CHAPTER 22

When I get up the next morning, everything seems … well, kind of normal, really. I’m not complaining – a normal day has been hard to come by lately. I throw down some cereal and Molly forces me to go swimming with her again, even though I seriously doubt whether my fitness is going to save the universe.

Anyway, so far, so good.

We get to school and everything remains ‘normal’, for a while, anyway. Halfway through the second lesson of the day, I find myself standing up beside my desk, with Hale and Molly beside me.

That wouldn’t be so weird, except that I’m also still sitting at my desk doing a comprehension test. I look over to where Hale was sitting before and there he is – also still sitting at his desk. So is a second Molly, who seems unaware that anything strange is happening at all.

‘Um, care to explain?’ I ask the pair of them, my eyes fixed upon myself. And, let me tell you, it’s really freaky watching yourself sit a test that you’re not actually sitting. Though I could get used to it pretty fast. Having another me sit my test, I mean, not watching myself. Nobody likes comprehension tests.

Hale turns to me. ‘I was listening to your thoughts the other day about your mother. About the cherry blossoms.’

‘So was I,’ Molly says. ‘And we had a … discussion about it just now.’

By the expression on her face, I take this to mean they had an argument. Another one.

‘Oh,’ I say, trying to remember exactly what I’d thought. I think it was mostly about how Mum had always wanted to see the cherry blossoms in Japan so badly and that we’d tried to go a couple of times, but couldn’t. Because we were stuck in Peregrination. Because of me. I think I might have also been sort of angry with Molly. For lying. For giving us this faker than fake existence.

Hale interrupts my thoughts. ‘I thought we could take a little trip.’

‘A trip?’ I frown slightly. ‘To where?’

‘To see the cherry blossoms. We could take your mother.’

I look from one of them to the other. Something weird is going on here. Apart from there being six of us. Why are they agreeing to do something? I don’t get it. Still, Mum would love to see the cherry blossoms. ‘Um, okay,’ I say, slowly. ‘But you can’t mean going to Earth, can you? Isn’t that dangerous? Aren’t there people, or aliens, or whatever, looking for us there?’

‘Oh, no,’ Hale says. ‘I’d construct a little … replica, as you’d call it. Though I’d make your mother think she had been on a plane, stayed in a hotel, all that sort of thing. It would all be very real for her. I simply thought that it might make you feel a little more comfortable about being stuck in Peregrination with its lack of …’ I can see he wants to say ‘lack of everything’, but is too polite.

‘But if you can make her think she’d been on a plane and—’

Hale cuts in. ‘Complex memories are a little more difficult. Smell, taste, touch and so on. If you want her to enjoy everything in detail then she must truly live the experience.’

‘Is it really okay?’ I turn to Molly.

She nods, though she doesn’t seem all that enthused.

Now that is weird. I haven’t a clue what’s going on here, but if they’re both fine about it … I shrug. ‘All right, then.’

‘Excellent,’ Hale nods. ‘Now, your mother won’t be able to see me, but she’ll be able to see you. I’ll concoct a little story. Just go along with it and you’ll be fine.’

‘You’re not coming too?’ I ask Molly.

Molly shakes her head. ‘I’ll be there, but you won’t be able to see me either. This is for you and Mum. All right?’

‘Um, sure,’ I say. ‘I guess.’ After all, it’s not like anything could go wrong (ha ha ha).

‘Oh, I can’t believe we’re finally here,’ Mum sucks her breath in, her hand to her chest. ‘Thank goodness you went in for that competition!’ She turns in a full circle, drinking in her surroundings as it hits me I’m not in the classroom anymore, but standing on a gravel path. Below us is what looks like a small canal. Above us, white and soft pink cherry blossoms stir in the rising breeze. A few drift down onto the water and form a raft of flowers. After the stark surrounds of Peregrination, it’s the most jaw-droppingly beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. ‘There are so many people!’ Mum laughs. ‘Kyoto isn’t anything like Peregrination, is it?’

The truth is, it’s nothing like Peregrination. And it’s not just the scenery that’s different, because everywhere you look, there are people. Old people, young people, Japanese people, foreigners. Everyone is out enjoying Hanami, cherry-blossom-viewing season … Hang on, how did I know it was called Hanami? The word just popped into my head. Thank you, Molly and Hale, I guess.

‘Drat,’ Mum says, ‘I’ve left the guidebook at the hotel on the very day we’re going to need it most. You didn’t pick it up, did you sweetheart?’

‘Sorry, no. But it’s okay,’ I say, ‘We don’t need it. It’s this way – along the Philosopher’s Walk. Remember we read about it? It’s where the famous Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro is supposed to have walked and meditated every day. The Silver Pavilion, Ginkaku-ji, is up the end, so we can visit that as well.’ Amazingly, all these words simply tumble out of my mouth, despite the fact that I have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. It sounds good, though. ‘So, ready to go, then?’

‘Of course!’ Mum beams. ‘I’m so pleased you remembered all of that. Lead the way, clever son!’

I feel bad that Hale and Molly and I are tricking her but do as she asks and start off along the path, the small stones crunching under my feet. After all, this is the only way she’s ever going to live out her dream, and the way things are going, who knows how much time we have left? If Molly can’t even detect all these Ecens and Rewluts and so on that are turning up, how much hope do I have of saving the universe, even if I can spout obscure facts about Japanese philosophers?

I try to focus on Mum enjoying the walk as we stroll along the winding path. We stop to take photos on small stone bridges as we go, her smile growing wider in each one. It feels terrible and wonderful all at the same time to be able to do this for her today – like I’m both a liar and a hero. As we keep going, we admire the traditional wooden houses with their dark tiled roofs and the modern houses and just about everything else. We stop to pat a cat (‘A Japanese cat!’ Mum gushes and we both laugh, because, well … it looks like any other cat, really). We stop at all kinds of little stalls for snacks, too. We try crunchy cinnamon biscuits, bought from an old man at a shop with bright red paper lanterns, sweet potato treats and a drink from a vending machine called ‘Pocari Sweat’ that we dare each other to drink, but which actually doesn’t taste so bad once you taste it.

It’s after this that Hale really steps things up. Maybe he thinks the rest of the walk is too boring, because some sumo wrestlers appear on the path before us, then a geisha, who hands us an origami crane.

‘Enough!’ I hiss out of the corner of my mouth when I spot Mount Fuji in the distance, completely out of place.

Things calm down and, finally, we reach Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion. It never got its coat of silver and I’m really hoping Hale doesn’t give it one now.

‘I am so happy,’ she says, over and over again as she looks around her – at the Zen temple, at the raked sand garden and amazing sand cone, the moss garden and all the little islands and bridges. ‘So very, very happy.’

When we finally leave, Mum turns to me. ‘This has been the most perfect afternoon, hasn’t it?’ she says, her eyes wet.

And I nod, because it really has. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mum so happy.

But for me … for me it’s been one of the worst. Because what I’ve just seen makes me ache inside for what my mother has missed. What I’ve just agreed to – it’s not ‘living the experience’. It couldn’t be further from it. The untruthfulness of what I’ve done wells up inside me and I hate myself. For the lies I’ve spun. For how I’ve tricked her. I turn back to say something to her again, but she’s gone and Hale and Molly are in her place.

I sit down on a rocky wall that edges a garden. ‘Thanks,’ I say, feeling deflated. ‘It meant a lot to her.’

‘It was my pleasure.’ Hale inclines his head slightly.

And Molly – Molly just watches me closely, saying nothing at all.