When they get to the shore, they walk through the Shinsui Park. Tall palm line the sides of the path. Over the sea, the sky is dyed orange, as the round sun sinks to the horizon.

"I've decided to switch to a school in Tokyo," Miya says, without looking Kanna in the face. Perhaps she is unable to. The agency is encouraging her to make the move, so she can work more. The entire family is going to move to Tokyo, to support Miya in her job.

Neither Miya nor Kanna knows what to say next. Neither can look the other in the eye. They just keep walking. Miya is going to leave. Of course, she will not be too far away to visit. Tokyo is not that far from Atami by train. But but but, Kanna is thinking. Sensing Kanna's inner turmoil, Miya reassures her: "It's not like we won't be able to see one another. It's not that far by train." But it is more than a matter of distance, what Kanna is feeling. Miya's words seem very plain to her.

"But we won’t! " she blurts out, unfiltered.

"Huh?" Miya responds, eyes wide as saucers. They come to a halt, and turn toward one another. There they stand, on the very spot where their first photos had gone viral, in front of the statue of Kan'ichi and Omiya.

"I mean, even now, we never see each other. Ever since you joined that agency."

Kanna can see the sadness on Miya's face, but she does not hold back.

"It doesn't matter," she says. "You were never going to be with me always anyway. All those photos of us together we put on Instagram? You deleted them!"

This was more than she had meant to say.

"I've been told to stop uploading photos that might let people know where I really live, or where I go to school."

Kanna was pained to see the growing sadness on Miya's face.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Because you're in the entertainment industry."

"Cut that out, 'entertainment industry'!"

"But you are! That's the difference between you and me. You know those pictures of us? Do you read what people say in the comments?"

"That..."

"All kinds of things: that there's no comparison between us, that we seem mismatched, things like that."

"You shouldn't pay any attention."

"But you know all about it. You are the one deleting them. Thanks a lot for that. Saved me a lot of pain."

"Stop, stop talking like that."

"Deep down, I know you think I’m an idiot."

"That's not true. Do you really believe that?"

"I do. And I thought you, you were really getting into it."

"But you, you seemed to be enjoying it too, using me, trying to get a lot of Likes... And then you thought I was the stupid one to take it start taking it seriously."

Miya's words struck a nerve, and for a second Kanna does not know what to say.

"That was fun for me too, having a friend make it in the entertainment world," Kanna said, but her voice is trembling.

"That's really sad. I didn't think you were that sort of person," Miya replies, choking back tears. Kanna cannot look her in the eye. Kanna just wants to run away, but Miya grabs her arm.

"Say you’re sorry!" she says.

With tears in her eyes, Miya grips Kanna's arm tight. Her nails dig in. "That hurts," Kanna says, and pushes Miya away. Miya falls on her backside, and her mouth pops open before she realizes what happened. "Sorry!" Kanna starts to say, extending her hand for an instant, but then she withdraws it, turns, and leaves. She turns back just once, to see Miya crying and running after her.

Kanna knows she had been mean to Miya, and that scares her, and makes her run all the faster.

The next day is the start of summer vacation. Kanna stays home. She does not go to track. By the end of summer vacation, Miya enrolls in a different high school, in Tokyo. This was to be the final summer vacation they could spend together, but Kanna cannot bring herself to see Miya. She is ashamed of the things she said, and she cannot look Miya in the eye.

"Are you skipping track?" her father asks, worried about her.

"Yeah."

"Do you have a cold?"

"No. I just don't want to go."

"Hmm. Well, maybe you should just take it easy."

"I think so."

Her father says nothing. Kanna too is not in the habit of telling her father much. Not that they do not get along well. They hardly ever fight. It would be hard to say whether that is because her father is simply kind, or because she is a girl who simply understands what is going on. But each has little interest in hurting the other more than is absolutely necessary. They find it easy to avoid having to discuss anything too earnestly. Kanna's father never has a single complaint about her behavior. Of course, she never really does anything that stupid. Kanna knows he trusts her, and she realizes it must be hard for a single dad to raise a daughter all on his own.

"I meant to remind you. The day after tomorrow is the anniversary of your mother's passing. Will you be able to go with me?"

"Sure. I'll go."

Every year, on the day her mother died, instead of visiting her grave the two of them get on an excursion boat that takes them out to sea, and there they pray for her. Over the course of the years, the occasions when Kanna and her father went into town together had grown less frequent, so these annual excursions had become the rare opportunity for the two of them to spend some relaxed time together.

Kanna thinks about what these opportunities mean to her father. She knows she does not understand completely. Beneath a sky where cooing black-tailed gulls fly, on the deck of the excursion boat, they put their hands together for her mother, who is at rest in the sea. Kanna looks at her father with his eyes closed, silent, hands pressed together in prayer. She wonders what he is saying to her mother. It would be nice if they had had more time together. Looking at her father through the corner of her eye, she suddenly calls out to him. "Father!" "Yes?" he responds, turning to face her. "What does it feel like, to lose someone you love?" she asks, sincerely.

"What does it feel like?" her father repeats, under his breath.

"Yeah," she says, nodding. He seems to be struggling to gather his thoughts.

"It was bitter for me. Really bitter."

"Bitter?" Surprised by his answer, Kanna repeats it back.

