"Yoshiyuki!" shouted Dr. Albright over the radio. "Yoshiyuki!"

"Nanaka!"

He seem to have heard somebody call his name, but it was distant, a hollow echo, probably not intended for him, after all.

"Nanaka…?" he wondered.

"Jiji," said the little girl, goggle-eyed at the men in suits arriving at their doorstep. At that time the shop consisted only of that single longhouse, without the frog gallery, even. She felt her Grandfather's strong grip on her forearm.

"Please," he said, not to her, "can't I have a say in this?"

But the one who wanted the girl was wealthy, and unfortunately lived on the same island as him. For a while the men stared down each other; Grandpa didn't want to release the girl to them just yet, but he also knew he hardly stood a chance in a fight. At some point the grip loosened, reluctantly, still holding on.

One of the men handed out a basket of colorful gourmet pastries and chocolates to the girl, the smell of which greatly enticed her. She looked up at Grandpa, silently asking him if she could have it, but when he failed to answer, she took it as a yes and let her arm slip away. As soon as she stepped forward and took the basket the men surrounded her and began to escort her to the waiting limousine. Grandpa's face was in a wordless agony. Nanaka looked back and saw him. "Grandpa," she said cheerily, "I'll be fine. I'll be back tonight."

#9. An Old Friend of Albright's

Yoshiyuki and Nanaka were immediately flown to Cairns to undergo some minor surgery. Dr. Albright very regretfully informed the Nanjous of the mishap, whereupon they pledged to foot the bill. She also argued with the authorities about letting the two keep their licenses, insisting it was a complete accident, that they simply hit a "dead spot" over the Gulf, that Yoshiyuki managed to crash-land the craft and they could have ended up in the water otherwise. In the end, only Nanaka's was retained, she being the passenger.

For two days she anxiously awaited their recovery, and by the evening of Day Two, Nanaka was awake. Yoshiyuki had been transferred to another facility, but heard from them that he was alright. The professor wanted to be fully sure that they were fine before they went back to Japan, where she hoped she could present them, safe and sound, personally to their families.

By the end of October they had returned and stayed for a few days in Okinawa. It was there that Grandpa met up with them. Well, not all of them; he saw Nanaka just recovering in her hospital bed and took her straightaway on the soonest flight to Tokyo. Yoshiyuki stayed behind in the hospital, dazed, unwilling to believe that all of this actually happened. Dr. Albright visited him every day but all she could offer him were sympathetic sighs and broken gazes with barely a word of comfort. Right now the only one who can comfort him was…

"Can't I even call her?" he muttered, even if he kind of knew the answer already.

There wasn't even any hint that Granny was coming for him just like Grandpa did for his girl; to be sure, the professor did hold back the news on Mrs. Minase, but they were leaving in a few days, anyway. A day before the flight back, she just sent a message informing of their arrival by seaplane. She will explain what happened after the old woman sees her boy safe and sound.

It had taken a certain degree of guts just to text her.

As soon as Yoshiyuki stepped onto the pier Grandma wordlessly pulled him away without another glance at the professor. Over the next few days she made her grandson stay in bed to (further) his recovery. She didn't speak the whole time. Was she blaming him?

He noticed that Granny locked the house quite early, as soon as the sun went down, as though she didn't want anyone visiting, likely a move against Albright. She also turned all the lights off by seven. But what was he supposed to do in this darkness? Pining for Nanaka, he turned over and over in his bed and sometimes screamed. He wanted so badly to break out of the house if only his knees didn't hurt whenever he was walking far enough. How long must he recover? He would stay like that for over a week.

Until that Sunday morning when Grandma came into his room. "I have contacted your family."

He threw her an incredulous look. He had hoped she wouldn't have to come to that. "It's not that bad," he said ruefully.

"They have to know."

"For what?"

That she did not answer, only sighed at. "They said they will meet you at a hotel in Yokohama."

