part1 c3 (1/2)
Chapter 3 : The Night of Curry[edit]
Meiko walked on her bare feet.
At night, the asphalt road still had traces of the heat of the setting sun: it was a bit warm, a bit moist, and very serene and tranquil.
Walking on this road, I stepped on it with my foot and rubbed it against my foot. I felt a slight pain from under my foot, a vague pain as if punched on the cheeks when dreaming while sleeping.
(Where had Menma gone until now?)
Because of this vague pain, Meiko started to become numb to time. She couldn’t remember anything. The only thing she knew was that a long time had pa.s.sed since then.
Meiko reminisced the instant she vanished from the world.
(Did it hurt?)
At the instant she tried to remember it, a sharp, cold pain like a piece of gla.s.s slicing through her back shot right through her.
She wanted to fulfil a wish.
That wish could only be fulfilled when everyone in the Super Peace Busters are together.
Every time she thought of something about herself, pain would crawl on her whole body, but this didn’t. This was the only fact that wouldn’t hurt when she thought of it.
She wanted everyone to know how each other felt, just like back then.
However, because of her adamant thoughts…
(Jintan…was hurt because of me.)
Jinta’s leaving scene kept running on her mind.
Jinta said that he had a tough life after that, and that everyone had changed.
Meiko wanted to deny this fact. She wanted the Super Peace Busters, including Jinta, to return to how they were before.
She knew, however, practically nothing of after she pa.s.sed away. As such, she wasn't fit to make decisions for others…she was aware of this.
“Arghahahahaha!!”
A coa.r.s.e laugh interrupted Meiko’s hesitation.
(Eh…?)
“Arghahaha! Naruko, you really did go there—to Yadomi’s house. You’re fabulous!”
“Eh. Yeah. It’s so troublesome!”
Naruko and her high school friends strolled in front of the station.
If they didn’t have a special destination, McDonalds would have been a great choice. Or they could spend a bit more and go to a family restaurant to kill time. However, they chose to gather in front of the station and chat there. This was to flaunt their equipment to the pedestrians.
She was wearing a new-bought, laced bra, and had had her fingernails coloured aqua-blue last night.
“Ahaha…!”
When did her laughing voice sound so loud? Naruko sometimes would even think this inconceivable.
Since the autumn of grade 2 in middle school, she would wear super-short skirts. By the summer of grade 3 she even started to wear high-heeled shoes.
Naruko was thinking about Jinta. She saw him today, but it had been a long time. The last time dated back to the opening ceremony of the school.
(How does he think of me?)
After Meiko’s incident, the Super Peace Busters drifted apart. Gradually, Jinta’s att.i.tude changed. To sum it up in one word, it was the word ‘sullen’.
There were quite a few children around here who had to face the examination of promotion to high school. They entered the same high school, yet every time they met in the corridor, Jinta would always turn away, pretending he didn’t see her.
Naruko wanted to catch Jinta’s attention.
Would he say anything to her after she had taken off her gla.s.ses?
No, he didn’t.
Would he say anything to her after she had worn super-short skirts?
No, he didn’t.
There was only once, during the third year of middle school, that she caught Jinta saying something when they met.
“…like some straw.”
At that time, Naruko bought a hair dye and tried her first time in dying her hair, but she messed up the bleaching time and made her hair bleach too much colour.
Nevertheless, it was enough to excite her.
To see Jinta leaving and shouting like this was exciting and joyful.
‘What should I do now? Time’s up.”
Naruko’s friend’s voice pulled Naruko back to reality.
“Ah. Yeah.”
“There aren't any good ones here. Let’s just play around a bit and get out of here.”
Naruko and her friends agreed to go to sing KTV with boys from other schools later. KTV partying, chatting in front of the station, or buying a one-hundred-yen snack if starving…going to Tokyo for shopping via the express at the holidays to buy exclusive things there—this was the vanity they were submerged in.
They spent their time with a serious att.i.tude after lessons were over in their rural school.
They left their beverage cans on the bench they sat and left.
This was their everyday life.
“…”
Naruko imitated their behaviour.
This was uneasy for Naruko, who loved to clean things up. If she were to walk forward a few steps and throw it into the trash bin beside the vending machine…she really wanted to do this, but…
“Naruko?”
“Ah, sorry. Wait for me!”
She left the can alone. She didn’t have time to care for the different thoughts in her mind. She only had to focus on what was happening before her: there was no need to care for abandoned things.