The River Kami Asked Before Taking My Hand novel · Chapter 9 of 24
Chapter 9: I'll Ask This Time
Nagi did not move from the veranda.
She stared at the wet prints on the grass, and the lantern light shook on her face.
"I did not walk there," she said again. "Akari. I have not left this garden since the year before the bridge was built."
"They go through the gate."
"I know."
"Does it hurt?"
"No."
"Are you scared?"
Nagi was quiet for a time.
"I am something," she said. "I do not have the word."
Akari took her hand without asking, and then caught herself and almost let go.
Nagi's fingers tightened.
"You may," she said. "I would like you to."
They walked together across the damp lawn and stopped at the prints.
At the gate, the last print lay half on the stone sill and half beyond it.
Nagi's own toes were on the inside of the line.
"It is only the water," she said slowly. "A river leaves a mark where it wants to go. I have wanted this for a very long time."
"So it isn't you."
"It is the part of me that is not afraid. It went ahead."
"Why now?"
"I do not know," Nagi said. "But I think you gave something freely tonight, and the river takes only what is given. You went and came back for me."
Akari looked at the gate, and the dark road past it.
"I'd do it again," she said.
"I know."
Nagi lifted their joined hands and looked at them.
"Akari," she said. "I want to tell you what the priest keeps in his hall. It is the paper about the marriage. I have been afraid to say it. May I say it tomorrow?"
"Of course."
"Then tonight," Nagi said, "may I ask for nothing else?"
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