Why Yokohama? "They don't want to meet me at home?"

Grandma clammed up. He probably had an idea already. Only his father and maybe his sister was actually prepared to see him.

"I have a life out here, Granny. I need to see my girl."

"You can't," she said flatly.

His eyes widened at this. "But why?" Is she still in the hospital? Did his girl hate him for nearly killing her? Was Mr. Mori keeping her away, also? Or is she—? "Why?!" he demanded. "I have to know! She's everything to me!" Tears blurred his vision and he can't see her all that clearly he did not know where he was throwing his yells, it was more like he was raging at the world. "Tell me where she is! Tell me!"

But there are things that she can't just casually mention. Like what had came to pass that day… when she met them at the harbor…

Grandma was watching the ferry as it neared the port. Mr. Mori had left the dive shop last week; he should be returning right about now.

The ship berthed and after a while the passengers began to pour onto the pier. There weren't really that many. It would be easy to pick out a particular person from this many.

There she is.

Nanka and her Grandpa were heading to the ramen shop to pass the time waiting for the smaller ferry bound for Okaa-san… but Grandma was in their way. The old man stared hard at Minase, but she was focused on the young woman.

"They said Yoshiyuki was the pilot," she began. "But I can't believe it."

"…"

"My boy had just grown into a fine young man. He couldn't have messed up that badly.

"I hand-carried Yoshiyuki for three years, when no one else could have accepted him. I nurtured him. I watched him grow from an outcast into a graduate of Nankaisei Academy.

"How could it all have turned into such a spectacular flop?"

Nanaka only closed her eyes as if that would shut the whole situation out of existence.

"What have you done to him?" she asked bitterly. "I trusted you, Mori-san. Far too much. Far too often.

"What have you done to him?"

Even Nanaka wanted to know.

Yoshiyuki was gone. Her agonized gaze went miles ahead of herself and saw nothing but those happy memories. In the meantime his Grandma sank down on a stone bench and buried her head in her tired hands.

"Pretty please!" Anju had said.

Mr. Yamanobe looked on in disbelief at the two youngsters. Here was the plucky Nitta girl, and with her was a chap he had never seen before. "Are you going to the Moris?"

"Please!"

"But Okaa-san is way off my route."

In the end they gave him gas money to make up for the detour. Today, however, about three years later, only the boy was left, now a man, and he had nothing to offer but tears. "I need to get my wages," he said. "I will repay you as soon as I have it." But can somebody be this desperate for some minimum pay? Is Mrs. Minase starving already? And… Didn't he just come from the hospital or something? Oh well. "Hop aboard," he sighed in frustration.

It was a moderately rough sea on the way here. As soon as the boat berthed he jumped out despite his dizziness and quickly lost balance. But he picked himself up and made for the road to the dive shop, still staggering a bit.

After the mad rush he conked out at the top of the rise and leaned heavily panting against the railing. But the dive shop was in full view. He can't stop now. Still panting, he heaved himself back onto the road.

Down at the longhouse, just outside, he spied Grandpa through the large glass windows dusting the trophies and stuff on the wall, but he just passed him by. "Hey!" said the old man seeing him. And he went off in pursuit.

Yoshiyuki stopped at the deck. Nanaka wasn't there. He hurried on to the edge, where he paused again to take in a general view of the cove. And there she was! Standing at the water's edge. He disappeared down the path just as Grandpa was arriving onto the deck. The old man also went to the railing to look over the cove. From here, he could see the young man kick up sand as he rushed to his granddaughter.

Nanaka had been like this as of late, looking out to sea in melancholy and regret, reliving the memories and what could have been. But today would bring a jolt to her mournful routine. At first, she was rooted in place hearing his yells and seeing him hurtle straight at her, so it took her a moment to take to the water to escape him in a quick dive. Yoshiyuki knew it will be too late once she wades out far enough, so he crashed through the water in a foaming fury and got to her just in time, clamping his arms around her belly. "Let go!" she shouted. For a good while they struggled against each other whilst trying not to topple into the water. Her athletic physique put up a good fight, but clearly underestimated the strength arising from passion. "Why are you doing this?!" she continued. "Why are you even here?" She finally turned to face him. "You actually think your showing up here will change anything?"

