Chapter 17 16

4:52 A warehouse-like basement for band practice.No windows, high ceilings, exposed pipes.The power of the ventilation fan is not enough, and the room is non-smoking.As the night draws to a close, formal practice is over and free-form improvisation is now underway.There were about ten people in the room, two of them were women, one was playing the piano, the other was resting with a soprano saxophone, and the rest were all men. Takahashi played the trombone to a trio of electric piano, cello and drums."Sonny moon for Two" by Sonny Rollins.Blues that aren't fast paced.Not bad for playing.Compared with techniques, the superposition of syllables and the advancement of the plot are more attractive to listen to.Perhaps there is an expression of personality in it.He closed his eyes and closed his eyes, immersed in the music.Soprano sax, alto sax and trumpet add short syllables in the background from time to time.Those who did not participate in the performance listened to the performance while drinking coffee in a thermos to confirm the score, trim the instrument, and cheer him up from time to time during the interval of the solo.

Due to the bare walls on all sides, the reverberation was so loud that the drums could almost only be played with brushes.On the temporary dining table made of long wooden boards and electroplated chairs, takeaway pizza boxes, coffee thermoses, paper cups and other objects are scattered around, as well as musical scores, small tape players, saxophone reeds, etc.Also because there was no heating, everyone played in overcoats and blazers.Among the resting members, some had scarves around their necks and gloves.It was an incredible sight.After Takahashi's long solo, the cello entered the chorus 1 solo.After this part, enter the theme ensemble of four French horns.

At the end of the song, rest for ten minutes.After practicing for a long time, I was a little tired after all. Everyone became more silent than usual, or straightened their waists or straightened their legs, or drank hot drinks, or ate biscuits, or went outside to smoke and prepare for the next piece. Only the long-haired girl who played the piano rested During the time, I have been sitting in front of the instrument and trying to play a few chord progressions.Takahashi sat on the galvanized chair and sorted out the score, disassembled the trombone, shook off the accumulated saliva, wiped it with a cloth and put it in the box. It seemed that he had no intention of participating in the next round of performance.

The tall man playing the cello came, patted Takahashi on the shoulder with a "boom" and said, "Hey, the solo just now is wonderful! It's euphemistic and moving." "Thank you!" Takahashi said. "Mr. Takahashi, are you going to withdraw your troops today?" the long-haired man playing the trumpet greeted. "Well, I have some things to do." Takahashi said, "I'll just pack things up, please, sorry." 5:00 The kitchen of Bai Chuan's house.The chime whistle sounded, and the NHK② news program at 5 o'clock in the morning began. The announcer faced the front camera and read the press release methodically.Bai Chuan sat at the table in the dining room, turned on the TV with a low volume, and the volume was so low that it was almost inaudible.The tie was unbuttoned on the back of the chair, and the sleeves of the shirt were rolled up to the elbows.The yoghurt box was empty.He didn't particularly want to read the news, and there wasn't a single one that interested him, and he knew that from the start.He just can't sleep.

He slowly flexed and stretched his right hand a few times on the table, and what he felt was not ordinary pain, but pain that contained memories.He took out a green bottle of PERIER mineral water from the refrigerator and put it on the back of his right hand to keep it cold.Then unscrew the bottle cap, pour it into a cup and drink it.He took off his glasses and massaged the circles of his eyes carefully.Sleepiness just doesn't come.His body was complaining of real fatigue, but there was something in his head that wouldn't let him sleep, something was blocking him, and he couldn't avoid that or something.Bai Chuan had no choice but to put on his glasses again, and his eyes fell on the TV screen.Steel export anti-dumping issues.The government's countermeasures against the sudden rise in the yen.The mother committed suicide with her two young children.Pour gasoline into the car and set it on fire, the whole charred image of the car is still smoking.The Christmas business wars have almost begun in the streets.

