‘There are people like that in every school.’ Shoji had been one of them. In university, everyone had known him because he was Jin’s flatmate. But most of them, especially the girls, had never learned his name. He had always been ‘the guy who shares a place with Jin’.

‘Umi’s death changed everything,’ Mizuki said. ‘It was hard to live with the thought of killing my sister and never paying the price for it. We successfully fabricated the whole incident. The police concluded it was a robbery gone wrong.’

‘I see.’

‘After my sister’s death, my parents closed the swimming pool. Nobody wanted to go there, knowing what had happened. The news was all over the local papers.’

‘A lot of people are superstitious.’

‘Uh-huh. Especially in a small town like Akakawa.’

•

A few months later, Mizuki learned that her former boyfriend had relocated to another city because of his father’s work. No one knew where. Mizuki never heard from him again.

Being the only one left in Akakawa, she decided to confess to her parents what had happened. But when she told them she’d like to give herself up to the police, they were against it.

‘We’ve already lost Umi,’ her mother said, sobbing. ‘We can’t lose you too.’

•

‘My parents were adamant no one should learn the truth. They decided to send me to study in Tokyo,’ Mizuki said. ‘But even after I left Akakawa, I continued to be haunted by my sister’s death. I wasn’t interested in studying. I was on my own all the time. I kept losing weight and falling ill. Thinking a more drastic change of scenery might do me good, my parents pulled me out of college and sent me to my aunt in New York.’

‘And that’s how you met Professor Goda,’ Shoji said.

‘That’s right. Talking to him encouraged me. I started to look forward to life like I used to.’ She looked into his eyes. ‘Are you surprised? Now you know, I’m not the innocent victim you pictured me to be.’

‘All of us make wrong decisions at some point,’ he said. Could this be the reason she had tolerated her husband’s violence? Had she taken his abuse as her punishment for letting her sister die? He felt a beat of understanding. ‘What’s important is not to let those decisions ruin our lives. No matter what, everyone has the right to try their best to be happy, as long as it doesn’t hurt others.’

Mizuki straightened her legs. ‘What about you, Shoji? Are you happy now?’

Her question caught him off guard. Happy? Was he happy? He wasn’t sure, but … ‘I guess I’m satisfied.’

‘Satisfied …’ she repeated after him softly, before falling into silence.

He stared at the glass of water on the table. ‘Now I understand why you said you hated your name.’

She nodded. ‘Ironic, isn’t it?’