Chapter 8 8

{Finish} I will leave Matsuyama at noon the next day, so I know very well that all my follow-up visits to Ehime will end at this moment. Like a clear farewell ceremony, the coming tide will immediately submerge it and sink to the bottom of the sea, a frozen city. Take one last look at it. "When I was young, Not knowing what fear is. " When I was young, I wrote down the list of beautiful things - the lawn after the grass was mowed, the summer was dark at noon when it rained heavily, the soft silk of the candy sticking to the paper after it melted, the touch of the fingers... But after many years, although I know that they are still beautiful things, I never seriously think about them again.

{reason} Met him at first on the road. I thought it was just a brief and polite greeting. Standing in front of the temple gate. I said "thank you" to him in the tone of closing a sentence before parting. "I'll be your guide." He insisted. At Umezu Station, I was facing a row of handkerchiefs. Before I said anything regretful, Mr. Okuda was beside me and took out a plastic bag from my carry-on bag. He shook one of the towels inside out in front of me. "Here, take it, you go and tie it here. It's okay, this is the towel I bought from Dogo Onsen yesterday, here it is. Take it and take it."

After I strongly waved my hand and declined, he said, "Then I will tie it here myself." Hang the towel with a corner on the railing. In the waiting room of Kumancho, maybe he also walked outside casually during the nearly two hours of waiting. So on the return bus, I quickly nodded to Okuda-san's "Shall we have dinner together?" There is no longer a slight flash of surprise or resistance. Actually very understandable. It was not difficult to understand. Since Mr. Okuda is different from others. {back to hotel} We got off at the bus stop and changed to the original tram.I asked Mr. Okuda where is your home? Is it here in Dogo Onsen?

He said no, and pointed to me on the map, "here". On the opposite end of the straight line from Dogo Onsen. During the period, I took the wrong section of the road, and the tram also divided into lines 1, 2, and 3, so I jumped off halfway and walked back for a section. It was nearly 8 o'clock, and Mr. Okuda and I returned to the hotel. He was indeed acquainted with the family who ran the hotel, and he handed the radish, green onions and a bag of brown rice—the “souvenir” mentioned earlier—to the proprietress’ daughter.The other party thanked me and asked me: "Then can I bring the food to your room now?"

{Mrs. Chennai}(1) The fall before that, I traveled to the border between Nagano and Aichi.Stay at a hot spring hotel in the mountains on Wednesday and Thursday. On the first night, after 6 o'clock, I went to the bathroom on the first floor to take a shower.Just after I washed the foam off my hair, an old lady opened the door and walked in.In the tiny bathroom just the two of us, conversations inevitably ensue. I crawled out of the inner soup beside me, and she said, "Go to the open-air hot spring, otherwise it would be too wasteful." The old man in his sixty-five years old is very kind and kind.While pulling my shoulders, who don't know much about hot springs, I reminded, "It's not good to soak in it for too long, you have to get up after a while to breathe."

The open-air hot spring is opposite the mountains and woods, as well as the lake.The moon had risen as if it were full. The night wind blows. "Sure enough, the hot springs are the best—" she said. "Ah, really—" I leaned on the stone and narrowed my eyes slightly. "It's very nice here. In winter, it's even more wonderful when it's snowing on one side." "Really... that's great..." "Are you here with friends?" "No, no, I came alone." "Hey, alone?" She raised her voice, "Really? Awesome——"

"...No... Nothing." I wrung my hair dry. "Ah, how about this, come to our room for dinner later? I came with my old man. Why don't you come to eat together. It's so boring to eat alone. Okay, come together .” "...Then, if it's not troublesome..." "No way." She stood up and urged me, "Let's go, let's go together." After changing his clothes, the old man went to the front desk and asked: "Can the little girl's dinner be delivered to our room? I'll take her to eat together, please." Take me to her room.

The old gentleman sitting at the low table watching TV looked at me. "I just met a little girl who came to travel alone when we took a bath together. She is amazing. I asked her to come and have dinner with us." She pulled a stool for me and introduced to her husband, "It's okay." "Oh—" replied the old gentleman, "good evening." Bring three dinners. During the dinner, I knew that these were Mr. and Mrs. Chennai. Watch TV with them.Also drank beer.Speaking of Chinese characters.Speaking of cultural differences.Speaking of mapo tofu and Peking duck.The proprietress who delivered the meals one by one was older than Mrs. Chennai but looked much younger.So everyone joked together.Mrs. Chennai imitated the heroine in the famous ghost story, beating her chest and saying, "I hate you so much".

