Hodaka thought it best to wait until the summer holidays when he could accompany Sun Chang-min to South Korea. By the time July 20th rolled around, Hina was in her second month of pregnancy, and the bump in her stomach was barely noticeable, so much that Hodaka didn't bother to look. Whenever he saw Hina again, in the classrooms, in the hallways or even in the cafeteria. He would always make small casual conversations with her. He told her a few interesting details about his relatives on both sides of his family, most notably how large-by-numbers his Morishima relatives were, but until it seemed right for him to tell her that he was an ame-otoko, he remained tight-lipped.
He didn't even notice some of the signs that Hina was pregnant because she was doing her best to hide it, trying as much as she could to refrain from the usual pregnancy symptoms like mood swings and cravings, but those mood swings only made things difficult between her and Hodaka. One moment, she would be as happy as always, the next it was the anger and angst of a rebel without a cause.
During the weekends, Hodaka seldom wrote to his parents, unsure of what he could say to them about his newfound powers or Ojiisan Okazaki's inheritance and he soon got to meet Natsumi's baby girl. He told Keisuke ahead of time a week before he left for South Korea, telling him about the religious cult that Chang-min had mentioned back in Numazu and how much of a story it would make if K&A Planning went international. Keisuke saw this as a sequel to his little "weather-girl saga" he had written about three years ago, and if all went well, he would pay Hodaka a month's salary. Hodaka was careful not to tell Suga about his newly-discovered control over the rain until the time was right…that time being his college graduation. He feared that no matter how nice he seemed, Suga would have probably written an article about his most cherished employee having control over the rain…which would have probably led to Hodaka being lynched the Tokyo populace in revenge for losing their homes. He even got to spend some time with Nagi, trying to set him up with a date or two.
Chang-min's phone number had been added to Hodaka's contacts during his extra stay in Numazu. He ordered a taxi cab to take him to the airport where he would meet up with Chang-min, who had already brought his ticket. The color and chaos of Tokyo International Airport was exciting to everyone who came and went to get away from the rain for higher ground. Some planes were even going to China and Russia. Hodaka had already made his passport and was buying a Japanese to Korean translation book from the store while Chang-min bought him, oddly enough, a Big Mac. for lunch.
"I hope you're not expecting to be paid extra for the white hairs you've put on my head," Chang-min said to Hodaka. "Even in this climate, these flights are expensive."
"You've not forgotten my luggage, Chang-min?" he said. "I don't want to see either your's or mine getting on the wrong plane."
"I'll make sure we get our luggage the first thing we land."
After getting some Sakuma Drops for the flight, Chang-min spoke quietly to Hodaka. "You'll not forget what I told you about your Korean name, Hodaka?"
"I won't forget." He smiled, enjoying the harmless conspiracy.
"You'll be Hanghae Seom and no other on this flight and in South Korea," he had told him with a wink. "It's nothing to do with you or yours, Hodaka, but a South Korean name is better than a Japanese one because of our tense relationships."
Hodaka didn't mind at all. He was going to enjoy being in South Korea for as long as he could.
The plane that they were due to leave on was a commuter jet which bore the colors of Air Seoul. Hodaka admired the colors of the plane from the window of the terminal, reminding him of the colors of the rain. He waited for ten minutes before they started boarding and with the spirit of great adventure coursing through the veins of his body, Hodaka walked down the long skybridge behind Chang-min and entered straight into the tube of the airplane. They two had window seats close to the middle of the plane on the right-hand side; Hodaka took the window while Chang-min sat next to him.
A half hour passed, the plane moved ponderously throughout the taxiway, dredging over the wet pavement. When at last it reached the runways, its engines let out a loud whine as it picked up speed, going faster and faster. The passengers sighed as the plane's nose lifted upwards into the gray-green sky and they felt the weight of gravity leaving them from the moment it's landing gear left terra firma.
Hodaka and Chang-min looked out of the open window, watching the city of Tokyo recede quickly behind the fog, then disappear.
What have I done? Hodaka thought, and he grabbed the arm rests in momentary panic. Then he looked ahead at the limitless expanse of grey-colored ocean, and his heart beat faster with the thrill of adventure.
"Oh!" Chang-min cried out. Then, "Oooh," he moaned.
"What's wrong, Chang-min?"
"Oooh. I'd forgot the jetlag," the priest gasped.
Hodaka held back his laughter. His put his arm around Chang-min's neck and rubbed his chest. A little later, the tray in front Chang-min's chair was served with a small coke and a non-meat sandwich. Hodaka and Chang-min did full justice to the miniscule meal that was served. Afterwards, Hodaka took his coke can to his unfortunate travelling companion and spoon-fed him.
"I'll be all right in a day or two," Chang-min promised in a weak voice. "You won't need to be tending me forever."
