So Long...

“What did you think?” Natsuki asked as Masako finished reading the story on her phone.

Masako recoiled in horror, her face a bright red. “W-who gave you permission to analyze my character like that?!”

September 1st. Just that date alone brings the sense of endings and beginnings, of long-gone early summer days and midsummer nights, the first turning of the leaves. Summer was the time for doing - autumn was the time to consolidate everything you’ve learned and to start hunkering down for the winter until spring came around and it was time to do it all over again. Some things don’t really end; they just go away for a little bit until they come back.

September 1st also meant the return to school. The writing contest ended last night with a whirlwind of writing. All three girls just barely managed to finish in time, but they say to make something extraordinary, you need a good plan and not quite enough time. And while their stories might not exactly be extraordinary, they were made from the heart and they were all proud of them.

After the first few days of writing together and helping each other out, the girls decided to not read each other’s stories until the contest was over. And now, as they hung around the clubroom after a long day of tests, they finally got to reading.

Masako’s face had turned an embarrassed scarlet, and she held her arms over her face and chest for protection. “W-who says I feel like nothing would turn out right?” she huffed out.

“You did,” Natsuki said with a grin as she sat at her desk. “Maybe not with those exact words, but you more or less told me that.”

Masako chuckled and shook her head. “So you wrote a story called The Web Novel Club about our Web Novel Club. I guess I did give you permission to incorporate some real life experience…”

Yumiko frowned and looked over at Masako. “Hey, how come Natsuki gets away with writing a story about us, but when I made one about you and me, you hated it-”

Masako stomped her foot. “Because this story came from the heart and your story featured a lot ~romance~ between us!” She raised a hand to smack Yumiko, but then paused. “Jeez, Natsuki. I smacked Yumiko so many times in your story that I was about to do it in real life.”

Natsuki kept smiling. “I knew something like that would fit your characters.”

Yumiko grinned at Masako then looked at Natsuki’s laptop.

“I’m glad you finally made a character for me, though I didn’t expect it to be literally myself. And I’m glad you didn’t give me glasses in it,” she said as she wiped down her own pair before putting them back on. “My lack of 20/20 vision is one of my very few negative qualities. And I do have to say, I’m surprised at how smug you made me out to be. I’m the most humble person you’ve ever met.”

Both Natsuki and Masako laughed at that. Yumiko crossed her arms and turned her head away, but she couldn’t help but break out into a smile. “In all seriousness, Natsuki, that was a good story.”

Masako gave an encouraging nod. Natsuki rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

Masako looked back down at the screen, which recounted an edited version of the night Masako and Natsuki walked home from school and Natsuki realized she felt alive. “But still…you really think you can win the contest?”

Natsuki tapped her finger on the desk. “I’m not sure. I might not, but I’m okay with that. I really had a lot of fun writing this, and even if it doesn’t win, nobody can take the time spent writing it away from me. Nor can they take away the fun of looking at a completed book made by your own hands.”

Then she grinned. “But you know what? I do have more confidence in my work now. I really think I have as good of a chance as anybody else in the contest. I’ve done all I could - we’ll just have to see how it goes. Either way, I’m glad I wrote it.”

In another habit picked up from Natsuki’s story, Masako and Yumiko started clapping for her.

….......

“I didn’t get a lightsword,” Mitsuko’s deadpan voice came over the phone. “I got a character, but not a lightsword.”

Natsuki laid in bed, holding her own phone to her ear. Through her window, she could see the trees outside starting to turn red and orange. For the first time in months, she broke out a sweatshirt for the evening as she lounged around to keep herself warm.

“Well, considering the setting, a lightsword would’ve been kind of hard to work in…”

“No excuses. And why’d you make me move to Hokkaido?”

Natsuki chuckled. “I thought it would work better that way. I used my real idea of fleeing for Hokkaido in the story and brought it up so many times I thought it would be a cool twist to have somebody actually move there. And I wrote and set this story in the summer, so moving somewhere cold would have more of an effect.”

“Your intellect astounds me sometimes.”

Natsuki laughed for a little bit, but then she let out a deep breath and rolled over onto her side. “How’s Kyushu?” she asked softly.

Natsuki could imagine Mitsuko giving a deadpan smirk on the other end of the line; if Hokkaido was as far north of Miyazawa as you could go, Kyushu would be as far south. Hundreds of miles still separated the two.

“You’d like it here, Natsuki. A week into fall and you wouldn’t even know. It was ninety out today.”

Natsuki imagined the warmth of the recent summer. “Sounds nice.”

“Ah, well. I’m sure I’ll be missing fall.”

Natsuki nodded as she thought of the future. “The sports festival at school is coming up. And then it’ll be the culture festival, and then it’ll be Christmas, and then I’ll get to see you again!”

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment. Natsuki eyed her phone nervously. “M-Mitsuko?”

“...about that, Natsuki…”

Even though it wasn’t hot out, Natsuki wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“...y-yes?”

“You’d pay for my ticket, right?” Mitsuko said with that imagined smirk on her face again. “Since you’re this bigtime writer and all now, it only seems fair that you cover my travel expenses. Or you should come down to Kyushu to see me instead of the other way around.”

Natsuki bristled and grinned. “Cheap! You’re cheap!”

“You really think poor old me can afford to travel in this economy?”

“Cheapskate!” Natsuki called out, laughing. “Cheap cheap cheap-”

Mitsuko hung up. Natsuki held the phone to her chest for a moment, close to her heart. Then, right as when she was about to get up, her phone buzzed again - a message from Mitsuko.

Natsuki opened it and saw a picture of Mitsuko in her usual thick glasses. With a stoic face, she held up a plane ticket, and when Natsuki zoomed in, she saw it was for Miyazawa Regional Airport with a date of December 28th. The picture was captioned with

“If you remain still, the muskrat won’t even realize you’re there.”

Natsuki held the phone close to heart again and smiled.

“I think I’ve noticed that you’re still with me, Mitsuko.”