The night was drawing to a close, but it seemed hard for him to end it.The family will be up in a while, and they want to sleep before then anyway. 5:07 A room at the "Alpha City" hotel.Mary retracted her body deeply into the single sofa to take a nap, her feet in white socks resting on the glass coffee table.Rest assured sleep.On the coffee table was a thick book that was about half read.The ceiling lights were still on, but Mary didn't seem to mind the brightness of the room.The TV was off and there was silence.Makes a beautiful bed.Nothing was heard except the monotonous hum of the ceiling air conditioner.

5:09 Eri Asai's room. At some point, Eri Asai was already on this side. She returned to her own room and her own bed, facing the ceiling, her whole body was motionless, and she couldn't even hear her sleep.The scene was exactly the same as what we had witnessed when we first came to this room.A heavy silence, an astonishingly dense sleep.Waves are as flat as a mirror on the surface of thinking water.She floated there on her back.There was no disorder in the room at all.The TV coldly disappears and returns behind the moon.Could it be that she escaped skillfully from that enigmatic room?The door opened smoothly?

No one answered the question.The question mark is floating, and the last darkness of the night is sucked away by the indifferent silence.As the fact is barely known, only Eri Asai has returned to her own bed in this room.As far as we can see, she was finally able to return to this side safe and sound, with no loss of outline.He must have escaped to the door at the last moment, or found the exit by chance. At any rate, the series of strange events that had taken place in this room during the night seemed to be at an end.A cycle is achieved, the mutation is completely recycled, the confusion is covered with a tarpaulin, and things seem to be restored.All around us, cause and effect join hands, integration and disintegration in balance.In the final analysis, everything unfolds in a place like an unreachable abyss.From late at night until the sky was white, somewhere in that place quietly opened a dark entrance.That is where our principles are utterly powerless.No one can predict when and where that abyss swallows people, and when and where it spits out.

Ai Li was no longer confused at all, she lay down in the middle of the bed and continued to sleep soundly.Her black hair spreads out in an elegant fan, spreading silent meaning on the pillow.The approach of morning can already be felt as a breath, and the darkest part of the night is gone. Is that really the case? 5:10 Inside the "SEVEN ELEVEN" convenience store.Carrying the trombone box on his shoulder, Takahashi selected food with serious eyes—something to eat when he returned to the dormitory to sleep and wake up.There are no other customers in the store."Bomb Juice" by Kazuo Sugasuke ③ poured out from the ceiling speakers.He picked out a tuna salad sandwich in a plastic case and a carton of soft-packed milk, comparing the dates with the others.Milk is a food of great significance to his life, and no detail can be ignored.

Just then, the cell phone on the cheese rack rang.The mobile phone placed not far in front of Takahashi.Takahashi frowned, staring at the phone in surprise.Who the hell left their phone in a place like this?I took a look at the cash register, but there was no clerk.The phone rang for a long time without stopping.Helpless, he held the small silver phone in his hand and pressed the call button. "Hey," Takahashi called. "You can't escape," the man said at the beginning, "Don't even think about escaping. Even if you escape to the ends of the earth, we will catch you back."

