Chapter 56: The Dog in the Snow

Page 1/3

Descending the stairs, the chill of November’s wind sobered Sayu Amemiya a little, even as she clung to Anwa like a koala.
“Put me down,” she murmured softly, nuzzling her head against Anwa’s face.
[Put you down? Why should I? You smirk inwardly, all you need to do is keep holding her like this. Once you get in the car, just pick the bumpiest roads to drive on, and then…]
Though the dogged narrator’s words were tempting, Anwa ultimately set Sayu Amemiya down, remembering well that this was her first time.
Hand in hand, the two made their way to the parking lot. Anwa intended to put a helmet on Sayu, but she turned her head to evade him.
“I don’t want to wear a helmet,” she whispered, her gaze drawn to the snow-dusted nightscape of Tokyo, her lashes trembling slightly.
“I just want to see the snowy scenery, is that alright?”
At her words, Anwa followed her gaze around and suddenly recalled that Sayu had once told him she’d never left Tokyo. An idea struck him, and he suggested, “How about I take you somewhere special?”
“Where?” Sayu looked at him with curiosity, but Anwa merely responded with a mysterious wink.
The motorcycle glided through Tokyo’s neon-lit night market, snowflakes swirling in the air.
Half an hour later, the two found themselves before a wooden torii gate.
Beyond the gate, a rugged mountain path climbed upwards. With no streetlights, the path resembled the gaping maw of an abyss.
“What are we doing here?” Sayu tightened her grip on Anwa’s hand in unease, fear of the dark evident in her eyes.
Noticing her anxiety, Anwa found a parking spot nearby, stopped the bike, and gently squeezed her hand for reassurance. “Don’t worry, I’m here. I’ll show you something beautiful.”
Feeling the warmth of his large hand, Sayu’s heart settled a little.
They got off the bike, and Anwa proactively reached for her small hand.
Their fingers intertwined.
“Come with me,” Anwa said, leading Sayu up the winding, rugged path until the two figures disappeared into the darkness.
More than half an hour passed before they suddenly stopped at a fork in the road.
No longer surrounded by the pitch-black trees of the mountains, nor by Tokyo’s ever-present steel towers, what greeted their eyes was a field of silver snow, roughly the size of a basketball court.
“This…” Sayu was momentarily speechless, utterly captivated by the sight before her.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Anwa said with pride.

Page 2/3

Still stunned, Sayu didn’t answer, so Anwa stepped forward, scooped her up by the waist, and ran swiftly into the snowy field.
“Wait, I—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Anwa tossed her into the snow. With a muffled thud, she sank in up to her waist.
Anwa burst into a carefree laugh, but in the next instant, a white blur struck his throat with perfect accuracy, cutting his laughter short. Coughing violently, he dropped to one knee, unable to stop sputtering as he tried to spit out the snow that had found its way into his mouth.
Before he could recover, he heard the crunch of footsteps approaching.
Looking up instinctively, he saw Sayu standing before him, holding a snowball as big as a volleyball above her head. The cold had painted her cheeks rosy, and her lashes were dusted with snowflakes.
When Anwa looked at her, Sayu flashed a toothy smile and let go.
With a thump, the snowball hit Anwa squarely, sending him sprawling.
Sayu blinked in delight at the sight. But before she could laugh, Anwa grabbed her by the calves and, with a sharp tug, pulled her off balance. With another muffled thud, Sayu landed on the snow again.
Before she could get up, Anwa pounced.
The two tumbled and tussled in the snow, occasionally stuffing snowballs down each other’s collars. Later, they even teamed up to build a snowman half as tall as a person.
After about an hour of play, laughter slowly faded as exhaustion set in.
Lying on the soft snow, Anwa suddenly remembered the phone Sayori Amemiya had given him that afternoon. He took it from his pocket and handed it to Sayu.
“What’s this?”
Sayu took the phone, turning it over in her hands. Something about it struck her as familiar.
Anwa rolled onto his side, propping up his head with one hand, and smiled at her. “A gift from your sister.”
“Sayori?”
Sayu froze, unlocking the phone almost automatically.
“Open the photo album,” Anwa prompted. Sayu did as he suggested.
The first picture she saw made her pause.
It was a photo of her in the North Academy uniform, standing beside a blonde girl—Sayori Amemiya.
Though both girls wore the same uniform, their backgrounds and expressions made it clear the image had been spliced together afterwards.
Scrolling down, Sayu found hundreds of similar photos, the earliest dating back to her very first days of high school.
“What do you think?”
Anwa asked with a smile; he had already browsed the album and was not surprised.

Page 3/3

Sayu turned to look at him, her bright eyes full of confusion.
Seeing her puzzlement, Anwa explained what had happened with Sayori that afternoon.
After listening, Sayu curled up slightly, clutching the pink phone tightly in her trembling hand as she spoke in a fragile voice.
“I always thought she couldn’t stand having me as her sister.”
“It’s all in the past now,” Anwa said gently, wiping away the tears at the corner of her eyes. “Give her a call. Her number’s in the contacts—I’m sure she’s been waiting for you too.”
Sayu nodded, switched on the phone again, and, awkwardly, opened the contacts and dialed the only number stored there.
The cherry blossom ringtone sounded for just a moment before the call was picked up.
After an awkward silence, Sayu took the initiative. “Is… Sayori?”
Nervously, she waited. Finally, a girl’s voice, thick with emotion, came through.
“Onee-chan.”
Hearing that familiar yet distant address, Sayu’s tears fell freely. She nodded vigorously, answering, “It’s me, Shiori.”
Seeing the sisters reconnecting, Anwa stood, brushed the snow from himself, and walked away a little to give them privacy.
“I’ll leave you two to chat. I need to step away for a moment,” he called, wanting to let the sisters speak alone.
Perhaps because it had been so long—and because of the years of misunderstanding—Sayu’s call stretched over half an hour, only ending when the phone was about to die.
“By the way, Sis, could you let that guy have the phone for a moment?”
At her sister’s request, Sayu didn’t refuse. She called to Anwa, who was building a snowman nearby, and handed him the phone.
“What’s up?”
Anwa asked directly. After a brief pause on the other end, Sayori’s shy voice came through.
“Um, Anwa-kun, could I come visit you next weekend?”
“Next weekend?”
Anwa was a little surprised, recalling Sayori’s words earlier that day about not being able to see Sayu while their father was around.
Sensing his confusion, Sayori hurried to explain, “Yes. My father and mother will both be abroad on business then, so I’ll be home alone.”