It’s raining again today…
Lately, it seems to rain almost every single day.
I really don’t like the rain.
For some reason, whenever it rains, I don’t feel well.
My whole body aches… or maybe it just feels heavy…
Above all else, when it rains, Kyohei won’t take me with him.
So I stay home, waiting for his return under the eaves by the front door.
All alone… and lonely.

I’m Kyohei’s bicycle.
Kyohei is taking a gap year to study for his college entrance exams, and he says he wants to become a doctor someday.
He’s very kind, and he never refuses when someone asks for favors.
He’s especially kind to the elderly folks in the neighborhood, and I  know there’s even a secret Kyohei Fan Club formed among those grandmas.

Kyohei and I visit his grandma, who lives nearby, every day. Every time Kyohei arrives, she comes to the front door with a big smile to welcome him. Her legs have gotten weak lately, so Kyohei helps her with all kinds of things—replacing old fluorescent lights, cleaning the bathroom, and whatever else she needs. While he’s busy for her, I rest under the eaves outside. I can hear their cheerful voices drifting over to where I’m waiting.

I love Kyohei very much.
For me, the happiest times are when I’m with Kyohei.
On sunny days, we’re always together.
Being with Kyohei makes me so happy that I can’t help but pedal faster, hoping to make him smile.
When I pick up speed, I can feel his energy, bright and full of life.
So, I pedal with all my strength.
I want to be useful to Kyohei.
I want to spend more and more time by his side.

For the past few days, the rain has refused to stop, as if the end of the rainy season might never come. And as if the long spell of rain weren’t enough, an extremely powerful typhoon is now heading straight for the region. If it were early winter, its strength could easily be called a bomb cyclone. On television, reporters stressed the seriousness of the storm, using phrases like “rain unlike anything we’ve ever experienced,” urging everyone to stay on high alert.

However, perhaps because everyone had grown used to the rain that fell day after day, many assumed the typhoon wouldn’t be anything serious. Because of that optimism, few households were fully prepared. And when the storm finally struck the area, its slow-moving winds and relentless rain turned what many believed to be just a slightly stronger typhoon into a violent downpour that caused unexpected damage throughout the area.

The storm left many kinds of scars behind. In some neighborhoods, small rivers swelled with rain and spilled over their banks, flooding the streets. Elsewhere, sudden tornado-like gusts tore off parts of houses, ripped the roofs from storage sheds, and sent shards of window glass flying, injuring those inside. Also, scattered across yards were things blown from who-knows-where—plastic bottles, shopping bags, children’s toys, even brooms and dustpans—turning quiet homes into something that looked more like small junk yards.

“Thud!” Ouch…
What’s happening to me?

Lately, a strange pain keeps shooting through my body.
I feel sluggish, stiff… as if my whole body has gotten heavier.
Is it just my imagination…?

Even so, Yesterday’s rain was unbelievable.
The raindrops kept slamming into my body, sharp and merciless, as if they were stabbing into me.
And the wind… it was so much stronger than I have ever experienced before.
Gusts came from every direction, and in the end, I couldn’t hold myself up anymore, so I fell to the ground.
Luckily, I wasn’t blown away, but the rain kept pouring and pouring, and before I knew it, I was covered in mud.
What am I going to do…?
What would Kyohei say if he saw me lying on the ground, unable to stand against the wind?
What would he think of me if he saw me like this—dirty, soaked, and weak?
Kyohei…
I’m sorry.
I couldn’t stay standing.
I got mud all over myself.
Kyohei… I’m so sorry.

When I first came to Kyohei’s house, he would happily polish my body almost every week. 
It tickled sometimes, but it felt so good.
When he finished, he always put my favorite silver cover on my body.
On cold winter days, it was warm and cozy under that cover.
I was so happy.
When Kyohei was polishing me, I could look at him the whole time.
I love Kyohei.
Come to think of it… where did that silver cover go?
I haven’t seen it lately.

