Chapter 25 Section 3 Water City Aki

At eight o'clock in the evening, Yaji and Huangjie climbed up the stairs of the research building side by side. "Huang Jie, if you are found out, you will definitely be scolded." "Today is Saturday, there will be no one else except the guards, don't worry." The hall was pitch black and completely silent, Yaji couldn't even see Huangjie's face clearly.When they walked in from the entrance of the research building just now, they saw the guards patrolling the corridors with flashlights, but they did not see other people. After passing the fourth floor and climbing up to the fifth floor, the two headed towards the top floor.

"Huangjie, what are we doing on the top floor? Why didn't you tell me?" "I can't tell now, sorry." Huang Jie didn't seem to intend to give a reason.Yaji asked several times, but he just replied: "I want to confirm something." What exactly do you want to confirm?Yaji thought for a long time but couldn't think of an answer. While climbing the stairs, Aki put his left hand lightly on the small bag he was carrying.There are two things in the bag, perfume and novels, both of which are very cherished items of Kei.Although I don't know the reason why Huang Jie took her to the roof of the research building, but since he was going, he simply brought Hui's favorite things with him, maybe she would be very happy in heaven.

"That's the door." Hearing what Huang Jie said, Ya Ji raised his head and saw a metal door at the end of the stairs.Huang Jie went to the door first and turned the handle. "Great...the door is unlocked." Huang Jie opened the door, and the slender night came into view along with the breeze.In the transparent sky with no shade, the depths are full of unbelievably many stars. "Let's go." Ya Ji followed Huang Jie out of the door. It was a quiet night, and as far as the eye could see was a whole piece of concrete ground and mottled guardrails around it.There is a bouquet of small flowers in the corner, that is the place where Hui jumped off, I wonder who enshrined that bouquet of flowers?

Ya Ji and Huang Jie walked towards the bouquet at the same time, and when they got closer, there were pale pink roses and white baby's breath in the bouquet.Huang Jie leaned out of the railing and looked down.After a while, he murmured: "It's so high..." Aki took out the perfume and novel from the small bag, intending to put them next to the bouquet. "What's in that bottle?" Huang Jie approached Ya Ji's hand in the dark. "Perfume. This is a perfume that my mother cherishes very much. It is always kept next to the pillow. If I bring it, my mother should be very happy."

"perfume……" "Ah, by the way, I heard that this bottle of perfume was given to my mother by your mother a long time ago. When you were very young..." "This is it!" Huang Jie shouted suddenly, and Ya Ji was startled. "what?" "This is the bottle I'm holding! In the image that appeared in front of my eyes, the square bottle I'm holding in my right hand!" Ya Ji glanced at the perfume bottle in his hand, and finally realized. So that's the case, the scene Huang Jie mentioned..., that strange scene..., that's... "I see, it's the taste... Huang Jie, it's the taste!"

"smell?" "I heard from my mother that when you were two years old, you secretly hid this bottle of perfume in your shirt. Later, your aunt who didn't know took you to bed..." Huang Jie listened to Ya Ji's explanation, his eyes blinked under the lens. "You played with the perfume bottle in the crib, and accidentally spilled the perfume on the quilt. Because the fragrance was too strong, you cried in fright... After that, you would cry whenever you saw the bottle. Auntie thought it was impossible I kept this bottle at home, so I gave it to my mother."

Huang Jie still couldn't understand Ya Ji's intention of saying these words. "I guess, you should smell the scent of the perfume, and you will remember that forgotten memory. I heard that the key to awakening the memory is the smell, which is much stronger than the visual effect. My mother once told me so .So, when her aunt passed away, she also wore this perfume." "Wipe...perfume..." "My mother never used this bottle of perfume, she just used it as a decoration. When my aunt passed away, my mother used it for the first time. She said that she hoped that after wearing this bottle of perfume, she could recall some memories with her aunt. .”

