It gets zero search results. I am the only person on earth who has typed that exact phrase.

That pact held for seven summers. Then came the August of the cicadas. It started innocently enough. A new family moved into the foreclosed house at the end of the block. They had a son, a year older than us. Let’s call him Kai.

I remember the exact moment of the cuckolding. It was a Tuesday. We were supposed to build a raft out of scrap lumber—a project Kenji had dreamed up since spring. I showed up at Kenji’s garage with a hammer and a box of nails. The garage was empty. I called Sora’s cell. No answer.

We had a pact. A stupid, sacred, boyish pact: "No new people." The three of us against the world.

In Japanese slang, ano hito (あの人) means "that person"—usually a third party outside the in-group. Atarashii (新しい) means new. But when you put them together online— ano new —it refers to the charismatic interloper who destroys a closed friend group’s chemistry.

When I walked up, Sora didn’t wave. He just said, "Oh, you’re here. Kai brought Mountain Dew Code Red ."

For me, summer memories are a crime scene.