Water Moon

Hana and Keishin make the tea from Toshio. Hana thinks that it’s the same tea that Toshio gives their clients and that drinking it will help her understand his whereabouts. When she tastes it, she senses her grandmother Sobo’s presence and realizes that they must visit her teahouse.

Hana and Keishin are finishing their cleaning when the Shiikuin come to inform Hana that they’ll be collecting all the birds in two days. Panicked, Hana realizes that she must find the bird that Toshio set free before then or face exile.

After the Shiikuin leave, Keishin demands an explanation. The Shiikuin are masked creatures with talons, and Keishin worries that they’ll hurt Hana. She dismisses his questions, insisting that they go to Sobo’s teahouse immediately. To get there, they must share the same bed and fall asleep together. They can access the teahouse in their dreams. Hana tells Keishin a story to get him to fall asleep. She lies awake, studying his quiet face and wondering about his life in the other world.

Hana and Keishin fall asleep and emerge on the other side of the Midnight Bridge. Hana leads them to Sobo’s teahouse, located inside a kito tree. When Hana tells Sobo about Toshio’s disappearance, Sobo realizes that Toshio’s recent threat to go and find Chiyo was real. Before Chiyo’s exile, she gave Sobo a kioku pearl (kioku pearls contain memories). Chiyo’s pearl held the memory of her trial, but Sobo threw it away. She didn’t want to help Toshio either, convinced that he was living in a dream.

Discouraged, Hana and Keishin line up with the other dreamers to cross back over the Midnight Bridge. Meanwhile, they chat about what to do next and how one might bend time. The Shiikuin suddenly appear and try to apprehend Hana and Keishin. The companions race down the bridge, but only Hana makes it over.

Keishin jolts awake. He just barely escaped the Shiikuin, who grabbed and cut him with their talons. Hana realizes that they must go somewhere else to spread their secrets so that the Shiikuin can’t find them. The Shiikuin can smell secrets and use the scent to track people.

The two jump into a puddle and emerge at the Tokyo Station in Hana’s world. They stand on the platform and wait for the train.

While they wait, Keishin studies a puddle, remarking on the wonders of Hana’s world. Hana envies his ability to experience mystery and awe.

The companions “travel on the Sky Sea” to a village filled with stilted houses (131). At the docks, a kashu—or singer—offers to help them get to the Museum of Education. To do so, Keishin must think of a song and play it in his head. The companions will then travel on the song.

Keishin’s song transports the companions into a space that resembles his old apartment. In this space, he and Hana float further through the Sky Sea. While waiting to arrive at their next destination, the friends talk about home, belonging, dating, and love. Keishin explains what dating is, suggesting that he and Hana are on a date. He confesses his feelings for her and holds her hand. Hana counters his feelings but kisses him back when he kisses her.

The companions arrive at their destination. To reach the Museum of Education, they must travel through the sand.

At the museum, the pair stands in a gallery filled with paper cranes. Each crane is a memory that someone discarded. They’re regretful moments that changed the course of history. Saddened, Keishin begs Hana to come to his world with him after they find Toshio. Hana argues that she couldn’t survive there, although she doesn’t have proof.

Hana and Keishin meet with Haruto, Hana’s childhood friend who folds the museum’s cranes. Haruto reveals that Toshio visited him recently, and he takes Hana and Keishin into a private room to talk. Toshio told Haruto that he thought Chiyo was alive and asked him to fold time for him so that he could access what happened on the day Chiyo was exiled.

A month earlier, Toshio asked Haruto to fold time for him, begging Haruto not to tell Hana. She’s a lot like Chiyo, and Toshio feared that she’d go looking for answers. He then gave Haruto the Shiikuin bones he’d found—which contain memories from before the Shiikuin and are necessary to manipulate time. Haruto agreed to help Toshio.

Haruto says that he successfully folded time but can’t tell Hana what Toshio saw from the past because Toshio took the folded time. However, he can fold time again so that Hana can go back to see what Toshio saw. Haruto wants to help Hana since she’s betrothed to him.

Hana and Keishin discuss Hana’s betrothal to Haruto. She explains that Toshio arranged their marriage as children because he feared that Hana would be like Chiyo and run away if she wasn’t happy with her partner. He hoped that if she and Haruto grew up together, she’d fall in love and be content with him.

After leaving Haruto, the companions jump into a well to escape the Shiikuin. When they jump, Hana tells Keishin to think of a place far away; his memory will transport them somewhere the Shiikuin can’t find them.