The first time Hibiya’s ability appeared was when he looked at me. He all but gave himself the grand tour of the school I went to.
The second time was when he looked at that girl’s…um, when he looked at that girl. That time, he rummaged around her room like a sex offender.
We had only two examples to go on, so I couldn’t say anything with too much confidence, but based on what we have so far…
“If you look at someone with your eyes, you can see into someplace that’s related to them…?”
“Huh? What do you mean by—”
As Hibiya asked me to clarify, a car pulled up to the curb right next to us, letting out a short honk as it did.
Turning around, I saw a man in the driver’s seat that I really would prefer not having to look at during my time off.
“Yo, Kisaragi! Hittin’ the books hard, I hope?”
“You could try to act a little more friendly to me on the street, Mr. Tateyama…”
Mr. Tateyama, talking to me through an open window, looked as unkempt and off-kilter as always, a cigarette absentmindedly hanging from his lips.
“W-who’s this guy, Gran…?”
The sudden appearance of this odd stranger put Hibiya on guard.
“Oh, he’s fine. He’s a teacher at my school.”
“Oh. Really? He’s…kinda funky, isn’t he?”
I imagined Hibiya sifting through all the adjectives popping into his mind and selecting the most benign one possible to go with.
If “funky” didn’t sound like a compliment, that was no doubt because all the other candidates he thought of to describe Mr. Tateyama were the kind of thing you’d see in the scratch-and-dent bin of the big-box store in his brain.
“Ooh, who’s that, Kisaragi? Out on a date, huh? Boy, you’ve got allll the luck! I’ll be expecting a wedding invite, okay?”
“It’s not a date, Mr. Tateyama. I was just helping this boy look for somebody.”
My teacher studied Hibiya intently for a moment, then smiled cheerfully and pointed a thumb toward the rear seat.
“Well, if you got somewhere you wanna go, lemme drive you there, huh? I’m a pretty mean chauffeur, y’know.”
“N-no, that’s fine, sir! I don’t think he’s really up for that kind of thing!”
I turned him down with the first thing that came to mind. Mr. Tateyama looked visibly deflated.
“Aw, come onnn…It’s not like I got anywhere to go, this Obon holiday…You like seeing me all alone like this…?”
That deflated look apparently wasn’t the end of the act, as Mr. Tateyama proceeded on with his plaintive, well-polished, woe-is-me appeal.
Nothing could be more awkward than someone Mr. Tateyama’s age putting on that act.
“Uhm…”
As I sighed to myself, Hibiya unexpectedly tried to capture my teacher’s attention.
“Oh? What’s up, kid?”
“I, um…I think there’s a park by the rail station, right by the intersection…It’d be great if you could take me there, but…”
I didn’t follow what Hibiya was saying for a moment. Then it suddenly made sense, as the story he had to repeat to me three times burst back into my head.
“Oh, that’s a good idea, maybe…! Could you do that for us, Mr. Tateyama?!”
He burst into a practically giddy smile before regaining his composure and thumbing at the backseat again.
He must get off on doing that thumb thing a lot. Probably thinks all the women melt when they see it.
“Heh. You got it. Hop on in, kids.”
“Hey, Hibiya, you think maybe we should take a taxi?”
“Daaahh! Sorry! Please, you two, just have a seat!”
I opened the door latch, only to be greeted with the subtle mix of stale tobacco and artificial air freshener you can only experience inside a smoker’s car.
Climbing in, I sidled to the far end of the seat. Hibiya followed after me, closing the door behind him.
“Um, thanks for the ride…”
“Sure thing! There’s only one park I can think of that’d be nearby the station. You guys mind if I head there for the time being?”
“N-no problem! Thank you!”
The air-conditioned interior felt remarkably refreshing as he put the car into gear and drove off.
Looking at the clock, I saw it was about to hit two in the afternoon.
I had been walking around discussing things with Hibiya for six hours, but we still only had a vague idea of what ability he had.
