Sawamura’s hand went up immediately. He took the mic that was passed to him and began to speak.
“As the name would suggest, hydrothermal ore deposits form around hydrothermal vents on the seabed. These vents have a very specific deep-sea ecology, providing a home for many species that do not, and cannot, live elsewhere. You spoke of trying to predict the effect of mining operations on these ecologies, but there’s nothing to predict. Everything living around these vents will die if you mine there. To put it in perspective, some of the creatures living in these environments take several years to grow to a size of only a dozen or so centimeters. But they only take an instant to kill. How will you protect them? If you have any ideas, I’d like to hear them.”
My thoughts exactly, thought Narumi.
The development manager stood to answer. “As you say, some damage to the life around the vents will be unavoidable. Uh, due to this, we’re proposing a genetic survey. That is, we will analyze the genetics of the organisms living near the vents to ascertain whether or not the same organisms live anywhere else on the seabed. If we find a species that does not exist elsewhere, then we will make preservation of that species a top priority. Exact methods will depend on the species in question, I should think.”
Sawamura held his mic back up. “In other words, if you find the same kind of organism living someplace else, you’re fine with killing the ones you find near the vent?”
The manager frowned and said, “Erm, essentially, yes, that’s right.”
Sawamura pressed on, relentless. “Can you really do a genetic survey of every single organism living in the area? There is a lot we don’t know about deep-sea ecologies. How will you know for sure what exists where? How do you propose to find everything?”
“Well, all I can say is that we’re prepared to do what we need to do to make it happen.”
“That’s not going to work,” interjected a new voice, joining the conversation. Everyone on stage tensed as they turned to look at the one who’d spoken. It was the physicist, Yukawa.
“Not even specialists in the field profess a full understanding of deep-sea life, so I don’t see how any of us can,” the physicist added. “If there’s something you’re not going to be able to do, you should just be honest and admit it.”
The development manager fell silent, a look of chagrin on his face. The emcee took a step toward the mic to say something, but Yukawa beat him to it. “What we have here is a very basic problem. The only way to make use of underground resources is to mine them, and if you mine them, they’re going to damage the local flora and fauna. That’s as true under the water as it is on land, but it hasn’t stopped us—that is, mankind—from doing it over and over again. That’s a fact. You just need to make a choice.” He put down his mic, closed his eyes, and leaned back in his chair, oblivious to the stares of the entire room.
* * *
It was after four thirty when Narumi left the hall with Sawamura and the others.
“That went pretty much like we thought it would,” Sawamura said. “Though with less grandstanding than expected, thankfully.”
“I thought they were pretty transparent, considering,” Narumi agreed. “It sounds like they’re really just putting out feelers at this point—and at least they are considering some measures to protect the environment.”
“Don’t relax just yet. Once they get a whiff of the money to be made, they’re going to charge full speed ahead. Nothing’s going to stop them, certainly not concern for the environment. That’s the way it’s always been. Look at what happened with nuclear power in this country. We can’t let ourselves get tricked like that again.”
Narumi nodded. He was right, of course. The hearing had lulled her into a sense of accomplishment, but that was an illusion. The real work was only just beginning.
“I was surprised at the range of people they brought to the meeting. When that professor butted in, telling them they should just admit it when they couldn’t do something? That was impressive.”
“Him?” Sawamura frowned. “Bet you ten to one he’s a corporate shill. They put him up there to make them look like they’re not all about the money.”
“I don’t know, I thought his heart was in the right place, at least about not trying to pull the wool over our eyes. You never hear that kind of honesty from most officials or politicians.”
“Maybe,” Sawamura said with a shrug.
They left the community center and went their separate ways. “See you tonight,” Sawamura said as they left. They would gather again after dinner to prepare for tomorrow.
Narumi got on her bicycle, waved, and pedaled off. Past the station, she dismounted and began to walk. It was much easier pushing her bike up the long slope than trying to ride it.
A taxi passed her just as the Green Rock Inn came into view. She watched it pull up at the inn. That would be their one reservation, arriving for the night.
It wasn’t unusual for them to only have one reservation a night these days. Summer hadn’t brought an increase in guests. In fact, there were fewer each year, and not just at the Green Rock Inn. Several inns and other businesses serving the dwindling tourist industry had already gone belly up, and Narumi knew it was only a matter of time for the inn. They already couldn’t afford to hire any help except in the busiest months, and the only reason her parents were able to run the place by themselves the rest of the time was that there were so few guests. It had only gotten more difficult when Shigehiro hurt his knee.
The taxi passed her again on its way back down. She recognized the driver. He nodded as he passed—the kind of courtesy you only see in a small town.
She stepped inside the inn to find Setsuko greeting the newly arrived guest at the front counter. He was writing in the guest book. When he finished and turned around, Narumi was surprised to see he was the man she’d noticed at the hearing, the one wearing the open-collar shirt. He smiled warmly to her and nodded, almost as if he’d been expecting to see her here.
“I’ll show you to your room,” Setsuko said, key in hand as she stepped out from behind the counter. A small travel bag in one hand, the man followed her in silence.
After they were gone, Narumi went behind the counter and checked the guest book. The man’s name was Masatsugu Tsukahara. Not a name she recognized.
