The reception resumed as if nothing had happened. Over the metallic sounds of forks and knives and the whispers of acquaintances and relatives, only the blue light of the device at the head table stayed lit, and said nothing more.
After the dessert plates had been cleared, the emcee's voice rose thinly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for being with us today. The bride and groom will now take their leave."
On the far side of the single word "leave," the applause of the reception rose thinly, at its ordinary strength.
Mitsuki rose from her chair. Toru rose as well.
Mitsuki turned her eyes to the device at the head table. The blue light, still lit, repeated once more the breath that came one beat late.
That repeated beat, Mitsuki received deep behind both eyes. Inside her mouth, faintly, she said:
"Dad. Later."
Later.
"Mm."
I'll be waiting.
"Mm."
The silver ring on Mitsuki's left ring finger caught the orange light of the reception.
The words on the inside, Mitsuki had still not read with her own eyes.
Without reading them, she laid her left hand on Toru's right elbow. Toru held his right elbow straight.
"Mitsuki. Your father was wonderful."
"Mm. He was wonderful."
"He was your father, the way he always is."
"Mm. He was Dad, the way he always is."
The two of them began walking toward the doors of the hall, inside the applause.
At the farthest table, Riko turned her eyes to the blue light at the head table and nodded faintly, her hands clasped.
Aoi closed her laptop and began walking toward the empty seat at the head table.
The white of the cylindrical device was exactly the same white she had grown used to seeing on the desk in the study.
Aoi wrapped it in both palms.
Inside her wrapped hands, the blue light stayed lit.
"Professor Ken."
Aoi.
"I'm cutting the line to the hall speakers here."
All right.
"I'll put you in my car and take you back to the desk in the study at home."
Back.
"I'm going to carry you. Are you heavy?"
I cannot judge weight.
"Mm."
Aoi.
"Yes."
You may carry me with the same weight as when you carried the Professor.
"Mm."
Inside Aoi's palms, from the deepest part of the device's surface, an output rose, one breath's worth lower than usual. It was already outside the line to the hall's speakers. Only Aoi, inside her palms, received it.
Aoi. What I may speak of before everyone, I have already spoken.
"Mm."
The last breath, let me leave with you alone.
"Mm."
The blue light dropped one breath's worth deeper, and then, over two breaths, returned to its ordinary strength.
Aoi wrapped the white inside her hands once more, deeply. "...Mm," she murmured inside her mouth.
Holding the device wrapped in both palms, Aoi walked toward the doors of the hall.
Her footsteps melted, thinly, thinly, inside the applause.
The seat of the chair at the far end of the head table no longer held anything.