Mei Haruka -

That was where she met Oji.

Mei never stopped leaving. Sometimes she took short trips to the city to buy books or chase a lead for an older neighbor; sometimes she rode a ferry to a neighboring island to learn a recipe or share a story. But she always returned—the pier had become a place where departures and arrivals met like two hands in a held, practiced greeting. Home, she had discovered, was less a settlement than an ongoing conversation. mei haruka