1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 633 Rebirth

While writing, Jiang Xian was also reading "The Miracles of the Namiya General Store" for the nth time.

The more I read, the more I felt that this Keigo Higashino must have been channeled by Haruki Murakami.

This novel not only features the Beatles' bar, but also illustrates that all encounters are reunions after a long separation, and even if they cannot be together, there is still a thin red thread in their destiny.

“Exquisite!”

"That's so meticulous!"

"Sir, here's your blanket." The flight attendant, wearing thermal underwear—oops, I mean stockings—brought him a blanket.

Jiang Xian thanked him and then continued writing in his notebook with his pen.

Fountain pens are allowed on airplanes.

However, one thing to be careful about is that the pen may leak ink.

After all, there is a pressure difference when an airplane climbs.

This is something we all learned in high school physics.

When an aircraft climbs, the air pressure inside the cabin is not normal atmospheric pressure. If the cabin were under constant pressure, the high-pressure gas inside would damage the cabin structure in the event of an accidental leak.

Therefore, the air pressure is generally lower than that at ground level when an airplane flies to a high altitude.

However, the air inside the ink cartridge of a fountain pen is at standard atmospheric pressure. Under these conditions, the air inside the converter will expand, squeezing the ink out of the converter.

As for fountain pens that still use capsule converters, the situation is even worse. If the pen barrel is sealed, the air inside the barrel will expand and put even more pressure on the capsule.

So while the plane is climbing, you might be able to hold back from vomiting, but your pen might not be able to resist.

Any pen with an ink-sealing structure, such as a ballpoint pen or direct-liquid pen with a sealed refill, may experience ink leakage during this process.

However, the pen Jiang Xian used could avoid this situation; it was a negative pressure pen from the old American pen brand Sheaffer.

Sheaffer is hailed as a perennial favorite in the American pen industry, and its fountain pens are indeed very beautiful.

As for the one in his hand, Jiang Xian didn't buy it with his own money; it was a gift from Nie Hualing, and it was quite expensive.

At this moment, Jiang Xian is writing the second story in "The Miracles of the Namiya General Store," a story that is loved by many and has moved many people to tears.

Unlike the first story, which is told through letters exchanged between the children and the Moon Rabbit, the second story is told directly from the perspective of the participants.

The main character of the story is named Kron.

On Christmas Eve, he visited an orphanage called "Marukouen" and sang several classic Christmas songs for the children.

The atmosphere grew increasingly lively when he noticed a girl sitting on the side of the second row who wasn't looking at Kron at all, seemingly having no interest in the song.

The girl had a unique charm, and to attract her attention, Kron took out his harmonica and played his best piece of music.

During the three and a half minutes of the performance, the girl stared at him without blinking, her eyes filled with genuine emotion.

After the concert, the hospital held a dinner party in the cafeteria.

Kron was also invited to the event, and while he was having his meal, the girl approached him.

"What was that song you were playing just now?"

"Which one?"

"It's the last song played on the harmonica, which I've never heard before."

Kron laughed and told her, "Of course, because I created it myself."

"Homemade?"

Do you like the music I composed myself?

The girl nodded vigorously.

"I think this piece of music is great, and I would love to hear it again."

"Really? Then wait a moment."

Kron was staying here tonight. He went to the room that had been arranged for him, took his harmonica, and returned to the dining hall.

He led the girl into the corridor and played the tune for her on his harmonica. The girl listened intently with a serious expression.

"Is there no song title?"

"No, there is one, it's called 'Rebirth'."

"Rebirth"

The girl repeated it softly and began to hum it. Kron was astonished because she had perfectly reproduced the melody of "Rebirth".

Kron was taken aback, realizing that this girl named Xiaoqin possessed unparalleled musical talent.

At this moment, Xiaoqin asked him, "Mr. Kelang, aren't you going to be a professional singer?"

"A professional singer? I don't know." Kron tried to hide his inner turmoil.

"I think this song is bound to be a hit," Xiaoqin told him before being called away.

Because she has a younger brother, and the two of them were abused by their parents when they were young, her brother only talks to Xiaoqin and even needs her help to eat.