"Hush up and take another sip," said Hodaka. Thank heavens I haven't got a puny stomach, he thought. Even the food I ate before we took off has digested by now, or I couldn't have enjoyed my lunch so much.
The plane flew out of the clouds and into the sun. Hodaka was the first to notice it, as he hadn't felt the sun in years. Below them was the shoreline of South Korea, and his heart swelled for the place where could finally feel like a hero to everyone who needed rain more than his own country.
Meanwhile, back at the Suga residence, Hina was discussing her troubles over her's and Hodaka's unexpected baby. When she told the others, that being the current residents of the Suga household, it was a mixed bag: Keisuke fainted, Mr. and Mrs. Mamiya looked worried, Nagi and Moka seemed thrilled at having another child in the house, Wasabi was surprised and all Natsumi had to say about it was:
"Here we go again."
To her it was more of a routine, than something of surprise or shock.
"I never dreamed that Hodaka and I would go that far," Hina was saying to Natsumi in the kitchen. "I never even got a chance to tell him because I didn't want him to overreact. I don't even think he's ready to be a father. I'm not ready to be a mother yet and I'm too young to even be one!"
"You could take care of the baby the same way you took care of me," Nagi reassured her.
"Thanks, Nagi, but you're my brother, it's different. Besides, you're too young to be an uncle anyway. What would you know about taking care of children who are a lot younger than you?"
"I could find myself a suitable girlfriend. Maybe she can help."
Hina shook her head. There were somethings about being a responsible figure that Nagi couldn't understand yet. She buried her head into the table, asking no one.
"What am I gonna do?"
One thing was for certain though, Suga, wanting to save on money, suggested that Hina should deliver her baby in his own house. He bought her an inflatable birth pool and some medical tools for Natsumi and his mother, since he handpicked either one of them to be the midwife while Mr. Mamiya would be the de facto obstetrician, with a handbook and an online article on how to deliver babies for research purposes. Just for the sake of something more entertaining to do, he watched the American series ER, but there were hardly any episodes, that he saw, that involved any depiction of childbirth. For extra precautions, Mr. Mamiya informed the family doctor about Hina's condition and asked him for a medical alarm device, which he intended to activate when Hina was going into labor. The doctor also told Mr. Mamiya that he would check on Hina every two weeks or so. He also suggested to Mr. Mamiya that Hina, after asking for her age, should take the rest of her semester off in case the baby did not arrive before college break was over (he had dealt with a couple of premature births in his career). Over the next few days, Mr. Mamiya asked his doctor for advice on how he could help in delivering Hina's baby and he listened carefully to every method that was possible.
Hina, meanwhile, was resting in the guest room while Nagi consoled her.
"Are you planning on telling Hodaka anytime soon?"
"Not until I've had the baby, then I can I tell him. And if it doesn't arrive soon, you can tell him that I've fallen victim to the corona virus."
"But that's a fatal disease!"
"So what? They have a cure for it…I assume."
She moaned sadly, her head sinking into the pillow.
"I wonder what he's doing now."
"For all I care," Nagi said, in a rare moment of snobbery. "He could be back on his home island by now."
But Nagi was quite wrong, for Hodaka and Chang-min had just landed at Gimhae International Airport. Hodaka drew in his breath with a tiny squeaking noise. The heat of the sun was shining through the windows of the terminal, letting its heat enter through the air-conditioned machinery of the airport's structure. It was a warmth that he had not felt for three years, but at the same time, he was excited. He could hardly wait to discover what South Korea was like.
When Chang-min escorted him down the gangway he realized that he had entered a completely different world. The airport was busy, like the airport in Tokyo, noisy, crowded, perilous with hurrying carts and laden men loading or unloading suitcases, backpacks and even purses onto other planes. But the men who worked at the airport were all white, and they shouted to one another in a tongue that had no meaning for him.
"It's our language," Chang-min explained, "but you needn't fret, Hodaka-kun. There are plenty of Japanese, Chinese and even English-speaking communities here in South Korea."
As if to prove him wrong, a man spoke to him with an accent so pronounced that Hodaka didn't realize at first that he was speaking Japanese.
Chang-min laughed when he told him. "It's a queer sound, and that's the truth of it," he agreed, "but it's Japanese for sure."
Hodaka giggled. "I thought he was a button salesman." The sergeant's elaborately decorated short, tight uniform jacket was fronted with more than a dozen bars of thick gold braid between pairs or brightly polished brass buttons, it looked like fancy dress to him.
He tucked his hand in Chang-min's elbow. "I'm awfully glad I came," he said. And he was. Everything was so different, so new. No wonder people liked to travel so much.
They got their suitcases from the luggage claim and went to find a taxi that would take them on a half-hour journey to a rural farming area in Busan, where the cult of rain gods were located.