Ended up drinking two bottles of beer. Mr. Chennai asked his wife to find the camera, and called the proprietress to take a photo for me and the proprietress. "You took a photo with her, which is also proof that she has been here." He said to the proprietress. After dinner, I ran back to my room to get my camera, hoping to take pictures of the two old people. Mrs. Chennai smiled and said that there was no problem, no problem.Smooth your hair with your hands. She looked at my camera and smiled kindly. very kind. The next morning, after I got up, I went to the side hall to have breakfast.

When I entered, Mr. and Mrs. Chennai, who had been sitting there for a while, were about to finish.After exchanging good mornings with them, Mrs. Chennai asked me if I would stay for another night today, and I said "well, yes". {Mrs. Chennai}(2) "Are you leaving today?" "Yeah," she said. Mr. Aona, who finished his meal first, went back to his room.Mrs. Chennai is finishing the work.Just as I picked up the plums on my table, Mrs. Chennai came to me and knelt down. She took my hand and held it, then said, "Let's go then. You are alone." "Take care of yourself. Take care of yourself." She looked at me.Hold my hand tight.

{exception} When I came out of the bathroom before, and saw that I had messed up the knots in my bathrobe, Mrs. Chennai offered her hand to retie it for me. The action of tucking the side of the plain clothes reminded me of my relatives. I always thought that what I have ever met is the most beautiful experience that I can expect in my travels.It's so warm that it's unbelievably, horribly looking for reasons to justify it. Until I met Mr. Okuda. {old woman} I once met, at the station in Toyokawa City, I picked up the dropped ticket for an old man beside me.From here, the entrance was opened, and the old woman in her nineties was completely bent, like a plastic box that had melted and shrunk.She dragged me and chattered about her own affairs, telling me in a vague way that her husband died very early, and her children were not around her, so she lived alone.The old man held up his right hand, which was missing a pinky finger, which was very conspicuous from just now, and said that it was an injury suffered in an accident before. Fortunately, a nearby doctor was kind enough to treat her until now. "What a pain—" she said. An old man in dark blue, shivering and wearing a hat. I separated from her before arriving at the station, so the time I could listen to was no more than ten minutes. It seems that the leaking roof has no further impact in just ten minutes. However, if the water seeps for nearly a whole day, after more than ten hours, it will be enough to leave a whole piece of yellowish imprint. I think Mr. Okuda is very, very concerned about this kind of encounter.He met tourists from a foreign land, so he had a new arrangement for the blank day, went to places he was familiar with but never cared about, changed various means of transportation, and saw the scenes on TV by the way. I haven't watched TV myself. Have dinner together at night and watch TV specials that are either funny or scary or touching. "Oh, I have no children, no." "I live alone." More accurate meaning - "one lives" - "one lives". On the business card he handed me was written "private school", "Mr", address and contact number.I vaguely think that Mr. Okuda is not a wealthy person, so like the private school teacher, the economic conditions directly depend on the number of students, and there should not be many students.So, most of the time is still alone. I met such Mr. Okuda. Kindness, kindness, and enthusiasm are inevitable adjectives. But kindness, kindness, and enthusiasm are not the most important adjectives for Mr. Okuda. She smiled at him with a natural utter gratitude that was hard to reciprocate. Something hangs at the ends, and gravity pulls the grin back. {specimen} Mr. Belt, the proprietress who drove me - call her the heroine in the local parlance, and the kindest Mrs. Chennai... I hope to meet people like them again and again.Short communication, but enough warmth.I was warmed by kindness for no reason. It can almost be included in an inspirational plot, a specimen-like beautiful thing. But Mr. Okuda, dressed simply and in poor health, lived alone.He appeared in front of me.Helped me finish my day's trip smoothly, but I still have a sense of distance from him. After a step, he asked him "how are you?" In the wonderful encounter of specimens, there is no plan for Mr. Okuda to appear.He is like a three-dimensional stone, which cannot be pressed into the flat certificate. There is a small piece of wrinkle on the paper.A striking piece. Mixed feelings - guilt, resistance, pity, sighs, joy, gratitude - a journey of mixed feelings. It's been long enough that I've known Mr. Okuda, not just by remembering his face and name, but all the way through his life. What I have to face is no longer a simple "good-hearted person".What I have to face is Mr. Okuda who has been alone for a long time. This is far from "warm and simple encounters during the