The Journey Prize Stories 21 (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
She stared at us from the windows of Murakami Bakery and Mrs. Nakamura’s noodle shop, from the sliding glass door of Yoshimoto Drugs, and of course from the giant poster in front of the police station. It was impossible to go anywhere without seeing her. Iwata Supermarket and Mori Grocers pinned her picture next to their checkout counters, and smaller versions of the poster were wrapped around all the bus stop poles in town. Do you know this girl? the poster asked. Have you seen Sayuri? It was always the same photograph, the one taken at the beginning of that term. Sayuri was wearing our high-school uniform, a dark navy tunic over a white blouse. As the years passed, the whiteness of the blouse turned grey and blotchy and the tunic faded to a metallic green. But despite the graininess of the photograph and the weathering of the elements, Sayuri’s eyes stayed the same: shiny as new marbles, full of hope and mischief. Have you seen me, I heard Sayuri say every time I looked into her eyes.
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