not require pretending the future was predictable.
They agreed to keep talking about what each of them wanted, even when the answers were uncomfortable.
Eventually, Yuki asked whether she could help with the community center.
Kenji looked surprised.
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t want to replace Aiko or Hana,” she said. “And I don’t want you to think I’m trying to make their project into something about me. But if this matters to you, I’d like to understand it.”
He was quiet for a moment.
Then he took her hand.
“I think they would have liked you.”
Yuki smiled gently.
“You can’t know that.”
“No,” he admitted. “But Hana would certainly have argued with you about something. She argued with everyone.”
“Then I would have liked her.”
Together, they began reviewing the old plans.
The project was more complicated than Kenji had remembered. The original building was no longer available,
