Chapter 18 17

5:38 Marie and Takahashi walked down the street side by side.Mary had a satchel over her shoulder, a Red Sox cap pulled down, and no glasses. "How are you, not sleepy?" Takahashi asked. Mary shook her head: "I took a nap just now." Takahashi said: "One time I practiced like this until dawn. I planned to go home and take the Chuo Line from Shinjukuza. When I woke up, I was in Yamanashi Prefecture, deep in the mountains and old forests. It's not my boast, no matter where I am, I can fall asleep immediately. .” Mary was silent, as if thinking otherwise. "...Hey, it's still about what I didn't finish just now, about Eri Asai." Takahashi said, "I'll tell you, it doesn't matter if you don't want to talk about it or not, I just want to ask about it."

"Ok." "Your sister has been asleep and doesn't want to wake up—that's what you seem to be saying, isn't it?" "yes." "I don't know the specifics, but what you're talking about is probably a state of drowsiness? Something like unconsciousness or something." Mary was a little speechless: "It's not like that. I don't think there is anything dangerous or life-threatening at the moment. It's just... just sleeping." "Just sleeping?" Takahashi asked. "Well, it's just..." At this point, Mary sighed, "I'm sorry, I still can't speak."

"Forget it, since it's not good to say it, there's no need to say it." "I'm tired, I can't sort out the things in my head. Besides, my voice doesn't sound like my own." "It doesn't matter sooner or later, let's find another time, and now this talk will be avoided." "Yes." Mary replied relievedly. The two of them didn't say anything for a while, they just moved towards the station.Takahashi whistled softly as he walked. "When does the sky get brighter?" Mary asked. Takahashi glanced at his watch: "This season, yes, about 6:40. This is the season with the longest night, and it will be dark for a while."

"It's quite tiring to black this thing." "Because it was the time when everyone had to go to sleep." Takahashi said, "Human beings go out nonchalantly after dark. Historically, it's just a recent thing. Once the sun goes down, people in the past had to go into caves to protect themselves." Our own bodies. The clocks set inside us that tell us to go to sleep when it gets dark." "It feels like a long time since it's been dark for four weeks last night." A large delivery truck parked in front of a grocery store that also sells medicines, and the driver moved the goods into the half-opened rolling iron gate.The two walked past the door.

"Hey, can I still see you this time?" Takahashi said. "why?" "Why?" Takahashi asked back, "Because I still want to meet and talk with you. If possible, the time should be more or less regular." "You mean like a date?" "Maybe it could be called that." "So what do I have to say?" Takahashi thought for a while. "What do we have in common—is that what you mean?" "I mean other than the topic of Ellie..." "Yeah, I suddenly asked about a common topic. I really can't remember the specifics. Now. But just being together, there will always be various things to say, I think."

"Even if you talk to me, it must be boring." "Has anyone ever said that before? Talking to you is not very interesting?" Mary shook her head: "I didn't say anything." "Then, don't mind." "I'm a bit depressed to make a simple division. There is also a middle ground called shadow. Only when you can recognize and understand this shadow stage can you be regarded as a sound intellect, and obtaining a sound intellect requires corresponding time and hard work. I don't think you How depressed the character is." Mari thought about what Takahashi said. "But I'm timid."

"Where, no. A timid girl would never go out on the street alone at night like this. You want to find something here, don't you?" "Here?" Mary asked. "In a place different from usual, in an area that deviates from the scope of my activities." "Could it be that I found something, here?" Takahashi looked at Mari's face with a smile. "At least I want to see you one more time and talk to you. I'm looking forward to it." Mary looked at Takahashi's face, and the two looked at each other. "But that might be difficult," she said.

"difficulty?" "Yep." "That is to say, there is a possibility that you and I will never see each other again?" "In terms of reality." "Anyone you're dating?" "Not yet." "So, you don't like me?" Mary shook her head and said, "That's not what I mean. I mean, because I won't be in Japan next Monday. I will go to a university in Beijing as an exchange student, and I will stay until June next year tentatively." "I see." Takahashi said admiringly, "You are a talented student."

"I took the courage to apply, but I was selected. I thought there was no hope for the freshman—it seems that the arrangement is a bit special." "Great, congratulations!" "Well, there are only a few days left until the departure, and this and that will be busy enough to prepare, I think." "Naturally." "Natural, what natural?" "You have to prepare to go to Beijing. This and that are very busy. If you don't have time to see me, that's natural." Takahashi said, "This is completely understandable, yes, it's okay, I can wait."

"It will be more than half a year before I return to Japan." "Don't look at me like this, I'm quite patient, and I'm good at killing time. If you can, tell me the address over there, and I want to write to you." "That's fine." "I sent a letter, will you reply?" "Yeah," said Mary. "When you come back to Japan next summer, just go on a date or something. Go to the zoo, the botanical garden, the aquarium, and eat delicious omelettes that are as politically correct as possible." Marie looked at Takahashi again, looking straight into his eyes as if to confirm something.