Huang Jie yelled "Ah". "When Aunt Hui approached me, it was because of this smell that I was reminded of my past memories?" "It should be. I met her twice outside the crematorium and on the road. Moreover, on the night of my mother's wake, I also wiped this bottle of perfume, although only a little bit. Huangjie was in the park that day. Didn't you say that? When I got close to you, you saw that image again." "Well, yes. I saw it that time too." "It was also because of the perfume. Didn't I say that that day? I felt my mother was by my side."

Saying that, Aki put his left hand on his chest. "I said that because I wore my mother's most cherished perfume. But I didn't tell you the reason, because I was afraid that if I said it, I would feel sad again." "So that's why, because I smelled that smell, I saw that image again..." When Huang Jie said this, he frowned. "But, what kind of memory is that? That image is really strange." "I think...the people in the image should be uncle and aunt." The bodies of the two overlap, feeling each other's love.Huang Jie, who was sleeping in the crib, woke up and saw that scene.Later, Huang Jie began to play with the bottle in his hand, accidentally opened the lid, and the perfume spilled out.The fragrance that rushed into the nostrils in an instant was so strong that Huang Jie couldn't help crying.Therefore, the impression of "something terrible in the bottle" was left in his mind.

"So it's just... a vision of my parents doing that sort of thing?" "That's right. The pillar in front of you should be the guardrail of the crib." "The railing of the crib... But, who is that boy? Besides me, there is another little boy." "I think it should be yourself. A mirror or a window reflects your face." "However, the little boy was not placed in the crib, there was no railing in front of him, and I could see his face." Aki thought for a while and recalled the watermelon incident. ——"That watermelon is really big." "Well, it's so round."

