1. Kaho 202X, Japan

"I have something wrong. No! Not I, but something else has something wrong!"

Kaho murmured, walking along the main street near her home.

"But I cannot pinpoint what that 'something' is, and I don't understand exactly how it is wrong. Still, I know there must be something. Something dubious exists in this superficial world," Kaho sighed.

It all started in the spring. Perhaps, it may have started much earlier, but it was not until this spring that Kaho became aware of it: There was something wrong.

However, on that day, Kaho finally figured it out.

That 'something' hit her like a thunderbolt and stopped her walking. She stood there, staring at it.

Initially, Kaho spotted just a single one, but it didn't take long for her to realize there were more than she had thought.

"What the hell is this? Might it be a kind of joke? But there was no reason for them to fool me. I truly see them. They exist in front of me. It's real, not an illusion," Kaho said to herself in amazement.

Kaho did see a cluster of yellow dandelions growing on the ground beside the sidewalk along the street, but their white puffs interspersed with yellow flowers were of a shape that had never been observed before. At least for Kaho, it had been true, and one of the things that should have never changed forever: An eternal truth.

"A lot of things are easily shifting in this world, I know, but some sorts of things possess the nature that ensures they never change permanently," Kaho told herself.

Dandelion puffs were normally dome-shaped, like a ball sliced in half. But now, what Kaho saw in front of herself had a perfect sphere.

If there had been only a single dandelion puff of that shape, Kaho might havedismissed it as nothing more than a curious mutation.

However, all the puffs she was looking at respectively formed a perfectly spherical ball.

"What is going on? How and why did they suddenly change their appearance like these? Or is it what people call a mutation? Perhaps, there was an unusual weather event this spring, like extreme dryness, unusually high humidity, or something similar? And then, such situations might bring them to such an extreme state as to alter their appearance? I can't say for sure, but assuming that's the case, could it have caused such a transformation?"

Her brain tried to find an explanation one after another for such an unexplainable change in those dandelion puffs. She had believed that plants never changed their bodies easily. Still, they did change their figure completely. It's a serious thing. Oh, my God, how can I do?

It had been several years since Kaho had seen the presence of spring itself. She had just returned to Japan from a place with no spring but everlasting summer due to its peculiar climate: The rainforest tropical climate reigned the country, an island nation named Singapore. Therefore, she had not also seen what was assumed to be dandelion puffs for ages.

Kaho wanted to observe those puffs, spending enough time. However, "I have to go," she said, recalling an appointment: she would see a friend that day. She left the grassy place filled with dandelions for the station.

It had been a long time since Kaho last got on the train because she usually went to school by bike.

It was a cafe on the top floor of one of the popular buildings in Shibuya, Tokyo, a shopping district featuring the latest fashion trend for mostly young people, that Takashi designated as a meeting place today.

***

"Long time no see!"

A voice calledfrom behind her. Kaho, with her hands cradling a glass of soda with a vivid blue or green color reminiscent of the sky, ocean, and shimmering pool water on the island, turned her head around to where the voice came from.

"Takashi! You're late as always!"

Kaho naturally shouted before she noticed as she had done before.

Back then, she thought it was normal for all the Japanese boys at school to be deeply tanned. But when she met Takashi for the first time after returning to Japan, she realized he wasn't naturally that dark-skinned.

Kaho remembered how most classmates used to gather at a swimming pool in somebody's condo almost every day after school in those days. For a moment, it felt like something that happened a long time ago but it wasn't really that far in the past. It was just two years ago that they led that kind of life on a tropical island. With their active and youthful metabolisms, their sun-darkened skin swiftly faded back to its natural tone after returning to Japan. Takashi who no longer had the deep tan he used to looked so urban and polished that Kaho felt as if he were an utterly different person.

Lately, Kaho had been overwhelmed by such a bittersweet longing for the old days, reaching the point where it stung painfully in the back of her nose when such feelings rose. However, Kaho rarely spoke about her memories of the island to the new friends she made in high school after returning to Japan, assuming that her current classmates wouldn't understand her sense of nostalgia.

