This might be the first time I’ve heard real evening cicadas.

I know what they are because it’s the sound effect they always use for evening in movies and games. Their melancholy, wavering song echoes all around me—everywhere—and it makes this whole experience seem a lot more movielike than an actual movie.

There’s a loud rustling, and a flock of sparrows bursts out of the brush right in front of me. Having been under the impression that birds just hung out in trees, I’m startled, but Yotsuha runs after them, twirling around and around. She looks like she’s having fun. We must be pretty close to the town—there are faint dinnertime smells on the wind. The idea that it’s possible to so clearly distinguish the scents of everyday human life surprises me a little.

“It’s already half-light.”

Having completed the day’s formal business, Yotsuha sounds relieved, like she’s finally finished her homework. The evening sun lights up the girl and the old lady sidelong, like a spotlight. It’s almost too picture-perfect.

“Whoa…!”

The sight of the village coming into view below us makes me exhale despite myself. I can see Mitsuha’s entire town around the edge of the lake. Blue shadows have already engulfed the town itself, but the lake yawning beside reflects the red sky. On the hillsides here and there, pink evening mists are gathering. Dinner smoke rises from several houses, trailing high and thin, like smoke signals. The sparrows skimming through the air over the town gleam randomly, like motes of dust after school.

“Think we’ll be able to see the comet soon?”

Yotsuha is searching the sky, blocking out the setting sun with her palm.

“Comet?”

Now that she mentions it, I remember they were talking about something like that on TV during breakfast, about how the comet’s been close enough to be visible to the naked eye for a few days now and how, just after sunset today, we’d probably be able to see it if we looked diagonally above Venus.

“The comet…”

I say it aloud one more time. Out of nowhere, I feel as if I’ve forgotten something.

I narrow my eyes, searching the western sky, and find what I’m looking for right away. Above Venus, which is especially bright, I see the comet’s shining blue tail. In the depths of my memory, something’s trying to surface.

That’s right. Once before, I…

That comet—

“…My, my. Mitsuha.”

Before I know she’s there, Grandma’s peering up at me—into me. My shadow is reflected at the bottom of her deep black eyes.

“You’re dreamin’, aren’t you?”

!

All of a sudden…

I wake up.

I’ve flung the sheet away, and it falls off the bed without a sound. My heart’s pounding hard enough to raise my ribs (at least I think it is), but I can’t hear my heartbeat. That’s weird— But just after the thought forms, little by little, I start hearing my blood pumping. The morning sparrows outside the window, car engines, the rumble of trains. As if I’m finally remembering where I am, my ears begin taking in Tokyo.