"Nothing has changed, Nanaka. I am still your Yoshiyuki, and you are mine."

"When will you stop your idiocy? Can't you see?" Back at the harbor she had wanted to rebuff Grandma, say as Mrs. Albright did that it was all a fluke, insist on her feelings for her grandson, but she couldn't mistake the fact: she told him to get the plane off the safety of the Morning Glory's lift. "I brought you down, Yoshiyuki," she said tearfully. "I egged you on. And now I will be the one to keep my license, while you get nothing! Nothing but that injury! I ruined you!"

"It doesn't matter!" he roared. "I love you! I never blamed you once, but if you leave me, I will curse you, and then I'll curse myself for ever knowing you!"

"You—" She forcibly rubbed the tears with her arm. "You really are deranged, huh? I won't mind kicking you in the crotch right now," she bluffed in a broken voice, "I'll ship you straight back to Tokyo."

He grinned. "Try me." He began to force a kiss on her, but then he felt someone hold him back by the arm.

"That is enough, young man," said Grandpa.

He tried to break away, but the grip was astoundingly strong, and the old man even got to twist that arm. "Let's have a little snack, shall we?" he said gritting his teeth. "There's something we need to talk over."

The three of them shared the shop's small office with Grandpa behind the desk, Nanaka a little way behind him to the side, while Yoshiyuki sat alone across the desk from them. They had some tea to ease things before the discussion, but the young man barely drank any of it and the teapot was still half-full.

At length, Mr. Mori put aside his cup and faced him as Nanaka watched on intently. "My boy," he began, "I know we weren't supposed to have these hard feelings to begin with. You were a pretty good employee, improved a lot I must say, and in three years' time I could have handed the management over to you and Nanaka completely, if I weren't so passionate about the shop myself. Such a fine working relationship. But everything's in jeopardy now because of a simple misunderstanding.

"Your Grandmother basically blamed all the trouble on my girl. I didn't quite argue with her at the time because we all thought you were in critical condition, seeing that Nanaka got out of the hospital first. And yes, I was blaming you at the same time, especially as you were the pilot.

"But knowing who's actually responsible won't help much now. My granddaughter's still wracked with the undeserved guilt your grandmother had laid on her. And who knows how she would treat us from here on? You see, Mrs. Minase is a highly influential figure in the whole of the islands. Not that I'm assuming a lot, but who can be sure how far the shop will be affected? I know for a fact a number of tourists rely on locals for recommendations of most everything they look for out here, and indeed quite a handful were referred here by your Granny.

"So now, I ask you a favor. Represent us to your grandmother. Tell her that my girl would never have been so neglectful. Clear her reputation—if you truly love her." He noticed him seething. "But don't argue. We elderly folk don't like that. Just talk normally, maybe she'll soften up sooner."

Nanaka saw that he wasn't likely to do that now. "Grandpa…" she said wanting to accompany him.

"No. You're in no position to talk to her. It's her boy she only cares about, you know that."

"That…" fumed Yoshiyuki. "That's unfair!" He never thought, living with her for as long as he did, that his grandmother can actually defame someone. "She has no business judging Nanaka like that!"

"Yoshiyuki," Nanaka whispered in concern. That escalated fast. But Grandpa only sighed. Welp, he thought, better let him dish out the hard feelings on their behalf.

"So…" he asked, "can you talk to her tomorrow?"

Yoshiyuki was torn and tormented inside, hardly sleeping in his old hammock at the dive shop. After he had alighted the morning ferry at the Otou-san harbor, his legs seem to have lost their resolve to step forward, unwilling to go on to Grandma's. He just sat on a long stone bench for hours, letting passengers come and go, allowing the interplay of light and shadow shift all around him as the day wore on.

