The River Kami Asked Before Taking My Hand novel · Chapter 15 of 24
Chapter 15: Water on the Glass
On Thursday night Akari came home on the last train and went straight to the shop.
Sayo was pulling the shutter half down when she saw her.
"You're early," Sayo said. "I thought you were Friday people."
"I'm Thursday people now. Can I come in?"
"It's your shop too, practically. You're my best customer."
The shop was warm and smelled of tea and soy sauce.
Sayo's green apron hung on a hook, and her chestnut ponytail was coming undone.
She put the kettle on and sat Akari down on a crate.
"The river's back," she said. "All the old men went home looking suspicious."
"I know."
"They say the water came up in an hour. Like a tide."
"I know."
"Akari." Sayo set down two mugs. "You've been looking at the air since September. I'm not stupid. What's going on?"
Akari looked at her hands.
She had thought about how to say it all the way home.
She had thought about how it would sound, and about how Nagi had taught her that the nicest way to ask for anything was to ask.
"I want to tell you something," she said. "It's going to sound like I'm making it up."
"Try me."
"Do you want to hear it?"
Sayo blinked.
"What kind of question is that?"
"A polite one."
"Yes, I want to hear it. Obviously."
"There's someone at the house," Akari said. "She's lived there longer than the shop has stood. She's the river. She looks like a person. She asked me to sit on the veranda the day I came, and I'm in love with her."
Sayo said nothing.
She turned the mug round on the counter, once.
"You're serious," she said.
"I am."
"The river."
"Her name is Nagi."
"Is she the one you talk to?"
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