Mr. Tani lived at the very top of the valley, an old man with more free time than anyone else around. Every night he settled onto his porch and watched the lights in the town across the way. It was the best part of his day.
The town, the stars, the lights — none of it ever seemed to change. The sun went down, and one by one the windows lit up. That was all there was to it.
Then one evening, something caught his eye.
“Huh. Those lights aren’t lined up the way they were yesterday.”
The lights at the edge of the town across the valley had crept a little closer to the center. The next night, they’d crept in further. The night after that, further still.
“I’ve got it,” Mr. Tani said, clapping his hands. “That town’s folding itself up, bit by bit. They’re moving somewhere.”
Well, that wasn’t something he could just sit back and watch happen. He couldn’t let them slip away without a proper send-off.
So Mr. Tani got straight to work. He built a farewell lantern, wrote out a speech on paper, and practiced reading it aloud again and again. Then he gathered every old-timer in town onto his porch.
“Our neighbors across the way are leaving,” he announced. “Let’s give them a proper send-off.”
“Hmph,” said Ume, who never took anything at face value, tilting her head. “I can’t say I’ve seen it moving at all.”
“You’d see it if you watched every night, like I do. You’re just not paying attention.”
Either way, the night of the farewell party arrived. Lanterns lined the porch, and the old folks sat with teacups in hand, facing the town across the valley. Mr. Tani unfolded his paper and cleared his throat.
Just then, the town across the way lit up all at once.
One light, two, three — more lights than anyone had ever seen, all blazing on together and turning to face this side of the valley. It looked, for all the world, like they were waving.
“Well, would you look at that,” Ume murmured. “Seems like they’re having a send-off too.”
Mr. Tani stood there, speech still in hand, and didn’t move for a long moment.
This hill turns, slowly. He’d learned that in school as a boy. But nobody thinks about a thing like that, day to day.
It hadn’t been the town across the valley that was moving. It was this town, slowly turning its back on the valley instead.
They were the ones leaving.
And the lights across the way had been waving, with everything they had, at Mr. Tani and his town as they went.
Mr. Tani cleared his throat once more, and quietly folded up his speech.