Three years after that fateful day, Hodaka has returned to Tokyo. Fresh out of high school, he now lives alone in a tiny apartment, and he's finally reunited with Hina—the girl he once risked everything for.
Hina is no longer the "sunshine girl." She's just an ordinary high school student, living peacefully with her younger brother Nagi. They see each other almost every day—shopping for groceries, cooking meals together, laughing over nothing. But something's stuck between them. They still have
After the Clear Skies - Someone who knows the sunshine girl
When I woke up, my smartphone on the nightstand was faintly vibrating.
Hodaka reached out from under his thin futon and looked at the screen.
*"There's something I want to talk about today. Do you have time this evening?"*
A message from Hina.
The image of her back, drenched and rushing out last night, surfaced in his mind. Along with the image of himself, standing frozen in the rain, unable to say a word.
(*Something she wants to talk about, huh.*)
It might not be good news. Maybe she was going to say she didn't want to see him anymore.
Hodaka looked up at the slightly damp ceiling. Forty-two years old, a two-story wooden building: Corpo Urata. The walls were so thin you could hear the neighbor in the next room turning over in his sleep.
(*Even so, I have to go.*)
If Hina wanted to talk, he couldn't run away.
"[serious]...Okay. What time should I come?"
He gripped his phone and typed his reply.
It was marked as read immediately.
*"Can you come to my room around four? Nagi will be here too."*
Hodaka sent a short "Okay" and sat up.
Looking at the clock, it was still only nine in the morning. He had time until evening.
(*What should I bring?*)
He couldn't go empty-handed. Yesterday had ended the way it did. He had to apologize properly.
Dragging his heavy body, tired from the night shift at the convenience store, Hodaka headed to the nearby shopping street.
The Takashiba Elevated Shopping Street was rainy again today. The roof under the elevated tracks kept the rain off, so there was a decent amount of foot traffic. He passed the fruit shop "Nakajima Seika" and glanced sideways at the coffee shop "Amayadori," where a cup of coffee cost 380 yen. A young couple sat by the window, laughing happily together.
(*It's not that I'm jealous, exactly.*)
But he thought, if only they could face each other normally like that.
Hodaka stopped in front of a Western confectionery shop in the middle of the shopping street. Inside the showcase, cream puffs were lined up. 220 yen each. A little expensive, but Hina liked sweets.
"I'll take three of these."
Three for 660 yen. He had them put in a small box and carried the plastic bag.
(*It's not like this will fix her mood.*)
But at least, he hoped it would be a chance to apologize for yesterday.
Hodaka looked at his watch. Still only ten in the morning. With time to kill, he went back to his room for the time being.
Even back in his room, he couldn't settle down. He checked his phone over and over. No further messages from Hina.
(*What does she want to talk about?*)
A bad feeling spread through his chest.
He remembered Hina's face from three years ago, when she was about to return to the sky. She hadn't said anything then, either. She hadn't consulted anyone about her own disappearance.
(*Is she carrying this all by herself again?*)
But this time, she had said she wanted to talk. Maybe that was a small step forward.
Even as he thought that, Hodaka felt a coldness settle in the pit of his stomach from anxiety.
3:30 PM. He left the house.
Outside, it was raining as usual. The lowlands seen from the heights of Tabata remained submerged in gray water. A city where it rained 220 days a year. Sunny days came only three or four times a month.
(*I don't hate this city.*)
He'd gotten used to the smell of rain and the damp air. In fact, sunny days were so rare that he felt restless when the sun came out.
But Hina was different.
Hina was once a sunshine girl. If she offered a prayer, she could clear the clouds. But in exchange, her own body would become transparent. Eventually, she would return to the sky. That was the nature of her power.
(*She doesn't have to use it anymore.*)
Hodaka muttered in his heart.
She should just forget about that power and live a normal life. Graduate high school, work part-time, occasionally eat together, the three of them.
That was more than enough.
He crossed the Ukishima Connecting Bridge. A pedestrian and bicycle overpass linking Kita Ward and Arakawa Ward. Total length: 620 meters. From the observation deck midway, you could see the submerged cityscape, but today it was blurred by rain.
(*Nagi... he was angry yesterday.*)
He remembered.
*"Your 'protecting' is too heavy. It's the same as keeping my sister in a cage."*
A fifteen-year-old boy had said that to him.
He couldn't argue back.
(*Because I thought he was right.*)
As he walked, Hodaka ran his fingers through his black, slightly wavy hair. A habit when he was troubled.
He wanted to protect Hina. But wasn't what he was doing just ignoring Hina's will, binding her for his own peace of mind?
Lost in these thoughts, he arrived at Minato Apartments.
Thirty-eight years old, a four-story reinforced concrete building. The landlord, Tamura-san, lived on the first floor and always shared her homemade side dishes. Hina and Nagi were in the corner room on the third floor.
He climbed the stairs.
He reached the third floor and turned the corner.
Someone was standing in front of Hina's door.
A woman wearing a black hood.
Short bobbed black hair peeked out from the gaps of the hood. On her left wrist was a bracelet of blue glass beads.
He recognized her.
The woman who had come to the convenience store last night.
"[surprised]Ah, the convenience store guy."
She noticed Hodaka too and let out a dumbfounded voice.
Kirishima Miu. A student researcher at the Ametsuchi Meteorological Research Institute.
Hodaka's wariness spiked instantly.
"[cold]...What are you doing here?"
"[gentle]Hello. Thanks for yesterday. Did you look at my card?"
"I saw it. So, what do you want?"
Hodaka positioned himself in front of Miu, blocking the path to the entrance. The bag of cream puffs rustled.