Maybe it’s nothing, she thought. He might have nodded to her at the hall because their eyes happened to meet, a friendly gesture of solidarity. But then she looked back at the guest book and frowned. The man had listed his address as being in Saitama Prefecture. Why would someone from north of Tokyo come all the way down here just to attend a hearing?
“Hey, Narumi, welcome back.” She looked up. It was Kyohei, looking out the door by the front counter.
“Hey. Were you down in the basement?”
“Yeah, with Uncle Shigehiro.”
She heard the sound of a cane striking the steps leading to the boiler room underneath the inn.
A few moments later, Shigehiro appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Oh, welcome back,” he said to her. “How was the hearing?”
“Good. I’m glad I went. There’s going to be a debate tomorrow—sorry I’ll be out again.”
“Not a problem,” her father replied. “You do what you need to do.”
“You’re protecting the environment, right?” Kyohei asked. “That’s cool.”
Narumi lifted an eyebrow. “You think so?”
“Totally! So do you, like, get on a boat and ram whaling ships?”
“Hardly,” she said. “But what we do is very important. We’re trying to stop people from wrecking our ocean. If they start mining the seafloor, it might hurt the local fishermen.”
“Oh,” Kyohei said, clearly having no interest in anything that didn’t involve fierce battles on the high seas.
Setsuko returned and announced, “He says he’ll eat at seven.”
Narumi looked at the clock. It was almost five.
“Also, we had
a last-minute reservation, a single,” Setsuko added. “The call came in right after you left, Narumi.”
Last-minute cancellations happened too often, but last-minute reservations were a new thing, Narumi thought, just as she heard the front door slide open behind her. “Hello?” said a familiar voice, and Narumi nearly jumped. She turned to see the physicist Yukawa standing in the doorway of the Green Rock Inn.
FIVE
The Green Rock Inn had a few private dining rooms on the first floor, where guests came for their meals. Kyohei was supposed to eat dinner with Narumi’s family in the little room next to the kitchen, but when six o’clock rolled around he snuck out to take a peek at the dining rooms where their new guest, Yukawa, would be eating.
The sliding doors to the first dining room on the hall were open, and a serving cart had been left in the hallway outside. Aunt Setsuko would be in the middle of serving dinner.
Kyohei peeked inside. Yukawa was sitting alone in the middle of a room big enough for ten, watching as Aunt Setsuko arranged dishes on the tray in front of him.
“So places in town are open pretty late, then?” he was saying.
“Well, late for the countryside, maybe. But that only means ten or ten thirty. I’d be happy to show you,” his aunt was telling him.
“I’d appreciate that. You go out drinking often?”
“Oh no, I certainly wouldn’t say ‘often.’ It’s much more of a ‘rarely,’ if that.”
“That’s a shame,” Yukawa said, suddenly looking toward Kyohei. Their eyes met, and Kyohei jumped and shrank back away from the door, out of sight.
“Is something wrong?” he heard his aunt ask.
“No, nothing. This looks delicious,” Yukawa said as Kyohei snuck away, treading as lightly as possible on the floorboards.
He had his own dinner soon afterward. His aunt and uncle had pulled out all the stops for their guest, and the table was loaded with sashimi and all kinds of homemade dishes.
“Eat up,” his uncle said, pushing a plate of sashimi toward Kyohei. “We can’t send you back home skinny, or we’ll never hear the end of it.” He laughed, his belly sticking out like a giant, quivering watermelon.
“And thanks for snagging a customer for us,” his aunt said. “That was unexpected!”
“All I did was show him the map,” Kyohei explained. “He was the one who wrote down the number and everything.”
“Well, you did just the right thing. He must’ve figured that any hotel good enough for you was good enough for him.”
Kyohei shrugged, pretty sure that had nothing to do with it.
Close to seven, Narumi stood from the table, saying she had a Save the Cove meeting and wouldn’t be back until late. Kyohei left to go back to his room. There was a TV show he wanted to watch.
He’d just reached the elevator when the doors opened and an older man with short hair stepped out. He looked like he’d just been in the bath. He was still wearing his robe, and his face had a ruddy sheen to it. The man looked at Kyohei a little curiously, then walked off in the direction of the dining rooms.
Kyohei took the elevator to the second floor and walked down the hall to his room. He’d been given a room big enough for four. His aunt was worried that he’d feel lonely in such a big room all by himself, but Kyohei wasn’t a little kid anymore, and it didn’t bother him in the slightest. He spent some time stretching out on the tatami mats, enjoying the space, then reached for the remote control.
After about an hour, he got up and took a look out the window. He knew the ocean was in the distance, but it was too dark to see anything but the spot between the inn and the road where the floodlights by the front door lit a circle of pavement.
He’d been standing there for a while when he heard the sound of the front door opening. Two people walked out: Yukawa, and his aunt. He wondered where they were going at this time of night. He didn’t see his uncle anywhere.
The phone in his room began to ring. Startled, he hurriedly picked up the receiver.
“Yeah?”
“Kyohei? It’s Uncle Shigehiro. Were you asleep?”
“Nope. I was watching television.”
