Chapter 34 Chapter Four

After that, I met Miwa every Wednesday at M Mausoleum. At the beginning, we just chatted, and after getting acquainted, we began to hide and seek in the vast cemetery, chasing and playing games.Now, there are surveillance cameras everywhere in that cemetery, maybe it's because there are suspicious elements like me and Miu. Thinking about it now, why didn't I feel weird at that time?No matter how much she likes children, why would an eighteen-year-old girl ask a second-grader to play with her? Probably because I was still young, I didn't have enough wisdom to consider such a deep problem at that time, but there is one detail that makes me feel very amazing.

Miha never let me see her leave. On Wednesday afternoons, I usually go directly to the cemetery after class, but Meiyu has already arrived before me almost every time. She always sits on the bench next to the stele of the Buddha of No Fate and waits for me.For the next three hours, she listened to me talking about various things in school, played various games with me, and reminded me to go home when the sunset appeared.We always say goodbye at the entrance of the cemetery, and Miu always stands there, watching me leave intently. I kept turning my head, and each time Meiyu would raise a hand to wave goodbye to me, but she didn't have the slightest intention of leaving, she just kept looking at my back until she couldn't see her.

Where does her family live? When we first met, she said her home was nearby, but she didn't tell me which street it was.Could it be that there is some secret hidden in it? Shouldn't... Maybe she's not human?I was so cranky.Although it sounds absurd, it is a natural association for children. Perhaps, in that vast cemetery, there is a tombstone belonging to an eighteen-year-old woman named Miwa.Or, in fact, under the stone tablet of the Buddha of No Fate... But even if that were the case, I wouldn't care.At that time, I was willing to be friends with him even if the other party was an "Iron Bridge man".It should be said that being like them makes me feel closer.

But when she saw Mei Yu with her own eyes, this delusion was completely shattered. She is always full of vigor and vitality, with a lively expression.She listened to me with wide-eyed eyes, smiling now and then. Whenever I see her face, I feel very happy.Where and who she is, I don't care.Thinking about it this way, I almost never inquired about her personally.Just like in the story of "The White Crane Pays Grace", if I would lose her while knowing the truth, then I would rather be kept in the dark. One day, Miu and I played hide-and-seek in the vast cemetery. After playing for a while, we sat down on the bench next to the Buddha of No Fate to rest as usual.

"Would you like some chocolate?" Saying so, Miwa took out a thick piece of chocolate from the pouch.I later found out that it was an American Hershey's chocolate, but at that time there were very few opportunities to see foreign snacks, so in my opinion, the chocolate was huge. "Big chocolate!" "Someone gave it to me yesterday, I think it's just for Xiaodao to eat." Meiyu's Kansai dialect still has a wonderful tone. Peeling off the wrapping paper, Miha broke the chocolate in two from the center without any hesitation.When it was broken, she also called out softly "Hey Yo", which sounded very cute.

"The weather is really nice today." Miha said while sitting on the bench, shaking her slippers-wearing feet aimlessly. Indeed, as she said, the sun was so warm that it was hard to believe that it was already November. "How's school?" Miha asked as usual. "Very happy! By the way, a few days ago..." I started to talk about what happened in school as usual. A classmate who told a joke at lunch ended up spitting out milk and was laughed at.Of course, I actually have nothing to do with this matter.But in my telling I am at the center of the crowd's attention.

"Hahaha, Xiaodao's school is full of fun people." Miha, who didn't know the truth, listened to my story with great interest.Speaking of which, I feel guilty about that too.But as I talked about it, I felt that I was really living such a happy life every day without knowing it, and I was unexpectedly excited. At this time, suddenly, I caught a flapping white object in the corner of my eye. "Ah, it's a butterfly." It was a very common cabbage butterfly (the correct counting method should be one, but I have been used to this term since I was a child, please forgive me).As if lured by the warm sunshine, it danced hard above countless tombstones.

"Stupid butterfly... I thought it was spring." I couldn't help whispering. At that age, I just stood at the entrance of life, but felt sad for this winter butterfly. I don't know how long it takes the cabbage worms to transform into butterflies, and they must have mistakenly thought their season had come, so they fled into butterflies in a panic.However, there were neither flowers nor friends where it was born.As a result, they just wasted this precious life in vain. The flying butterflies traced an irregular trajectory in the air, and I suddenly realized that maybe I was the same.

I had to suffer self-imposed scorn, had no friends, and lived a life of boredom—I was the “Iron Bridge Man,” the lost winter butterfly. "Why do you say it's stupid?" Meiyu looked puzzled. "Why aren't you stupid? You only have one life, but it mistakenly regards this as spring, and was born in this season... Daredevils should also be a little more modest." After I answered that, Meiyu poked my forehead with her index finger and said, "You are the daredevil." "Hey, why?" "Those butterflies are not just born now, they have lived until now."

"How is this possible?" "Really. It was born in the spring, lived through the summer and autumn... and has been alive somewhere, until now." I didn't immediately believe Miwa's words. I am a child, but I also know the weakness of butterflies.Wings thinner than paper, a body softer than any insect, and slender antennae, this is a delicate creature that will shatter if touched.If caught in the hand, it will die instantly. "Don't underestimate them. Butterflies are actually much stronger than you think." Meiyu said in unauthentic Kansai words, "That's right, in my hometown, there is a butterfly tree."

"Butterfly tree?" I imagine a tree that produces butterflies, like an apple tree that produces apples. "To be precise, it should be a tree full of butterflies. In the forest, where there are few people... Thousands of butterflies gather on a tree for the winter, so from a distance, it seems that winter is also blooming." Full of flowers." "Can butterflies overwinter?" "Words in my hometown." It's unbelievable that such a weak life can survive the cold winter. "Sister Meiyu, where is your hometown?" I asked casually, but a gloomy cloud appeared on Meiyu's face instantly. "In the far, far south." Miha replied while following the dancing butterflies.After a short interval of a few seconds, she added another sentence: "But I can't go back."

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