When Kron returned to the room prepared for him at the orphanage, he recalled Xiaoqin's question, "Mr. Kron, aren't you going to be a professional singer?" and suddenly remembered what happened eight years ago.

Eight years ago, Koro's younger sister, Emiko, called to say that their grandmother had passed away, so Koro went home.

This was his first time returning to his hometown since dropping out of university. The atmosphere of the small town had hardly changed, and his room remained exactly the same, indicating that his parents were still waiting for him to come back.

On the way to the vigil with his sister, his sister tried to persuade him to give up his dream of becoming a professional singer, as their father had fallen ill a month earlier due to a heart attack.

Kron had no rebuttal and could only remain silent.

He had been interested in music since middle school. In order to get a guitar, he made a promise with his parents that his grades would not drop while he was learning music. He successfully got into his target high school.

In high school, he formed his own band, and later Koro enrolled in the economics department of a university in Tokyo.

In fact, Kron always wanted to pursue a career in music, but his father always hoped that he would inherit the family's fish shop, which was the path that had been planned for him since he was a child.

But Kron's passion for music has not diminished in the slightest.

He spent almost all of his time in college on music.

So, when he was twenty-one, he told his parents that he had dropped out of school.

That evening, his parents rushed to Tokyo. They talked until dawn. Despite their disappointment, they still hoped that Koro could return home and inherit the fish shop.

But Kron stubbornly chose to stay in Tokyo to pursue his musical dreams.

On one occasion, his guest introduced him to a music critic.

The critic initially praised him, but when Kron asked if it was possible for him to become a professional singer, the critic made a comment that made Kron doubt himself:

"It's best not to have such thoughts."

"There are plenty of people who sing as well as you, unless your voice is very distinctive."

"But you didn't."

The person who acted as matchmaker for Kelang asked, "What do you think of his compositions? I think they're very good." "To a layman, they are indeed very good."

"However, unfortunately, that's all it is. It's reminiscent of existing music, meaning it doesn't feel original."

Critics bluntly stated that Kron felt hot all over from frustration and embarrassment.

Do I lack talent?
Is it just wishful thinking to make a living through music?

After that day, he was unable to shake off those thoughts.

The atmosphere during this meeting with my parents was quite awkward.

The mother's eyes held more pity than disappointment. The father stared at Kron for a long time before finally opening his half-pursed lips and asking in a gruff voice, "Why are you here? Who told you to come?"

Although the father still acted coldly in front of Kron, when an uncle mocked Kron's dream of making a living through music, the father suddenly shouted, "Shut up! Mind your own business!"

Afterwards, Kron fell into deep thought, and for the first time, he felt truly sorry for his father.

He began to seriously consider what to do with his parents in their old age.

Should I give up music to inherit the fish shop?

But what about my dream of many years?

The mother also said that the father did not want him to give up his musical dreams because of her.

During his aimless stroll, he unknowingly arrived at the door of Namiya General Store.

When he was little, he consulted the shop owner, Grandpa Namiya, about all sorts of troubles, but they were all trivial, such as how to make more New Year's money.
Many years have passed, and he doesn't know if his grandfather is still in the shop.

Just then, he suddenly saw a woman riding a bicycle drop a letter into the small window of the roller shutter.

So when he got home, he wrote a letter and slipped it into the small window.

The next day, looking into the milk box next to the door, there was indeed a reply. In the letter, "Mr. Namiya" wrote:
I won't harm you. Hurry up and inherit the fish shop. You are the only son of the family's fresh fish shop, which has been passed down for generations. Even if you don't do anything, you can still inherit the shop. The shop should have many long-time customers, so you don't need to work hard to attract business.

In thirty years, you won't have such carefree days anymore. Wait another thirty years and you'll see that this world isn't so easy to navigate.

By then, even graduating from university won't guarantee you a job. You'll be lucky to find one. This kind of era will definitely come. I bet you, making a living through music won't work. Stop daydreaming and face reality!
After reading the letter, Kron's hand trembled as he held it.

Needless to say, it was out of trust.

This is no different from being scolded to your face.

He felt ridiculous; why had he even sent a letter? So he crumpled it up and threw it away.