As lunchtime rolled by, the harbor began to fall silent, and by one P.M. it was empty. Only the distant hum of a faraway fishing boat sounded in the still midday air. His tummy began to grumble, but even then he did not stir, and for a wild-eyed moment he thought of catching the afternoon ferry back to Okaa-san for lunch, if only to see his girl again. But he wasn't the only one eyeing such a trip.

"Yoshiyuki-kun?"

He was absolutely startled to see Dr. Albright out of the blue and she mirrored his reaction. "H-Hey," she managed to say, "It's me… I'm still me… right? What's with that face?

"Uh— No… I thought you returned to America…"

Sigh. "I'll be (on a speaking tour in Kyushu for a year) and staying over in Okinawa often. It'll be easier to return here from over there." She settled beside him. "I just arrived yesterday morning and was staying at Nankaisei. Thought I could catch the boat to Mori-san's place to check up on her."

"There's a trip at two-thirty," he said glumly. "We'll have to wait some." He then told her he had been there already, that Nanaka was fine; Albright still wanted to confirm that bit in person. But when he related the part about everything that Grandpa had said to him about Granny, the professor lost all interest in going. "I should have just gone to your place first," she sighed. "I just hope you aren't too mad at Granny now. She must have been too upset to pick her words carefully… but she's always been sensible I'm honestly shocked." She stood up. "Let's go together. Maybe she'll reconsider if the both of us talk."

"Sensei."

"Hm?"

"I… well, I'm not sure I could hold myself back when I meet Granny."

"Then I'll meet with her alone. You can go back to Okaa-san and tell Mr. Mori the professor will talk to Mrs. Minase first. Maybe you can have another shot at convincing Nanaka-san."

"…"

"I'll tell Granny you're mad at her and need to blow off steam somewhere."

With that Albright gave him some pocket money and he caught the afternoon ferry back to Okaa-san. Dr. Albright went on to the Minase residence, and found it shuttered. Did Minase-san go off somewhere?

She went round to the part of the property where the vegetable garden was… and there she was. Grandma sat on a plastic stool by her eggplants and seem to have been fixing the bamboo frame, but now she just sat there, sagging a bit from exhaustion, but as she sensed Albright approach she straightened up in her seat. "What are you doing here?"

The professor's face grew even graver. "I think you have an idea why."

"These veggies haven't fruited yet. If that's all you came for, I'll just send them over when ready."

She has no time for phony veggie talk. "Where's Yoshiyuki?" This, despite knowing.

"…"

"Did he leave home or something?"

"Maybe he felt you were coming for him and escaped in time. He wanted to make sure of his safety, of course."

"What if it's you he's got an issue with?"

Grandma paused to catch her breath. "I trusted you, Albright. You told me you'll look after him."

"I did."

"And now?" she said bitterly. "How did that go? I could have had a coffin in the house by now, and I would have followed shortly after."

"I did my part."

"No, you didn't."

"Minase-san…"

"Stop lying to me!"

"…"

"I trusted you. You blew it. That's all. Is it so hard to understand, professor?"

"…"

"You can deny it all you want, but you still lied to me. You can't change what had happened. Are you going to try and disprove that, professor? But you can't disprove what I'm feeling. I suppose you have never felt what's it like to be lied to."

Albright felt the strengthening sea breeze slap her face.

"Actually Minase-san… I did."

"Humph."

"I may be a professor, but I believe I've never been remiss in telling you how dumb I really am. In fact, I'm sure that's precisely what you're thinking right now. Certainly I'm too dumb to craft a good yarn. So what I'll be telling you now actually happened."

"Leave your sob story to yourself," she said, more weakly now. "It will not…"

"Perhaps you never heard me mention why I got into soaring in the first place. It was never my original passion. I was in high school. In your son's school.

