６．Ｓａｔｕｒｄａｙ Ｍａｒｃｈ １６， ２０１９
文字数 7,193文字
"Mr.Kira, are you going home now?" After leaving the Asumi's residence, Maruta said in the car waiting at a traffic light.
"Yes, because I have a lot of school assignments to do."
As Maruta pulled up at the nearest station stop, Kira, his passenger, thanked him.
"Please give my regards to Choice."
"Okay. If I could see her, I would."
"Good luck with that."
"Haha. thank you."
Maruta yawned so hard his jaw almost came off. It has been years since I woke up at 5:00 a.m. on a holiday.
Unless he has something very important to do, he is usually dreaming at that early time of the year, his nose choked with pollen.
It is Saturday, but there are a surprisingly large number of people in suits being sucked into the station. Taking out his smartphone, Maruta showed Kira the screen of the map application.
"Just to confirm, are you sure this is the right place?"
The screen shows a location in the suburbs of Saitama Prefecture and the words 'Hashii's construction firm'.
"Maybe that is correct. After all, it's been more than three years since I went there, so my own memory is hazy. But I also checked that area with the view function on the Internet a few days ago. Then I saw a familiar cityscape, so it must be okay. Sorry if I'm wrong."
"I think it's worth a try. Thank you very much. You've been a big help."
He took a lonely hour-long drive north from Tokyo. As one moves further away from Tokyo, there diminishes the number of skyscrapers that look as if they have been polished entirely with a large cloth. Instead begin to stand out, home improvement stores, domestic car showrooms, and other low-rise, familiar buildings. When Maruta arrived at the eastern edge of Omiya City, it was after 7:00 PM.
Finding an abandoned hospital next to a larger park, Maruta stopped the car in front of it. Unlocking his smartphone, he stared at the messenger app icon. He had hoped to see if any sightings had been received from the employees in Yamanashi Prefecture, but the number of new messages it indicated was zero.
The ground floor of the intended residence was closed by wide shutters. There, he can clearly read the words 'Hashii's construction firm' illuminated by the streetlight. Maruta quietly climbed the tin-roofed stairs set up on the side of the small company.
The bald red paint on the door and the rusted, rough doorknob tell the story of the house's overall decay, which is no longer irreversible. For example, a patriarch behaves roughly and takes it out on his family without even knowing how hard it is to heal the wounds in their hearts. The family nerves gradually fade, and the patriarch's spirit, affected by the sight of them, gradually declines as well. Becoming even more frustrated, depressed, he or she treats the family even worse than before. In this cycle, the vitality of the house drops to a level that requires a great deal of work to reemerge.
Maruta imagined such a depressing vicious cycle on his own as he stood in front of the door.
The intercom barely seemed to be live, so he let it ring and then waited for an answer. Tasteless fluorescent light leaks from a small window that looks like a cutout, visible from where Maruta stands. Footsteps approached, and the door opened about the width of his palm. However, the inner door guard remained on.
"Excuse me for coming in this late at night." Maruta tilted his face toward the gap. In the dim light, his eyes met those of a middle-aged woman with her hair tied back.
"May I have your name?" She is clearly suspicious, but not completely rejecting, probably because she usually deal with customers as well. Beginning to show signs of weariness, her face bore no resemblance to 〈Choice〉's. But he felt that the strong-willed tone of voice contained that which he had heard in the live Internet streaming video.
"My name is Yoshikage Maruta. I am an acquaintance of Mr. Gin Nakata."
"What?" The woman, who must have been 〈Choice〉's mother, replied without a trace of amiability.
After repeating the same line, Maruta pretended not to be afraid and said, "I have something important to tell Ms. Hashii about Gin Nakata."
Then once the door was closed, the footsteps moved away.
When Maruta listened carefully, he heard a faint conversation: "You, someone is coming," "Who?" and "A man I don't know."
He grumbled in his mind as he listened, "I told you twice that I am an acquaintance of Gin Nakata."
