“Not if you help us,” Keishin blurted.
Asami scowled at him. “This does not concern you.”
“Hana is my concern.” Keishin raised his voice louder than he had intended but did not regret it. The image of Hana being chased into a river by the Shiikuin filled his mind. “I’m begging you.” He softened his tone. “Please tell us what you know. It might be the only way to keep Hana safe.”
Asami glared at him then exhaled, deflating her tiny frame. “Toshio…” she said, lowering her voice. “He told me that he was going to retire soon and that he was finally going to be able to make things right.”
“How?” Hana creased her brow.
“He said that he had a plan that would keep you safe while he…” Asami’s eyes blurred with tears. “While he searched for your mother. I tried to tell him that she was gone, but he had a wild look in his eyes and insisted that she was alive. He said that as soon as you took over the pawnshop, he was going to look for her.” She clenched her jaw. “As I said, utter foolishness.”
“But what if…” Hana said, “he was not being foolish?”
“No one wants your mother to be alive more than I do, but that is not reality. The Shiikuin came to me after she died and gave me a kioku pearl containing her last day.”
“A kioku pearl?” Keishin asked.
Asami looked at him pointedly. “You may look like one of us, but your ignorance reveals where you are really from. If you do not wish your presence to be discovered, then you must watch what you say when you leave here. There are many who would not hesitate to betray you. You will wish that the Shiikuin find you before I do if any harm befalls my granddaughter because of your carelessness.”
“I’m sorry.” Keishin bowed his head. “I will be more careful.”
“A kioku pearl is a vessel for memories,” Asami said. “The Shiikuin made one to contain Chiyo’s trial to show me what happened that day. The Shiikuin wanted their warning to be clear. There is only one fate for those who fail their duty.”
“You never told me that you had a kioku pearl from that morning,” Hana said.
“I don’t. I threw it away. Why would I keep such a cruel thing? All I have tried to do since I saw Chiyo’s last moments was forget them. If I had been there, I would not have just stood by like…” Her words died on her tongue.
“Like my father did?” Hana said.
“It is in the past,” Asami said with a heavy voice. “But your father convinced himself that the past was not as it seemed.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was convinced of the impossible. He thought he could find Chiyo if he turned back time.”
—
The queue of dreamers moved at a snail’s pace toward the bridge, but none of those in line seemed to be in a hurry. Each was too preoccupied with navigating a dream to notice the gravel crunching beneath their feet. But Keishin was keenly aware of every pebble and every second that passed as he waited for his turn to cross over into morning. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Would it be so terrible to jump the line? Everyone here is asleep anyway. They’d never notice.”
“Yes,” Hana said. “It would.”
“I wish I had half of your patience.”
“When you spend your life dreading your future, you learn to welcome anything that makes you wait.”
“Is it really that awful? Running the pawnshop? I mean, apart from the Shiikuin, not that they’re easy to set aside. But the pawnshop itself helps a lot of people from my world. You do a lot of good.”
Hana kept her eyes on the bridge.
“Hana? Did you hear what I said?”
“I cannot stop thinking about what my grandmother said about my father’s plan to turn back time.”
“I know that your world doesn’t care about science or any of its rules, but even your grandmother said that time travel isn’t possible,” Keishin said. “We should find another lead. What about that pearl your grandmother mentioned? She said that it showed her what happened the day of your mother’s trial. Is there a way we could get our hands on another one?”
“A kioku pearl of an event can only be made by those present during the occasion. I do not think that asking the Shiikuin if they have a spare one would be wise. Finding another pearl containing that same memory would be harder than traveling through time.”
“So we’re at a dead end. Again.”
