A Midsummer's Equation

THIRTEEN

Kyohei finished breakfast and was on his way back to his room when he spotted Yukawa in the lobby. He was sitting on the wicker bench, staring at the framed painting of the ocean on the wall.

“Did someone in your family paint this?” he asked as Kyohei was walking by.

“I dunno. Something wrong with it?”

Yukawa pointed at the painting. “You can’t get this view of the ocean from this inn, no matter where you stand. It made me wonder where it was painted from.”

Kyohei looked between the physicist’s face and the painting. He shrugged. “Does it matter?”

“Very much. This town prides itself on the beauty of its seascape, and this inn was built to cater to people lured here by its beauty. If we find a painting of the ocean in such a place, we would expect it to be a local scene. If the ocean in this painting were actually the ocean from an entirely different area, or something the painter just made up, well, that’s a kind of fraud, if you ask me.”

“Fraud sounds a little strong,” Kyohei said.

Yukawa stared at the painting a few moments longer, then turned to him. “What are your plans today?”

“Nothing.”

“Perfect,” Yukawa said, looking down at his watch. “It’s eight thirty now. Meet me here in half an hour.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I believe I mentioned I was working on a plan to show you the bottom of the sea. Well, my plans have taken shape, and I’d like to put them into action as soon as possible,” Yukawa said, standing.

Kyohei looked at the physicist in surprise. “I told you I don’t like boats.”

“And I heard you. We’re only talking about one hundred meters here. We don’t need a boat.” Yukawa made his hand in the shape of a pistol and pointed the barrel at the painting of the sea. “Let’s hope it works.”

* * *

Roughly thirty minutes later, Yukawa showed up in the lobby carrying two large paper bags. He handed one of the bags to Kyohei, but the top was folded shut and he couldn’t see inside. It wasn’t as heavy as he expected it to be, judging by the size. When he asked what was inside, all Yukawa said was, “Don’t get your hopes up. It’s not lunch.”

“By the way, did you bring your cell phone?” Yukawa asked as they were walking outside.

Kyohei fished the phone out of his shorts pocket and showed it to him. Yukawa nodded approvingly and started to walk.

The physicist wouldn’t tell him where they were going, so all Kyohei could do was follow. He thought they might be going to the place where the guest had fallen the night before, but Yukawa showed no signs of stopping as they passed by the rocky shore.

Past the harbor, they came to a breakwater extending out into the ocean. Yukawa began walking down it toward the end, his pace quickening.

“Are we going to do something at the end of the breakwater?”

“That’s why we’re here.”

“Well, what are we doing, then? Tell me already.”

“Don’t be impatient, you’ll see soon enough.”

Yukawa finally stopped when he reached the very end of the breakwater. “Open your bag,” he instructed, “and spread out its contents on the ground.”

Kyohei opened his bag, finding a plastic bucket, some plastic string, and what looked like a long tube made out of cut plastic bottles.

“We’re making a bottle rocket. Sometimes called a water rocket. Know what those are?”

“Yeah, we made them at school once. They shoot water out of the back, right?”

“They most certainly do.”

“Is it going to take a long time?”

“Don’t worry, it’s already nearly finished. I did most of the work last night in my room and then dismantled it to fit in the bags. It will be easy to reassemble.” Yukawa worked while he talked, sticking the various pieces together with practiced hands. Kyohei watched as the rocket gradually took shape. It was easily over a meter tall, considerably larger than the ones they’d made at school.

“You made this in your room?”

“It was the easiest solution to the problem, believe it or not. It should provide an interesting lesson in physics, too.”

“How is firing off a rocket going to let us see the ocean floor?”

Yukawa’s hands stopped their work. He pushed up his glasses with the tip of his finger. “Ever hear of Yuri Gagarin? He was an astronaut—the first man in outer space, and the first man to orbit the earth. He did that in a rocket. Without rockets, mankind would never have been able to see what the earth really looks like. We need a rocket.”