A young woman stood in the doorway. She was wearing a white mask, but he was sure it was 〈Choice〉 he had seen in the video. She is dressed in a gray sweatshirt with shoulder-length black hair that is slightly wet. The smell of thick shampoo, perhaps fresh from the bath, lingered in Maruta's nostrils.
If the profile I checked on the web page is correct, she should be 21 years old now. From the looks of it, she does not appear to be attending school or working at a company.
〈Choice〉 opened her mouth without waiting for Maruta to introduce himself. "If you're my hater, can you leave?"
Maruta immediately waved his hand in front of his face. "No, no. I'm not your hater. My name is Yoshikage Maruta. I'm a friend of Mr. Gin Nakata."
"Who?"
"Mr. Gin Nakata, who until last year was a video creator under the name Silva."
"Ah, Gin, that guy. And what?"
Maruta told the woman, who had never lost her timid dog-like attitude, the same story he had told the first time at the Tokyo mansion.
"I thought that if I just called you, you would think I was just a hater and kick me out, so I came here in person. If it bothers you, I'll leave immediately."
"Yes. You bother me now."
Maruta came up with the suggestion that "You should take a cue from Silva and make yourself acceptable to the masses." However, considering his own position, he did not say so. He decided to maintain a calm demeanor, as if he were interviewing for a job at a company.
"I watched a video on the Internet called 'GN Past Videos'."
"You're mumbling and I don't know what you're saying."
"Ms. Hashii. Um, when you were in high school, you and Silva-san had a Kenka-Totsu. I enjoyed viewing it."
"I'm not in the mood to talk about him. If you don't leave soon, I'll call the police."
Immediately after the door closed, there was a dry sound of it being locked. It must have been a spite at him. He almost agreed with what 〈Silva〉 said one day, meaning "You're the girl with nose hairs."
Putting his hands on the hood of his car, Maruta stretched the muscles of his body. On the street, an elderly woman pulling a shopping bag on wheels looked curiously into his face as she passed by.
Maruta thought that it is no use for an amateur to climb a palm tree and try to pick two or three fruits at once. It's good enough.
In the end, it was a dud, but he still felt he could have dropped a fruit and a half on the ground.
"Yes, because I have a lot of school assignments to do."
As Maruta pulled up at the nearest station stop, Kira, his passenger, thanked him.
"Please give my regards to Choice."
"Okay. If I could see her, I would."
"Good luck with that."
"Haha. thank you."
Maruta yawned so hard his jaw almost came off. It has been years since I woke up at 5:00 a.m. on a holiday.
Unless he has something very important to do, he is usually dreaming at that early time of the year, his nose choked with pollen.
It is Saturday, but there are a surprisingly large number of people in suits being sucked into the station. Taking out his smartphone, Maruta showed Kira the screen of the map application.
"Just to confirm, are you sure this is the right place?"
The screen shows a location in the suburbs of Saitama Prefecture and the words 'Hashii's construction firm'.
"Maybe that is correct. After all, it's been more than three years since I went there, so my own memory is hazy. But I also checked that area with the view function on the Internet a few days ago. Then I saw a familiar cityscape, so it must be okay. Sorry if I'm wrong."
"I think it's worth a try. Thank you very much. You've been a big help."
He took a lonely hour-long drive north from Tokyo. As one moves further away from Tokyo, there diminishes the number of skyscrapers that look as if they have been polished entirely with a large cloth. Instead begin to stand out, home improvement stores, domestic car showrooms, and other low-rise, familiar buildings. When Maruta arrived at the eastern edge of Omiya City, it was after 7:00 PM.
Finding an abandoned hospital next to a larger park, Maruta stopped the car in front of it. Unlocking his smartphone, he stared at the messenger app icon. He had hoped to see if any sightings had been received from the employees in Yamanashi Prefecture, but the number of new messages it indicated was zero.
The ground floor of the intended residence was closed by wide shutters. There, he can clearly read the words 'Hashii's construction firm' illuminated by the streetlight. Maruta quietly climbed the tin-roofed stairs set up on the side of the small company.
