Over the following days, Yuliy became a quiet fixture in the village. He helped clean the shrine, did favours for the elders, and listened attentively to the children's endless chatter. Watching him made Haru feel that despite his kindness, a shadow seemed to linger around him, as if he carried something too heavy for any one man to bear. Yet, despite her instincts to keep her distance, Haru found herself drawn to him.
One night, as the cicadas sang their murmuring melody, she saw him by the Inaba Riverbank, staring at the moonlit water wrapped in a light pink shawl, which was out of place for his image. Even so, something about the scene compelled her to approach.
"The waters are especially clear tonight," she said, breaking the silence.
Yuliy turned, startled. Then he smiled, a fleeting expression that didn't quite reach his eyes. His voice mellowed, "It seems much calmer than the place I used to know."
She crept closer and sat beside him. The silence was so comfortable that she reached under her knees to hug herself, keeping herself upright and enjoying the view. Yuliy found himself throwing the shawl around her, "This will keep some of the breeze away." This started a conversation between the two. They spoke for a while, their conversation meandering from the river's beauty to the myths surrounding the full moon. Haru learned a little about Yuliy.
He was from a distant land called Vladivostok. He used to sit beside the Amur River, enjoying the view. He enjoyed that Taketa had the Inaba River, too.
"The views help me forget," he added.
The view of the Amur River is what started his travels, which took him over three months to arrive in Taketa. However, she noticed how he seemed present and distant, as though part of him was always somewhere else.
Suddenly, he gestured to her, "Do you believe," as if stopping himself from asking and then continuing, "that the moonlight can reveal what's hidden?"
Haru hesitated, caught off guard by the question.
'Hidden,' Haru's mind thought about this for a second, then noticing the moon in the reflection of the water, "I'm not sure," she said out loud. "But I'd like to think so," she admitted.
Yuliy nodded, his gaze returning to the water. "Me too."