Chapter 2 (1/2)

She Can Talk To Concrete

He opened his eyes, feeling an unwanted warmth on his hand.

Stunned by light reflected off the pure white ceiling, he unconsciously closed them again. It was not a ceiling he knew.

He had awoken when a nurse in her late thirties grabbed his hand and stuck an IV needle into it.

The nurse was slightly surprised to see him wake, and went to call for a doctor. The pattering of her hurried running sounded somehow otherworldly.

All that was within his vision was a somehow unreal, inorganic hospital room.

“What you’ve come down with can’t be cured.”

This is what the doctor told him a bit later.

He was told he had a fatal illness.

His cla.s.s was one he consistently just couldn’t get acquainted with.

His high school life was worthless, without many friends.

Targeted by the cla.s.s leader, he was often bullied.

The potential for his future seemed to diminish. He could hardly see a future ahead.

And at the front of his mind was “This is really just a pain.”

So he muttered cynically, “Welp, what can you do,” and entered the cla.s.sroom with a metal bat.

She could talk to concrete.

Her big sister who went to college didn’t know, and Tsubasa-kun, who always had girls providing him Dom Pérignon, probably didn’t know either.

The hula dance teacher, and her mother who was cheating with him, didn’t know, and her father who vanished into thin air one day didn’t know.

Orphans starving in Africa didn’t know, and her and Tsubasa-kun’s children who had not yet breathed the air of the outside world definitely didn’t know.

But to that she always said, “Welp, what can you do.”

This is the story of them both.

*

What do people do the day they’re told they have a terminal illness?

Some give up on living in despair, and some go running to their loved ones.

Some go mad with fear, and some indulge freely in their desires.

There are many different approaches.

But he was a little different.

“I guess now I don’t have to think about my future!”

He was filled with cheer and entertained such pointless thoughts as those.

Thus, he went to his school’s closing ceremony with a metal bat.

He repeatedly whacked the cla.s.s leader in the b.u.t.t with it, and ran out of the room as fast as he could go.

He heard beastly cries of anger from the cla.s.sroom, but they mattered not to him.

After all, he had a fatal illness. By the end of this summer vacation, he’d no longer be one for this world.

So he’d no longer go to school, which was two hours from home. He’d never meet them again. The anger and yelling of someone you’ll never see again is even more pointless than hearing someone talk about the dream they had last night.

Ignoring the voices echoing through the school, he dashed through the halls at top speed.

He liked the feel of the wind blowing against him, and closed his eyes for a moment.

He saw nothing but blackness. Like everyone had vanished from the world.

When he grew scared and opened his eyes, a brilliant light entered his eyes.

He suddenly thought, “If I die, will that blackness go on forever?”

That could have been a very scary thing indeed.

Eternal blackness with no time nor s.p.a.ce. Would he be able to stand it?

Those thoughts were wiped away by the shouting from behind.

Running from the school, he went into town. He didn’t even give a glance to the school gates which he’d never again pa.s.s through. He just kept looking and running ahead.

The piercing blue sky seemed bigger than ever, and a world filled with brilliant color spread before him.

He was already free.

*

“I’m home!”

“Welcome back! You’re early.”

“Yeah, the closing ceremony ended early.”

“Oh, you don’t say. Now, go clean your room. I’m going to be going shopping now.”

“Okay, mom. See you!”

His mother left, and her lying son saw her off. She never would have imagined he, in his third year of high school, took a metal bat to school and spanked a kid with it. Some things you’re better off not knowing.

He hadn’t told anyone he had a terminal illness. That was another thing better off not known, he thought.

His mother, of course, would be very sad if she learned about it. He didn’t want to see that.

After confirming from the window that his mother was far enough away, he got his textbooks out of his bag. The symbols of high school. As he went up in years, these things got harder, tortured him further.

He tore apart one of these books, bundled it into a ball, and tossed it in the trash.

He put another in the shredder, and buried another to nourish the earth, and burnt another to contribute to global warming.

He went on disposing of his textbooks in all different ways. The last one, he turned into a paper airplane and sent flying away.

Freed from his chains, he went to observe ants in the garden.

That time he spent watching the ants carry sugar in one long line was the happiest of his entire high school life.

From that day forth, he did his best to do absolutely nothing.

He bounced erasers, dug up and immediately refilled holes, counted stains on the ceiling, gave himself baths with water bottles. He tried his hardest in all of these meaningless things.

Considering his beyond-terrible high school life, these days were very enjoyable indeed.

“I wonder if I should just die already,” he sometimes thought.

On one of those days, he received an invitation to a cla.s.s reunion.