"In that place—long before Yoshiyuki's father went there. He never saw this friend of mine who told me how wonderful it is to fly.

"She showed me an old abandoned sailplane in an old abandoned garage and promptly told me to test it. She was known for trying all sorts of hare-brained schemes so I didn't take her seriously for a while."

"Are you now deflecting the blame on others for your own stupidity?"

"No, Minase-san. If anything, my friend was way smarter than me… That's what I thought, anyway. And I still do. She eventually got me onboard because I was an engineering student and I thought I could help her build or fix things, at least. Little by little, I appreciated the build and the dynamics of the plane.

"And the whole time, she told me we will fly. That we will pass through those clouds."

"…"

"I loved her. So I caught on to her dreams. I decided I will help her fly.

"And then…

"One day she disappeared. She left me a letter which said… It was all a lie. All her dreams to fly. All of our dreams to fly. She said she never believed in something silly as that from the beginning, never really wanted to do something dangerous.

"She apologized to me as I did to you now, casually said she lied…. But can you believe that? She didn't even tell me in person. I was mad, of course.

"But later…. I ceased to believe that my dear friend had lied. I went out to prove our dream wasn't a lie. I flew. And I passed on the dream. And they flew.

"Therefore, Minase-san, if I can't change your opinion, then go ahead and think me a liar. Yoshiyuki will prove me true. He has his own life now. He has found a girl. They will live together someday, and they will fly once again and continue my dreams."

She thought she heard Minase sob. But maybe it was her imagination.

"He is not the outcast boy from Tokyo you once pitied. He is a man. Don't think of him as a boy now. Let him live or die on his own merits.

"Let him prove to everybody he is not what he once was."

Yoshiyuki stood atop the hill repeatedly dialing Nanaka's number. "I'm over here," he thought to say, "on the hill. I have returned." Maybe she will be obliged to meet with him at once up here, not quite expecting him back so soon. It was the nth time the phone told him the number could not be reached… but each time only making him more furiously determined. At the end of it, the line picked up—and the beep of the hang-up button stung his ears.

He roared at the distant dive shop below. Was it her? Was it her Grandpa? But it was plain to him now that they won't have any more of him. He felt like punching Grandpa, maybe even Mrs. Albright for telling him to go back. Wait—there must be another option.

He remembered that silly rich lady riding on Nanaka's shoulders in the finest traditions of a spoiled brat.

He ran down the lonely wooded road Nanaka once told them to take. The crows cawed from the treetops as the afternoon began to wind down.

Finally, he got there. The gate which could be mistaken for a utility box. He frantically searched and groped for a doorbell, but soon realized there was none, to his supreme frustration. But there was still a small camera somewhere. He vividly recalled Nanaka's diagram. He found the thing and began to shout at it. "I need to see Miss Nanjou! Please! I got to talk to her!"

When nobody answered, he began to bang at the gate with his open palm. He's not taking a snub for an answer. But the gate held firm—and still nobody came. Cursed rich fools. They might as well step on other people as though they were ants and not even feel it; they meant it to be that way. Dissolving into tears, he staggered back and slumped down to the ground against a tree across the road from the gate. He cried bitterly until, exhausted, he fell into a deep slumber.

A mist proceeded forth from the sea and filtered into the forest. Yoshiyuki slept right there at the doorstep lying against the cold stone. He was shivering violently, but he needed to get through to Rikako. Funny how one would go to great lengths if he was crazy enough to place a ridiculous level of value on someone. Surely Aunt Maruko would be really inhuman not to take him in after this…

But what about Anna Nanjou? Rather than letting him into the mansion far up the mountain, wouldn't it be worlds easier to just chuck his body onto some cliff nearby? There wasn't any other soul around here. Can anybody complain against the wealthy?

Sure enough, he felt himself being actually carried. Wait, what's happening…? But he was too weak to respond right now…

Next Time. #10. An Old Friend of Nanaka's