I push the kid!

"secret."

She paused for a moment and said, "I like The Little Prince."

Makimura Taku glanced at her, thinking: "Natsume Soseki, Mishima Yukio, Matsuo Basho, Hemingway, Romain Rolland, Francoise, Murakami Haruki, Claudel, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Higashino Keigo, Watanabe Junichi, Strelecky, Mori Ogai..."

"what are you saying……"

"My favorite is still Fitzgerald's book."

She put down the children's book in her hand and suddenly felt that reading was boring.

When the sun set in the west, they walked across a bridge. The direction of the wind changed, from the north wind at noon to now blowing from the east.

The wind blew up Hoshino Ai's hair, but she didn't seem to care at all. She stared at the ground like a child and walked forward on her shadow.

The orange light illuminated the dusk, and when it reached a certain point, the shadow of the body became several, and then suddenly merged together at a certain position.

When the two reached the middle of the bridge, Hoshino Ai stopped in front and Makimura Taku also stopped.

She turned around and the wind seemed to get stronger in an instant.

She was wearing the pure white halter dress she wore yesterday, and her shoes were also white. She was wearing a light blue denim jacket on the outside, with no buttons fastened, but her chest was covered by the lace fabric inside.

The wind caressed everything on her body, and the girl floated as light as a cloud that had just appeared.

They looked at each other for a long time across the warm air; in fact, it was only two or three seconds, but Makimura Taku always felt that time was infinitely stretched, as if several years had passed.

"Makimura," Hoshino Ai said, "thank you."

"Why are you thanking me all of a sudden?"

She ignored him, as if listening to the wind, which had changed direction again.

At around ten o'clock in the evening, they returned to the hotel, and Hoshino Ai pressed the photos taken in the afternoon under a sunflower.

They didn't go to bed immediately, but took a shower and sat next to the desk lamp, watching the sky darken until it couldn't get any darker.

"The things on the to-do list haven't been completed yet." Hoshino Ai murmured towards the bamboo forest.

"Then let's do it tomorrow." said Taku Makimura.

Hoshino Ai nodded and took out his copy of The Great Gatsby to read it until very late. Makimura Taku went to bed first.

When she woke up in the morning, Hoshino Ai left with only her suitcase.

The desk lamp was off and the book was still on the table.

Thanks to [Long Yi][Ye Xiaoxian][jm9][四重罪172] for their monthly tickets.

Thanks to [jm9][青木随你如梦][雷纳昂多刘能][数据删减] for the rewards.

Thank you everyone for your recommendation votes.

Chapter 15: Tomorrow and Letter Without You

Chapter 15 15. Tomorrow and Letter Without You

It was discovered that the time when Hoshino Ai left was around 5:40 in the morning, but Makimura Taku could not remember the exact time.

I only remember that after waking up, the room was quiet, with no breathing or heartbeat.

The bed creaked twice, and the sound of birds chirping came in from outside the bamboo forest through the not-too-thick glass door, as if living in a rural area in summer.

There were some wrinkles on the bed sheet next to it, probably because Hoshino Ai hadn't touched it since she got out of bed.

The only suitcase left was Taku Makimura's, and the door was closed tightly, but she didn't make any sound when she left. However, it might be that Taku Makimura was sleeping too deeply and didn't hear it.

He looked at the empty surroundings, feeling as if his heart was covered with a thin layer of mist, with words on his lips but unable to come out.

The sky outside was dim, like a piece of crudely made cardboard. Gray clouds were floating above the bamboo forest, as if it would rain at any moment, but it had not yet.

He had a feeling of being at a loss, although it was very slight, it still lingered in his heart.

He exhaled, changed his shoes, and ran several laps in the birch forest as usual, but it was definitely more than five kilometers.

At around 6:40, raindrops fell from the sky. There were only a few drops at first, but they soon covered the entire white world. The rain fell so quickly, as if someone was urging it on from behind.

Before the ground was painted black, Makimura Taku trotted back to the hotel with his hair only slightly wet.

The door opened and he said, "I'm back," but there was no one else in the room except him. No one had washed their hair and was sitting there waiting for him, and no one smiled and said welcome back to him.

He felt a little stupid, so he took off his clothes, took a towel to the bathroom, took a shower, and brushed his teeth.

The sound from the shower head was similar to the sound of rain outside, which made people feel unhappy, so he turned on his phone and played music to cover it.

He completely forgot which songs were playing on his phone at that time.

