Chapter 7 7

{"here"} The driver told us that if we finished visiting the "Travel Village", we would call him and he would send a car to pick us up. "Pick you up to Kumancho, where there is a bus to take." We got out of the car, thanked him and said goodbye. "Hometown Travel Village" is deep in the mountains.It can be seen from the signboard standing at the entrance that this is a resort area that aims to be developed into a combination of agricultural work and natural scenery.Looking around, there are tall trees all around.I don't know if it's due to the season or something else, but I didn't see a single guest.A crow crows openly on the branches.

I walked towards a small flat-roofed house by the entrance, a shop that also sells tickets and souvenirs.After entering, the left hand is a store full of all kinds of cheap goods, and the right hand is the dining area, a dimly lit space with few lights on.A middle-aged woman is sitting there eating noodles. "That—sorry—" I asked her. "Welcome, what's the matter?" A middle-aged man wearing glasses came out from behind a side door, it seemed that he was the staff here. "It's like this, I'm here to watch, the previous TV series "Tokyo Love Story"—"

"Ah—do you want to see that pillar?" Before I could finish speaking, he laughed clearly, "Here, here." "Really?! Is it here?" Xiao ran followed him.Mr. Okuda also asked "Found it?" along with us. The middle-aged man took me around a corner, right where the store and the dining area connect.There is a black and white photo on the wall.There are shelves and wooden shelves underneath, and some sundries are piled up. In the past ten seconds or so, I suddenly realized that in front of the black-and-white photo, there were two wooden pillars, the one on the left was engraved with various graffiti, and an area was almost completely planed out.

This one is it. {Pillar} "Ah, I remembered, when I graduated from elementary school, I carved my name on the school pillar, Class 2, Grade 6, Wanji Nagao." Wanji smiled and shook his head, "Ah... I don't know if that name is still there. " "Then... go and have a look!" Li Xiang suddenly suggested, "Then add my name next to it." "Huh? It's a long way to go and see." "Want to go and see, the place where you were born and raised." "So, let's go together during the next vacation?" "Really?!" Lixiang stretched out her little finger, "It's a deal!"

"Well, it's a deal." In order to find Lixiang who disappeared after the breakup, Wanji came to Ehime with some hope, but she was never found at first.Until he remembered that pillar in the elementary school he once attended. Run across the playground to it in the winter snow.Search one by one.Finally found the pillar with his name engraved on it, "Nagao Wanji, Class 2, Grade 6". And next to this line of somewhat blurred handwriting, there is a clear line of "Akina Lixiang". The black-and-white photo on the wall is the Jiuwan Middle School when this scene was filmed. However, it was demolished and rebuilt shortly after the show was broadcast, but the pillar was preserved as an exception.

{name} It is completely impossible to see the original two lines of names clearly. The entire column is covered with names inscribed by various later generations.The most damaged area had to be protected by a transparent plastic panel.I think that must be the place where the names of Wanzhi and Lixiang were written. Although it has been maintained too late, under the plastic shell is a piece of light color that has been painted many times to reveal the inner layer of wood. "Nagao Wanji" and "Akana Rika" were submerged in the hearts of all kinds of prayers and souvenirs for the next ten years.

Beside the pillars are several guest books. Tourists from all over Japan wrote down their thoughts. "I finally saw it." "It's very complicated." "I'm so touched." "Classic charm." Someone exaggeratedly wrote on the cover of a guest book: "I finally came here today, but what is this? , Super shock——!" Excited, sad, angry, and full of regret after finally realizing his wish.It also turned to the names of two Chinese students studying abroad. After browsing item by item, I left a message after them. Put down the pen, and said to Mr. Okuda: "Okay, you can go."