The bald red paint on the door and the rusted, rough doorknob tell the story of the house's overall decay, which is no longer irreversible. For example, a patriarch behaves roughly and takes it out on his family without even knowing how hard it is to heal the wounds in their hearts. The family nerves gradually fade, and the patriarch's spirit, affected by the sight of them, gradually declines as well. Becoming even more frustrated, depressed, he or she treats the family even worse than before. In this cycle, the vitality of the house drops to a level that requires a great deal of work to reemerge.
Maruta imagined such a depressing vicious cycle on his own as he stood in front of the door.
The intercom barely seemed to be live, so he let it ring and then waited for an answer. Tasteless fluorescent light leaks from a small window that looks like a cutout, visible from where Maruta stands. Footsteps approached, and the door opened about the width of his palm. However, the inner door guard remained on.
"Excuse me for coming in this late at night." Maruta tilted his face toward the gap. In the dim light, his eyes met those of a middle-aged woman with her hair tied back.
"May I have your name?" She is clearly suspicious, but not completely rejecting, probably because she usually deal with customers as well. Beginning to show signs of weariness, her face bore no resemblance to 〈Choice〉's. But he felt that the strong-willed tone of voice contained that which he had heard in the live Internet streaming video.
"My name is Yoshikage Maruta. I am an acquaintance of Mr. Gin Nakata."
"What?" The woman, who must have been 〈Choice〉's mother, replied without a trace of amiability.
After repeating the same line, Maruta pretended not to be afraid and said, "I have something important to tell Ms. Hashii about Gin Nakata."
Then once the door was closed, the footsteps moved away.
When Maruta listened carefully, he heard a faint conversation: "You, someone is coming," "Who?" and "A man I don't know."
He grumbled in his mind as he listened, "I told you twice that I am an acquaintance of Gin Nakata."
A young woman stood in the doorway. She was wearing a white mask, but he was sure it was 〈Choice〉 he had seen in the video. She is dressed in a gray sweatshirt with shoulder-length black hair that is slightly wet. The smell of thick shampoo, perhaps fresh from the bath, lingered in Maruta's nostrils.
If the profile I checked on the web page is correct, she should be 21 years old now. From the looks of it, she does not appear to be attending school or working at a company.
〈Choice〉 opened her mouth without waiting for Maruta to introduce himself. "If you're my hater, can you leave?"
Maruta immediately waved his hand in front of his face. "No, no. I'm not your hater. My name is Yoshikage Maruta. I'm a friend of Mr. Gin Nakata."
"Who?"
"Mr. Gin Nakata, who until last year was a video creator under the name Silva."
"Ah, Gin, that guy. And what?"
Maruta told the woman, who had never lost her timid dog-like attitude, the same story he had told the first time at the Tokyo mansion.
"I thought that if I just called you, you would think I was just a hater and kick me out, so I came here in person. If it bothers you, I'll leave immediately."
"Yes. You bother me now."
Maruta came up with the suggestion that "You should take a cue from Silva and make yourself acceptable to the masses." However, considering his own position, he did not say so. He decided to maintain a calm demeanor, as if he were interviewing for a job at a company.
"I watched a video on the Internet called 'GN Past Videos'."
"You're mumbling and I don't know what you're saying."
"Ms. Hashii. Um, when you were in high school, you and Silva-san had a Kenka-Totsu. I enjoyed viewing it."
"I'm not in the mood to talk about him. If you don't leave soon, I'll call the police."
Immediately after the door closed, there was a dry sound of it being locked. It must have been a spite at him. He almost agreed with what 〈Silva〉 said one day, meaning "You're the girl with nose hairs."
Putting his hands on the hood of his car, Maruta stretched the muscles of his body. On the street, an elderly woman pulling a shopping bag on wheels looked curiously into his face as she passed by.
Maruta thought that it is no use for an amateur to climb a palm tree and try to pick two or three fruits at once. It's good enough.
In the end, it was a dud, but he still felt he could have dropped a fruit and a half on the ground.