Still, if the theory I devised a moment ago was true, Hibiya’s skill had less to do with people and more to do with places.
Thus, if we wanted to figure out where Hiyori was, we’d need to have Hiyori here with us. The perfect Catch-22.
If that’s how it was, Hibiya was gonna have a lot of trouble with this search.
That, and not being able to figure out how to use your own ability was proving to be a major annoyance. It’s not like he could call some helpline and ask how to use it, and it didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual, either.
He was like an infant, in a way, with legs that he didn’t quite know how to work yet.
With my ability, at least, I had it a lot easier.
When it came to attracting people’s eyes, it was pretty much an on/off switch for me.
And here’s Hibiya, meanwhile, nowhere near as afraid of his skill as I was of mine, trying to harness this incredibly complex ability to save his girl.
I’d love to do anything I can to help him out.
Hopefully we can discover something useful in the park up ahead—
As I turned to Hibiya, I found myself face-to-face with a startling sight.
Hibiya, eyes drenched in red, were staring, captivated, at the seat back in front of him.
I leaned over, looking at what had him so transfixed. I should have guessed it. In the pocket was what I’ll call a “men’s-interest magazine,” a bikini-clad woman gracing its cover.
In one smooth motion, I plucked out the magazine, rolled it up, and whapped Hibiya in the head with it.
“Oww! You…Agh! No! It just kinda came into sight, all right?!”
“Oh, just ‘came into sight,’ huh? You were staring all google-eyed right at it! Stop abusing it like that!”
My voice was louder than I meant. I shot a worried look at the front seat, only to find Mr. Tateyama’s smiling reflection in the rearview mirror.
“Whoa there, Kisaragi. Men, you know…Sometimes they just can’t help themselves, when it’s right there like that. If you’re gonna get all jealous over a bikini chick or two, that doesn’t exactly bode well for your relationship, y’know?”
It took a moment to compose my thoughts before I understood what my teacher meant. Flames of anguish shot from my face.
To someone unfamiliar with Hibiya’s ability, I was just some shrew physically abusing my poor man for sneaking a quick look at an adult mag.
“Th-that’s not what the problem is!”
“All right, all right. Hey, you know, my wife’s always naggin’ me about this and that, too. I’m just saying, I know how you feel.”
“Daaahhhhh!! That’s it! We’re getting off! Please, just drop us off right here!”
Just as I stopped screaming, Mr. Tateyama flipped a turn signal and stopped by the side of the road.
“Huh? Wait, are you actually stopping for…?”
“Hah-hah-hah! Sorry to disappoint ya, but we’re here at the park. You little lovebirds keep the conversation going by yourselves, okay?”
Looking out the window, I saw a small, cozy park, the type you see on nearly every corner of the city.
There was nothing unusual about it in the slightest, to the point where I found it hard to imagine it being the scene of Hibiya’s supernatural adventures.
Hopefully we could find something that connected to Hiyori here, but…
Hibiya opened the door and hopped out, me following meekly behind.
&nbs
p; We turned around to find Mr. Tateyama rolling the window down as he lit his cigarette. He was nice enough to wait until we left, at least.
“Well, thanks for helpin’ me kill some time! Best of luck with that manhunt or whatever you’re up to. I’m assuming I’ll see you in summer school, huh, Kisaragi?”
“Gehhh…Yeah. I can’t wait.”
“Um, thank you very much! I…oh, I never told you my name. I’m Hibiya.”
My teacher laughed—no doubt finding it amusing that Hibiya introduced himself just as he probably left his life forever.
“Oh yeah? I’m Tateyama. See you around, Hibiya.”
With that, Mr. Tateyama put the window up, gave a few distracted waves, and drove away.
“Ugh…I wish I didn’t have to be reminded about summer school during my days off, at least…Oh? What’s up, Hibiya?”
