Peninsula Cicada Song Diary

"What do you mean by 'last time'?" Pei Xiyan turned her head slightly in surprise.

"It means exactly what it says," Sana Minatozaki said calmly. "This should be the last time we meet."

Her words were so calm, as if she were stating a natural law: "The wind always blows to another place."

Pei Xiyan forced a smile: "This joke isn't funny..."

"This is no joke." Sana Minatozaki turned her head so that Pei Xiyan could see the seriousness in her eyes.

"That's what it told me too."

She raised her right hand, the red string on her wrist swaying slightly in the sea breeze, as if in response to her words.

For the first time, Pei Xiyan didn't want to look into her eyes, even though they were as beautiful as amber formed from resin.

He lowered his eyes, already believing it in his heart:

"But why?"

He wasn't unfamiliar with parting, but he hated this kind of sudden separation.

"Because you've found me." Sana Minatozaki ran her fingers along the red string, trying to make her tone cheerful. "Whether in reality or in a dream."

"This is different," Pei Xiyan said softly.

A dream is a dream, and reality is reality. The former is a mirage, and the latter is the stone that shatters it.

No one will believe what you dream about, and you wouldn't be foolish enough to go up to them and say, "Hey, I've met you in my dreams for three years!" If you did that, people would just think you're crazy and leave quickly. A kind soul might call a hospital before leaving to ask if you want to see a neurologist.

"Same," Sana Minatozaki said softly.

"Don't joke around." Pei Xiyan thought her response was ridiculous and raised her voice slightly to refute it, "So you're not going to say something like 'I'm actually the real-life Sana Minatozaki,' are you?"

"Yes, I am." She nodded gently.

"What?" Pei Xiyan was stunned.

"I am... and I am not," Sana Minatozaki said. "Actually, when you're dreaming, I'm dreaming too."

"My memories of you only exist in my dreams."

Pei Xiyan suddenly felt her head buzzing and heard a faint "beep" in her ears.

He was somewhat stunned by the sudden news.

"Actually, I was about to leave last time," Sana Minatozaki continued. "I know you've already found me in reality."

"Because of...your name?" Pei Xiyan rubbed her temples, feeling she had found the key. "Because I called you by your full name, so..."

"Xiyan is really smart." Minatozaki Sana smiled and praised softly.

"But I don't want to be this smart." Pei Xiyan lowered her head, feeling for the first time how jarring the word "smart" sounded.

His overconfident attack only resulted in the key to separation—how ironic.

"You can't bear to part with me?" Sana Minatozaki's face regained its cheerful smile.

"Yes..." Pei Xiyan responded in a muffled voice.

He knew that it would take three weeks to form a habit.

What about three years? More than 160 weeks, I wonder how many habits can be formed in that time.

"I am who I am." Sana Minatozaki took his hand. "Let's continue being friends on the other side."

Pei Xiyan stared at the ship's deck without saying a word.

"state."

Suddenly, the bow of the wooden boat seemed to hit something, making a crisp sound before being forced to stop, and then the oars stopped moving as well.

"We've arrived." Minatozaki Sana realized something. She let go of her hand, stood up, walked to the bow of the ship, and reached out her hand as if she had touched something.

Pei Xiyan suppressed her emotions and looked up, seeing a white wall gradually taking shape where her palm was touching.

"Let's take a look." Sana Minatozaki knocked on the wall. "How many times have we met?"

The wall was rippled by the knocking, and after the ripples stopped, images flashed by like a slideshow: temples, beaches, mountains, cherry blossom trees... With each image that flashed by, a number would be superimposed in the upper left corner.

"Was it really a bad ending?" Pei Xiyan wondered, gazing at the images.

The end credits are starting now; shouldn't we thank them for their outstanding performances at the end?

His heart was suddenly overwhelmed by a huge sadness, and his nose felt sore, as if someone was cutting an onion in front of him.

This director is a complete idiot. Who would watch a movie with an ending like that? It's absolutely awful...

"It's exactly the hundredth time we've met." Sana Minatozaki looked at the final number that had been frozen in time.

"What a perfect number," Pei Xiyan murmured.

"Yes," Sana Minatozaki smiled, "just right."

After the screen flickered, an ordinary door appeared on the wall directly opposite the bow of the ship, as if waiting for someone to open it.

"I think I should go now," Sana Minatozaki said, looking at the door.

"Have you heard this song before?" Pei Xiyan asked suddenly, tilting her head back to calm herself down.

"What song is it?" Minatozaki Sana asked curiously.

""Yesterday" by The Beatles."

"Can you sing for me?" Minatozaki Sana's eyes sparkled.

Pei Xiyan did not refuse.

"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.

Now it looks as though they're here to stay.

Now, however, it seems to be clinging to me, refusing to leave.

Oh, I believe it from yesterday.

I'm obsessed with yesterday.

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,

Suddenly, I am no longer the person I used to be.

There's a shadow hanging over me.

Dark clouds loomed over me

Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

It came so suddenly yesterday.

Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say.

I have no idea why she left, nor did she ever mention it.

I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Perhaps I said something wrong, but now I so desperately long for the past...

His melodious singing drifted across the sea, and perhaps the only listener was Sana Minatozaki, who listened quietly. The sea was quiet, and the ship was quiet.

The song is short, just over two minutes long.

When he finished, Sana Minatozaki immediately clapped her hands in front of her like a seal, exclaiming, "That was great! That was great!"

However, her English wasn't very good, so she scratched her head and asked, "But what does this song mean?"

"yesterday."

"I do know this word!" Sana Minatozaki felt indignant, thinking she had been looked down upon.

"Yesterday will pass." Pei Xiyan looked at her. "Tomorrow... I will come to see you."

Sana Minatozaki paused for a moment, then giggled and raised her right pinky finger, "Let's pinky swear~"

Pei Xiyan reached out and hooked her arm around him.

"Referring to きりげんまん,

Hush ついたらneedle senbondrink ま~す!

Finger cut! "

She was saying something Japanese people say when they make a pinky promise, and Pei Xiyan knew what it meant.

"We made a vow as firm as cutting off our little finger. Anyone who breaks the vow will be punched ten thousand times and swallowed a thousand needles."

"Alright." Sana Minatozaki withdrew her hand, flicked her hair deftly, and said, "I'm leaving too."

"I'm so glad to have spent these three years with you," she said earnestly.

"Goodbye." Pei Xiyan didn't say much, just said goodbye softly.

"Sayonara~" Minatozaki Sana waved and then opened the door.

With a "click," the door closed.

Between the blue sky and the dark sea, in front of the wall, only a lonely small boat and Pei Xiyan remained.

Pei Xiyan looked at the sea and for some reason thought of the old man and the sea. The old man drifted for 84 days, while he drifted for three years.

The old man caught the fish, and from that moment on, he was separated by a door.

He suddenly reached out and made a grasping motion in front of him.

It's not soft at all; it's just air in your hands.

Pei Xiyan sighed, lay down on the deck, and looked at the azure sky. For the first time, she felt no desire to dream anymore.

"Click." He suddenly heard the sound of the door being opened.

"Remember to come find me!" A little head peeked out from under the door.

"Okay~" Pei Xiyan smiled faintly, but couldn't hide her happiness.