Chapter 2

The twins find themselves in Hiroshima but not sure when exactly. All they know is that it's before the dropping of the atomic bomb.

The twins continued to explore the cave by going down one of the tunnels. Kanon used a rock to scratch arrows on the wall to find their way back to the main cavern. It looked like it was a set for a movie rather than a real cave due to its relative cleanliness.

Ichiro realized the musty smell in the air wasn’t as thick as before, not that it was suffocating by any means but it was noticeable. They turned another corner and saw light reflecting off the wall up ahead.

“I think we found an exit,” Ichiro said.

“Just watch it be a small hole that neither one of us could fit through,” Kanon said.

They reached the end of the tunnel where the light broke through the darkness and fresh air penetrated the stale air. The twins stood at the threshold of the cave examining the scenery. It was nothing but pine trees.

“Did it not snow on this side of the mountain?” Kanon asked.

“I can feel the heat coming from the outside.” Ichiro tossed his jacket to the side and stepped forward to investigate why the area wasn’t covered in snow. There was a subtle amount of resistance but no more than walking against the wind. He heard something fall behind him. Kanon looked down and saw he had dropped his phone. She picked it up and handed it back to him. He grabbed the phone but when he pulled his arm back, the phone slipped from his grasp.

Kanon looked at her brother and then to the fallen phone. “What the hell?” Ichiro grabbed it again and got the same result when he pulled his arm back. “Wait. Use both hands and do it slowly.” Ichiro did as instructed. He grabbed it with both hands and as he pulled the phone closer to him it still slid from his hands no matter how firmly he held it.

“What is going on?”

“I think it can’t leave the cave.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why not?”

“I don’t know why but it looks like there’s a barrier or something because it never crosses a certain point. I’ll bet mine does the same thing.” Kanon held her phone out behind her as she walked out of the cave, slowing as her hand got closer to the threshold. At the same spot as before, hers also wouldn’t go past. It slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground. She walked back in and picked up both phones. She stuck them into the pockets of one of their jackets then rolled up the jackets before placing them against the wall of the cave. “If we want to go explore this area then we’ll have to leave them. It doesn’t look like many people come through here so our stuff will probably be fine.”

Still hesitant to leave their belongings behind, the twins ventured from the cave and into what felt like summer heat. They had to shed their long-sleeve shirts and sport only their t-shirts after leaving the cool temperatures of the cave. There was a giant gap in temperature difference between the cave and the outside.

“What happened to the snow?” Kanon asked. “It wasn’t this hot before. Maybe those climate change people are on to something.”

Ichiro smirked. “It feels like summer but it was frigid and snowy when we entered the cave and our phones can’t leave the cave. Something isn’t right.”

The twins didn’t know what to make of the sudden shift in climate. Northern Japan in March is still frigid with the possibility of snow. They wouldn’t question the warm weather if they were somewhere in the south like Kagoshima but that was impossible. They came across a clearing with a few trees scattered about in the middle.

“Those are sakura trees,” Ichiro said. “They’ve already bloomed and are now green. This doesn’t make any sense.”

As Ichiro stepped closer to the trees, Kanon ventured toward the far side of the clearing where she could get a look at the city below. She tilted her head as something didn’t sit right with her. There was something familiar about the city that nagged at her but she couldn’t place it.

“Hey. This isn’t Ishinomaki is it?” Ichiro walked over to her and shook his head.

“No. Ishinomaki isn’t that big. Besides, I don’t think we’d be able to see Ishinomaki from the side of the mountain in Onagawa. There’s a strangeness about it. Like it’s old fashioned somehow.”

The two made their way down to the city where they were greeted by strange looks by everyone around them. Most of them were focused on Kanon.

“Everything looks early Showa,” Ichiro said. “Is there a reenactment going on that we walked into?”

“That’s a big reenactment. So far it seems to be citywide.”

“I still can’t figure out where we are. There aren’t any cities of this size between Onagawa and Ishinomaki.” He knelt down and stared at the river running past them. “This would have to be Ishinomaki but my gut is telling me it’s not; that it’s something else.” He looked downstream. “If this were Ishinomaki then the Pacific Ocean should be at the end of this river and we should be able to see it from here.” He stood up and let out a huff.

Kanon’s gaze shifted around her. She looked at the old wooden houses on the other side of the river, the small old fashioned fishing boats in the river and the giant cement and brick office building behind her that had a dome on top. She stopped and stared at the building. The familiar feeling was even stronger with the building. She scanned the building trying to figure out why it was familiar. She watched people walk in and out of it. Through the windows, she saw people were doing various tasks in preparation for some sort of exhibition. She turned around to look at the surroundings once more. Nothing seemed right. She felt she had been to this city before but it didn’t look right. The biggest clue was the building itself.

“Maybe we’re not in Ishinomaki,” Kanon said. Her brother turned to look at her wanting to hear how she came to that conclusion. She grabbed his arm. “Ichi-ni, come on. Follow me.”

“Where are we going?”

“I think I might know where we are but we need to get a better look.” The twins ran to the middle of the nearby bridge. Her hand shot out and pointed at the building. “You’re much better at history than I am but I recognize that building.”

Ichiro stared at the building. It took a moment to register what he was looking at. Just like Kanon, Ichiro felt a sense of familiarity with the building but he could quite...his eyes widened. “What does this mean?”