Chapter 20 Section VIII

On August 9th, at 7 o'clock in the morning, I arrived in Waichu City. There are many high-rise buildings, like a mini Tokyo, that was the impression in 2000.Compared with Haremachi, it is of course at the city level, but in the eyes of future people, there are still many undeveloped places here, and it is still full of rural tranquility and contentment.I remember that when I was a child, I was so excited just to go to the foreign market, but now it seems that it is obviously a too leisurely era. First of all, I want to investigate whether there is a "Magoso" here. If I am sure there is no, I will go to Heda Nocho.However, it is estimated that it will be quite difficult to implement this plan.It would be hard enough just to search the entire outer city, and I don't know how far I can find it before I don't need to search.If the judgment is wrong, the investigation will never end, and it will not work without spending more time looking for it.According to ordinary people's thinking, this kind of urban area is more suitable than the countryside for hiding from family members.

As mentioned earlier, even if Yuezhen's home is in the outer city, it is only about five kilometers away from the university.It is normal for my sister to take a streetcar or bus from Kazudano-cho to work as a tutor.However, Sotomo City is more likely than Kazudano Town. I can't help feeling this way.In the end, I did guess right. Before I started searching, I took a little sleep because I was exhausted.I was hungry again, and I only ate two pieces of bread, which was far from enough.If I only bought one at that time, it would cost me 114 yen now, and I might be able to buy some decent food.As if complaining, I criticized the judgment made half a day ago in my heart, and at the same time walked into the park that is the interval between tall buildings.

A few years later, the name will be changed to "Outside Central Park" and renovation work will begin, turning it into a wide promenade, but it is still an ordinary park surrounded by cherry blossom trees.A flock of pigeons is pecking at the bait scattered on the ground at my feet.I chose a bench to lie down on, which will become a tall fountain in the future. I dozed off for two hours in a daze. I wanted to sleep for a while, but I was so impatient that I couldn't fall asleep even if I forced myself to lie down.I gave up and stood up. I wanted to go to the nearest police station, but the police station that was supposed to be at the entrance and exit of the park was gone.The police station moved here after the park was rebuilt, so where was the original location?When I was a child, I often went to the foreign market to play, but now I can't remember it.

I looked around and found an old man wearing a peaked cap and holding a cane sitting on a bench, with an expression on his face that he hoped someone would chat with him.I walk over to him. "Excuse me, may I bother you?" "Huh?" Ask back, or agree?The unique tone of the old man made it difficult for me to judge.Facing the old man who straightened up, I couldn't help shrinking a little. "Well, where is the police station?" "The police station? It's on the corner of the street, directly opposite the bank with the electronic display." "That's it, thank you..." Before the second part of the sentence "you" came out, I suddenly thought of something.I took the ballpoint pen out of my briefcase.It was a consolation prize for bingo at the annual meeting, and its new and strange design never existed in this day and age.

"Excuse me, I want to give you this as a thank you gift." "Huh?" The old man straightened up again, staring at the pen intently, and the moment he reached for it—— Although I guessed it beforehand, I was still taken aback when it happened in front of my eyes.Gone, unbelievable, really gone.The ballpoint pen that was still in my hand just now disappeared without a trace like a wisp of smoke. The old man froze for a moment, then laughed out loud, shaking his upper body slightly. "What, it turned out to be magic. It's amazing, oh my." Fortunately, the old man explained it for me so kindly.

I smiled embarrassedly, turned and left.If so, I am sure of it. That's right. Things that are very dangerous after being circulated outside, such as currency, and things that cannot be used, such as phone cards, cannot be brought into this era from the beginning.Even things that can be brought in, such as clothes and the ballpoint pen just now, will disappear once they are touched by people of this era. "Huh?" I was surprised again. After walking away from the old man for a while, I felt a strange sensation in my hand.Looking down, he saw the ballpoint pen that had just disappeared in his palm.I really feel like a magician.It seems that such items on the body will not disappear completely.

