Notes: Hanami or blossom-watching is very popular in Japan, especially in the spring when sakura trees flower.
Final Destination
There was a crowd in the carriage when Subaru Sumeragi boarded the train. There was a pig-tailed little girl playing with a green, plaid paper crane and a little boy swinging his feet back and fro on the bench. There were harassed looking salarymen nosing into the inky words of the business section of their periodicals. There was a teenager wearing a blue spandex body-suit dancing and going "oh ah" every few minutes in the middle of the car to the tune playing on her iPod.
Subaru closed his eyes and let the rhythmic sway of the train soothe him. After a while, the louder chatter filtered out from his consciousness and he concentrated on the smaller sounds of muffled coughs and the crinkling of grocery bags. There was a moment of suspension, like a rivulet of water hanging on the tip of a leaf, condensed and purified into a perfect pearl. Then there was movement again like a sudden fall - like something breaking noiselessly apart into a million bits of silvery light. When Subaru opened his eyes, the people around him were frozen and there was a pale-looking girl sipping at her sugared chai at the very end of the car.
Subaru approached smoothly with quiet steps and knelt down to face the girl.
"Hello, Mister," the girl beamed at him. She was about six or so, with neat shoulder-length hair, unadorned with bow or barrette.
"Hello," Subaru greeted politely back, rising to take the empty seat next to her.
"I'm visiting my Onii-chan," the girl beamed happily. "Nii-chan is very far away in another city, and mama told me to wait here while she went to the other car to buy some snacks."
"Where is Okaa-san now?" Subaru asked. He startled when the cup was pressed into his cold hands. The drink was warm and steamed sweetly.
"You can take a sip if you want," the girl said, scrunching up her face as she put her hand in one of her jacket's pockets and rummaged around. She pulled out a loop of frayed purple yarn gleefully and began to thread her fingers through it expertly. She showed Subaru her cat's cradle and Subaru felt himself smiling back indulgently. "Okaa-san's in the other car, like I said." The girl pointed at the back of a woman in the adjacent car. "See, she carries around a black handbag."
"Many Okaa-sans carry handbags," Subaru pointed out, observing the woman's nondescript bob of hair and her slender figure.
"I know," the girl shrugged uncaringly. She did a few more tricks with her string and nodded in satisfaction at herself when she completed each new transmutation easily. She put the yarn away.
"What's your name?" Subaru pried gently when her hands were free again.
"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," the girl said, covering her mouth belatedly. Then she grinned. "But, you're my neighbor now, so it's okay. I just shouldn't tell you my name."
"My name is Sumeragi Subaru," Subaru said.
"Really?" the girl asked, arching up her chin inquisitively. "What do you do?"
"I ride the train and travel often," Subaru said simply. "And talk to strangers," Subaru added.
The girl giggled. "But isn't it lonely to be away from home a lot?" the girl pressed, putting her hands on Subaru's lap and arching her body up to look into his dour, mismatched eyes. "Well, you're my friend now! So my name is Hanako!" The little girl exclaimed with a burst of exuberance. She titled her head, scrutinized Subaru solemnly before she abruptly deflated and curled up against his side.
"Will you tell me when Okaa-san is done, friend Subaru? She disappeared the one time I fell asleep. I've been awake for a really long time since then, so I don't miss her again," she continued, rubbing her eyes with a fist.
"Of course," Subaru answered gently. "I've talked to your Okaa-san before."
"Really?" Hanako said with wide eyes.
"If we get lost, I can bring you to Ueno Park," Subaru replied.
"We're supposed to go hanami there with Nii-chan," Hanako responded contentedly. Her body slumped until her head was pressed warmly against Subaru's lap. Her eyes drooped as he caressed her hair. "You come along, too," she ordered into his belly, grasping his shirt softly.
Her hands uncurled. When Hanako drifted into slumber, Subaru withdrew the newspaper clipping from the pocket of his trench coat. He caressed the article's words until they blurred and bled into his skin. One day ago in Kyoto, a mother and her child had been slain by a serial killer on the very same train.
One day ago in Tokyo, the new Sakurazukamori had found a man conveniently trespassing at the Sakura Tree with a picnic basket.
Subaru gathered the sleeping Hanako gently into his arms and waited patiently for their stop as the people around them suddenly burst into renewed color, running madly away until the day they would inevitably run down.