After taking a shower and changing his clothes, he glanced at the rain outside the bedroom.

The rain suddenly fell heavily, like dragons falling from the sky, trying to completely crush the earth.

The bamboo forest was swaying in the wind, and the thick branches seemed to be unable to support themselves. The noise outside was like a world of war.

The rain, blown sideways by the wind, flowed over the eaves of the door and hit the broken glass windows, leaving particularly eye-catching marks.

The sound of rain was heavy. Staying in the room felt like being in an aquarium or diving into the ocean hundreds of meters deep.

Makimura Taku withdrew his gaze, drank a glass of tap water, and his throat seemed to have finally regained the ability to speak.

He sat on the beechwood stool beside the table, looking at the things on the table:

The leftover cake from two days ago had not been thrown away, and the knives and forks covered with cream and the unopened gloves were scattered nearby. The sixteen candles were half black, and two sunflowers fell in the shadow of the wall. The photos pressed under the green stems reflected the light.

Everything seemed frozen in time like that photograph, and he felt an inexplicable discomfort.

The rain stopped for about thirty minutes. He opened the glass door and let the wind blow in. The air was so fresh that it made him feel happy from head to toe, but Makimura Taku didn't feel it at all.

The Great Gatsby placed next to it was blown by the wind and the pages were turning cracklingly.

He walked over to put it away and saw a folded piece of letter inside. When he unfolded it, he found it was left by Hoshino Ai.

He leaned over the bed with the letter in his hand and began to read it from the beginning.

"I'm sorry, I lied," Hoshino Ai wrote in the letter.

To be honest, her handwriting wasn't very pretty and it was a bit difficult to read, but she tried to write every word clearly.

After reading this, Makimura Taku felt that the wind was a bit strong, so he put down the letter, went under the bed, closed and locked the glass door tightly, and the rustling sound of the curtains stopped as well.

For some reason, he wanted to get another glass of water. The water from the faucet in the kitchen splashed onto the sink, and the sound was clear enough to be a little harsh.

After drinking the water, he sat back on the edge of the bed and finished reading the letter.

"I agreed to finish the things on my to-do list tomorrow, but I left without saying goodbye. I'm very sorry."

It is followed by a crying face that looks like a smiling face, and then a new line starts.

"When I wrote this letter, I was sitting next to the desk lamp. It wasn't raining outside the window, but it was dark and terribly windy. The light from the desk lamp barely illuminated the paper. It's a little after one in the morning now. How should I put it? I still prefer to write letters at three in the afternoon when the sun is shining. Do you still remember what I said? You must have forgotten it, right? You said you like to walk by the bridge in the summer, and I remembered it for you. I'm really amazing. By the way, you slept so deeply. Are you so tired to accompany me out today? But thanks to your sleep, I'm so tired. Good morning, otherwise I would not have the chance to write this letter to you, and I might have just left without a word. I would be sad too. I was a little confused when I started writing. I was thinking, what should I write? I had so many things to write all of a sudden. After writing the first sentence, I didn’t know how to write the next sentence. Forget it, I will just write "The sunset is so beautiful!" You will definitely remember something. I thought of this right away. By the way, I was quite happy during the trip these days. I stayed in a hotel, ate delicious food, took a hot spring bath, climbed mountains, skied, flew kites, and watched elk. "

The word "moose" in "elk" was written incorrectly at first, so she blacked it out with a pen and then replaced it with a kana.

"There are so many more, too many, I guess they can't fit on one piece of paper, so I won't write them down. Since I'm leaving, I won't take all these things with me, it's too troublesome to carry them with me, and I'll leave the sunflower here too. I just took it and it's so heavy, it really seems to be more than 80 grams, you're right this time... I want to take the photo, but there's only one, so I'll leave it here. I don't like seeing the photo and thinking about us being together, and then breaking up again, that's so painful, please help me feel sad, hehe."

Start a new line.

