brought.
At first, their conversation stayed light. They talked about the weather, the beach, and the small restaurants nearby. Kenji made fun of his own terrible sense of direction, explaining that he could once calculate the trajectory of a moving object but still occasionally become lost on the way to a supermarket.
Then, without either of them quite realizing how it happened, the conversation became more personal.
Kenji asked whether Yuki had come to Okinawa for work or for pleasure.
“A little of both,” she answered.
“That’s a very diplomatic answer.”
“I’m trying to relax.”
“Then I recommend avoiding diplomacy. It requires too much energy.”
She smiled, but the expression faded when he asked whether she was enjoying her trip.
Yuki considered giving him the usual answer. She could have said that everything was wonderful and that she was having the time of her life.
Instead, she looked at the
