Sei Ni Mezameru Shojo -otokotachi To Hito Natsu... -

I cried in the bath, not from pain, but because I understood, suddenly, that Kenji would never again look at me the way he did when we were beetle-hunting children. He would look at this body—this bleeding, wanting, treacherous thing—and see something else entirely.

The matsuri (festival) came on the last Saturday of August. I wore a yukata my grandmother had dyed—blue, the color of a shallow sea. My obi was too tight, and my geta pinched my toes, but for the first time, I felt seen in a way that didn't frighten me. Sei ni Mezameru Shojo -Otokotachi to Hito Natsu...

Then the fireworks ended, and he walked away without looking back. The goldfish died three days later. I buried it under the hydrangeas. I cried in the bath, not from pain,