CHAPTER 7

Uchiro checked his phone again. Three blocks north from the station, turn right on Tenth Street. Looking up, he saw the Ninth Street sign. Okay, one more block then.

It's been two weeks since he last saw Hana and the others, and they were excited to show him their new apartment. Red brick building, enter next to the bookstore, two floors up, number 32. He looked around and spotted the Kinocopia sign, attached to a six-story building. Sure enough, there were the red bricks.

He stepped up to the intercom and pressed the button next to 32.

"Who's there?"

"Sota-kun? Hey, it's me, Uchiro."

There was a brief silence, and then... "Okay, Onee-chan says you can come up."

Two flights of stairs later, Uchiro found Hana waiting for him in the doorway of apartment 32.

"Uchi-kun! Glad you could make it! Come on in!"

Uchiro walked into a living environment that looked a little different than what he was accustomed to.

"It's more of a Western-type dwelling, but it's got two bedrooms and two baths. They're not Japan-style baths, though... that's gonna take some getting used to."

"Yeah, Valleyrun is more geared toward American and European types," Erina added from the kitchen as she was putting groceries away. "But this was the best available at the time that was a nice walking distance to the trains. And not too far from here is their 'Asiatown' which has a wonderful Korean bathhouse... it's kinda similar to the onsen baths we use."

Uchiro noticed that the living room had a folding partition in the middle of it. "What's going on here?" he asked.

"I made my own room!" Sota peeked out from behind the partition. "I wanted to look at the stars at night when I lay in bed, and my sisters wanted their own rooms, and their rooms don't have any windows in them anyway, so I made a bed here where the big glass doors are."

"And his bed comes the closest to what we're used to!" Kari laughed. "The apartment came fully furnished. The maintenance guy said the people who used to live here were from Texas, but they left this world without doing anything with the furniture. So he kept it all."

"It's just like the hotel beds, at least!" Hana chimed in. "And we don't have to do a lot of unpacking and moving big stuff in. Which is good because I start school in a couple of days!"

"You're gonna go to Sawai?" Uchiro asked, enthusiastically.

"Yes! Look at me... used to be the last thing I wanted to do was go to school. But I'm actually excited about Sawai! I think I'll half goof off, and half actually learn stuff."

Uchiro couldn't help but admire the energy coming from Hana's smile and giggle.

"And I get to be one of those students who take the train on their way to school! I always envied those kids, it looked like a lot of fun."

"That's awesome!" Uchiro replied, walking over to Hana. "I want to go with you!"

Hana blushed. "Um... I... don't know what to say..."

"DID YOU JUST CONFESS TO HANA?" Kari ran out of her bedroom yelling, a half-surprised, half-annoyed look on her face. Uchiro suddenly turned as red as Hana.

"Oh crap... uh... that's... I didn't mean it in that way! I meant I want to go to Sawai as well! To meet you at the train station and we can walk there together! That's all!"

"So you... don't like me?" Hana suddenly got all pouty.

"Wait... what? Of course I like you, Hana-chan!" Uchiro replied nervously. "I mean, not like... you know... UGGGH!"

Hana's pout turned into a wide grin. "HAHAHA... I got you good!"

Erina was hunched over the kitchen sink, laughing hysterically. "You should've thought about what you were saying! You didn't think 'to go with' someone was a euphemism for 'be their boyfriend'?"

"Come on, you're too young for that anyway!" Kari chimed in as Uchiro nervously cupped his hands over his face.

"Hey! I'm old enough for a relationship!" Hana shot back. "And I'm gonna use that age-adjust-thing, whatever it is to look old enough too!"

"We'll see about that, Onee-chan. Besides, I think you're scaring Uchi-kun now."

"Do you want to stay for dinner, Uchiro?" Erina asked as she regained her composure and got out a mixing bowl. "I was going to make shrimp curry. Akiho's on her way here from the arcade, so it'll definitely be a group event."

"Sure, I didn't have any other plans." Uchiro was still flustered but couldn't help but watch Hana for a minute as she helped Erina with dinner preparations.


Hana stared up at the stars in the night sky, relaxing in a lounge chair on the apartment building's rooftop patio. Kari and Erina had gone shopping, and the others were playing video games on the television. She wasn't in the mood for noisy entertainment, however.

Are those stars real? she thought. Are we in an entire afterlife universe?

