"Hey, is that Konoha? Didn't expect to run into you here. You on a date with Kotobuki today?"

"We're, uh-"

I looked over at Kotobuki, who had turned her flushed face to one side.

"Er, what about you?"

"I'm on a date," he answered coolly, without a hint of guilt.

"Yeah, Ryu's on a date with me."

"No, he's not, he's with me."

"You're with me-right, Ryu?"

The girls started getting into it. Sigh. He hadn't changed a bit in the new year. Apparently Kotobuki didn't like how Ryuto made the girls fight one another without intervening at all, and she turned a critical look toward him. Of course, that didn't bother Ryuto; he was nonchalant. In contrast, his eyes roved all over Kotobuki and- "I like your kimono. A beautiful girl looks good in anything."

He laughed affably.

Kotobuki's face showed that she was getting more and more ticked off when Chopin's "Tristesse" abruptly started playing.

"Oh, s...sorry."

Kotobuki was suddenly fl.u.s.tered. She pulled out a pink cell phone and moved off, staring at it.

Ryuto put together a serious face and whispered into my ear, "That's from a boy."

"What're you talking about?"

"Oh, my experience and my intuition tell me, it's for sure. If it were her family or a friend callin', she wouldn't get that fl.u.s.tered. She's gonna come back and say it was her old boyfriend tryin' to patch things up."

"Ooo, how dramatic!"

"That kind of thing happens a lot, you know."

"Totally."

Even the three girls who had been arguing were nodding along like the best of friends. Looking triumphant, Ryu went so far as to say, "Tough-looking girls like that are surprisingly big cheaters. You better be careful you don't get two-timed, Konoha."

Was it just my imagination, or did that sound like a jab?

"You're thinking of yourself. I'm going to tell Tohko you were three-timing first thing in the new year."

When I said that, Ryuto looked pathetic and gazed up at the sky.

"Cut me some slack, Konoha. She'll deck me with her bag again."

So he wouldn't stand up to Tohko after all.

At that point, Kotobuki pattered back over.

"Sorry. I got an urgent text. Oh, but...everything's fine now."

She seemed somehow intense when she said this.

"Ryuuu, we shouldn't bother them. Let's go."

"I want to drink some sweet wine!"

"I want to sing karaoke!"

"Fine, fine. I'll see you guys," said Ryuto.

"Byyye!"

For a moment, we watched blankly as Ryuto's group moved off energetically.

"Um...how about we get something to drink, too?"

"...Okay."

We moved to a family restaurant.

"You changed your ring tone, huh?"

"What?"

"It's different from the one I heard before."

When I mentioned the hit song of a female pop star, her hands stopped picking at her dessert, and she flushed red before my very eyes.

"That's...just for you," she said haltingly.

"Just for me?"

"I change the ring tone depending on who it is...for friends or for family or whatever." After pouting and looking up at me aggressively through her eyelashes, her eyes suddenly went timid again. "I only use that song for you."

"O-oh."

Uh-oh-my face was burning, too.

I was pretty sure it was a graceful, sickly sweet love song with a chorus of "I love you, I love you" in the pop star's cute voice.

"Do you split up your ring tones, Inoue?"

"No, everyone's got the same one."

"Oh." Kotobuki bit down on her lip.

There was something touching about this, and I smiled.

"But I want to try changing it. Then I'd know who was calling right away, which would be convenient. What song would be good for you? Any requests?"

Kotobuki leaned forward.

"The theme from Beauty and the Beast."

She said it impulsively, then pulled back in embarra.s.sment and stuck her spoon into her dessert and clinked it against the dish a few times.

"Um...when I was little, I saw the Disney movie, and I was totally hooked on it. The tune is pretty, but the lyrics are really good. I love the j.a.panese version so much. When I was picking the ring tone for you, I didn't know what to use. So..."

"Got it. Beauty and the Beast. I'll use that for your ring tone, then."

I pulled out my cell phone, flipped it open, and started connecting to a ring tone site when Kotobuki stopped me in a panic.

"No, stupid, don't look for it here! Don't listen to it!"

"Why not?"

"No, no way, no!...Ch-change it at home, secretly."

Seriously intimidated by her firmly pursed lips, I almost burst out laughing.

Kotobuki ate her dessert with a glower.

Still smiling, I said, "Hey, do you want to go see a movie next week?"

"Really?" Her head popped up.

"Sure. What do you want to see? Is there some Disney thing playing?"

"What about you? What kinds of movies do you usually watch?"

"Hmm..."

Deep in my chest, something tickled. But it felt good.

Talking with Kotobuki about our interests, deciding on a movie t.i.tle, deciding a time and place to meet.

The una.s.suming, embarra.s.sing, ticklish conversation drew on until I forgot the time.

"Um...I'm going to do my best! So...I look forward to the year with you!"

Going our separate ways. At the crossroads that had begun to darken into calm, Kotobuki looked up at me with bright red cheeks and said that, breathing excitedly, and then ducked her head.

"Me, too. I had a lot of fun today," I answered with a smile, and a smile slowly spread over Kotobuki's face, too, like the gentle light of evening.

"I...I'm looking forward to the movie. I'll text you, too. B-bye," she whispered shyly; then she hurried away, the sleeves of her kimono fluttering. I watched her go, feeling content.

When I got back home, my portion of the New Year's postcards were sitting on my desk.

"Huh? This card..."

It was the one I'd seen on my way out that looked like a monstrous version of a bird and cat. I thought maybe one of Maika's cards had gotten mixed in with mine and checked the address, where childishly unsteady letters read, "Konoha Inoue."

It was for me?

But there was no name saying who had sent the card anywhere on it.

Maybe it was a prank...

I set the postcard down without thinking too deeply about it.

I sat down in my chair, opened my cell phone, and searched for a Beauty and the Beast ring tone. I downloaded a music box version.

Ah, this song...

The duet between Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. I'd heard it in commercials before. It was a tranquil, gentle song. I looked up the lyrics for the j.a.panese version while I was at it.

A wondrous tale of love Hand in hand, a hesitant caress Only just a bit, step-by-step it comes A kind act opens the doors to love It looked like the song had been rearranged a little when it was translated.

I remembered the chilly, awkward sensation when I'd held hands with Kotobuki in the crowd, and it squeezed my heart sweetly tight.

There was definitely no burning pa.s.sion in my feelings, but...hesitant, step by step.

Maybe we were getting closer.

I bought and downloaded the English version that Celine Dion had sung, and I listened to it over and over on my headphones that night.

As I closed my eyes, I saw in my mind the happy smile, again and again-gentle like the last light of the setting sun-that Kotobuki had given me when we parted.

It was the day before we were supposed to go to the movie that I got a text saying she couldn't make it.

I'm sorry. I can't go tomorrow. I might not be able to call or text you for a while.

She didn't give a reason.

There was no response to the text I sent her, either.

I didn't know why she'd suddenly canceled our plans.

After two days went by with a nebulous anxiety growing in my chest, I got a call from our undercla.s.sman Takeda on my cell phone.

"Oh, Konoha! It's bad! Nanase got hurt, and she's in the hospital. They say she fell down the stairs!"

You're really dangerous and arrogant and selfish, and I hate you and detest you.