(Throbbing, Stinging, Prickling, Gnawing, Piercing…)

I have been worrying about one thing lately.
I feel like my strength is fading little by little each day.
The aches all over my body seem to have been getting worse.
It’s not just pain anymore…
It’s a heavy, dragging feeling…
To be honest, it’s pretty tough.
Will it just keep getting worse?
What if one day I can’t move at all…?

Maybe I should be brave and tell Kyohei about it.
Maybe I should say… “My body hurts…”
Maybe I could whisper it softly, in the tiniest voice…
“Squeal…”

What would Kyohei think?
I don’t know…
Maybe he’d end up disliking me.
Maybe he wouldn’t go out with me anymore.
Maybe I’d spend every single day waiting for him by the front door, all alone.
No! I want to be with Kyohei.
I want to go to Grandma’s house with him.
I want to be of help to him…

I’ll just forget the whole thing.
Let’s forget about the pain.
If I forget, it won’t hurt.
If I forget, I can be with him.

I still need to pedal fast ,as I always do, but it needs to be done quietly.
I should make absolutely no noise.
I must make sure Kyohei never notices.
‘Cause I love him…
I don’t want to lose any opportunity to go out with him.  

Even after the powerful typhoon that left such heavy damage behind, the skies still refused to clear. With the cleanup still far from finished, the residents’ patience had all but run out, and the greetings exchanged on the streets inevitably began with the same weary complaint: “We’ve had enough of this rain.” 

At Kyohei’s house, his mother bustled around with the housework, grumbling,
“I’m so sick of this rain. The laundry hung to dry inside the room hasn’t dried at all.”
She yelled at Kyohei in a slightly irritable tone as he was watching TV in the living room.
“Kyohei, aren’t you going to your seminar today?”
“It’s off today,” he answered. 
He clearly annoyed that his show had been interrupted by her yelling.
His mother shot back right away.
“Must be nice being a student! Then, take the laundry to the laundromat and put it in the dryer for me” she said.
“What?! You want me to go out in this rain?”
Her son sounded completely unenthusiastic.
“Looks like it’s letting up a bit, isn’t it?”
Saying so, she opened the front door and peeked outside.

There, Kyohei’s bicycle lay fallen, left out in the rain. Puddles had formed around it, and the soft ripples of raindrops dancing across the surface told that the downpour was finally beginning to ease.

“Oh my, your bike’s fallen over. Didn’t you put the cover on?”
His mother said, lifting it off the ground and propping it against the wall under the eaves.
“Honestly, it’s soaked! If you don’t cover it properly, it’s going to rust!” her sharp voice rang from the front entrance.
“I know…” he answered, clearly not paying much attention.
His mother pressed on:
“Where did you put the bike cover?”
“Uh… probably under the shoe cabinet or somewhere. I haven’t used it lately, so I don’t really know.”
The back-and-forth continued.
“You only take care of things when they’re still new! Riding a rusty bike is dangerous, you know” she said.
“It’s all right. Once I save up my part-time money, I’ll buy a new one. I’ve already got a cool one in mind” Kyohei replied.
His mother let out a sigh.
“Unbelievable!”
“Just hurry up and go to the laundromat, all right?”
With that, she set down a basket full of barely-dry laundry and unfolded the ironing board beside it.

A puddle had formed at the entrance, with nowhere left to flow. The bicycle leaning against the eaves, barely escaping the direct rain, appeared completely soaked and immobile.

Perhaps the sky had grown tired of hearing everyone’s complaints. That morning, the sun appeared for the first time in a while, and the world cleared up so brightly that the days of rain felt almost like a bad dream. The crisp air after the rain is refreshing.

From inside the house came Kyohei’s “I’m off,” followed by his mother’s familiar reply, “Be careful.” These exchanges are a part of their morning routine.

Kyohei rushed to the entrance, hurriedly slipped on his sneakers, and grabbed his bicycle key from the top of the shoe rack.

“Oh no, I’m going to be late,” he muttered to no one in particular, and leapt onto his bicycle waiting by the entrance, just like always.

As if his bike knew that Kyohei was in a hurry, it sped away at an incredible speed without making any noise.