Vol 2 Chapter 4.1 (2/2)
But evenings were still unbearable. If the people that pa.s.sed her storefront on their way home were youths, it was unbearable all the more. It made her want to weep her heart out.
She sank into a chair, and covered her face with her hands.
”Cheep-cheep!”
She lifted her face. Under the gla.s.s display case, a small mouse was twitching the tip of its nose. It was brown.
”You came.”
The mouse looked around, then spat a capsule out of its mouth. She instinctively knew what would be inside the transparent capsule case.
The writing was slightly slanted, and distinctive in style. It was none other than s.h.i.+on's hand.
Mom. The words became his voice as it echoed in her ears. Right then, at this moment, her son was living. He was alive as he wrote these words to his mother. He had written on this tiny piece of paper, a message just several words long. But it was enough to make Karan cry. She couldn't stop the tears that streamed down her face. She traced the words over and over again with her fingers.
s.h.i.+on was probably in a dire situation. He may well be suffering in uncertainty. But he was not in utter dejection. His cramped but energetic handwriting expressed that.
Mom, I'm alright. I'm not unhappy. I really haven't despaired.
Karan wiped her tears on her ap.r.o.n. She vowed them to be her last. The next time she would cry would be when she was holding s.h.i.+on again in her arms. Until that day, she would weep no more. Despair no more. I'll bake bread every day, sell it, manage my money, clean my shop, put out some flowers, and go on living. I'm going to do my job.
”Starting tomorrow, I'll put out a few more kinds of m.u.f.fins. I know, I'll make it a Kids' Special day.”
Karan nodded at her own words, and reached into the gla.s.s case to take out a round savoury roll. The bread, which was sprinkled with powdered cheese, was still fragrant and tasty even after it had gotten cold. With its affordable price to boot, it was a popular choice at her bakery. This one was the last of the batch that she had baked today.
”Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Mouse.” She broke off a piece and tossed it in front of the little mouse. The dark brown mouse stared warily at the bread for a little while, sniffed it, and began to nibble at it cautiously.
”Is Nezumi your master? Will you tell him that I'm very, very grateful? And please tell him to come by one day to have a bite to eat. I'll treat him to as much bread as he can eat. And plenty of bread for you too, of course.”
There was knocking at the door. It wasn't rough-sounding; on the contrary, it was quiet and almost hesitant. But Karan's heart shrank in fear.
Oh no. There was the possibility that this house was now a part of the Bureau's surveillance net. She had been so preoccupied with s.h.i.+on's note that she had completely forgotten.
Is it the Security Bureau? Have they come to collect this letter―?
There was no complete security system here like in Chronos. There was no security alarm or camera, nor an auto-lock with a built-in recognition sensor. There was only a door paned with thin gla.s.s, blinds that covered them, and an outdated manual lock. One powerful man would be able to force his way in easily.
Karan crumpled the note into a ball in her hand. If worse came to worst, she was prepared to swallow it whole. The knocking still continued. She stood up slowly. She clenched her hand into a tight fist.
”Excuse me.” It was a young woman's voice. ”Excuse me... is anyone home―?”
The voice trailed off feebly. For an instant, the face of the college student who liked walnut cakes rose into her mind. But it wasn't her. Karan pressed the b.u.t.ton to open the blinds.
Beyond the gla.s.s panes of the door stood a slender girl. She was wearing a thigh-length grey coat that seemed to melt into the dusk. Karan remembered the face that looked up and smiled at her.
”Why, it's Safu.” Karan hastily opened the door. The girl stepped into the store along with the evening breeze, and commented on the tasty aroma. Then she bowed her head.
”Madam, it's been a long time.”
”It has. How many years has it been now? You've grown so beautiful. I was so surprised.”
”I did used to be mistaken for a boy a lot,” Safu smiled, dimples showing in both her cheeks. Her smile was still the same as before. Like s.h.i.+on, she had placed in the top rank for her intelligence in the city's Children's Examinations. She had been studying with him as a cla.s.smate in the Gifted cla.s.s until the age of twelve. Karan remembered hearing that Safu had lost her parents at a young age, and was living with her grandmother.
After Karan and s.h.i.+on had been banished from Chronos, Safu was the one cla.s.smate that continued to treat s.h.i.+on as she had before. She had also come to this store once. That time, her face had still harboured some of its girlish innocence.
But the Safu now, who had unwound her light pink scarf, had silky skin and a gentle mouth. She showed hints of the beautiful woman she would eventually grow into.
”But hadn't you gone away on exchange to another city? I remember hearing something like that from s.h.i.+on,” Karan said.
”I've come back. My grandmother pa.s.sed away. I received word not long after I arrived there, so I packed up and came right back.”
”Your grandmother? Oh, dear...”
This girl has lost the last of her blood relatives.
”Safu... I don't know what to say. My heart goes out to you.”
This girl had also experienced the same despair. She had experienced the loneliness of standing by herself in neverending darkness. And she was so young.
”Is there anything I can do? Safu, is there any way I can help?”
