“Okay, let’s go, you two!”

Halfway through elating Fushimi and Aya, Yata had run down the emergency staircase and tugged at the bike he had left there. He got on the saddle and pointed his chin at the bicycle carrier.

“Get on! We won’t make it if you run!”

“You plan to ride with the three of us on it!?” asked Aya in a disagreeing manner.

“You don’t need to worry about me. You two aren’t heavy at all. In the past I used to ride around with a guy as fat as three of you and it worked out!”

Aya cast a side glance at Fushimi and while she still hesitated, Fushimi walked over quickly and climbed on the carrier.

“Let’s go. She should walk, like an infantry.”

“What do you mean ‘infantry’!? Aya will ride! You’re really annoying!”

After Aya had stomped on the ground and jumped once, she too came up to the bike, pushed Fushimi to one side of the carrier with a “Move!” and sat down sideways on the other side. Since both of them had small b.u.t.ts Yata felt like he was beset. Aya held onto the back of Yata’s jacket in an impossible posture.

“Aya won’t hold onto your back even if she dies.”

“Same here, don’t touch me even if you’re dying.”

“It can’t be helped that you two are on bad terms, but don’t fall!”

One week ago he had rode with Fushimi on the carrier away from the third years. Even though the weight he transported was twice as much as back then, it was as if his motivation grew with it. Spirited, he pedaled. As expected the balance was bad and right after the departure Yata couldn’t control the speed and the bike wavered. “Uwawawawa!”

“Kyaaaa!” rose Aya’s scream from the back and she pulled on Yata’s jacket so much it seemed to rip.

“Nnuohhh!”

Yata clenched his teeth and pedaled with all the strength in his body and somehow they managed to speed up. The ladies’ bicycle protested with creaking noises as it was pushed over its limit and it seemed to break apart any moment.

“Misaki-kun, are you, like, okay?”

“Yeah! I- I can handle it! Everything’s okay!”

While leaning forward Yata bend his neck and looked up to the sky. The blimp’s shadow had entered a blind spot within the ma.s.s of buildings towering in front of them. But if he believed Fushimi’s calculations, then the blimp should be gradually dropping in height and coming closer. Following such a huge thing was an intense experience. Yata had a slight buzz in his ears. He continued to pedal his bike so much that ma.s.ses of dirt came from the front and hit him.

“We’re taking a shortcut! Hold on properly!”

He firmly grasped the handle and plunged the bike into a path in a gap between two buildings. The bike leaned over and seemed to crash into the wall. Yata momentarily lifted one foot from the pedal and kicked off the wall.

“Fushimi, hold the balance in the back!” he yelled, hoping for joined forces.

“….don’t you think you look stupid?” Fushimi asked in a cool voice that felt as if cold water was thrown onto Yata’s sweaty back.

“You’re the only one pedaling desperately, dripping with sweat.”

“Why? I don’t think so?” answered Yata without hesitating. “Because I’m carrying you two! Maybe it’d be stupid if I’d be alone, though.”

He pedaled the bike rhythmically and raised his voice with every stroke. “I like doing stuff with somebody else. Getting angry, too, laughing from the bottom of one’s belly about silly things, too. Because having friends to hang put with is interesting, right? Even though… I might be a bit too pushy, maybe I can’t read situations, maybe I had been laughed at behind my back…”

Yata’s voice had lost a bit energy. His eyes, which were staring fixedly ahead, lowered.

Until now he hadn’t consider people’s feelings and he had been sure what was fun to him was fun for everybody and maybe he had pushed forward what was “fun” to himself. Yata hadn’t even realize that he had been shunned behind his back. Compared to his former self, the Yata from now, who had learned his lesson, wouldn’t forcefully push forward anymore. A bit scared, Yata searched for Fushimi’s reaction. For other people Fushimi might seem totally insensitive, but for Yata, Fushimi was somebody he wanted to be close to.

Why?

Because Yata didn’t want to be hated by anybody? – that wasn’t it.

It’s because he thought it was amazing how smart Fushimi is. Because he felt so excited his whole body trembled. Because he wanted to see him laugh. Because he wanted to do more interesting things together with Fushimi, because he wanted to laugh together with him.

They came out of the gap.

“We arrived!”

Hirasaka building was right in front of them. Yata stopped the bike abruptly, waited for his companions to jump down and then let the bike fall on the ground.

“The stairs are in the back, hurry!”

Yata pushed the other two forward, but because Fushimi stopped Yata crashed into him.

“It’s impossible. We won’t make it” said Fushimi, looking up at the sky.

“What are you saying, it’s right in front of us –”

Wham…..!!

In that moment, the sky cracked open. Midst the clouds hanging over their heads, the blimp showed its huge belly.

Wham, wham, wham…..!

Heavy engine noise shook the sky and teared it apart. The air was pressed down and became thick, and pressure was put on their ears. The sudden gust of wind dried Yata’s sweat at once.

„Uah….It’s huge…!“ so huge they could see only one part of it.

And also,

„It’s so close!“

The blimp was pa.s.sing by, seemingly sc.r.a.ping the highest point of the building. Although it had to be several meters high, its size, so big it filled out their complete visual field, caused the illusion of closeness.

If they now would stretch out their hands, wouldn’t they be able to touch it?

If the person in the blimp would notice, wouldn’t he grabbed their hands and pull them in?

But they could neither stretch out their hands, nor move in the slightest. It was as if they were being overwhelmed by pressure, they could only stand upright. Like a huge tongue licking the sky once, the whole thing only lasted for a moment. The blimp pa.s.sed by above their heads and once again shoved itself into the thick clouds. The propeller at its end teared the clouds apart and the scattered pieces dispersed above the building. They hadn’t had the time to light “candle”, but they hadn’t remembered it anyway.

The crushed sky’s height returned to normality and when they were released from the pressure they couldn’t trust earth’s gravity anymore and the ground felt unsteady.

“Ah-ah. We couldn’t make it after all” grumbled Aya. She seemed slightly irked, maybe because her own calculations had been wrong.

“Misaki-kun’s intuition had been off.”

“Sorry…..though I had really thought we would make it. Seems like my intuition has burned out” joked Yata, trying to cover up the awkwardness of the situation. He turned to pick up his bicycle.

“Sorry, Fushimi. It was exactly as you said. I had gotten all excited by myself…let’s just go home.”

When he had turned around to say that, astounded he stopped the hand that grabbed the bike. Aya too, who had started to walk back discontentedly, stopped in amazement.

Only Fushimi who quivered without moving looked still up to the point where the blimp had disappeared.

“Maybe, if we…..”

He sounded as if he was murmuring to himself.

“…..had gotten onto it, would have something changed…?”

Although his voice and expression seemed bland, his quiet voice revealed the truth, and it sounded like a cried out plea for help. Just why was that?

“…..Right. Maybe it would have brought us to a far away, different world”, said Aya in a melancholic tone. Her posture had soften after that kind of reaction from Fushimi.

In one moment, the blimp had engraved its overwhelming existence into their bodies, and had then pa.s.sed by. The feeling that they were still pulled towards it even after its disappearance stayed in their bodies.

Yata was sure at the blimp’s destination there was a world different from the tiny one they were part of right now. A huge world filled with amazing power, something they couldn’t imagine just now, if such a world should really exist somewhere……

If it exists, then shouldn’t they be able to go there some day.

Tonight their failure had been vexing, but they could just go chase after the blimp again, and Yata wasn’t that discouraged.