“We saw the washi you made in the village,” Hana said quietly. “They were very beautiful.”
“It keeps me busy. It is what sensible people do when they retire. They do sensible things. They do not chase after ghosts and put the people around them in danger.” She stopped and faced Hana. “This is all your father’s fault. Why couldn’t he have left the past alone? I don’t care what my family owes him. He has gone too far and asked too much of Haruto, of everyone. The Shiikuin would not have…” She clenched her fists at her sides, tears in her eyes. She looked away to hide them. “Come. Haruto is waiting for you inside.”
—
Masako led them through sliding doors to a room at the back of her home. A lean figure lay on a futon in the corner, his body facing the wall, his long white-blond hair disheveled.
“Haruto?” Masako said quietly.
Haruto stirred.
“They’re here,” Masako said. “I will wait outside while you talk.” She stepped out of the room, sliding the paper doors shut behind her.
Haruto slowly pushed himself up from the futon, letting out a small groan as he did.
“Are you all right?” Hana hurried to him. “What happened?”
Haruto turned toward her, his face damp with cold sweat. His hair lay plastered over his forehead and the sides of his cheeks. “I’m fine,” he said, forcing a smile that betrayed his pain.
Hana reached out to brush the hair from his face.
“Don’t.” Haruto’s arm flew up to block her. A bloodied bandage covered his hand from fingertips to wrist.
Hana’s eyes filled with horror. “No…”
Keishin gaped at Haruto’s hands. Both were wrapped in bandages stained with blood. “Did the Shiikuin do this?” he said, his throat closing around his words.
“Someone told them that they had seen you and Hana at the museum. The Shiikuin came to my house and questioned me. They demanded to know why the two of you came to see me and where you were. When I refused to answer them…”
“They could have killed you.” Hana choked on her tears.
“No, they could not,” Haruto said. “My mother is too old to do my work, and I do not yet have any sons or daughters to pass on my trade. No one else can do my duty.”
Hana cradled his hands. “And so they did worse.”
“I wanted them to. It was the only way.”
“What are you talking about? It was the only way to do what?”
“If the Shiikuin did not hurt me, if they did not do something terrible to force me to talk, they would not have believed the lie I told them.”
“What lie?” Hana said.
“That you believed your father had found a way to cross over safely into the other world, and that you were trying to find a way to follow him. I told them that you were looking for something from the museum exhibits that could help you cross. I confessed that I had assisted you by taking some of the hours from the exhibit and giving them to you so that you would have more time to search for your father before fading away. I told them that I had sent you to the Lotus Lake to collect the materials I needed to make the paper to hold the hours.”
“And they believed you?” Keishin said.
“After they broke my second hand and I repeated the same story, they did.”
Hana wept. “You did not have to do this, Haruto.”
“My hands will heal. Besides, if I had told them the truth, then all the trouble I had gone through to retrieve the bones would have been for nothing.”
“You…mean…” Hana’s voice quivered.
“I did it. It worked. I folded time. But…”
“But what?” Keishin said.
