They took a hotel room downtown, without thinking twice. They had so little luggage that they packed everything in half an hour. When the clock struck four, the sun was still beating down on the windows, but Masahiro already seemed lighter, as if leaving his father's neighborhood behind had lifted an invisible weight from his shoulders.
Lisa was folding the last dress, standing next to her suitcase, when she felt Masahiro's arms wrap around her hips from behind. His lips, warm and gentle, brushed her neck. She smiled and let out a giggle.
"What are you doing?" she whispered, without turning around.
He didn't answer right away. He remained with his lips pressed to her skin for a few moments, then barely raised his head.
"How about we take a walk? In the car I saw an old ice cream shop where I used to go as a kid. You have to try it."
Lisa turned around, still wrapped in his arms. She placed her hands on his shoulders and kissed him on the lips.
"I would be honored, Dr. Masahiro Kuni," she replied with a sincere laugh.
That afternoon seemed to slip out of time. They walked through the center of Kyoto, among the crowded shops, the laughter, the colors, and for a moment everything seemed far away: the oddities of the morning, the empty neighbors' house, Masahiro's father's house, the restlessness. Absorbed by the vitality of the city, they let themselves be dragged into a present that asked no questions.
Masahiro felt human again. The weight in his chest had loosened. Lisa smiled often, and every time her eyes met his, it seemed as if something inside Masahiro was recomposed. They fell in love again, as they had when they were little more than kids.
They returned to the hotel as the sky began to darken, still laughing.
"...And this is the story of how your incredible man was the coolest guy in Kyoto Shizuka High," Masahiro said dramatically.
Lisa burst out laughing. "Liar! You studious guy, you locked yourself in your room studying all day!"
Masahiro threw up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, you got me. But you know me too well. This isn't funny."
They fell onto the bed. Lisa turned to him and gave him one last smile before crawling under the covers.
"Goodnight, Masu."
She kissed him softly.
"Goodnight," he said, smiling back.
They closed their eyes. Lisa quickly drifted off to sleep. Masahiro also fell asleep, lulled by the warmth of the bed and her voice still buzzing in his head.
But the night, for him, would not bring peace.
Only thoughts.
A few hours later, Masahiro woke up with a start in the middle of the night, the darkness of the room enveloping him like a shroud. His breath was shallow, his thoughts like traps surrounding him. The house of the neighbors, his own past, his father's house... everything seemed to fade into a whirlpool of memories suffocating him.
In the oppressive silence of the hotel, Masahiro's mind couldn't detach from what he had seen in his family's house. He couldn't forget the way everything had been reduced to unimaginable chaos: broken furniture, objects scattered everywhere, an atmosphere of total abandonment. Every corner seemed to scream the pain of a past that wouldn't leave him alone. Yet, even as he was in the heart of Kyoto, surrounded by modernity and the fleeting, his mind kept pulling him back there, to the place of his nightmare.
At that moment, the memory of the house of the neighbors came to him. The Yoko's house. Empty. Silent. Not a single piece of furniture, no sign of life. It didn't seem like a house that had been abandoned, but one that had never truly lived. It was like a shell, a hollow sculpture, devoid of a soul. That sensation caused him even deeper unease. Why had they left? And why had no one given any notice? His father's house, yes, he had found it in ruins, but the neighbors' house seemed to belong to another world, one that Masahiro couldn't comprehend.
His mind spun in circles, like a maddened carousel. The shadows of the past were swallowing him whole, and he couldn't breathe anymore. Confusion and frustration consumed him, and as sleep drifted further away, an irrational impulse found its way inside him.
Masahiro couldn't stay there any longer. He had to go back. He had to see that house again, the one he had feared so much. He needed answers, or at least to understand the reason behind its destruction. The thought of staying in the hotel, away from everything, weighed on him. There was no peace in his heart, and there was no other place where he could find the truth except there, amidst the ruins of his home, the place where it all had started.