Beginning III

The calls of the summer mountain birds rang loudly throughout the air as we walked down the narrow asphalt path running along the slope. After descending a few flights of stone stairs, we lost the protection of the mountains’ shadows, and the sun’s rays began to bear down directly on us. Spreading out beneath my eyes was a round lake, Itomori Lake. The calm surface of the water, reflecting the morning sun’s light, sparkled relentlessly. Above the mountains, which rolled out in a jagged chain of dark green, the blue sky, spotted with white clouds, loomed. Next to me, a young girl sporting twintails and a red backpack was skipping along for no particular reason. And then there was me, the high school girl with dazzling bare legs. In my head, I tried putting on a grand strings track as BGM. Ooh, now it feels a little like the opening of a Japanese movie. In other words, we live in a very Japanese-like, old fashioned rural town in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

"Miitsuhaaa!"

Some time after I had parted with Yotsuha in front of the elementary school, a voice

called out to me behind my back. Turning around, I saw Tesshi peddling his bike with an unpleasant face along with a smiling Saya-chin casually sitting in the luggage basket.

“Hurry up and get off,” Tesshi complained.

“It’s fine, party pooper.”

“You’re heavy.”

“Hey, rude!”

The two seemed to be starting out the morning with a comedy act, like an arguing couple

on a TV show.

“You two sure are close.”

“No!” the two screamed back in harmony.

I burst out laughing at their synchronized denial, my internal BGM changing into a melodic guitar solo. The three of us have already been best friends for ten years now: me, petite

Saya-chin with her straight bangs in front and twin braids hanging down in the back, and lanky

Tesshi with his out of fashion buzzcut. Saya-chin and Tesshi always appear to be arguing, but

their conversations flow perfectly, and, secretly, I’m convinced that they would make a good

couple.

“Hey Mitsuha, your hair’s normal today,” Saya-chin said with a smile while touching the

area around my hair string.

I always have the same hairstyle, which I learned a long time ago from Grandma: a triple

french braid with my hair string wrapped around it and tied behind my head.

“My hair? What do you mean?”

I recalled the mysterious conversation from this morning. You’re normal today, huh? First

Grandma and now Saya-chin… was I acting weird yesterday or something? As I tried to

remember what happened yesterday…

“Yeah, did you get your Grandma to exorcise you?” Tesshi asked with a worried face.

“Exorcise?”

“You were definitely possessed by a fox spirit!”

“Whaa?”

As I struggled to keep up with Tesshi’s sudden accusations, Saya-chin covered for me

with a disgusted face. “You always try to turn everything into some occult nonsense! Mitsuha’s

probably just really stressed, right?”

Stress?

“Eh? W-Wait a second, what are you guys talking about?”

Why is everyone so worried about me? Yesterday… I can’t really remember what happened, but it should have been just a normal, non eventful day.

-- Huh?

Am I sure about that? Yesterday, I…

“And more than anything!” A deep voice amplified by a megaphone interrupted my thoughts.

Across the street, next to a row of greenhouses, in the unnecessarily large town

managed parking lot, a crowd of about a dozen people had gathered. And in the center of the

crowd stood a conspicuously tall man confidently holding a megaphone: my father. Proudly

displayed on the sash he wore above his suit were the words ‘Incumbent - Miyamizu Toshiki’.

He appeared to be giving a speech for the mayoral election.

“More than anything, in order to continue building and improving our community, we must stabilize our financial affairs! Once we accomplish that, we will be able to fully focus on the

safety and comfort of our town. During my years in office, I’ve been able to come this far, but I

want to finish the job and bring even further polish to this town! I will lead this land with

unprecedented passion and build a society in which everyone, from children to the elderly, can

live a fulfilling, worry-free life! That is my mission…”

His speech, delivered so expertly it was almost overwhelming, reminded me of the politicians on TV and felt extremely out of place in that parking lot surrounded by vegetable

fields. I started to feel uneasy. The whispers I heard among the audience made my mood even

worse. It’s gonna be Miyamizu again this time anyways. Looks like word’s spread pretty fast.

“Hey, Miyamizu.”

“... good morning.”

This is the worst. A group of three classmates I don’t particularly like very much came up

and started talking to me. These people, who belong to the cool and flashy class at the top of

the hierarchy, bother us, who belong to the plain, normal category, every chance they get.

“The mayor and his contractor,” one of them said, then turned to look at my father delivering his speech. Beside him on the platform, Tesshi’s father stood with a broad smile

across his face. His jacket displayed the name of his own construction company, and around his

arm was a band that read ‘Miyamizu Toshiki Support’. The kid then turned back around to look

at me and Tesshi. “I see their kids are also always sticking together. Did your parents order you

to?”

Stupid. Without bothering to respond, I started walking faster. Tesshi also managed to

keep an expressionless face; Saya-chin alone seemed annoyed.

"Mitsuha!"

Suddenly, a loud voice cried my name. I almost stopped breathing. I can’t believe it. My

father had put down his megaphone and was calling me. The audience listening to his interrupted speech all at once turned to look at me.

“Mitsuha! Won’t you walk proudly!?”

My face turned bright red. At the absurdness of it all, I felt like I might cry. Desperately fighting the temptation to sprint away, I continued walking.

Harsh even to family… that’s the mayor for ya. I can hear the hushed whispers of the audience.

Ouch! Kinda feel sorry for her. I can hear my laughing classmates’ remarks.

This is the worst.

The BGM playing in my head since I left home had stopped sometime amidst the commotion, and I am reminded that without any BGM, this town is no more than an oppressive,

suffocating place.

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