"But why are you interested in me?" "This—why? I can't explain it well now. However, during the time we met and talked with you a few days later, there is likely to be a sound similar to Francis Ley's music flowing from somewhere, and I If you can list a series of specific reasons why I am interested in you, maybe the snow will pile up beautifully." At the station, Mary took out a small red booklet from her pocket, wrote down the address of Beijing, tore off the page and handed it to Gao Qiao.Takahashi folded it in half and put it in his wallet. "Thank you, I'll write you a long letter," he said. Mary stood in front of the closed automatic ticket gate thinking about something, hesitating whether to say what she thought or not. "Ai Li, I remembered something just now." She finally made up her mind to say it, "I forgot it for a long time, but after receiving your call, when I was sitting in a daze on the chair in the hotel, the memory suddenly came back Yes, very suddenly. Is it okay to say it here now?" "of course can." "Want to talk to someone when I can really remember it," Mary said. "Otherwise, worry that the details might disappear." Takahashi put his hands on his ears to show that he was listening attentively. Mary began to tell: "In kindergarten, Ellie and I were locked in the elevator of our apartment. There must have been an earthquake, and the elevator jerked and stopped while it was running. The lights went out at the same time. , It was pitch black, really pitch black, and I couldn’t see my fingers. And there was no one in the elevator except our two sisters. I was so frightened that I became stiff and turned into a fossil. I couldn’t move a finger, I had difficulty breathing, and I couldn’t make a sound. Ellie called my name, but I couldn't answer, the center of my head went blank as if paralyzed, and Ellie's voice seemed to come from some gap..." Mary closed her eyes slightly, allowing the darkness to resurface in her mind. She continued: "As for how long the darkness lasted, I can't remember it. It seems to be very long, but it may not be that long in reality. But five minutes or twenty minutes, the specific length is not a problem." ...In short, during that time, Ai Li hugged me tightly in the darkness. It was not an ordinary way of hugging. She exerted all her strength and did not relax for a moment, as if the two bodies had merged into one. We will never meet again in this world." Takahashi said nothing, leaning against the automatic ticket gate and waiting for Mary to continue.Mary took out her right hand from the pocket of her blazer, stared at it for a moment, raised her face and continued. "Needless to say, I think Ellie is also terrified. She is probably as frightened as I am. She should be crying loudly. After all, she is only in the second grade of elementary school, but Ellie is very calm. She must have been determined to be strong at that time, and she was determined to give up for me. My older self became strong. She kept whispering in my ear: 'It's okay, there's nothing to be afraid of. I'm with you and someone will come to save us soon.' Her voice was so determined and calm, almost grown-up I can't remember exactly what song, but I still sang anyway. I wanted to sing too, but I couldn't, I was so scared that I couldn't make a sound. Lovely sang for me alone. So I was able to put myself In Ellie's arms, we were all one in the dark, sharing the beating of our hearts. Then suddenly the lights came on and the elevator wobbled and started to move." Mary paused here, sorting out her memory and searching for words. "But that was the last time, that was...how should I put it, it was the moment when I was the closest to Ai Li, the moment when we were able to be in love with each other without any barriers. After that, Ai Li and I seemed to be moving away quickly, getting closer and closer The farther apart, the more we started living in two different worlds. Something like a blend or a strong psychic bond that I felt in the darkness of that elevator never came back between us. I don't know what went wrong The problem, anyway, we can never go back to where we were." Takahashi reached out and took Mari's hand.Mary shuddered but didn't flinch.Takahashi gently shook her hand for a long time.Little soft hands. "I don't really want to go," said Mary. "go to China?" "Ok." "Why don't you want to go?" "afraid." "I'm afraid it's a matter of course. After all, I'm going far alone." Takahashi said. "Ok." "But you're okay, you'll do well. I'll wait for you here too." Mary nodded. Takahashi said: "You are very beautiful, you know that?" Mari raised her face to look at Takahashi's face, then withdrew her hands and put them in the pockets of her sports jacket, looking down at her feet to check whether the yellow sneakers were dirty. "Thank you. But now I want to go home." "I can write letters." Takahashi said, "Write ones that look like a mess, like the ones that appeared in previous novels." "Yeah." Mary replied. She went into the ticket gate, walked towards the platform, and disappeared into the fast tram that stopped there.Takahashi watched his back.After a while, the departure bell rang, the doors closed, and the tram left the platform.After the car was out of sight, he picked up the musical instrument box on the ground, put it on his shoulder, whistled softly, and walked towards the JR ① station.The number of people coming and going in the station increased little by little. ① Brief introduction of Japan Railways, Japan Railways (the comprehensive name after Japan's "National Railway" was changed to private).