The voice was flat, as if reading a printed article, without any emotion.Of course Takahashi couldn't figure out what the other party was referring to. "Hey, wait!" Takahashi increased the volume. However, his words did not seem to reach the ear of the other party at all, and the man who called continued to speak in a straightforward voice, as if recording a tape on a phonograph. "We're going to break your spine. We know what you look like, too." "Hey, who are you talking about..." The man said: "If someone hits your spine somewhere, it's us." Completely clueless, Takahashi remained silent.The phone, which had been on the freezer for a long time, was cold in his hand. "You may have forgotten, but we haven't." "So you got the wrong person, somehow..." Takahashi said. "There's no escape." The phone is hung up suddenly, the line is dead, and the last words are left on the shore of no one.Takahashi still stared at the phone in his hand.Who do men refer to by "we"?Where and who was supposed to answer the phone?Although he didn't have a clue about this, the unpleasant, incoherent curse-like lingering sound of the man's voice remained in his ear (the ear with the deformed earlobe), and there was a feeling of grasping a snake in his hand. Slippery touch. Takahashi imagined someone being chased by several people for some reason.Judging from the categorical statement of the man who called, that person must be inescapable, and one day he must be caught off guard somewhere in the back and hit the spine.What happens next? Anyway, this matter has nothing to do with him, Takahashi said to himself.It must have been one of those brutal and bloody deeds that were quietly going on behind the scenes of the city, something passed over another telephone line in another world.I was just a passerby, and I picked up the non-stop ringing mobile phone on the shelf of the convenience store out of concern.Someone probably left their mobile phone here and called to confirm the location. Takahashi folded the phone and put it back in its original place, next to a box of low-fat COMENBERT cheese.It's best to race against time to get out of here, and it's best to stay away from this dangerous line as much as possible.He walked briskly to the cash register, grabbed a handful of change from his pocket, and paid for the sandwich and milk. 5:24 Takahashi sat alone on a park bench.That little park with cats just now.Nobody but him.Two swings side by side, fallen leaves all over the ground, and the moon floating in the sky.He took out his mobile phone from the pocket of his windbreaker and pressed the number. A room in the "Alpha City" hotel where Mary was staying.The phone rang.After ringing four or five times, she opened her eyes, frowned and glanced at her watch, stood up from her chair, and took the receiver. "Hello," Mary's voice was a little muffled. "Hey, it's me. Sleeping?" "For a while." As she spoke, Mary covered the receiver with her hands and coughed lightly, "It's okay, I just sat on the chair and dozed off." "How about going to breakfast, if you like? Go to the restaurant that has delicious omelets as I said. Not only omelettes, but also delicious things, I think." "Is practice over?" Mary asked.But it didn't sound like his own voice.I am me and not me. "It's over. I'm hungry, how about you?" "To be honest, I'm not too hungry and want to go home first." "Very well. Then, I must take you to the station. I think the first tram has already left." "If it's from here to the station, I can go alone," Mary said. "I would like to chat with you a little more if possible," Takahashi said, "Walking and chatting on the way to the station—if it doesn't cause trouble." "Trouble is out of the question." "I'll pick you up at your place in ten minutes, okay?" "Okay." Mary replied. Takahashi hung up the phone, folded it and put it in his pocket.Standing up from the bench, he stretched greatly, and then looked up at the sky.The sky was still dark, and the same crescent moon hung in the sky.Looking up from a corner of the city near dawn, it is incomprehensible that such a large object hangs in the air for free. "I can't escape." Takahashi tried to make a sound while looking up at Crescent Moon. The enigmatic aftertaste of the sentence would remain in him as a metaphor.There is no escape.You may have forgotten, we haven't, said the man on the phone.While thinking about its meaning, he felt that this sentence was not meant for anyone else, but aimed directly at himself.That didn't necessarily happen by accident.Maybe the mobile phone was quietly lurking on the shelf of that convenience store, waiting for Takahashi to pass by.We, Takahashi thought, who are we referring to?What did they forget? Putting the musical instrument case and large lady's handbag on his shoulders, Takahashi walked towards "Alpha City" at a leisurely pace, stroking the growing beard on his cheek with his palm as he walked.The last darkness of the night envelops the city like a thin skin.Garbage collection trucks are starting to appear on the road.Roughly intersecting with this, people who had spent the night in various parts of the city began to move towards the station.Like a school of fish going upstream, they headed for the starting tram without exception.People who have finally finished their all-night work, young people who are tired from all-night play—they have different positions and qualifications, but they all remain silent.Even the young couple in front of the drink vending machine had nothing to talk about at the moment, but just shared the remaining warmth of the two of them in silence. A new day is at hand, and the old day still drags its heavy skirts.Just as the sea and the river compete for power at the mouth of an estuary, the new time and the old time merge and merge, and are at loggerheads.Which side of the world is your center of gravity now?Takahashi couldn't tell. (Note: ① Sonny Rollins, African-American jazz saxophonist (1930-). ②Nippon Broadcasting Corporation's abbreviation in Roman letters ③Japanese singer and artist (1966-). )