‘Hotaka? What’s going on?’ Mr Hashimoto demands.

‘Where’s Sakura? What have you done with her?’

‘I’ve expelled her. I had no choice.’

‘Yes, you did! You could’ve just suspended her at the most, until—’

‘No, Hotaka. I decided that what she did demanded serious penalising.’

‘What? She splattered some paint on a few ugly concrete panels.’

‘And the machinery she vandalised,’ the construction manager adds. ‘Don’t forget that.’

‘Lies!’ Hotaka glares at the manager. ‘Sakura is no vandal, and she wouldn’t let the others damage stuff.’ He turns back to the principal. ‘Please, I beg you, this is wrong. Expelling her will mean she loses her place at the Special Sendai High School.’

The mayor steps forward. ‘Pity she didn’t think of that before she committed the crime.’

Hotaka doesn’t even acknowledge Mr Nakano. He keeps his attention on the principal.

‘She won that position through hard work. You know she did. You praised her for it in assembly.’

Mr Hashimoto fidgets. ‘This changes everything.’

‘You’re right it does. Expelling her will take that all away. You can’t do it.’

‘He can,’ Mr Nakano insists. ‘He is the principal. It’s his decision and it’s final. Now, I really have more important things to attend to.’

The mayor turns to leave, but Hotaka blocks his way.

‘Hear me out, mayor.’

‘How dare you?’

‘I know what’s going on. This is not the principal’s decision at all; it’s yours. You and Engineer Oshita are the ones calling the shots here.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘You want Sakura expelled to silence her. You’re frightened her graffiti will set off an anti-seawall movement in town.’

‘The boy’s talking nonsense, Hashimoto. Discipline him, man!’

‘You also said this was final. Wrong. This isn’t the end at all; it’s only the beginning. What Sakura has done will give the people in this town a voice they didn’t even know they had. And you’re not going to like what they say.’

Hotaka opens the door and turns to leave, but stops. ‘By the way,’ he says to Mr Hashimoto, ‘I must tell you that I am one of those other so-called criminals who helped Sakura.’

‘No, Hotaka. I don’t believe you.’

‘I was there the other night, sir. I was there! So you had better expel me as well.’

Hotaka slams the door on the grim-faced, dark-suited men.

Hotaka races down the hill from the school on his bike, searching for Sakura. He finds her sitting by the roadside, head in her hands. Dropping his bike, he rushes to her side. She looks up.

‘What have I done? It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s my aunt and uncle. They’ll be devastated. Expelled! I owe them so much. They took me in when I had nowhere to go. They bent over backwards to give me opportunities. They paid the tuition fees that helped me make it into Sendai. They’re poor, and how do I repay them? By being expelled! They deserve so much more.’

‘You studied hard, you passed those tests and won that place fair and square. It’s yours.’

‘Not anymore. I’ve thrown it away.’

‘Not necessarily.’

‘The mayor and that manager are talking criminal charges when we did not lay a finger on their machinery. Honest! I’ll lose the position for sure if they take this any further.’

‘Oh, this will definitely go further, Sakura, a lot further. But that’s exactly what those guys don’t want. They want to kill it now; hence all the threats. But you have right on your side, and unless I’m mistaken you’re going to have a lot of people on your side as well; most of the town, I bet. In the end your uncle and aunt will be proud of you. I am already.’

‘Thanks, but that’s just wishful thinking. I should’ve thought before I acted. I’ve been really stupid.’

‘Then so have I.’

‘What do you mean?’

Hotaka tells Sakura what went on in the principal’s office. She leaps up.

‘You go right back there and tell them the truth. Now!’

‘No way. This is too big to go back. Anyway, we won’t be alone for long. This is a snowball. Small now, but it’s only just started rolling. You wait.’

‘I’m not sure I want to wait. Everything’s so scary.’

‘Don’t worry, Sakura. I’ll stand with you, whatever happens.’

‘Thanks. That means a lot. It really does.’

Sakura gazes across the bay to the hills and beyond, as if searching for something.

‘When I was little I had a special place I’d go if things got too much – a quiet place away from everyone. I’d go there to find myself again. It was a little garden in a valley not far from our house, so overgrown that you could easily miss it. A hidden garden. Whenever I sat in there I felt so safe.’

‘Sounds beautiful.’

‘It was. Probably still is. But I’ll never know. I’m not allowed there anymore. No one is.’

‘Why not?’

‘It’s poisoned. Radiation.’

‘Fukushima?’

‘Yes. Part of the Exclusion Zone. Everything was poisoned: soil, flowers, crops, trees, animals, the air.’ Sakura tenses. ‘And people.’

‘Your parents?’

Sakura nods. ‘Farmers. Small-time, but it was everything, our wonderful way of life. Then suddenly it was over. No choice. Get out! They made us leave, the government officials, the military. Go! Barely time to grab anything. The animals, my father cried. We feed them daily. They need us. Go! Get out!

‘He tried to return many times, but they always chased him away. It was forever, they said, fifty years at least. That drove my father mad. My mother tried to keep his spirit up, but then she was diagnosed with cancer. Terminal. That was the final straw. He left me a note, apologising. We will only be a burden on you. It’s for the best. The best!?’

Hotaka can see that Sakura is fighting back her tears.

‘How can that be for the best? For ages I blamed him. Then I blamed the radiation for stealing everything from me – my parents, my home. But I now know who the real thieves were – the politicians and the power company executives. The whole Fukushima Daiichi disaster was their fault, but they lied through their teeth to save their skins. They destroyed so many lives, but saved their own skins.’

Sakura’s gaze returns to the harbour.

‘And they’re doing it again. Here. They’re so big and powerful; they’re our Godzilla, Hotaka, and they terrify me. That’s why I wish I had somewhere like that hidden garden to go to again – even if only for a short while – somewhere to find my strength.’

Hotaka smiles. ‘I have a place like that. Haven’t been there for years.’ He holds out his hand. ‘Come on.’