”There is.” Safu stood in front of Karan, and looked her straight in the eyes. She was not wrought with grief. She wasn't anguished, or spent in exhaustion. She had a resilient and defiant gaze. The kind of eyes that one could only have in her girlhood.
”I came here because I have a favour to ask you, Madam.”
”What is it?”
”Please tell me where s.h.i.+on is.”
Karan drew a breath, and gazed back into Safu's eyes.
”Please, tell me,” Safu persisted. ”He's alive, isn't he? He's not incarcerated in the Correctional Facility. He's alive― where is he?”
Her tone of voice was anxious for an answer. Karan clenched her fist harder around the small sc.r.a.p of crumpled paper.
”Safu, you know about s.h.i.+on, then?”
”I only know what's been broadcasted by the Bureau. Which means I don't know anything. They're all lies, aren't they?”
”Safu.”
”What they said about s.h.i.+on planning indiscriminate murder from twisted hatred― that's a huge lie. s.h.i.+on wasn't twisted, and he didn't harbour any grudges toward anyone.”
Karan tugged the girl by her hand and led her into the storage room.
”It looks like this room doesn't have any surveillance cameras or recording devices. Though I'm not sure how safe it is―”
Safu's eyes sparkled.
”If you're being spied on, that means s.h.i.+on hasn't been captured, right? He's escaped somewhere, hasn't he? He's been able to escape safely, and he's still out there alive― Madam, you're sure of it, aren't you?”
”Why would you say that?”
”Because you're so calm about it... Just one look at you, and I could tell. You looked thin and worn, but you hadn't given up completely. It wasn't the face of a mother who's lost her son.”
”I'm blown away, Safu. You'd make an excellent detective.”
”Madam, s.h.i.+on's alive, isn't he? He's doing well, right?”
Karan continued to hold Safu's gaze with her lips firmly shut.
Was there a possibility that Safu had been requested by the Bureau to come here to seek s.h.i.+on's whereabouts? Karan thought for a moment. The answer was no. If the Bureau really intended to, there was no need to use Safu. It would be easy enough to extract information from Karan herself using a confession serum.
Was the Bureau actually pursuing her son in earnest?
The thought suddenly crossed her mind. All this time she had been too swayed by emotional exhaustion and confusion to even think about it, but if the Bureau were to actually pursue him with all their might, a mere young boy like him would not be difficult to put under arrest. Even if s.h.i.+on had thrown his ID card away, tracking satellites would be able to confirm his location. As long as he didn't remain eternally underground, it was nearly impossible to escape the highly-refined tracking satellites.
”Madam.”
Safu's hand grasped Karan's arm.
”s.h.i.+on's outside of No. 6, isn't he?”
”Yes.”
”I knew it... but it's only natural, isn't it? Within the city, surveillance would be in effect everywhere. It would be impossible to hide...”
”Safu, what's the image resolution of tracking satellites nowadays?”
”The newest ones would be under fifty centimetres. I heard it's possible to zoom in now by sending commands from the ground. Which means, it's possible to get an image of a person on ground-level with clarity.”
The shrewd girl had guessed Karan's next thought. Safu swallowed, and continued talking.
”If they input s.h.i.+on's data into the system, the satellites would start tracking him automatically. If he's above ground, it would be impossible for him not to be found.”
”Then I wonder if he's gone underground. Or―”
Or has his appearance changed greatly from the recorded data― was that even possible?
”Madam... I think as long as s.h.i.+on is outside the city, he'll be safe.”
”Safe?” Karan repeated Safu's words in question. She didn't understand what Safu meant.
”I can't say it very well. It's just a hunch I have... we've never learned to put things like feelings and hunches into words. But after spending time outside the city, I've come to feel something...”
Safu's words became awkward and stumbling. She was desperately searching for words that described not theory, but something that resided within herself.
”Ah... I feel like this city is really closed― like it's shut itself in. Like it's just withdrawn completely into itself, solved everything within itself... and it's not interested or intrigued by anything outside of it.”
”And you're talking about this city, here.”
”Yes. That's how I feel. So if s.h.i.+on is outside the city, I figure the Bureau would leave him alone, no matter if he's the suspect of a serious crime. If he were to come back to the city, though, they would probably arrest him immediately.”
”That would mean s.h.i.+on would never be able to come back, right?”
”As long as the city itself doesn't undergo some kind of change― I feel like that's how it would continue to be.”
”That's such a cruel thing to say, Safu.”
Safu shook her head, and grasped Karan's arm again.
”Madam, where is s.h.i.+on?”
”In the West Block. That's all I know.”
”West Block― is that so?” A breath escaped Safu's lips. For an instant, her gaze wandered in the air. Then she bowed her head deeply toward Karan.
”Thank you. I'm glad I was able to see you, Madam.”
This time, Karan was the one to grab Safu's arm.
”Wait,” she said. ”What are you going to do, now that you've heard s.h.i.+on's whereabouts?”
”I'm going to see him.”
Notes
Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard. Trans. Michael Frayn. London: Methuen Drama, 1978. 44. (back)
Font credit to David Kerkhoff for Sunday & Monday (Nezumi).
Font credit to Ingo Zimmermann for Biro Script (s.h.i.+on).
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