She was on the verge of dozing off when Uchiro emerged from the access door.

"Sota told me you'd be up here."

He pushed another lounge chair next to hers and flopped down into it.

"There's the moon... there's all those stars... just like outer space in the living world." Hana's eyes stayed transfixed on the cosmos. "Whoever made this... were they able to just put an entire other universe in place? Is this a fake universe copied after the living world?"

"I know, right? Kinda makes you wonder if the schools teach the astronomy of the living world. I mean, would it matter? Would anyone here try to go into space? Though actually, I've been almost everywhere on this world, and I've never really seen a rocket launching pad or anything like that."

"It's still beautiful, though."

"Yeah, I'll give you that."

Both of them fell silent for almost a minute.

"Uchi-kun?"

"What's up?"

"Do... people fall in love with each other here?"

"Uh..."

"I mean, have you seen boys and girls walking hand in hand, have you caught people kissing, stuff like that? I'm only asking because I know this place was made mainly for little kids, and... I don't know..."

Hana sat up, flustered. Uchiro propped himself up by his elbows.

"I've seen maybe a little bit of that," Uchiro replied. "I've never really thought much about it. I mean, I've always just hung out with the other guys and did extreme stuff. I've heard about what bodies go through in the teenage years, but I obviously died before that could happen to me."

"It's just... I've always had that dream, you know, like other girls my age. Meet the man of my dreams, get married, have kids... If this place is supposed to be where we can still fulfill our dreams, wouldn't we be allowed to have feelings for each other?"

"Yeah, it should work that way. But nobody really has kids here, as in actually gives birth to them. Adults who come here just get matched up with kids who still want parents. The parent-child love still exists here, I don't see why two unrelated people couldn't feel love for each other."

"Uchi-kun... when you said you wanted to go with me... I know you meant to school..."

Uchiro sat up on the edge of the lounge chair, facing Hana. "Um... yeah?"

"But... did you have any deeper feelings than that?"

It was Uchiro's turn to be flustered. "I... don't know... I... might have felt something...?"

Several seconds of silence followed.

Hana fidgeted and looked aside at the ground. "I guess... what I'm trying to say..."

Uchiro gulped nervously. Is this what I think it is? he thought.

A few seconds later, Hana's head straightened up. She was still tense, but her eyes were locked on Uchiro's now.

"...I like you, Uchi-kun."

More awkward silence. A faint smile appeared on Uchiro's flustered face. "Now I don't know what to say..."

Hana continued. "I mean, we've known each other since we were babies. And we were good friends right up until you left us. I feel like... I may never know what love feels like since I died too young. But... I do know I missed you a lot. And there were times when I imagined... What if he survived? What if we... were married, had our own house, had our own kids... and I always ended up crying over what could have been..."

"Hana-chan..." Uchiro's hand landed on her knee. He could see tears welling up in Hana's eyes. "You know... in all the years I've spent in this world... I never did forget about you. We always had fun together."

Hana chuckled and wiped her eyes. She rested her hand on top of his. "I don't want to lose you again, Uchi-kun."

"Me neither. I don't know what happened to you... I'm not trying to get that out of you... but I wish I coulda been there to stop it."

Their faces were now inches apart.

"I guess that means... I like you as well." Uchiro's fingers interlocked with hers. "I think we should give this a try."

There was now a wide grin on Hana's face as she chuckled.

Uchiro suddenly facepalmed himself. "Ugh... sorry... that sounded like I'm doing some kind of experiment with you..."

Hana grabbed the hand on Uchiro's face and pulled it away. "Fufu... I'll be happy to be your experiment."

She moved in and their lips touched.

Uchiro moved his hand to the back of Hana's head as the kiss continued. Hana returned the gesture, gently wrapping her arms around his back.

Uchiro's other hand caressed Hana's lower back. Hana's embrace tightened.

"Hana? Uchiro? You two still up there?"

Akiho's call from the stairwell was enough to break apart their ten-second passionate moment. Regaining their composure, they got up and hurried back to the access door.

"We're coming back down!" Uchiro shouted.

"Ohmygawd, I can't face my sister right now!" Hana was the one facepalming this time.

"Do you want to just keep this a secret for now?" Uchiro whispered. "It's up to you."

Hana nervously nodded as they met up with Akiho and Sota on the stairs.