"Yes, it was very bitter," her father says, looking at the sea. "We had promised each other we would always be together," he says quietly, as if speaking to himself. "Yumi, I wish I could see you."

Yumi was her mother's name. Kanna has the feeling she is hearing her father's true inner thoughts, his resentment, for the very first time. Dad had been hurt. That may seem a banal observation on the face of it, but one that is easy to lose sight of.

"Is it still bitter for you?" she ventures to ask, but what her father says is, "Nah. I cannot imagine what my life would have been like had I not met your mother. I am happy with the life I have lived."

"I'm glad," Kanna says, reassured.

"But that is all because of you."

"Really? Why?"

"A long time ago, when you first made friends with Miya, it took some effort. You set an example for me, and I realized I had to make some effort too. I thought, 'If little Kanna can try like this, I can't go on moping. Yumi would be unhappy with me.'"

"Really...?" Thinking about Miya made Kanna feel down.

"Kanna. Listen to me. Everything's going to be fine." Had Kanna's dad heard the whole story from Miya's parents?

He puts his hand on her shoulder. "Your mom and I used to fight. Often. But we were always able to make up again."

Kanna cannot hold back her tears. She looks down and covers her face with her hands so her father can't see her crying. "It's going to be all right," he says, patting her shoulder, twice. He turns so he is no longer facing her, for her sake, and he tosses some food to the gulls.

"Oh! Look at them eat!" he says, chuckling impishly, hoping to distract her. She wipes her tears, happy that he is her father.

"I want to feed them too!"

"Sure. Here, take some." She takes some of the crumbs from him, and tosses them to the gulls, who eat them hungrily. They do this until all the bird food is gone.

"They got it all!" Kanna says, finally smiling. Her father smiles too.

On the way home, her father says, "I remember when Miya first spoke to you. She admired the way you liked to run. She admired the effort you were putting into it. Now we two have to support her." Kanna remembered, it was her father who had nudged her to make friends with Miya.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you. I really mean that. Thanks."

"Sure. You bet," he replies, not looking at her. He is a little out of his comfort zone.

Kanna summons her courage and reaches out to Miya. She hopes they can have at least one more run together before Miya moves to Tokyo. Miya does not get back to Kanna, and Kanna decides to go out anyway. After some light stretching, she sighs and heads out. How many times has she run these streets? It has always been these surroundings that have managed to rescue her. When her mother died, she felt a sadness that refused to be relieved. It was these hills, this shore, that had helped her put that behind her. It was at that time she had felt most alone, most in need of someone to save her. That is when Miya had first reached out to her.

Running in the area around Sun Beach, she passes all the places she had frequented with Miya: Shinsui Park, Moon Terrace, Sky Deck, and then, the statue of Kan'ichi and Omiya. This is where they had taken that first fateful photo, the one that had made them famous. Ever since that time, they had been in the habit of taking pictures, and posting them right away on the internet, anxiously awaiting the response they would get from their friends. What if, instead, they had just talked, and ran, like normal? Perhaps they would not have had their falling out. Kanna's thoughts go back to the day Miya had first spoken to her. Kanna had been depressed, but with just a word, Miya had brought her to a brighter place.

"Go, Kanna!"

Kanna turns to see Miya behind her, on her bicycle, heading her way.

"Miya!" she cries, and rushes toward her.

Miya alights from her bicycle.

"I have to leave tomorrow," Miya says, tearing up a little. "But I'm so glad I got to see you beforehand."

"I'm so sorry, I..." Kanna starts to say, catching her breath. "I said those mean things to you. I was so mean. I am so sorry. You may never forgive me," she sobs.

"Not at all. I'm the one who should apologize. I'm the one who took things too seriously. I'm the one who was mean. I guess we each treated the other badly," Miya says, scratching her eye with one hand, and stroking Kanna's back with the other.

They each apologized, and felt relieved, and they give each other a hug for encouragement. When they step back, Miya says,

"So, Kanna. Ready to run some more?"

"You bet!" Kanna says, smiling.

Running along together in their usual way, the two are so happy they can hardly stand it. They run through the sea breeze. Miya's long hair blows in the wind. Kanna's soles pound the asphalt with a pleasant tap-tap-tap. They are both "in the now" again. They will no longer be together in this town. It will no longer be so easy for them to get together like this. That is sad, but they will be fine. We may not be together in the same way, but we will always be running together.

"Don't you think...?"

"I think so too."

We are the best pair ever.

The two will go on running like this, on and on. "You seem a little slow today!" Miya prods Kanna.

"No way! Let me show you!" Kanna says, picking up the pace. Miya yells,

"Go! Go Kanna!"

"Go! Go Miya!"

"You got this, Kanna!" "You got this, Miya!" They are a "mutual admiration society." Sweating rivers. Breathing heavily. But they never stop encouraging one another. "Go!" May it never end. "Hang in there!" This message will always get through, even when they are apart. "You got this!" As long as they remain connected in their hearts, they will never be out of reach of one another.

When their run is done, they are still so excited, and they remember they still have mountains of things they need to discuss, so they go down to the beach where they sit by the waves and talk to their hearts' content, laughing and crying all the while. No length of time would have been enough. They have to go. They promise one another they will meet again soon, whether in Tokyo or in Atami, and they take another photo with their backs to the sea. And they decide that that photo, of their two beaming faces, will never be posted on the internet. It will be for them alone.

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