That day, he was counting sand in the sand pit as usual. The surprise of hearing his cellphone notification, which he almost never heard, gave him a start.

He didn’t have any friends in high school, but he had a fair amount up to middle school. Sou-chan who lived nearby was a popular girl, and since they were close, he had more friends by extension.

So if he were to go there, even he would find friends.

In fact, the text inviting him to the reunion had been from Sou-chan.

“If you have some time, how’d you like to come to a cla.s.s reunion?”

He wondered whether he should go or not, and asked his mother for her two cents.

“I dunno what I should do…”

“Well, you haven’t done anything since summer break started. Go see Sou-chan, I’m sure she misses you.”

“I’ve been doing things! Today I filled a water bottle with pebbles!”

“Please go.”

“Okay, mom…”

So he decided to go to the cla.s.s reunion.

“Well, okay, I guess I should look forward to seeing Sou-chan again,” he told himself.

But alas, G.o.d was not kind to him.

The kind of G.o.d that gives people terminal illnesses w.i.l.l.y-nilly is going to be bitterly malicious, he soon realized.

Due to catching an out-of-season flu, Sou-chan couldn’t come to the reunion.

Secondly, his friend Tsuu-kun was going on a trip at the same time as the reunion.

Thirdly, his friend You-kun became a shut-in who wouldn’t leave the house.

Fourthly, his friend Maa-kun was going to see a baseball game.

Fifthly, his friend Taa-chan was hospitalized after a traffic accident.

Etcetera, etcetera.

None of the people whom he was good friends with came to the reunion. He was left there all alone.

People laughed with each other. Had lively conversation. It had nothing to do with him, so he worked to sprinkle lemon juice on fried chicken in the corner of the room.

He ignored the people at the reunion, and entertained fantasies about a convenient meteorite hitting the place.

“If I’d known it would be like this, I should’ve just looked for a nice-shaped rock at the river…”, he muttered, no one listening.

The loneliness piled up.

He got bored and started looking around. Most people had formed circles engaged in pleasant conversation. An honest thought came to his mind: “I wish they’d break an ankle.”

However, among them was a girl who was also isolated in the corner like him.

She had chestnut-colored hair with neatly-cut forelocks, and she was sprinkling lemon juice on fried chicken in boredom.

From what he remembered, she was in a group in their cla.s.s that didn’t stand out very much.

In those days, she had long black hair in braids, and he had hardly ever talked to her in all their nine years of elementary and middle school.

That plain girl cutting her hair and dying it chestnut-colored seemed to make her an entirely different creature, so it took him some time to realize it was her.

He was able to gleam that she similarly had no friends who had come to the reunion.

With a glance over the crowd, he didn’t see anyone who he recalled being in her group, and he felt a sudden affinity.

In truth, as she sprinkled lemon juice on fried chicken in boredom, she was occasionally whispering things to the concrete.

Likely put off by the bizarre aura surrounding her, no one attempted to talk to her.

And perhaps not wanting to lose to her, he continued to sprinkle lemon juice on the fried prawns before him.

Of course, no one came to talk to him either.

*

When the reunion was over, the former cla.s.smates went off to various after-parties.

He and she had no chance of being invited to any of those, so they loitered around the area.

“Go home.”

They both muttered at nearly the same time. He found himself meeting eyes with her, but feeling awkward, averted his gaze.

She looked at him doubtfully. Then she appeared to realize something, and looked at him as if saying “Ahh, it’s that guy.”

As the only man on his own at the reunion, he had really stood out.

“Are you heading back this way?”

She must have felt a strange sort of sympathy as well. So she talked to him, of all people.

As soon as she spoke, his body froze up. He hadn’t had a single conversation at the reunion, so he’d totally forgotten how to respond to being talked to.

He took a breath to calm himself down, then replied.

“No, not that way. Well, maybe that way.”

She smirked at his ridiculous response. It was the first emotion she, who was just squeezing lemons, had shown all day.

“Um, what’s your name again?”, she asked, smiling. She was completely unable to remember it, having interacted with him so little.

“I forgot. Try to remember it for me,” he jokingly replied.

She pondered and glared at his face. The smell of perfume tickled his nose.

Looking at her closer, she had quite a bit of makeup on. More than an ordinary high-schooler would wear.

After thinking for a while with her head lowered, her face gleamed and she shouted:

“I remember! You’re Tarou Yamada!”

That sounded like the name of a fourth outfielder, and it was not his, but he laughed and said “That’s right! Good memory.”

He had a tendency to say a lot of pointless lies.

He’d say he hated tomatoes even though he liked them, bring his homework but say he forgot it, say he was full even though he was hungry.

