026. The World Is Gentle

"The world is very gentle."

After some time had passed, Mutsumi Wakaba suddenly whispered.

Ametsuki Nagumo was stunned. He hadn't expected Mutsumi to say such a thing out of the blue. He didn't know if she was just speaking casually or if she truly felt that way in her heart. Yet, living in such a cold, detached family, did she really feel the world was gentle?

Ametsuki turned to look at her. Sunlight caught in Mutsumi's hair, gilding even her eyelashes with a golden halo. Under the light, the girl’s features were highlighted, her pupils reflecting a faint golden hue.

"Are you referring to this garden?" he asked.

"I don't know," Mutsumi shook her head. "It just... came to me."

Before Ametsuki could react, Mutsumi had already set down the watering can. She brushed her palm against the hem of her skirt, gently dusting off the stray droplets of water. Ametsuki followed her gaze: in the garden, rows of green leaves swayed softly in the breeze, vines clinging to the trellises, still glistening with unabsorbed dew. Amidst the interplay of light and shadow, it was easy to fall into a trance, feeling that the world was truly peaceful and gentle.

"Do you really like playing the guitar?" Ametsuki asked.

"Yes."

"Do you like gardening?"

"Yes."

"If you had to choose between playing the guitar and growing vegetables—like that classic question about who you’d save first if your parents fell into a river—which would it be?"

"Yes."

"Haha."

Ametsuki laughed aloud, and even the corners of Mutsumi's mouth curved into a faint arc. The two stood silently before the cucumber patch, sharing a quiet, unspoken understanding until the bell for the end of the period rang.

Then came lunchtime. Ametsuki walked skillfully to Mutsumi's desk and set down his lunch box. He reached for his chopsticks, about to dig in, when he noticed Mutsumi’s gaze pause for a fleeting moment. He followed her line of sight down and realized she was looking at the cucumber dish in his bento.

"It’s from the ones you gave me. It’s delicious," Ametsuki said.

The corners of Mutsumi's mouth curled again, almost imperceptibly, before she quickly returned to her usual expression.

She had smiled twice today.

Ametsuki blinked, then slowly picked up his food and began to eat as if nothing had happened.

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, the afternoon classes were over. Students began packing their things, leaving the classroom in small groups. Mutsumi had a ballet lesson that evening and had already departed. Ametsuki packed his bag at a leisurely pace, waiting until most people had left before stepping out of the classroom.

To his surprise, just outside the door, he ran into Soyo Nagasaki, who had delivered his books that morning. She maintained her usual composed and elegant demeanor, holding a stack of thick musical scores.

Ametsuki waved and greeted her with a smile: "What a coincidence."

Soyo snapped out of her thoughts and replied gently, "Yes, school's out."

Ametsuki’s gaze fell on the scores in her arms, and he asked casually, "Are you heading to rehearsal?"

Soyo nodded. "I play the contrabass in the brass band. Since the music festival is coming up soon, we've been intensifying our practice these past few days. After all, it's a once-a-year opportunity; we can't afford to mess it up."

"Oh, I see. I wish you all the best," Ametsuki said.

The two waved goodbye. As Ametsuki’s back gradually receded into the distance, deep within Soyo’s field of vision, a dazzling red thread surged upward from his body. It looked like a burning flame, piercing straight through the sky to connect with some unknown singularity far away.

***

Not long ago, one night, Soyo, lying on her side in bed, suddenly discovered that her "vision" had changed. She suddenly saw a thin red thread rising from the direction of her mother’s room; it ignored the walls of the building, passing straight through them like an X-ray, leading directly into the dark night sky.

Soyo didn't remember how she felt at that moment. It was as if she had suddenly fallen into a deep sleep, and when she woke up, it was already daylight. The next day, she went to Tsukinomori as usual. During math class, which required a high level of concentration, several red threads of varying thicknesses appeared in her field of vision again.

At first, Soyo thought she was just too tired, or even worried that something was wrong with her health. She had even gone to the hospital for a check-up, but the results showed everything was normal. However, sometimes, whenever she focused her attention, these strange red threads would emerge in her "vision."

These threads appeared in different patterns; some originated from far away, while others were closer. Moreover, the number of threads she saw—at school, at home, or on the road—varied whenever she concentrated.

Soyo had tried to trace where these threads originated, and she discovered that her mother had one. That was when she realized the thread she had seen that night at home had indeed come from her mother. She felt this ability was unusual, so she didn't tell anyone. Fortunately, these hallucinations didn't affect her thinking; instead, they seemed to make her perceptions sharper.

Later, at Tsukinomori, Soyo saw other students with similar red threads rising from them. However, she still hadn't discovered what these threads were for, and gradually, she began to grow accustomed to them.

Until yesterday.

As soon as Soyo arrived at school, she saw a crimson line in her "vision" rise up and slowly move toward her. Other red threads in Tsukinomori were also rising, but compared to this one, they seemed pale and weak, as if a gentle breath could scatter them.

The shock that surged in Soyo’s heart was like a tidal wave.

"Could it be from the transfer student?" she speculated.

Soyo felt a bit nervous. Previously, she had quietly sought out students at Tsukinomori who had these red threads. She had discovered that among her grade level, at least two others had them. But for them, the threads were mostly just faint strands, their red glow as yet unlit.

But the thread Soyo saw today was so vast and searing, as if it were meant to pierce the heavens. For a moment, she didn't dare to approach the owner of that thread.

But to her surprise, at the corner of a hallway during a break, she caught a glimpse of Ametsuki Nagumo. That red thread, which had been lingering in her "vision," was rising directly from him. Even though the figure next to him also carried a red thread, Soyo was so preoccupied with Ametsuki that she completely ignored Sakiko Togawa beside him.

"How could it be so huge..." Soyo gasped in shock.