"Oh? Okay?" he asked me. "Well, that's fine." Two hour flight.Twelve hours long-distance bus. One hour by tram, and half an hour by taxi. I'm coming. {No} There is no such thing as an end. After crossing the white line, you will still go forward. There is no end. {Jiuwan Middle School} When I got out of the hut and sat for a while under the sign board, waiting for the taxi to pick us up, I counted the photos. Mr. Okuda ate the box of sandwiches he bought at the convenience store earlier. Maybe I still showed a depression that could be noticed by others. Mr. Okuda has not spoken to me like this for a long time.I couldn't find anything to talk about either, pinching the photo and turning my face to the other side.

Tall trees that have lost their leaves in winter.There is no green.Located in a remote and desolate villa. Kuman-cho is located at such an altitude, and I only saw it in the taxi on the return trip. There are continuous mountains in the vicinity and far away, dotted with white snow.After arriving at the bus station in Kumancho, I was a bit shocked to see that the bus would not leave until one hour and forty minutes later.Mr. Okuda and I stood in a small waiting room.There are expired flower viewing posters on the wall.A row of benches.Nothing else. In this case, no way.I told myself. Bite the bullet and walk towards Mr. Okuda, "...I'll take a look around. I'll be back later."

"Oh good, be careful then." Mr. Okuda had no objection. Located in the small town set among the mountains, there are several thin and straight roads, and quiet shops are closed.Pass the post office.Passing by a small bookstore.Pass by the dentist's office.The road undulates with the mountains.You can see the gray-blue peak behind you without looking back. Turning to the next intersection, a school appeared in front of my eyes.Hillside.There is a low gymnasium next to the main building, with high mountains behind it, an open sandy field in front, and a protective baseball net on the outside.

I read its name "Jiuman Middle School" from the bus stop in front of the school. The elementary school that Nagao Wanji attended, after it was demolished and rebuilt. Lixiang took its photo and left without saying goodbye, and she went to Ehime alone. I see it now too. {"click"} I spent most of my time around the school, and at one point really, really wanted to muster up the courage to go inside.Students who are busy at the school gate, carrying flower pots or cleaning the ground.Next to the gymnasium, someone is dragging a basket full of tennis balls. Occasionally a student would stop and look at me curiously. Nervous and ashamed, unable to strike up a conversation.Quietly step back a few meters to the outside of the wall. At four or five o'clock in the evening in winter, the mountains are covered with lead gray.Like a fog, slowly drifting away from the light-colored baseball field sand.I, who left Mr. Okuda alone in the waiting room, stood on the slender overpass, leaning on the railing, and raised my camera to the gymnasium and the sandy ground in front of me. focus.Close one eye. In the other eye, the picture changes from blurry to clear. - That's all for today. ——That's it. ——For more than ten years. Press the shutter. Light shines into the developer solution.The shadow of a hazy dream emerges. "Click". {baths} That night, I went to Dogo Onsen to take a bath before going to bed.It was a large pool with a long history, and many relatively elderly women soaked their bodies in the hot water.I only stayed for a while, and my whole face was burning red, so I had to crawl out quickly. After changing into the yukata and slippers provided by the hotel, I wanted to go to the shopping street to buy a comb. Putting his hands in the big sleeves, he was not used to walking in slippers, and his body swayed from side to side. Think of a certain song. I forgot how many times it was, when Lixiang came out of the women's bathroom, she saw Wanzhi waiting at the door of the men's bathroom, shrinking her neck because of the cold. The two went home from the public bathroom together. On the way, Lixiang took Wanzhi's arm and sang with a smile. a certain song. {ballad} You have forgotten, right? We both put bright red handkerchiefs around our necks, Go to the bathhouse in the alley together. We agreed to come out together, But I always wait outside. The wet hair is cold and cold, A little bar of soap shivered with me, You hugged me and said: "It's so cold." You have lost it The set of 24 color watercolor pens. You want to paint me, I always tell you to draw better, But never like me. What flows outside the window is the quiet Kanda River, The cramped hut is my world. Your eyes rest on my fingertips, I ask you: "Not happy?" when i was young, Not knowing what fear is. But it's your gentleness, scares me.