He loved to pointlessly lie. And this was yet another meaningless lie that he would be better off not saying.

“And I believe your name was Hanako Yamada?”

He actually knew her name, but he lied about that too. Getting people’s names wrong was a kind of lie he told often.

People are usually a little displeased to have such mistakes made about them. But she laughed hearing it.

“Haha, that’s right! Good job yourself!”

Without any sign of anger, she poked his face with a smile. She wasn’t named Hanako Yamada, but her sunny smile didn’t mind.

He found a little enjoyment in their bizarre first meeting that day.

*

“What have you been up to lately, Tarou Yamada?”

He was walking home with her. Their paths home went in completely opposite directions, but if he had time to observe ants every day, he could spend it walking the wrong way with her.

“Battling with death, I guess.”

The first true thing he’d said to her all day. Thinking it was a joke, she laughed “Haha!” like before.

“Yeah, that’s summer vacation. No school or anything. So hey, what can you do.”

“Right. Hooray for summer vacation!”

“So you’ve got so much time, you’re fighting death?”

“Yeah, yeah. I gotta battle death once summer comes along.”

“Naturally!”

With that, she span around happily. She did three spins, then stumbled back toward him.

“Hanako Yamada, are you still in school?”

“Nope, I don’t go to school!”

“Oh, wow! You’re a free woman.”

“Ahaha, that’s right. It’s great!”, she proudly stated, sticking out her chest. It looked like her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were about to spill out of her exposing clothes.

“It’s kind of a secret, but I work a night job.”

“Oh, huh. I bet it must be terrible getting all those weird late-night visitors to the store.”

“Nooo, that’s not it!”

He more or less understood what she was getting at, but he didn’t have that much interest and just acted oblivious.

“I’m a real hit with the guys! Isn’t that great?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m jealous!”

“You’re not really thinking that at all, are you!”

“No, of course I am. It’s been on my mind since yesterday.”

“Well then great!”

It was a dumb, thoughtless conversation, but she was smiling the whole time. A big difference from the bored expression she wore while squeezing lemons at the cla.s.s reunion.

“I guess I’m glad I came today,” she suddenly said when they were about halfway home. “Though truthfully, most of the time I was thinking I should have gone to see a baseball game.”

“Baseball?”

“Yeah. I love baseball.”

After saying this, she a.s.sumed a batting pose, pretending to hold a bat with both hands swaying. “See, look! I’m Nori!”

Shockingly, her swing looked exactly like one of Norihiro Nakamura’s, from the stance to the throwing of the bat.

“Whoa, good impression! I really like it,” he replied, genuinely impressed.

Perhaps pleased, she nodded with a smile. “Yep, I love it!”

Her appearance had changed significantly, but her innocent smile still showed traces of middle school days.

He and she talked about a lot of things afterward.

About how her good friend Mii-chan went missing on a trip to Paris.

About how his good friend Maa-kun was off watching a baseball game.

About how he couldn’t make many friends in high school.

About how she couldn’t either, and dropped out.

About how he whacked the cla.s.s leader in the b.u.t.t with a metal bat.

About the night job she worked (and how it was very R-rated).

And about how she could talk to concrete.

“You can talk to concrete? That’s amazing!”, he praised, and she shyly giggled.

Things happened after she dropped out of school, and she wasn’t sure why, but she eventually realized she could do it.

It was a hard thing to believe right away, but he just thought “Yeah, I guess that could happen.”

After all, he had an incurable illness. So if there was a person or two who could talk to concrete, that didn’t seem so strange.

“I was so bored during the cla.s.s reunion, I talked to concrete the whole time. I thought we were going to run out of things to talk about.”

Her Norihiro Nakamura impression done, she started doing a Daisuke Miura one.

She put her weight on one leg, and with a little bit of unsteadiness, pretended to pitch a ball.

“There’s so many dull people around, I’m glad you’re here to put me at ease,” he replied.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”, she said, poking him in the back.

After crossing an intersection into a residential area and walking a ways, her feet suddenly stopped.

“Ah, we’re here. This is my place.”

It was a pure white, three-story apartment. It had a fresh, pretty exterior, but by any measure, it didn’t seem big enough for a whole family to live in.

“Do you live alone?”, he asked, getting curious.

“Well… I guess I live with my boyfriend!”, she answered, not seeming to hide anything.

“Huh. That sounds fun.”

“It’s terrible, it wears me out to be with him. I want some time to myself!”

“You could go into the woods or something to be alone.”

She clapped her hands and went “Eureka!” She was the first person he’d ever seen react in such a way.

“Still, it’s a pretty good place, isn’t it?”, he cautiously praised.