Hodaka didn't understand the Korean money at all. It was called won and jeons were the monetary subunit. It was similar to the yen bank notes back home, but the inflation was numerally different. It was all too confusing. Besides, it didn't really matter, it was all free, from whist winnings. In this country a pair of pants cost eight thousand won and a pair of shoes were one hundred and thirteen won. The socks were considerably cheaper. Hodaka gave his bank notes to Chang-min as soon as they got in the car. "Make me stop before I run out," he said, and he began to think of a way how he was going to convert this money.
"We'll go to the bank tomorrow and you can convert your yen there," Chang-min told him.
The taxicab progressed it's way out of the city. The urban buildings shrunk from skyscrapers to two to three stories tall, with more and more nature visible as Hodaka's field of vision met the countryside. The grass was all but dry of it's once lush greenery and the trees, while bearings tons of green leaves, was looking completely bare and dry from the heated sun. Soon, they came into the district of Geumjeong-gu, which was located in Cheongnyongnopo-dong. It was home to a beautiful country club, the Beomeosa Temple, a mosque and the Geumjeongsan Mountain. With all the green grass that made up this part of the country, thanks to man made efforts of providing water for the flora, Hodaka was enchanted by it all.
I'd never thought I'd see a place more beautiful than Kozushima.
Hodaka was anxious to know how many members there were that made up the cult.
"Well, there's Moon Dak-ho, one of the monks, his brother Moon Dae-sung, who is married to Kim Bora with their son Tum-sung and then there is See Kyung-sang, the oldest woman of the cult. Their leader is Bi Jun. Roughly translated, his name means 'rain leader'."
"Sounds pretty fitting," chuckled Hodaka.
As the taxicab edged along the sandy road, they came upon another temple, identical to the Beomeosa. It was so big that it made Hodaka wonder where they went to sleep or eat if the main hall took up most of the space where they prayed to their god. When the taxicab stopped just before the front steps, he would find out later, for he could see the occupants of the temple standing just eighteen feet apart from him on the front entrance. Standing in the fully open door was a blue-robed bald monk who was placing two small, three-legged stools atop a table outside the door. To the left of the door there was another monk who was ten years younger than the other. Others were six young boys and girls dressed in traditional attire, accompanied by three women and a pair of teenaged sons. Another interesting figure, standing from the top of the steps, was a woman who appeared to be about a century old. She smiled at the sight of Hodaka, for she did not see him as a Jap, but as a human being, as is expected of a person who puts his or her faith in religion. None of the occupants took a single flinch as he stepped out of the taxi and waved his right hand.
"Hello, everybody."
Everyone just stared at Hodaka like he was some kind of prized statue made of marble. And it seemed to Hodaka that there weren't convinced but seemed grateful to have an innocent soul in their prescience. Or perhaps they were waiting patiently for him to carry out his miracle. Before Chang-min could properly introduce the boy, Hodaka was quick to go onto full prayer mode and the clouds began to darken, overcast at first, then stormy with a layer of grey clouds blocking out most of the sun's heat and light.
The rain followed by a three second crash of thunder, the first drop was harmless, then suddenly, it turned into a breezy shower. Hodaka inhaled the familiar sent of rain, blinking his eyes to adjust the sudden darkness.
The old woman, whom Hodaka later confirmed was See Kyung-sang, had skin that was darkened by nearly a century of open air and sun and rain. Her face was round, like an apple, and withered, like an apple kept too long. But the faded blue eyes were unclouded and penetrating. A thick silk sash of bright blue lay across her shoulders, across her breast, the fringed ends in her lap. Her thin white hair was covered by a traditional blue gat.
Hodaka, now wet from head to toe in his own rainwater, walked up the steps into the front shelter, as did the others.
See Kyung-sang lifted her bony fingers against Hodaka's cheeks. Her smile went wider.
"The rain man had come at last! And I've lived to see day when the rain would come again!"
Her voice was thin and cantankerous, but not cracked or weak. Relief and a kind of wonder filled Hodaka's being. This woman was very kind and welcoming, something he hadn't seen much in his own grandparents.
"You must See Kyung-sang," said Hodaka, feeling like he had found a grandmother figure in her. "I'm Hodaka Morishima, or Hanghae Seom, whatever you want to call me."
"It doesn't matter what you are named," said the woman who introduced herself as Kim Bora. "As long as you are welcomed and comfortable in this sanctuary for the true believers, you can be addressed however you want. We are all the children of the gods, aren't we?"
Hodaka nodded. "I guess I won't have to use it much, will I?"
Bi Jun smiled proudly at the rain which restored the green flora to the countryside's natural beauty and bowed to Hodaka.
"Young Hodaka Morishima, you honor my temple and I bid you welcome. Your solution to put an end to this draught will be a warm stone on my heart for fifty years and more."
Hodaka's smile was as warm as the hug he gave to Kyung-sang. He had a found a new family to love.
