Toro Nagashi
He only returns once.
The river is as phony as anything else in space, a wide concrete ribbon on the western edge of the colony. It's a mid-August night, artificially hot, the first summer after the war. The river's banks are mobbed by families with children.
The lantern boat costs him almost nothing. Its paper is crinkly and white like a girl's summer dress.
He scrawls a message in sloppy kanji - 謝罪— on the lantern's side and sets it adrift. Within moments it collides with another boat, ignites, and then collapses on itself.
The river is too clogged with lanterns.
Notes: "謝罪" is a formal apology. It has been many years since I made any formal study of the language, so I can only offer my own apologies if I've written anything in error.