Chapter 14 (1/2)
“I was thinking of having you do these, Takuya-kun,” Mah There was so childish about her smile
“… Huh?”
I couldn’t quite take in what she was saying
“I want you to do the things that I want to do before I die in my place And then I want you to come here and tell me your impressions on those experiences”
“That’s crazy…” I said, astonished There were a hundred questionaround inside my head
What’s the point in that? If it werethe things I wanted to do right in front of ht But it seemed that Mamizu didn’t think like this
“After all, it can’t be helped, can it? I can’t go outside even if I want to There’s no other way Don’t you think it’s a good idea?” Ma herself
She probably wanted to do these things herself She would have considered that first But the fact that there were circu I could understand
“… Well, I understand what you’re trying to say I just have to do what you want to do, right? So, tellher idea, still confused
“That’s exactly it” Seeood to start off with the heavy ones I suppose we’ll go with a light one to begin with I wonder which one I should choose?” she said, opening her notebook and staring at it with a serious gaze And then she suddenly broke into a smile “Well then, I already have a request…”
Honestly, I had nothing but a bad feeling about this
“I wanted to go to an amusement park before I died”
According to Mamizu, she had only ever been to an a, with her parents She was interested in what an amusement park would be like now that she was more aware of the world around her
Since it was so that she wanted to do before she died, I’d expected so like one of her dreams for the future that had never been fulfilled But her desire was a petty one, like that of someone in the lower middle class So I was a little let down at first
“Huh? … Thatthe fact that the one doing this would be me, I felt flustered
“So Takuya-kun, go to an amusement park in my place”
“No, wait a ht?”
“I’ns of shyness, and then gave a h
A week later, for some reason, I’d come to a famous theme park outside the prefecture
Of course, I was alone
How sad would a guy of e have to be to come to an amusement park alone?
Amusement parks are places visited by families and lovers This is an established fact nobody would come here alone
And it was Golden Week There was an incredible amount of people, people and people, as far as the eye could see Of course, they were in groups, such as couples, families and friends Naturally, I couldn’t spot anyone who had come alone like me
A guy going to an aine that such a guy would be in a sane state He would either be a real amusement park freak, or simply crazy But I was neither of those I wasn’t an amusement park freak, and I wanted to believe that I was still sane
In fact, I stood out That was to be expected It wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say that I was attracting a lotby me someti There was the occasional person blatantly sneering atI was definitely the center of attention
I’m not a crazy person!
I wanted to shout this out with a aphone Just where in an aaphone? Would I be able to find out if I asked soaphone, where could I purchase one? Wait! I’m not a suspicious person I’m not crazy! Please wait!
…
However, I had plans I hadn’t come to this amusement park just to play Well, I had, but this wasn’t just playing for me
My first destination was the rollercoaster
In a gloomy mood, I purchased a ticket and lined up for the rollercoaster There was a one-hour wait for it Ah, I wanted to go home I’d become completely fed up with this
Incidentally, I hated thrill rides I rode one once as a child, and never again since I didn’t understand their purpose What was so fun about riding in an exposed h places at crazy speeds? I couldn’t understand it at all It wasn’t that I was scared of them, that definitely wasn’t it, but… in any case, I didn’t want to ride them if I had the choice
I’ll never ride that again
That is the worst ride ever created in the history of huht
After I got down fro an indescribable sense of fatigue My sto up the toast I’d eaten thatI felt sick My spirits were at an all-time low
Even so, my business here wasn’t finished
I continued on, heading for the store that Mamizu had specified It was a café inside the a in line for around thirtyin here, the tier than the ti in line for Ninety-five percent of the people in line were couples That was the kind of sweet atmosphere this store had
There were a lot of e clothes designed to emphasize the chest These uniforms were said to be one of the two specialties of this store, and enthusiasts apparently couldn’t get enough of theht aat it, I placedout the words
“Please give me an ‘Our First Love’ parfait!”
The inside of the store became noisy They were so noisy that I wanted to ask theuy on his own, in a store full of couples, ordering a First Love parfait This parfait was the other specialty of this store
“What is with that guy?”
“He’s dangerous”
“He’s seriously dangerous”
I could tell that everyone hispering aboutand closed my eyes I shut down my consciousness as much as I could
What kind of punishame is this?
I want to disappear, I want to disappear, I want to disappear
While I was repeating this phrase over and over to ht to me
A generous amount of strawberry sauce had been poured on the enormous parfait There were numerous wafers inserted into it as if to make it livelier, and a heart-shaped piece of chocolate was enshrined in the center It looked like it was enough for two or three people
Was I going to eat this alone…?
I heard the click of a camera shutter from a cellphone
I turned around in surprise wondering what it was and saw a couple in the seats behind lared at the
This is shi+t This is really shi+t
Even as I thought this, I took a photograph of the parfait as well Incidentally, the parfait cost 1,500 yen What a rip-off, I thought In the end, I ate it all by ht it would be a waste if I didn’t As I ate, the giggling laughter around me never stopped
“Takuya-kun, you’re the best! My stomach hurts!”
Watarase Ma the photo of the First Love parfait and hearing aboutso hard that I wondered whether she was bothering the other people in the shared room
“And then, and then? What did you do after the First Love parfait?” she asked
“I went to the haunted house and got surprised by the ghosts, surprised by the kids on the ot creeped-out looks from couples at the Ferris wheel, and then I ca fed up
“How did you feel? Was it fun?”
“It was the absolute worst feeling I thought it would be best if a nuclear missile fell on that amusement park”
Finding sohter once ht, a little surprised
“I see, I see, thanks,” she said “I guess ao alone after all”
“Look here…”
I wanted to say, “You knew that fully ithout having to go there, didn’t you?” But before I could, Maain
“Well then, abouton the TV in the room Each of the beds in this shared roo hers until now
After flipping through the channels for a while, she found the evening news program
“This one, it’s this one!” Ma
It was news about the sale of a new set that queues foroing on sale in the evening this weekend
“I’ve wanted to try waiting in an all-night queue,” Mamizu said
… I decided to ignore her and go home
“Wait! Wait, Takuya-kun”
“I’ it!”
“Look at this” Mamizu opened a drawer in the chest next to her bed and took out a cellphone It looked really old; it was a flip phone of white color that had faded into ivory
“I’ this for four years, since before I was hospitalized Don’t you feel sorry for me?”
It was true that people using such a retro, previous-era phone were rare these days
“I want to try using a smartphone before I die,” she said wistfully
“… But those are pretty expensive, you know,” I said “Do you have money?”
“Ta-dah” Mamizu produced a bankbook from another drawer
“What’s that?” I asked
“My New Year’s gift savings”
So there really are people who save that ht
“My relatives like ive it to me every year, but in a place like this, I have even less things to spend it on than so it up”
I looked at the bankbook Mamizu handed istered inside
“Use that I’ll tell youme a cash card as well
“Wait a second,” I said, finally feeling that this was soo and tell so like that, can you?”
“Why?” Ma at me in puzzlement
“It could be misused”
“Are you going to misuse it, Takuya-kun?”
“Look here…”