“Mm? Oh…I dunno, I feel like I heard that guy’s name before…”
“Did you? Well, worst-case scenario, maybe you know him. It’s not that common a last name.”
“Worst-case…?”
Hibiya grinned to himself before turning his attention to the park before him.
“So do you see anything, Hibiya?”
“I’m not gonna see anything that fast…but I’ll try.”
Hibiya steadied his eyes upon the park, focusing in an attempt to summon his skill.
The place was oddly devoid of children, despite the sunny weather. After listening to Hibiya’s story, it seemed almost eerie, like a park that greedily devoured any kid unlucky enough to step inside.
Hibiya kept up the effort, doing everything he could to have another vision. But even when the sun set, we couldn’t turn up a single trace of Hiyori.
An oversize moon shone dully, just newly fully visible, as it hung in the navy blue night sky between the trees.
We sat there, on a park bench, for several hours.
I couldn’t guess how long Hibiya had been focusing all his mental powers on the task at hand. Judging by his face, he had reached the very limits of exhaustion.
Not only did we fail to grasp how his ability worked—we wasted all of this energy trying, and failing, to summon it. It was clear to both of us that we faced an ominous situation.
“Um…hey, Hibiya? It’s getting pretty late, so maybe we could give it another shot tomorrow?”
“Ah, you can go back home, Gran…I can do this by myself, so…”
“I can’t just leave you here! I mean, you’re about to fall over, Hibiya! You should get a good night’s sleep before you…”
Hibiya stopped me midsentence with his eyes.
They were cold, cruel, laced with hatred, the eyes he had when we first met yesterday.
The overwhelming, vengeful hatred behind them silenced me.
He was right—Hiyori’s fate was riding on every minute, every second. There was no way Hibiya would ever allow himself to rest.
He turned his face downward, focusing his consciousness on the ground nearby.
I watched him—I couldn’t do anything else—and then I noticed tears start to fall around his feet.
Before I could even comprehend what they were, I felt my chest tighten.
“What…what is this, even…? This ability’s completely useless…!”
I couldn’t find the words to address his tears with.
If anything was useless here, it was me. I acted all suave, promising to give him support, and look at what I’d accomplished…Nothing.
The tears even began to well in my eyes as I thought about it.
Soon they formed neat little droplets, running down and falling away from my face.
Without warning, Hibiya stood up and started walking toward the park exit.
“Wh-where’re you going?!” I called to him, my unsteady voice making it clear I was crying. Hibiya kept going, paying it no attention.
Unable to take it anymore, I stood up and grabbed his hand. It was quivering.
“If I try to rely on this thing, I’m never gonna find her. It’s a lot faster if I just keep searching like I did before.”
“But you’re not gonna accomplish anything if you start this late at night. Come on. We can invite everyone else to come help you search tomorrow. What do you think?”
The moment I made the suggestion, Hibiya jerked his hand away from mine.
“I told you…I can’t trust any of them! I can’t even trust this ability anymore…”
He started walking again but stopped after a few steps.
Then he set off again, taking a few strides, before picking up something off the ground.
It was the same kind of paper bag as the one I saw in his vest pocket.
“Hiyori bought this…”
The moment he whispered the thought, Hibiya fell to his knees.
“Hibiya?!”
I ran up to him. By the time I reached him, he was all but passed out.
“Hang in there, all right? We can do this together…Okay?”
“I…I don’t even know if I can go on or not…I don’t…I don’t even know if she’s alive, or…”
“…Don’t say it!!”
That was the one thing he could absolutely never say.
If you don’t believe that somebody’s alive—if you don’t try to find them—they might really disappear on you. That’s the one fact I knew here.
“You…you can’t say that…You can’t give up…! I…I believe in you, Hibiya…!”
“So, so what should I do, then?! Hiyori isn’t here any longer…I can’t even look at her anymore!”
That, I couldn’t deny. His ability was meaningless without someone to look at. Meaningless unless Hiyori was actually here.