"Huangjie, when we talked about the watermelon we bought from the supermarket in the park, didn't you say that the watermelon is round?" The words that came from outside the sky made Huang Jie quite surprised. "Yes, because it's really round." "However, the watermelons in fruit and vegetable stores are all wrapped in plastic rope nets." "Well, that's true..." Halfway through speaking, Huang Jie was stunned, as if he had realized something. "It was the same when I found a thousand-dollar bill under the elephant, even though it was half buried in the sand, I could tell it was a thousand-dollar bill from afar." "So, uh, that means..." "I think that things like nets and sand seem to be seen, but they are not seen; they seem to exist, but they don't actually exist." That’s right, if nets and sand are as important as watermelons and thousand-dollar bills, then the watermelons should look like pieces of a puzzle, and the thousand-dollar bills should only look like half a piece.However, when Yaji and Huangjie saw a watermelon in the supermarket, they both felt that the watermelon was round; when they found a banknote half buried in the sand in the park, they knew it was a complete thousand-yuan banknote without removing it. "Although it can be seen..., although it exists..." Aki wasn't sure if Huangsuke understood what he wanted to express. "On the day of the sports meeting, wasn't corrugated cardboard hung on the windows of the school building with some words written on it? Do you remember what was written on it?" "I remember it was...'Everyone cheers' (みんなガンバレ)." "That's right, but the dots on the words are missing, so it's actually 'みんなカンハレ'." "Well, yes." "Everyone knows it's 'みんなガンバレ', it's just a different character because the dots are off." This principle is the same as watermelons and the invisible parts of thousand-dollar bills. Although "ガ" and "バ" are missing those dots, everyone will make them up in their hearts. "I see!" Huang Jie stretched out his hands and patted his chest. "The face reflected in the mirror or the window, there is actually a crib rail in front of it, but that rail is ignored in my mind, so I only have one face in my memory." "Yes, it must be so!" The answer to the mystery that has troubled Huang Jie for a long time is so ordinary.A marvelous sight that turned out to be a rather mundane, everyday sight.That picture is actually just the father and mother feeling each other's love in front of the crib. "Great, the mystery has finally been solved. I didn't expect to solve the mystery in this kind of place. I am so lucky." Huang Jie looked at Ya Ji happily, and a little starlight reflected on the lens. "Sure enough, your mind is really good." According to Yaji, the tone of Huang Jie's words is not the same as before. What special meaning did he have when he said this? In order to prevent Huang Jie from interpreting his expression, Aki turned his body towards the railing. "What is that book?" Huang Jie held his glasses with his hands and approached Ya Ji's hand. "Galaxy... iron... ah,. I also have this book at home. My mother likes this book very much. Her favorite is the book..." ",Right?" "Yes, how do you know?" "Because my mother told me that she bought this book after hearing the story recommended by her aunt when she was in college." "I see." Huang Jie showed a happy expression and said: “A story my mum used to tell me. I read it myself about a year ago. The nightjar is a bird that gets bullied a lot and it wants to shine like a star so it goes up into the sky. " "Yeah, I've read it several times. But to be honest, I still don't quite understand the meaning of this story. I tried to think about it for a long time, but I still don't understand. Nighthawk bowed his head to many stars in order to become a star Plead..., but no star heeds it..." Finally, Nighthawk finally exhausted all his strength, folded his wings, and fell to the ground.However, just one foot away from the ground, the Nighthawk suddenly flew into the sky and flew straight up, flying far, far away.Nighthawk looked up to the sky with tears in his eyes. "That was Nighthawk's last moment," reads the story.Nighthawk knew that he had become a burning beautiful blue light. "Since then, the Star of Nighthawk has burned continuously, and will burn forever and ever." "Until now, it still continues to burn." In this way, the story suddenly came to an end. Nighthawks become stars.The question is, has Nighthawk really found happiness?Yaji couldn't be sure of this, no matter how many times he read it, he still couldn't be sure. "My name comes from Nighthawk, too." Huang Jie smiled and said something surprising to Aki. "Your name? But what's the relationship between 'Nighthawk' and 'Huangjie'?" "My mother thinks that Nighthawk turned into a phoenix at the end of the story. Nighthawk prayed desperately, hoping to shine, and finally God fulfilled its wish, but instead of making it a star, it made it stronger, A more majestic phoenix." "Phoenix..." Aki had never thought of it that way before. "That's right, that's why I'm called Huangjie. The phoenix is ​​the greatest bird." Huang Jie said with a smile. "My mother's illness is getting worse. She knows she won't live long. She told me that she doesn't know if she can become a phoenix after death. I think she must also become a phoenix." Ya Ji avoided Huang Jie's sight and looked at the sky, feeling the agitation in his chest getting faster and faster. Nighthawk turned into a phoenix.The nighthawk, who was ridiculed for his ugly appearance, eventually became the king of birds.really?Is that really how that story ends?Aki doesn't know.Maybe, maybe not. Has Nighthawk turned into a phoenix? Has Hui turned into a phoenix? Have you achieved happiness? "Nighthawk..." Aki seemed to hear Kei's voice.Megumin was asking Aki, right here, with tears in his eyes, Megumi asked Aki like this: "Nighthawk is finally happy, isn't he?" Ya Ji felt confused for the first time, she found that she couldn't answer Hui's question, she didn't know whether Ye Ying had obtained happiness.Will doing this make me happy?Is this the right choice? "Please take me away, please take me to your side." At that time, Aki murmured to the stars like this, and she hoped to understand the mood of Nighthawk by doing so.Because this is what Nighthawk kept repeating when he pleaded with the stars. However, Aki still couldn't understand it in the end. Until now, she still has not found the answer. "At that time..." Suddenly, tears fell down my cheeks. "At that time, should I also die together?" The stars in the sky became blurred in Ya Ji's eyes at the same time. "With mom, that's it..." "That's not the right way of thinking." Huang Jie interrupted Ya Ji in a gentle tone. "Aki..." How long has it been since Huang Jie called this name?There was an incredible feeling of nostalgia and shyness in his chest. "Mei's suicide note was written by Aki, right?" Looking up at the starry sky, Ya Ji nodded slowly, as if the stars in his eyes were floating up to a higher place at the same time. "I killed my mother."