Chapter 33 30 mourning

I worked in London for a while, partly out of financial exigency, but more because my travels had become ossified.After leaving Japan for two years and five months, the fresh excitement and high-spirited emotions at the beginning of the journey have disappeared, and I just step on the bicycle in a daze every day.What used to be "non-daily" travel, day after day, has turned into "everyday".The best way to inject vitality into this inert life is to plunge headlong into the "non-daily" world.For me now, the so-called "extraordinary" is to stay in a certain place and start working, which is the opposite of a person who is tired of the unchanging life of an office worker and travels.

I found a job right away, working at a bento shop that sells Japanese food.Of course, it is underground labor, which is the so-called illegal employment.The boss was very understanding and readily agreed.I rented a room in a weird apartment complex with mixed Turks and started living in London. In the blink of an eye, three months have passed, and I welcome the third spring of my journey. some day. That day, it was a rare sunny day in London early in the morning. I called Brother Seiji's hometown to find out the address of a friend he knew in common.I met Seiji-san several times in the United States and South America, and I also worship him as my real brother.Originally, I wanted to call another friend, but before I dialed the number, I had a thought: Brother Seiji might have returned to Japan.Wanted to hear his voice, wanted to be like in South America, the two of them taking turns telling silly jokes and laughing out loud.Every time I encountered something stupid during the trip, I would think about how to tell him, and then I laughed secretly.The person who answered the phone looked like his mother.Brother Seiji must be shocked, right?I waited like a child and said his name.

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while. "Excuse me, what is your relationship with Seiji?" someone who seemed to be his mother said so. "Ah, I've cycled with him in South America, thanks to him for taking care of..." "Is that so?" After she finished speaking, she was quiet for a while.Afterwards I finally hear: "... Seijita, he won't be coming back anymore." "..." A thought flashed through my mind.But I immediately dismissed it, thinking of other more realistic and more likely reasons.Haha, since he's Seiji, wouldn't he fall in love with a local woman?I won't come back, maybe I accidentally gave birth to a child...

"Then, may I ask where is Brother Seiji now?" "...he won't come back anymore." I couldn't speak, and my heartbeat gradually accelerated.After a while, on the other end of the phone, my mother seemed to have made up her mind and said, "Seiji, he has passed away. However, I don't know the details yet. The embassy contacted us a week ago and only said that we were buried. In the heavy snow in the deep mountains of Tibet, he seems to have died...It seems that the locals found his tent and bicycle and contacted them. But the snow is still deep, and there is no way to recover the body."

"..." "You are Mr. Ishida, right? Please let me know the friends you both know." I hung up the phone, and vigorously swept the empty beer cans scattered on the table to the ground, making a loud noise.The jars were scattered on the floor, and I was yelling and wailing, pounding on the walls of the room.A dark, cruel mood emerged.Why do people like that have to die? There are many people who deserve more death than him!Several faces appeared in my mind, wouldn't it be good if this guy died?That guy can do it too?Why does it have to be Brother Seiji? When we met again in Patagonia, his bright smiling face made my hands black, and the figure who was still helping me repair my bicycle kept appearing, and I couldn't breathe in my chest.After an unknown amount of time, I knelt on the bed, weeping excitedly.

The tears finally dried up, and I calmed down a little, but the pain in my heart still couldn't be completely erased, just like wave after wave kept coming, wrapping around me tightly.I thought, I absolutely cannot let my parents and friends bear such grief.It was only then that I realized how arrogant I was. ——It’s fine if you die!If you have to die, let's talk about it when the time comes! From the moment I set off, and throughout the entire journey, this thought was in the back of my mind.However, what a lonely and childish idea this is!Relatives and friends cannot be made to suffer so much, and under no circumstances should they be made to bear this kind of grief.When I swore that, the unbearable pain reappeared in the depths of my body.I gripped the sheets tightly and buried my face deep in the bed.

Daily life in London passed on without a hitch, and the world around me remained the same compared to the drastic changes in my mind.Before I knew it, it had been half a year since I came here.I bid farewell to the UK before my six-month visa expired.I thanked the owner of the convenience store, packed my bags, moved out of the apartment, and left this familiar street. When I got on the bike, the wind blowing across my face was surprisingly refreshing, and my mood relaxed.The "daily life" here has indeed washed away the dirt I accumulated during the journey.The pale green prairie glistened under the sun and flowed like the sound of the wind. It was a rare sunny day in the UK from early in the morning.While stepping on the bicycle, I confided to him who was speeding beside me.

——You said that one day you wanted to cycle in Africa, right?So let's go together...