In the darkness, we could see it—the botanical garden, made up of three glowing glass domes.

  The center dome was the main building.

  To the right stood the old wing, and to the left, the so-called Light Wing.

  Inside the tallest of the three—the main building—stood massive trees, so huge they felt surreal.

  Once, when I skipped school and came here on a quiet weekday afternoon,

  I imagined being trapped beneath those giant leaves in the nearly empty halls.

  The thought scared me.

  The old wing was filled with vibrant flowers, ones I didn’t even know the names of—

  including jade vines that looked like Tsurubami-kun’s twin.

  The newest building, the Light Wing, had artificial waterfalls, bridges, and little gazebos.

  It was popular even with kids who didn’t care about plants.

  This was my first time coming at night.

  Even Tsurubami-kun, who had seemed so tense at the café, had a faint smile now.

  Was he afraid of the man in white?

  Or was there something about the Oblivion Drug that brought up bad memories?

  “If he’s in the botanical garden…

  then he’s not the other me that was chasing me.”

  Tsurubami-kun said, as if he could read my mind.

  “You were afraid of meeting your other self?

  But how can you be sure it’s not him just because he’s in the garden?”

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  Before he could answer, the owner turned to us.

  “We’ll go around to the projection room.”

  ??

  The moment he said “projection room,” I understood how we were getting in.

  There’s a small theater on the first floor that plays short films about world plants all day long.

  It’s always covered with blackout curtains, but it has sliding glass windows.

  If they’re not locked, sneaking in should be easy.

  It was the owner who opened the window.

  With a quiet slide, it came open, and we slipped past the curtain into the slightly elevated room.

  “One at a time, quickly.”

  Prompted by him, my brother went first, then me, and finally Tsurubami-kun.

  “You’re awfully smooth at this.

  Is this something you do often?”

  I heard my brother mutter to the owner.

  The room was pitch black.

  Blocked by blackout curtains, even the streetlights outside couldn’t reach us.

  “Where’s the light switch…?”

  Just as I was about to stand up, a large hand—probably the owner’s—grabbed my arm.

  “Hold on, I brought a flashlight.”

  “You’ve clearly done this before.”

  Ignoring my brother, the owner turned on the flashlight and said,

  “This way,”

  leading us from the projection room toward the exhibition hall.

  “This is where I first saw that film about Borneo.

  It’s what made me like the Rafflesia.”

  In the darkness, I felt a strange closeness, so I opened up to Tsurubami-kun.

  “I saw the same one.”

  I knew it—

  Darkness grants wishes.

  ??

  “You really plan to go in?”

  Now that we’d come this far, my brother asked something oddly reasonable.

  “What do you mean, now?

  The man in white is in there—he won’t feel safe anywhere else.

  If we want to hear what he has to say, we have to go in.”

  The two adults stood in front of the transparent door to the exhibition hall,

  arguing with their hands on the doorknob.

  I sided with the owner.

  There was no way I was going back now.

  Besides, I was honestly… excited.

  “Whoa!!”

  A face—pale and emotionless—was pressed against the glass on the other side of the door.

  A tall man, completely white in both face and clothing, was just… standing there.