"But how about you, Takashi?" Kaho couldn't help but admit that she had developed such expectations.

However, Kaho didn't yet know that they would be easily betrayed by him at this point: Several minutes later, Kahounderstood that Takashi perfectly adapted to his new surroundings.

"Hey, how've you been, Kaho?"

Takeshi walked to Kaho's front, placed a cup of coffee on the table, and sat down before her. Kaho could not help but remember that he always refused coffee because it was too bitter. Kaho was not able to believe that such a short period changed him into a coffee lover like an adult. She didn't want to admit it, but everything was changing in that way these days.

"You still choose such a tropical-looking beverage, huh?"

Takashi sipped his coffee casually but sophisticatedly as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him now.

Kaho wanted to point out that Takashi was the very one who always chose such kinds of sweet drinks, but did not do that. Additionally, she wanted to add that she ordered this "tropical-looking" beverage because she would meet him for the first time after a while. The appointment had brought her memories of those days, which led to an order of tropical juice.

Instead, she said nothing and deliberately steered the glass inside with the strew, making the ice clink noisily. The high, clear sound appeared between the two, and she recovered her composure.

"Anyway, you must have some special news, because you asked me out on your busy weekend filled with plans," Kaho asked Tokashi.

"Yeah, of course! Surely, you haven't forgotten dear Joe, have you?"

Kaho was simply surprised that it was the name of Joe that Takashi broached.

"Joe? Joh is that Joh?"

"Do you think there's anyone else between you and me other than that Joe?

"What about Joe?"

Kaho felt the name of Joe suddenly brought not only her but also Takashi, and the place including the table, chairs, and the entire building into another place: Bird Island. Kaho didn't knowwhy, but she had called the island nation "Bird Island" for a long time since she lived there: Singapore, a small island nation located at the very tip of the Malay Peninsula.

Its separation from the peninsula felt almost like someone had cut it out with a pair of scissors, leaving behind a stretch of water resembling a man-made canal, faithfully keeping to follow the cutting vestige.

Kaho had been puzzled by the perforated-line-like border since when she lived there.

Even if it had once been part of the peninsula, she thought, she'd never seen another island that looked as if being ripped away just moments ago.

"Do you remember Joe could play the piano very well?" Takashi continued, with a mischievous look on his face.

"Of course, I also attend the same piano class during elementary school. Didn't you remember? Yamaha Music School in Singapore," I replied.

"What? You did? I didn't know. For example, I remember Yuriko or Shizuyo playing the piano very well, but you also played the piano. Hahaha, it doesn't suit you!"

"You are rude!" Kaho recalled that Yuriko and Shizuyo were the prettiest classmates in those days, and they must have been still his taste if they had been near him.

"I guess you don't know his present situation. I heard Joe is doing really well as a pianist nowadays."

"A pianist? I know Joe was surely good at playing the piano, but I didn't know he still keeps doing that."

Kaho responded although Joe's present status she heard didn't ring a bell at all.

"Joe's not just good at piano. He's phenomenal. Don't be surprised! I heard he's gained attention because he has just been selected to compete in one of the most prestigious international piano competitions. Now, he is famous and has been reported by many news outlets in Singapore.As you know, Joe's family has permanent residency in Singapore, with his father running the business there, so he's almost a Singaporean now. It seems like the news is a bigger deal over there than in Japan."

Kaho went blank for a second with such unpredictable news.

"Wait, wait. I know about the competition, but isn't it only for top-tier musicians, like those who graduate from conservatories with a significant talent for becoming world-class concert pianists? Are you sure this isn't some kind of mistake? Joe hasn't undergone that level of formal training, has he?"

"Hey, come on, did you forget? Joe used to take private lessons with a European teacher. When he didn't join us playing at the swimming pool, he was always at piano lessons. I heard that Joe's teacher was a famous pianist back in the day but semi-retired and then, moved to Singapore. Joe's talent was found by the teacher and they have prepared for the competition seriously."

To be continued...