I suddenly became interested, walked into the telephone booth in the park, opened the phone book inside, and tried to write "I am from 2000" in the corner, but I couldn't.To be precise, it disappeared without a trace as soon as it was written. I took out my 2000 edition notebook, turned to the page where I wrote "Tsukijin Kiriko" at Haneda Airport, and tried to write "Nagahiro Miho" next to it.It hasn't disappeared, and it can indeed be written, so... Just like the relationship between a phone card and a telephone, a ballpoint pen cannot be used alone and requires paper.However, just like using a phone card requires a matching phone, paper and ballpoint pens must be of the same era.So I can't write it in the phone book, but I can write it in the notepad.Notepad and ballpoint pen, if one is missing, the other disappears; and it is only because the two items are a set that they can be brought in.Without a notepad, you can’t write with a ballpoint pen; without a ballpoint pen, you can’t use a notepad, and even if you buy a pencil at a stationery store, you can’t write on it.

The same goes for clothes and shoes.They exist because there are people who wear them, and coats and sweaters themselves cannot go back to the past.Conversely, if my body doesn't match the clothes I'm supposed to wear, it might disappear too.The relationship between wallets and coins can be explained in the same way.But why do you have to go back to the past?Let's put aside the fundamental question for now. etc.When I almost recognized this truth, I suddenly couldn't figure it out.If this is the setting, Yuezhen Jilizi's "Fennel Fruit Wine" should also be brought in.Books alone have no meaning, there must be people who read them.In that case, I can't read it.People in the past world, such as the old man just now, wanted to touch the library book, it would disappear, and now it returns to my hand, so it’s okay.Why is "The Wine of Anise Fruit" disappearing?Of course, it is also something of the future, so maybe there is some fundamental difference between the ballpoint pen and the library, but I don't think Potou can explain it either.That being the case, let's just jump to conclusions.

Now to be clear: even if I had no money, I couldn't sell my belongings, even if what I had was worth little. After confirming this, I opened the phone book in the phone booth to see if there was a number for "Magoso".The easiest way is to call and ask for the address, but unfortunately I can't find it.Is it because there is no record, or is this phone book too old?Maybe that apartment wasn't in Outer City at all? I managed to pull myself together and walked towards the police station on the street, maybe "Magoso" is nearby.When I asked, the policeman on duty told me that this was a newly built house nearby without even looking at the map.I had originally planned to spend at least a day searching outside the city, so I was a little discouraged.Of course, even if the name is the same, it may not be the apartment where my sister lives.

I asked the police to draw a simple map and hurried towards "Magoso".The police said it was nearby, but in fact the residential street is about 30 minutes' walk away from the police station.Did the police count it as "nearby" because of the patrol?Or did the policeman just know about it by accident?Anyway, this came as a bit of a surprise to me. I passed by the shopping street.Unlike the future, which will gradually decline with the construction of hypermarkets, butcher shops and fresh fish shops are full of vitality early in the morning.The signboards of Chinese restaurants and yakiniku restaurants are torture for me now, I hurriedly shake them off and rush into the residential street.

The two-story apartment was found quickly, the floor was new and clean.I checked the mailbox, but I didn't find the surname Yongguang, but there were three houses that didn't write their names, maybe one of them was my sister's room. What to do next?Frontal attack method, looking for one by one.All the rooms without names are on the second floor, and I was about to go upstairs when—— I stopped and froze.In the middle of the stairs stood a woman staring at me, no, it should be a girl. She has shoulder-length hair, is dressed in jeans, and has a slender body like a boy. She is obviously only a teenager, but her pupils are as deep as an adult's as she stares at me motionlessly.My heart seems to have been seen through. "You are..." Unknowingly said, "Are you... Yuezhen?" The recent photo of the author on "The Wine of Fennel Fruit" looks more like an adult, but there is no doubt that the girl in front of her is her. "You are Yuezhen Ji Lizi... right?" With a blank expression on her face, she slowly walked down the stairs while making movements like rolling up the sleeves of her jacket.She's wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and looks like she's stroking her exposed arm. "Uh..." I was a little confused, "What, what's wrong?" "Watch..." the girl said.The calm alto voice penetrated into my heart, it was hard to imagine that it belonged to a fourteen-year-old girl, "Can you lend me your watch?" "Watch?" I didn't understand the situation, so I just stretched out my left hand, "like this?" "Thank you." The girl nodded, showing a motherly smile—at least in my eyes now. "I'm meeting you for the first time. I'm Yuezhen Jilizi. Are you Yongguangying Er?"