The Lie of Endless Summer

The endless summer of the millennium came to an end.

The autumn wind blew across the gradually withering sea of flowers, carrying away the lie of endless summer, scattering longing and memory.

……

The youths of days long past, unseen for so long, gathered once more in that old clubroom.

They had all grown up now, and beside them was a group of children as spirited and bright-eyed as they themselves had once been. The middle-aged man at the head of the group spoke slowly, telling the children the story of those years. The children listened with great interest, now and then striking a pose of deep thought, chiming in, vying to answer the little riddles the man posed.

"If it wasn't him who did it, then why did this 'Endless Summer' hydrangea turn up at the scene?"

The boy who was clearly the ringleader of the pack rolled his little eyes round and round.

Suddenly, as if struck by some idea, his eyes lit up.

"It must have been a yōkai who killed him!"

Inside the room, on the small square table, a sugar cube spun and dissolved in a cup of coffee.

The wooden photo frame standing to one side was somewhat old, but had fortunately, it seemed, been carefully polished, and looked very clean. In the photograph, the youths' backs were still full of buoyant joy and hope.

Just as, outside the photograph, the little ones sat gathered round the table.

Outside the room, the wind rose again, ushering in another season of high summer.

The endless sea of blue flowers remained deep and unfathomable, like the tide of the ocean, rising and falling, ebbing and flowing, without end...