“Right, well, how about you and me set off some fireworks? I’ve got some left over from last summer.”
“What? Now? Yeah, okay!”
“Good, come on downstairs.”
“Be right there.”
His uncle was waiting for him in the lobby. He had a bucket and a sizable cardboard box at his feet.
“Since everyone’s decided to head out, I figure now’s our chance to have a little fun for ourselves,” his uncle said.
Kyohei looked inside the cardboard box, his eyes going wide. It was an impressive collection. There were fistfuls of sparklers, and even some bigger fireworks, the kind you stuck in the ground and shot up into the sky before they went off.
“No time to waste! You mind getting the box?” Uncle Shigehiro asked, picking up the bucket and beginning to walk with his cane. Kyohei lifted the cardboard box in both hands and followed after his uncle.
SIX
It was a little before nine when Narumi, Sawamura, and the others left the meeting hall. “How about a drink?” Sawamura offered. Two of the younger members immediately agreed.
“How about you?” he asked Narumi.
“For a little while, sure.”
They said good-bye at the station to the people who had to leave right away, then headed to the usual bar, the one that stayed open the latest.
They had just reached the door when Narumi spotted her mother standing next to the seawall, staring out toward the dark ocean. She called out, and Setsuko turned as if she had just been woken from a dream. Her lips curled in a vague smile, and she walked across the road toward them.
“Good evening,” she said to Sawamura and the others before turning to Narumi. “You finish your meeting?”
“Yeah, but what are you doing out here, Mom?”
Setsuko nodded in the direction of the bar. “Oh, I brought one of our guests down. You know, Mr. Yukawa.”
“Let me guess, you joined him for a drink or two?”
“Just a wee bit,” she said, holding up her thumb and index finger a little way apart.
“Again? Mom, you know you’re not supposed to drive after you have a drink.”
“Mr. Yukawa’s going to take a taxi home, and it was just a little.”
“Even after just a little, Mom. The law’s the law.”
Ever since her father hurt his knee he’d stopped drinking, but her mother had always been overly fond of alcohol. Even if she didn’t come down to the bar, a whiskey before bed was her nightly routine.
Narumi sighed. “So that’s why you’re out here, trying to clear your head?”
“Something like that,” Setsuko replied, a bit mysteriously. “You need to watch how much you drink, too, young lady.”
“I’m hardly a young lady, and you’re not one to talk, Mom,” Narumi said with a smile.
“Then I’ll stop now while I’m ahead. I suppose I’ll walk home. Have a nice evening,” she said to Sawamura and the others.
“Wait, I’ll give you a lift,” Sawamura said, looking toward Narumi. “I came here in the pickup from the store, and I’m parked right by the station,” he explained. “I was wondering what to do with it anyway. This way I can take your mom back and leave it at home so I don’t have to worry about drinking too much.”
“Oh, you don’t need to go out of your way for me,” Setsuko said, waving her hand.
“It’s no trouble at all. And I can’t have you walking up mountains in the dark.”
“Are you sure? Well, thank you.”
“No need to thank me,” Sawamura said. Then, to Narumi, “I’ll be right back.”
“Right, thanks.”
After seeing Sawamura and her mom off, Narumi went into the bar with the other two from the meeting. Her eyes darted quickly over the place. Yukawa was sitting at a corner table, reading a magazine.
> “Isn’t that the physicist from earlier today?” one of the two—a girl still in college—whispered in Narumi’s ear.
“Yeah, I think it is,” the guy agreed.
Narumi told them that Yukawa was staying at her family’s inn, and they nodded, making the connection. The three of them sat at a table across the room from Yukawa, who was still absorbed in his magazine.
They drank beers and chatted for about half an hour, at which point Narumi excused herself and walked over toward Yukawa’s table, announcing herself with a “Good evening.”
Yukawa looked up from his magazine and blinked. “Oh. Hi,” he said, unsurprised to see her. He must’ve noticed us earlier, Narumi thought.
“I heard you shared a drink with my mom?”
“I believe we had a round, yes. I hope that’s not a problem?”
“No, not at all. Actually, I was wondering if I could join you for a moment.” She pointed to the chair across the table.
“I don’t mind, but what about your friends?”
“They’ll be fine.” Narumi glanced at the two, deep in some conversation, punctuated by occasional laughter. She leaned closer to Yukawa and said more quietly, “I was kind of a third wheel anyway.”
“I understand.”
Narumi called over the bartender and ordered herself a shochu on the rocks.
“Your mother tells me you were at the hearing today.”
“Yes, you remember the man who asked about DESMEC’s plans to protect deep-sea organisms? I was with his group.”
“I see,” Yukawa said, nodding. “Then please apologize to him on my behalf for butting in on the conversation.”
“You can tell him yourself. He should be here any moment. But I don’t think there’s any need to apologize. It sounded like a very honest opinion.”
“Too honest, I’d say. I just can’t abide people making vague, illogical statements.”
The bartender brought Narumi’s drink. Yukawa raised his and they clinked their glasses together in a toast.
“From what your mother was saying, you’re quite the activist.”
“I wouldn’t put it that way. I just think I’m doing what I should be doing.”