So what were we supposed to do…?
“…No.”
Then, a dull sense of discomfort that had taken up residence in my mind began to glow brightly.
Why couldn’t I have noticed it sooner, something as bleedingly obvious as this?
“…Hibiya, that…that porn mag in Mr. Tateyama’s car…What did you ‘see’ there?”
The beyond-inappropriate question made Hibiya freeze for a second before he meekly gave his answer.
“That…I wasn’t using my ability at all! I told you, I just happened to put my eyes on it. That’s it.”
The theory building itself in my mind suddenly began to take on the shining halo of truth.
Hibiya was using it. I could tell.
But he claimed he wasn’t. Put that together, and it meant he used that skill…but didn’t see anything.
“I think we got something to work with…!”
“What?! Something how?!”
“So when you look at somebody, your vision takes you someplace else, right, Hibiya? But when you looked at that magazine, you ‘couldn’t see anything.’”
Hibiya tilted his head at me, clearly having issues understanding my gist.
“But when your eyes were on that mag, they went red. I saw it. We’ve spent the whole day trying to make it happen, and they just flicked right on in that car. I think you really did trigger it.”
“But I couldn’t see anything…”
“But that’s the thing. You might have been seeing something. I mean, think about this. If a person triggers a vision of some place, what would watching an inanimate object bring you to?”
“…The owner?”
That was the crux of it. If Hibiya’s skill let him look at an object and see a vision of its owner, then that mag in the back of my teacher’s car would have triggered a vision of…well, my teacher. He mistakenly assumed he “couldn’t see anything” because Mr. Tateyama was in a position where Hibiya could see him just fine without his ability. Could that be it?
“This is still, like, a total theory on my part, but you know, if that was actually the case…”
Hibiya clutched the bag dropped by Hiyori tightly in his hand. Now he seemed to follow my drift.
“…Let me try it.”
Hibiya opened the bag. Inside
was an elastic band for putting your hair back with.
“Huh. This has gotta be cheaper than what she got for me.”
After a short pause, Hibiya began to focus on his hand.
If my theory from earlier was correct, this might just give him a glimpse of Hiyori and her surroundings.
But nothing happened. Try as he did, Hibiya just couldn’t coax his new power back to life. Time began to creak by.
“Gran, I…I can’t get myself to concentrate…”
His eyes were glassy and unfocused. He looked ready to collapse at any moment.
I could see why. There was no telling how much stress the events of last night and today put on him.
Maybe we should pick this up tomorrow after all…
…No. He’d never let me.
Saying “Let’s go home” right now to Hibiya wouldn’t make him move an inch.
I wished there was some way I could use my own ability to help him, at least.
…And come to think of it, I felt like there was something I’d been forgetting this whole day. I wondered what it was.
Something really important, I thought. And something to do with my own “eyes”…
“Ahhh!”
“Whoa! What, Gran? You scared me…”
“I, I, I’ve been walking around by myself all day!”
“Uh? Um, I’m here too, but…”
“Woo-hooooo!! Awesome! I guess this means I can control it now!”
“Control what…?”
I felt waves of joy overcome me as I realized the extent of my progress, Hibiya staring coldly at me to the side.
Now I could have the one thing I’ve craved up to now—a normal life. If this didn’t make me want to shout for joy, nothing would.
That, and one other important fact:
Something about the ability in my body, and how to use it.
“Whew…Hee-hee! I’m sorry. I just remembered something. I can help you with this after all.”
“You can, Granny…?”
“Yeah. Can you give me that hair clip for a second?”
Accepting the band from Hibiya, I stood up and walked a slight distance away from him.
“…What are you trying to do?”
“You’ll see. Just keep your eyes right on me, okay?”
Holding the clip in my right hand, I raised it into the air, closed my eyes, and focused.
I needed to attract as many people’s eyes to this hair band as possible.
The Children Reason Page 12