“Right? There’s a batting center, a butcher’s, and a mat-maker’s all nearby! And the woods,” she incomprehensibly gloated.

“I’m jealous.”

“You want to move in, Tarou Yamada?”

“Should I? I don’t think I’m that swayed by a mat-maker’s, a butcher’s, and a batting center.”

“Really? What a shame…”

She headed for the entrance, pushed the auto-lock b.u.t.ton, and the door opened with a pleasing sound.

“Well, see you! Maybe in three years or so!”

“Alright. Let’s play again five years from now!”

“O-kay!” She waved like a grade-schooler.

Then she said one last thing.

“Today was pretty fun! Thanks!”

Skipping each step as she climbed the stairs, she whimsically vanished into the apartment.

When the sound of her steps stopped, he slowly began his walk home.

*

The next day, he resumed his usual life. Which, of course, was just observing ants in the park.

He stared at the ground in the red sun s.h.i.+ning down on the early-afternoon park.

He watched the ants with each coming day, but on the fifteenth day he felt a creeping boredom.

Getting thirsty, he walked over to the park’s water cooler. Even that chalk-smelling water was a delicious feast for the thirsty boy.

And with little else to do, he sat on a bench and stared into the sky.

“Oh! We meet again!”

He turned to the voice, and found the one he called Hanako Yamada. She waltzed over to him.

“It’s been a while. Five years, almost?”

“It’s been a week! What are you doing now, Tarou Yamada?”

“I’m busy wasting time, I guess.”

“Ooh, sounds important.”

She had very little makeup on that day. Her strawberry-patterned white one-piece reflected the light and fluttered in the wind whenever she walked.

It was a more the kind of casual dress you’d expect from a high-schooler, and a huge change from her prior night-worker clothes.

This was closer to how he remembered seeing her.

“What are you doing, Hanako Yamada? You gonna be okay not sleeping for your night job?”, he asked.

She replied sourly. “Well… I guess I kinda got fired from my night job, or something like that.”

“Huh? What’d you do?”

“I was so enthusiastic to serve my customers, I gave out a little too much for free.”

“I see. I don’t get it, but I guess people get fired for that kind of thing all the time these days.”

“I know. Gos.h.!.+” She pouted, pretending to be mad.

As he gazed absentmindedly at her, he daydreamed about how he would waste time today.

“Are you listening?”

“Wah!”

When he ignored what she was going on about, she started to stare at him.

He suddenly noticed her big eyes looking at him and was startled, letting out a small yelp. He positioned himself like nothing had happened.

“Umm… I guess I was listening until about three minutes ago.”

“Geez! Hear out my hards.h.i.+p, will you? What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking about how I’d waste time today.”

“Alright, well, what can you do.”

She ran over to the corner of the park and reached a steel pole. She grabbed it and flipped upside down on it.

He could see her black underwear under her strawberry one-piece, but he looked away.

“I’m bored now, too. Since I’m thinking already, I’ll think about how we can waste time.”

“Okay,” he said, still staring into the sky. He reminisced vaguely on the past.

A long-past memory arose: “Back in elementary school, I think I played with Sou-chan around here.”

They played tag and kick the can every day during the summer.

Still, as time pa.s.sed they got bored, and sat around like now wondering if there was anything else fun they could do.

“What did we do back then?”

Just as he thought it, it revived another memory.

That’s right. Their secret base.

When they were in elementary school, they made a secret base to play in.

They spent the summer making a base for the two of them in the grove behind the park. A secret place where their parents and teachers wouldn’t interfere.

“But what ended up happening with that?” It was so long ago, he couldn’t remember anything more.

“A secret base,” he mumbled.

“Hm? What’s that?”, came her voice from afar.

“I know what we’ll do. We’ll make a secret base.”

He suddenly stood up from the bench. But he was dizzy for a moment from doing so and staggered, then regained his balance and stood back up.

“Ooh, that’s a good idea!”

Ignorant to his stumbling, she ran over from the pole.

“Just the idea of a secret base makes me excited! That’s pretty good coming from you, Tarou Yamada.”

“Right? You can just call me j.a.panese Thomas Edison.”

“What a genius! Alright, I’ll help you make a secret base!”

“Shouldn’t you spend time with your boyfriend with your time off?”, he asked the elated girl, having some doubts.

“He’s busy with his host job, so I’ve got lots of time,” she answered with a hint of disappointment.

“That sounds terrible.”

“I wish he’d sympathize with me more. I wish he’d make me meals, too.”

“Well, what can you do. I guess you can help me make a secret base, then.”

“Hooray! I’ll do my best!” She spun and hopped in place.