journey". He met me at the intersection and insisted on being a guide. On the road, he would also take me to various unplanned attractions, pointing to and introducing this shrine and this roadside hot spring foot bath.Said today is my temporary father. "Let's have dinner together." The reason for this is actually easy to understand. He wants to find someone. Whoever, does not have to be a foreign traveler, there is no definition. The moon rises. A day with company. {as it should be} At nearly 10 o'clock in the evening, Mr. Okuda walked to the first floor of the hotel to say goodbye.I walk him to the door.Mr. Okuda asked the proprietress the amount of his dinner.I quickly interrupted him, and turned around to tell the proprietress that it was my fault.Mr. Okuda objected that this is not good.I shook my head again and again: "No, it shouldn't be. You helped me so much today. I have troubled you all day. Let me ask you, it should be." Take him by the shoulders and push him away. "Then, I'll take my leave." He bowed to me and the proprietress, "Thank you for your hospitality." "Goodbye. Thank you." After saying "goodbye", Mr. Okuda tidied up his scarf, opened the wooden door, and went out. I stood in front of the stairs for a while, then turned back. When I was alone, I finally took off my socks, changed into pajamas, went to the hot spring bath, and finally came back with wet hair.Same old routine, sitting in front of the TV watching a funny show, unwrapping a box of potato chips from a convenience store. Restoring one's state. The next morning I was unpacking and getting ready to check out.The phone in the house rang, and the proprietress said "it was from Mr. Okuda yesterday" and took the outside line for me. "Hey, are you up?" Mr. Okuda asked. "Ah... well, good morning." I said. "Going home the day after tomorrow?" "Go back the day after tomorrow." "Then write to me when you get back to Shanghai. The address is on the business card I gave you." He spoke quickly, and the phone was not so clear, so I didn't understand: "What?" "I may go to Shanghai within this year, and I would like to invite you as a tour guide at that time." "Ah, um." I remember saying that. "So write to me and I'll get your address and I can find you when the time comes." "Oh... ok... I see." "All right? Thank you," said Mr. Okuda. "Good luck then." "Well, thanks, and goodbye." I dragged my suitcase to the long-distance station.It will arrive in Osaka in five or six hours. Enjoy shopping in Osaka.Find half-price bookstores.I bought half a box of more than twenty books.Sprawled on the bed at night to sleep.There are piles of things I just bought next to me. In a specialty shop of Okonomiyaki, catching up with the peak season, the owner who is also the chef—he looks like a 30-year-old man, but he introduced himself as a man in his 40s-was cooking Okonomiyaki for me while talking with I chatted, and then I was happy, and he gave me another mug of beer, another takoyaki, and three skewers of chicken. Sitting by the window, when he saw that it was starting to rain lightly outside, he turned around to find a transparent umbrella in the kitchen while I was checking out, and said, "It's very cheap, so don't be too polite, you can take it." In my mind, something as beautiful as a specimen. Accept the kindness of a stranger and get a warm memory. the only. As it should be. {photo} After returning home, when I was packing my luggage, I didn't find Mr. Okuda's business card. It is indeed not found.Lost it in the ensuing rush. Mr. Okuda's name and his address disappeared from me. All I have left is the one photo I originally took of him.And from the photo, you can clearly see Mr. Okuda. He was wearing a black fedora hat.It's not a dark gray-blue coat, but a khaki-yellow one, and the sweater with a part of it exposed is gray-blue.Tie a purple and blue woolen scarf. Carrying a shoulder bag.I still have a plastic bag in my hand. In the photo, holding a notebook and a pen, smiling at me through the lens. {Smile} Hope to see only beautiful, happy things.Have a wonderful, blissful experience.Sunshine-like warmth for no reason. The biased and naive thoughts made it impossible for me to smile at Mr. Okuda when I faced him. I think I have compassion in my heart, but I feel very disgusted with myself who pity others like this without authorization.I am grateful for his care all the way, but at the same time understand that it is because he is very lonely. I'm involved here in the life of a stranger.Inevitably, the unnatural feeling when following Mr. Okuda, because there are too many complicated emotions mixed in. Keep a step away. Want to keep a step away. Not the goodness of specimens. Mr. Okuda is Mr. Okuda. It is not a piece of warm light, which brings a slight temperature rise to the blood after sunning into the fabric. The light above my head was sifted by the leaves, leaving only mottled, dotted bright spots hitting the ground like rain stains. Tell me, what is light and dark. What a blemish. What is reality and truth. I hope Mr. Okuda is in good health. (Finish)