Chapter 5 - The Kid Who Remembered Tomorrow
Scene 1: Lanterns in a Distant Memory
Akio Hukitaske had lived through war, through betrayal, through resurrection and guilt. But there were small regrets that never made it into the great pages of drama. One such regret was a festival—one he'd never attended.
The Nihonmatsu Lantern Festival.
As a kid, he had seen photos of it in worn magazines at his grandparents' house. Massive wooden floats lit with glowing lanterns, towering over crowds as they were pulled through the streets by people in happi coats, shouting ancient chants into the night sky. His mother once promised they'd go. But the years slipped by, life got heavy, and the promise dissolved.
Then came the serum. The experiment. The price.
But now, in a life rewound and rebuilt, Akio sat at his pharmacy's wooden counter sipping tea as a flyer caught his eye on the community board:
"Come See the Light: Nihonmatsu Lantern Festival Returns This Weekend."
He froze. The festival was back—and so was he.
Scene 2: A Gentle Stirring
Akio mentioned the festival over lunch. Hikata raised an eyebrow. Rumane tilted her head thoughtfully.
"You've never been?" Rumane asked.
"Never," Akio admitted. "I always meant to. I think... this time, I want to go."
"You should," Hikata said. "After everything, you deserve one night where the world glows for no other reason than joy."
Rumane smirked. "We're closing the shop then. Lanterns over cough syrup."
Akio laughed. It was decided.
Scene 3: Preparations and Ghosts
The week passed in anticipation. The city buzzed with talk of floats being assembled, lanterns hand-painted by local children, and streets being blocked off for processions. Yet in the quiet hours, Akio wondered—why did this matter so much now?
He stood before a drawer of old mementos one night and found it: a childhood photo. He was ten, standing beside his mother and father, holding a paper lantern he had painted himself. The memory of that day—the promise of one day seeing the real thing—hit like a whisper from another life.
"I was always supposed to see it," he murmured. "Before everything fell apart."
Scene 4: The Town Awakens
Festival day arrived.
The streets of Nihonmatsu bloomed with color. Vendors sold yakitori and sugar-crusted fruits. Children raced between paper lanterns hanging from wires above. Drums beat in rising rhythm as the first float emerged from behind the shrine gates.
Akio, Rumane, and Hikata arrived just after sunset. The town seemed to pulse with living light. Locals greeted Akio kindly—many recognized him as "the pharmacist who helped during the quake" or "the person who saved Emi the rich mothers child."
He wasn't used to kindness. But he accepted it, nodding humbly.
Scene 5: The First Float
A voice rang out through the festival square:
"Yoi, yoi! Pull the light forward!"
A procession of many people of huge flucks, gripping thick ropes, pulled the first lantern float into view. Towering stories high, it was shaped like a mythical dragon coiled around a tree of stars. Each lantern flickered with a handmade design. The float's sides told stories of seasons and ancestors.
Akio stood still, heart beating loud.
"This," he whispered, "was worth waiting for."
Scene 6: A Flicker of the Past
A kid bumped into him—no older than eight. She held a small lantern painted with cherry blossoms.
"Sorry, mister!" she chirped.
He knelt. "Did you paint that?"
She beamed. "Yep! For my sister. She's sick at home, but she said lanterns reach anywhere if you believe."
Akio's throat tightened.
He remembered his daughter. The way she used to whisper wishes to the sky.
"I think she'll see it," he said gently.
The kid nodded and skipped off.
Scene 7: The Parade Grows
Float after float followed. Each more elaborate than the last. Some played live flutes. Others had dancers with fox masks weaving around them.
The townspeople shouted chants passed down through centuries:
"Yoisa! Yoisa!"
Akio joined in. At first timidly, then with voice. The words vibrated through his stomach. He wasn't just watching a ritual—he was part of it now.
Rumane leaned over. "You're free aren't ya... Akio."
He laughed. "I feel... alive."
Scene 8: The Lantern of Names
Later, people were invited to write messages on small lanterns and float them down the river.
Akio took a brush.
He wrote just a few words:
"To the ones I lost—and the self I left behind. I remember you."
He placed the lantern into the water. It bobbed, shimmered, then joined the others.
As he watched it drift away, he felt a weight release. Not pain. Not guilt. But memory.
He let the current carry it.
Scene 9: The Final Float
The last float was called the "Tomorrow Star." Built only once every ten years. It carried lanterns dedicated to many dreams not yet fulfilled.
Akio stared at it for a long time.
Hikata said, "You ever think this is what the serum was for? Not the lab. Not the war. But this. Seeing something new with old eyes."
Akio didn't answer.
He stepped forward and helped pull the final float.
As it rolled through the crowd, someone shouted:
"Thank you, Hukitaske!"
Akio blinked. Then smiled.
He didn't need to reply. The lights answered for him.
Scene 10: The Light Within
That night, back at the pharmacy, Akio lit a single lantern and placed it on the counter.
Rumane asked, "What's that one for?"
He answered simply: "This one's mine."
He had spent a lifetime trying to undo mistakes.
But tonight, he remembered what it meant to live.
To see the light. To be part of something bigger.
And for the first time in every life he'd lived—Akio Hukitaske wasn't chasing relife.
He had arrived.
[Next: Volume 4, Chapter 6 — The Mirror That Wept]