Her skirt fluttered up revealing her black underwear multiple times.

“I can see under your short skirt, you know.”

“Huh? Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just your imagination.”

“Alright, I guess it could just be my imagination.”

“Yeah, when it’s just your imagination, what can you do. So give up.” A childlike, worriless grin came to her face.

*

“So, do you know what you do first in making a secret base?”

“Um. Well, I’m hungry, so first we should get some food!”

“Wrong! First, we procure cardboard!”, he proudly explained.

“Cardboard?”

“Yes, cardboard. With enough cardboard, we can create an infinite number of secret bases. Cardboard is the greatest invention of all mankind.”

“Ohh.” She rapidly nodded, taking him very seriously.

They were the only two voices in the park, lit by the red mid-afternoon sun.

“And so we must procure cardboard.”

“Roger that!”

They left the empty park and headed for the shopping district.

There weren’t many people there, but since it was summer, there would sometimes be bored kids pa.s.sing by. Every one of them had a joyous expression, like they’d been freed from something.

The two walked around the shopping district, old and littered with shuttered stores. At the far end was the only convenience store in town.

“We’re here. Let’s get some cardboard.”

“Huh, you can get cardboard from the convenience store? I didn’t know that.”

“That’s common knowledge for secret base builders. Remember it!”

“Roger that!”

Not wanting these exchanges to go on excessively, they entered the store.

“C’m'n in,” came a soulless voice from the register, accompanied by pleasant music.

When the boy saw the clerk, he put a hand to his head.

“This could be bad…”

“What’s up?”

“Hanako Yamada, this is very bad. This clerk here is extremely lacking in motivation. If we ask him for cardboard, it’s highly likely he’ll consider it more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Oh, no… We only just started, and we’re already stuck…?” Her shoulders drooped.

Seeing this, he put on a firm, cheery voice.

“But it’s too early to give up. We’ll see what we can do.”

“Just as I expected, Tarou Yamada the Great! So cool! Cooler than a dogu doll!”

“Stop, you’re embarra.s.sing me.”

He walked right up to the register. There was a cold sweat on his back. He tried to ignore the quickening of his heartbeat.

“Visit'r, eh, c'mon to th’ reg'ster…”

When the boy approached, the blond clerk spewed words that he was unable to ascertain as j.a.panese.

He took a deep breath and stated his intention.

“Excuse me. Um, would you be able to give us some cardboard?”

“Ehh… s'rry, can’t, bossain’t'ere…”

“Ah. Okay.”

“Th'nksfer…”

He twirled away from the clerk and returned to her.

“I, uh, don’t think it was any good…”

“You’re so lame, Tarou Yamada…”

“Yeah…”

He, too, drooped his shoulders in disappointment.

“It’s over. Our secret base project is at a standstill right after it was begun.”

“Ah, what can you do… Alright, just leave it to me.”

Hating to see him in such lamentation, she patted his head, then adjusted the straps on her one-piece. Her cleavage was significantly more noticeable than before.

He tilted his head, thinking it a strange thing to do, as she traipsed over to the register.

“C’m'n in…”

As she approached, she heard the same soulless voice as before. The clerk showed no signs of wanting to give them cardboard.

“Um, excuse me. Could I get some cardboard?”

“S'rry… I, I ‘unno rig'now.”

“Just give us that cardboard in the back. We’ll take it all, so it won’t be any more trouble for you.”

“Ehh, uh… I 'unno, really… nocando.”

The blond clerk was clearly too lazy to bother. How can you be a clerk with this att.i.tude?, the boy thought deep down.

She faced the clerk and made a request a little bit louder.

And with her words, the mood in the store changed immediately.

“Um, you can touch my b.o.o.bs if you want. Will you give us cardboard?”

She took the clerk’s hand and put it on her own breast.

The clerk was wordless at this sudden action, and his mouth hung open. There was immediate silence.

She took the clerk’s hand and groped her breast with it. Even through the one-piece, one could tell her large b.r.e.a.s.t.s were being squeezed.

All the customers in the shop turned toward the clerk to see this sight rarely seen in daily life. Noticing the odd atmosphere, the clerk quickly took his hand away.

“I, I go'cha. Y’, take it. M'bad.”

“Thank you very much! Also, can we borrow a cart or whatever?”

“K-kay. Pleese.”

“Hooray! Thanks so much!”

She thanked him and ran back to the boy. With a quick breath, she innocently smiled and took his arm.

“Alright! We procured cardboard!”

“Hanako Yamada… No, Hanako Yamada the Great. You did well. Now let’s take it before he changes his mind.”

“Roger that! Let’s carry!”