‘I buy fish and chips from this kiosk at least once a week,’ Yoko said. ‘There’s a vending machine selling drinks around the corner. No Asahi Super Dry though. Can I get you a Coke?’

‘Uh-huh.’

Yoko went to the vending machine and bought two cans of Coke. She threw one at Shoji. He caught it just before the drink touched the wet ground.

‘Getting slow, aren’t you?’ she teased him.

He gave a thin smile. ‘I’m getting old.’

She avoided his eyes. Looking down at the damp asphalt, she shuffled a little in her canvas shoes. ‘Why did you come here?’

Shoji swallowed hard. He’d wanted to say these words for so long: ‘I miss you.’

She looked at him.

‘I miss you so much, Yoko,’ he said.

He waited for her response, but she said nothing.

‘I always thought you were in Tokyo, or somewhere nearby,’ he said, trying to break her silence.

‘I’ve been living in Kisejima for years.’ Yoko took a sip of her drink. ‘How did you find out I was here?’

‘It’s a long story.’

He recounted how he’d managed to leave Akakawa, and how he’d met Liyun at the reunion. Holding her unopened Coke, Yoko listened to his story without saying a word. Only when it came to the part where he had found Mizuki in Tokyo did she finally comment, ‘So that was her real name.’

He nodded. ‘Surprisingly, yes.’

‘I’m glad she managed to get away from her husband,’ she said. ‘I’m sure you’re relieved too. She was someone important to you, wasn’t she?’

‘Mizuki was more than just a customer. I saw her as a friend.’

Yoko rolled her Coke between her hands. ‘You had a crush on her.’

‘You’re mistaken.’ Shoji shoved his left hand into his pocket.

‘Nah, you did. You’re easy to read, Shoji. Too easy, sometimes.’ She averted her eyes. ‘I knew you didn’t realise it, which was why I never brought it up.’

He wasn’t sure if he agreed with that. ‘About Mizuki, I empathised with her. I had a difficult relationship with my father. He was really strict, and …’ Shoji cleared his throat. ‘He could be violent.’

Yoko turned to Shoji. ‘You never told me that.’

‘I never told anyone.’

Shoji still didn’t want to talk too much about his father so he continued where he’d left off. An hour had probably passed by the time he had finally finished.

‘Is that everything?’ Yoko asked after he had stopped speaking.

‘Yeah,’ he mumbled. ‘From your passport, I learned that you’d changed the way you spelled your name when we first met.’

She didn’t respond.

‘Why did you change it into the character for sunshine?’ he asked.

‘It was my mother’s name,’ she said. ‘Not many people know, but we had the same name, but spelled with different characters.’