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“These people say they’re looking for a sunshine girl!” “They’re what?! That’s hilarious!” The trio of high school girls shouted with laughter. They were so loud that I looked around on reflex. We’d come to a family restaurant across from a big department store, and the place was bustling with people, even though it was noon on a weekday. Natsumi had made an appointment with these girls online, and they were sitting in the booth with their feet up, hugging their knees, even though they were wearing short school uniform skirts. It was the first time I’d been this close to girls my age in quite a while, and their strong personalities were sort of overwhelming. Their compensation for telling us about the rumors was access to the drink bar and one dessert of their choice, per person. “My little sister says her friend’s boyfriend’s friend’s classmate is, like, legit a sunshine girl! …Huh? Her age? I dunno, same age as my sister? Middle school? Anyway, she’s incredible. Like, we’re not talking about the weather just clearing up sometimes when she comes around or anything. She’s on a whole different level! She just has to pray, like you’d do to your shrine at home, and say she wants sun on this or that day. Like, if you’ve got a date coming up or whatever, and you want the weather to be nice no matter what—” I took notes as if my life depended on it. I was remembering what Mr. Suga had told me: Don’t just rely on recordings. Stay with the flow and take notes. “Okay, moving on: We’ve got an appointment at Waseda in thirty minutes!” Natsumi called, and I ran after her like a junior member of her club. “As I told you in my e-mail…” Just outside a lab, a serious-looking man with thin glasses droned at us as if this was the biggest waste of his time. “I agreed to this because the introduction came from Mr. Sekiguchi, but we’re an extremely respectable laboratory; we even work with the Meteorological Agency. Ah, I’m not saying your magazine isn’t respectable, but—” Twenty minutes later, the once-reluctant man was leaning forward, speaking with such intensity that spit was flying from his lips. “Just then, the videosonde from the observation balloon I’d been Page 33 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com