Hyōryū V — Mei

Hyōryū V begins on an afternoon of slow rain. Ren steps into a small café he does not remember entering before. Across from him, at the table by the window, a young woman in an ochre wool sweater looks up. The chair across from her is empty. The coffee cup on the empty side of the table is still steaming. She has been waiting. Her name is Mei. She is fully solid. She is fully present. And, impossibly, she remembers him. This is the chapter where the fading is no longer as simple as we thought.