Miu looked up at Hodaka with a blank expression. Her single-lidded eyes, giving an impression of intellect and sharpness, blinked in surprise.
"[confused]Huh? Why is the boyfriend taking charge? I have business with Amano Hina-san."
"[angry]If you have business with Hina, tell me first."
"[surprised]What? No, but it's proper to speak to the person directly—"
"It doesn't matter. What have you been investigating since yesterday?"
"[serious]Meteorological research. This is a hypothesis, but the abnormal weather three years ago had anthropogenic factors—"
At that moment, the front door opened from the inside.
"[gentle]Hodaka? You're early. It's not even four yet—"
Hina came out, saw Hodaka and Miu standing side by side, and lost her words.
Her glossy black hair, a little longer than her shoulders, was down today. Her large, gentle brown eyes froze, looking back and forth between the two of them.
"[surprised]...Um, a guest?"
"[sarcastic]What's up, what's going on— wait."
Nagi, who poked his face out from behind, also stopped moving. His slightly long, sleek black hair. His large eyes, resembling his sister's, held an unusual shade of confusion.
"[cold]Hodaka-san, who's that?"
"[serious]I don't know the details either. But she came to the convenience store yesterday and left her card."
Hodaka took the business card from his pocket.
*Ametsuchi Meteorological Research Institute, Student Researcher, Kirishima Miu*
The color drained from Hina's face.
"[scared]...Meteorological, Research Institute."
Seeing that reaction, Miu nodded as if certain.
"[serious]You're Amano Hina-san, aren't you? The sunshine girl who stopped the rain in Tokyo the summer three years ago."
Hina's shoulders trembled slightly.
"[scared]N-no, I'm not. I'm..."
"[calm]No, the data doesn't lie. In the rainfall records for the past three years, there are localized clear-sky patterns that can't be explained. Tracing them back, they coincide perfectly with your range of activity."
Miu took a tablet from her shoulder bag and showed the screen. A colorful rainfall map and numerous graphs.
"W-wait a minute!"
Hodaka grabbed Miu's arm.
"[angry]This has nothing to do with you! Hina's power is already gone. What do you want, deliberately digging this up?!"
"[cold]How can it have nothing to do with me? I'm researching meteorological anomalies. Many people were affected by the great submergence three years ago. My friend, too—"
Miu's face twisted in pain for just a moment. Unconsciously, she stroked the bracelet of blue glass beads on her left wrist with her fingers.
"[whispers]Anyway, please let me talk inside. I can't discuss this calmly here."
"[angry]Who's going to let you in—"
"[gentle]...Hodaka."
Hina quietly opened her mouth.
"[sad]For now, let's have her come inside. It's raining, and we'll bother the neighbors out here."
Hina's voice was small and trembling.
But she didn't refuse.
Hodaka bit his lip.
(*If Hina says so.*)
"...Fine."
The four of them went inside the room.
The room was a little messy.
On the table were a half-read magazine and an empty mug. Nagi silently went to the kitchen and started making tea for four. With a dexterity unexpected for a middle schooler, he boiled water and put tea leaves in the pot.
Hodaka tried to sit next to Hina. But Hina kept a little distance and sat down on a single-seater sofa.
(*She's still hung up on yesterday.*)
Thinking that made his chest ache.
Miu remained standing in front of the table, operating her tablet.
"[serious]First, let me explain my position."
Miu began to speak logically.
"I am a student researcher at the Ametsuchi Meteorological Research Institute. It's a private research institution in Bunkyo Ward, aiming to elucidate the mechanism of the great submergence three years ago. The director is a former university professor named Dougen Shuichi, who invested his personal funds to establish the institute."
Nagi silently offered tea. Miu said "Thank you," took a sip, and continued.
"[serious]This is a hypothesis, but there are factors in the heavy rain three years ago that science cannot explain. Precipitation, pressure patterns, cloud movements—all of it shows patterns that cannot be reproduced by existing meteorological models."
"[sarcastic]And you're saying that's because of my sister?"
Nagi spoke in a cold tone. The usual mischievous light was gone from his eyes.
"[gentle]...Yes. And not just Hina-san. Since ancient times, beings called weather maidens have been part of the lore in this region. Humans with the power to manipulate the weather, said to appear once every few decades or centuries, in times of unstable climate."
Hina kept her head down, her hands clenched tightly on her lap.
"[whispers]That power... is gone now."
"[serious]No, the possibility that the power has disappeared is low."
Miu stated it definitively.
"Please look at this."
A new graph appeared on the tablet screen.
"This is the precipitation data for the past month. While the whole of Tokyo has recorded continuous rain, in this area alone, a phenomenon where the precipitation intensity momentarily weakens has been observed three times."
Where she pointed was the vicinity of Tabata.
"[serious]This cannot be explained by coincidence. Some factor is influencing the weather. And at the center of it is you, Hina-san."
Hina's shoulders trembled.
"[sad]...I don't know. Something like that, I..."
"[serious]Even without awareness, there's a high possibility the power remains. That's why I want you to cooperate with the research. If we can elucidate the mechanism of your power—"
"Enough already!!"
Hodaka had stood up.
"[angry]Do you understand?! How much Hina suffered because of that power! She prayed to help people, and in exchange, her own body started disappearing! Are you telling her to use it again?!"
"[cold]I'm not telling her to use it. I just want to research it."
"It's the same thing! If she's researched, she'll definitely be used again! Just like three years ago! Someone will sacrifice Hina—"
"[angry]Don't derail this with emotional arguments!!"
Miu raised her voice too.
"[angry]I'm stating scientific facts! If we don't find the cause of this
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