were both soaking wet in the rain and dripping with water and freezing cold. But even so, a sliver of warmth seeped into my skin like a ray of sunlight.