第三十章

11 March 15:43

I looked across at Shoichi and Haruka, who were still holding onto one another, and I realised that although safe for now, if the water kept on rising we would be in trouble. I still could not believe what had happened since the earthquake began about an hour ago and looked around me at the sea that was in a place where it simply should not be. Peering down through the branches, I was convinced that the water was slowing down but then told myself that wishful thinking probably just made it look that way.

Shoichi and Haruka moved apart, each taking a point on the tree where they could sit reasonably comfortably and securely.

‘Kimiko,’ Haruka said. ‘Are you OK?’

‘Yes, I think so,’ I replied, although now that I had time to think about it I could feel the point on my chest where I had smashed into the branch below which was now fully underwater. ‘How about you?’

‘I’m OK, just relieved to be up here. I knew I could trust you but at first when you suggested jumping I thought that you were crazy!’

‘It was a big risk but I felt that we couldn’t stay in that building. It was just too dangerous,’ I replied turning my head. ‘So, Shoichi, what on earth are you doing here?’

My question seemed to awaken him to the danger that he had put himself in and he began to sob.

‘Sorry, Shoichi, I didn’t mean to upset you,’ I said. ‘I am still shocked to see you here when you should have been at school.’

‘But I’m so glad that you came, Shoichi,’ Haruka said to her brother. ‘If it wasn’t for you, I don’t think that I would have survived. You saved my life.’

I looked down through the branches again, the water was definitely slowing down.

‘Hey, Haruka, Shoichi,’ I called over to them. ‘Look below you, the water is definitely not flowing past us as quickly as it was a few minutes ago. I think this might be the end.’

‘Yes, I think that you’re right,’ Shoichi said. ‘Look out at the boats and other things floating in the water, they are also slowing down.’

In less than five minutes, the water had come to a complete standstill and, rather than being surrounded by sea, it looked more like we had ended up in the middle of an enormous lake.

‘It’s stopped! It’s stopped!’ Haruka started to shout. ‘We’re going to make it! We’ve survived!’

However, just like a wave on a beach, but on a much larger scale, the water then started moving again, this time in the opposite direction as it began to get sucked back to the Pacific Ocean. Slowly at first, but then picking up pace, I seemed to be the only one of the three of us who noticed. Haruka was getting carried away and began to bounce up and down on her branch. 

‘Haruka!’ I said with some urgency. ‘Be careful, it’s still very dangerous and we are going to have to wait here to be rescued so it’s not over yet.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Haruka said. ‘But I’m just so happy to be alive!’

It was then that I heard the sickening crack as the branch that she was sitting on snapped, not entirely, but enough to make her slip down a short way towards the thinner, weaker, end. This put more pressure on the branch and it suddenly gave way completely. Haruka reacted quickly and grabbed another part of the tree that was within reach but now she was hanging down and her feet dangled dangerously in the water. I moved quickly towards where she was. Shoichi came across from the other side of the tree.

‘Hold onto my arm!’ I shouted as I lay across a couple of horizontal branches, Shoichi gripping my ankles to stop me from falling in. ‘Haruka, you’ve got to let go with one hand and try to grab hold of me.’

I could see a look of fear in Haruka’s eyes. She could not speak and was also unable to let go of the branch.

‘You’ve got to let go with one hand!’ I repeated. ‘If you can hold my arm then Shoichi and I will be able to pull you up. After three. One. Two. Three. Now!’

My instructions seemed to shock her into action and she let go with her left hand, the weaker of the two, and swung herself up towards me like using the monkey bars at the playground. I held onto the cuff of her coat and could feel that she had held onto mine, we had a strong connection.

‘Right, now you need to do the same with your other hand,’ I said. ‘After three, I want you to let go and swing yourself up again. Once I’ve got hold of both of your arms, we can then pull you up. One. Two…’

Haruka, went early and caught me before I had time to brace myself for the extra weight that I would be supporting. The grip between my right hand and her left hand held firm but I was unable to grab onto anything with my left hand, and so Haruka let go. Fortunately, she was able to grasp the lower branch again and we were back in the same position as we were a few seconds earlier. I took a moment to steady myself before speaking again.

‘Exactly the same as before, only this time after three not on three,’ I said. ‘One. Two. Three. Now!’

Her timing was much better and she swung with more purpose, still dangling down but I had a firm grip on her. Her entire weight was more than I expected and knew that we had to move fast.

‘I’m going to try to lift you up so that you can hold onto this branch under my armpits. When you get close enough, just let go of one of my hands and grab the branch. I can then pull you up more easily when you are supporting some of the weight yourself.’

Very slowly – I thought that my arms were going to come out of their sockets – I was able to pull Haruka up closer to the branch that she needed to grab hold of. Shoichi was helping by pulling my feet gently backwards so that I slid towards him and Haruka was lifted up further. She then swayed unexpectedly to one side and I thought at first that she must have felt close enough to swing herself up but then I saw that she had been hit by a small white truck that was being pulled by the currents back out to sea.

She let go of my right hand.

‘Aaaagh!’ Haruka screamed, screwing up her face in pain.

‘Grab my hand again, Haruka!’ I shouted. ‘Grab it!’Ganbare! ‘You can do it!’ Shoichi shouted to his sister from behind me.

She tried to pull herself up again to catch hold of my free hand but could not quite reach. 

She tried again. 

This time, she managed to make contact but only to hold my hand, which was wet with splashes from the water and from our sweat. I could not hold onto her and she fell back down again, her weight jolting my other arm. 

Her hand slipped down the sleeve of my coat, my hand slipped up the sleeve of hers.

‘Haruka, try again!’ I said.

With each swing, our remaining point of contact got weaker and weaker, torn slowly apart, until I was left holding around her wrist. With one last effort I let out a cry as I tried to pull her up towards me hoping that my body would find some superhuman strength. I think that Haruka knew before I did that we could not hold onto each other for much longer.

‘It’s no good, Kimiko,’ she said, looking up at me. ‘I can’t do it, I’ve run out of energy.’

‘Yes, you can!’ I screamed at her, desperately. ‘One more try!’

‘I can’t, you’ve got to let go or I’ll pull you in with me,’ Haruka said. 

She then stared directly into my eyes. 

‘Betsy is you Kimiko. She doesn’t get soaked by the child with the water gun. She doesn’t die. You’ve got to get out of here and live. Don’t stay in Ōfunato all of your life. Go and live.’

The hold around each other’s wrists slipped to become palm to palm and then finger to finger. Pulled by the water that sloshed around her legs, we let go of each other for the last time.