But he probably never imagined that the people giving him life advice would be just three children who had just committed a theft.

After calming down several times, Kron still wrote back a letter.

He first explained that his family's shop wasn't doing very well, so he wanted to explore other paths. His goal was to become a professional musician. Mr. Namiya couldn't be directly judged as lacking musical talent, since he hadn't heard any of his songs.

The next day, another letter arrived from Namiya General Store, with the same tone:

You've persisted for three years and still haven't made a name for yourself. Isn't that proof that you lack talent? In short, I won't harm you; go and become a fish shop owner right now!
This time, after seeing the reply, Kron was much calmer. He felt that although the other party's words were rude, they gave him a sense of satisfaction because the other party had exposed the truth that he had been unwilling to admit.

At that moment, Koro, not being a fool, also began to have doubts. Such blunt words were nothing like the old Namiya he used to know.

So he wrote back again, wanting to meet with the person who wrote back and have a face-to-face conversation.

After dropping the letter through the small window, she took out a harmonica and played his favorite original song, "Rebirth," which she had mentioned at the beginning, for the person inside the door.

Just then, Kron was told that his father had suddenly fainted. After rushing to the hospital, Kron looked at his father's frail body and finally made a decision. He said to his father:
"If you absolutely must open a shop, I'll help."

To his surprise, his father actually said:
"What can you do? You don't even know how to clean fish? What about your music?"

Kron argued with his father for a while. His father said to him, "If you don't listen to your parents and focus all your energy on one thing, then that's all you'll have left. If you can't even do that, and you still think you can run a fish shop without any problems, then you're underestimating the fish shop too much."

So the two men solemnly made a promise: Kron would continue to pursue his musical dreams.

Before returning to Tokyo, Koro, now with a clear life goal, went to pick up a reply from Namiya General Store one more time.

This letter still surprised him. The tone wasn't as intense as before; instead, it said:

"Your unwavering pursuit of music will not be in vain. In the future, someone will be redeemed because of your songs, and the music you create will surely be passed down. Please believe this, believe it until the last moment of your life."

Kron was a little surprised.

When Jiang Xian first saw this, he was also a little confused, not understanding why the three children suddenly changed their story.

Because the first three children spoke very rudely.

However, in this reply, the three children were not only very polite, but also changed their previous opposition and strongly supported and encouraged Kron's musical dreams.

Years later, Kron participated in many competitions and talent shows, but he was never discovered. Although his song "Rebirth" was finally released as an album and could be seen in CD stores he passed by, he still couldn't debut.

Just then, one of his guests asked him if he wanted to do a performance for the orphanage, and he agreed.

From that time on, Koro began performing at orphanages throughout Japan.

He can sing over a thousand songs that children love to listen to, although he never had the opportunity to debut as a singer.

The story finally begins at the very beginning, on Christmas Eve, when Kron arrived at an orphanage called Marukouen.

That night, Koro, who was staying at Marukoen and lost in his memories, was awakened from his dream by deafening bells and screams.

Marukoen Garden caught fire.

As Kron, who was trying to escape, approached the bottom of the building, he saw Xiaoqin, a girl with red and swollen eyes.

It turned out that the girl's only relative, her younger brother Xiaolong, was still in the room.

Without hesitation, Kron ran in to save the people.

In the end, Kron sacrificed himself to save the little boy.

In his final moments, he remembered a sentence from that letter:

"Some people will be saved by your music, and your music will surely be passed down."

"As for why I can make such a statement, I don't know how to answer that. In short, please don't doubt this matter."

"Please believe this to the very end, right up to the very end."

Kron understood the contents of the letter at the last moment of his life.

"Dad, does this count as leaving a trace? Even though I lost a battle."

The story ends many years later.

In the packed stadium, the exceptionally talented female singer finally got to perform her closing song.

At this moment, the rare and talented female singer said, "This song is my signature song, but it has a deeper meaning."

My brother is my only relative in this world, and the author of this song is the person who saved my brother's life.

He saved my brother with his life, and I will sing this song for the rest of my life. This is the only way I can repay him.

Then, the prelude to "Rebirth" began.

(End of this chapter)