"Makino Taku (Sorry, I didn't use the honorifics. Because I wanted to write your full name, I will remember your full name.), you are handsome, a very good person, I felt that you are a good person from the beginning, it's true, you are too gentle, in comparison, I feel that I am too bad, but well, I don't hate myself like this, I am such a person like Hoshino Ai, cute, greedy, unique! I wrote some insignificant things, and the paper is almost not enough, but it doesn't matter, anyway, your book can still be used, if you can't write more, you can write in your book. One more thing, this book is too profound, I don't like it at all, and it's all in English, I can hardly understand it, I can only read your notes, what do you like? If you ask me, I I still like "The Little Prince" more, although there is a sentence in it that I don't quite agree with, that is, "When a person is in a low mood, he will especially like to watch the sunset." I like it because I really like it. It's very happy to watch it! I wrote too far. I actually feel quite regretful. I really like the winter in Echigo Yuzawa. Although you said it was autumn, I must say it was winter. I also like Karuizawa, but I haven't played enough. There are many places I haven't been to and many things I haven't done. I'm afraid I can't continue to like Karuizawa's autumn with you. This is quite sad. I really want to know what you are thinking when you see this letter. How will you answer, daffodils? What are daffodils? I don't understand at all. Please explain it clearly next time. "

Start a new line.

"I'm going back to Tokyo. Actually it's not far, after all Tokyo is so small. When you see this, maybe I'm basking in the sun, staring at Tokyo Bay in a daze. That feeling must be great. Can you understand me? You definitely understand. I've written a lot, so I'll just write these. There's one last thing. Do you remember when I asked you how you could see through lies? You said you could see through anything that was said. Although I don't believe in such surreal things, I'll still take it seriously for once. Guess how many of the lies written in the letter are lies? You must be stupid, right? I'm very happy when I think of your expression now. Makimura Taku was fooled by me! I'm so happy, you pretending to be deep! But there is one thing that is true. I will remember your full name, Makimura Taku. Will you remember me?"

Start a new line.

"The greediest girl in the world, Hoshino Ai."

The letter was very long, with small, compact handwriting. After reading it, Taku Makimura read it again from the beginning.

After reading it for the second time, he stood up and took a sip of water. This time he drank all the water in the cup, but his throat still felt dry.

It started raining outside the window, but not as hard as before. The wind was also weaker, and the bamboo forest was no longer as messy.

He sat next to the lamp with the letter in his hand and read it for the third time. After reading it this time, he turned the letter over again. He always felt that there should be something written at the end, but there was nothing.

The words on the letter disappeared as cleanly as when she left. The hair dryer was stored next to it, still with a little scent of Hoshino Ai's hair.

He folded the letter and put it in the book. The book flipped to the page that Hoshino Ai had opened last time. In the upper right corner, there was a line of small words written in erasable pencil:

The book is too difficult to understand. I want to read something simpler. The Little Prince

A simple crying face was drawn at the end, without even a period.

While imagining her writing a letter while gazing up at the bamboo forest at night, Makimura Taku packed all his things. What kind of mood was she in when she wrote such words, happy or sad?

He shook his head, picked up the cake, knife and fork, candles, and gloves, and threw them all into the trash can outside. When he came back, he picked up the sunflowers and wanted to put them in the glass bottle, but there were none.

When holding the flower, he still felt that it must weigh more than 80 grams.

The photo below was glowing white. He picked it up and looked at it carefully. It seemed as if time had gone back to yesterday afternoon and they seemed to have just come out of the Senju Hiroshi Museum, but this was impossible.

He stuffed everything related to Hoshino Ai into the drawer and went out to eat at noon.

There were a few people on the street, but I couldn't hear any conversation. I could only hear the rain hitting the umbrellas.

Back at the hotel, he watched a baseball game on TV.

Team A was leading by one to zero at first, and then thirty minutes later Team B was leading by two points again, as if it was a replay of the last time.

The cheers of the audience became more and more ethereal. He felt a little sleepy, so he fell on the bed and took a nap. When he woke up, it was around four in the afternoon, almost five.

The dawn was subtle. The rain had stopped long ago. Water was dripping from the eaves of the door, but no sound could be heard through the glass.

He took out his cell phone and listened to some songs. The song was just playing to the end of "Date" and the next one was "If You Can Shine".

He couldn't help but think of the few lines that Hoshino Ai sang on the train. They weren't particularly nice to hear, but they were very attractive.

What is the girl doing now? She should be home. Tokyo is not small at all. After we separate, we may never see each other again.

Throughout the journey, she always said that she was a very greedy person, but when she left, she took nothing with her. This was really too bad, Makimura Taku thought.

She is a rare girl, cute, passionate, pure, but full of lies, as if lying is her survival instinct.

She didn't stay in the shadow, but she was like a huge shadow herself.

No matter from which angle you look at it, she completely needs to be saved.

There was no sunset that evening, the bamboo forest was soaked, the silence eroded the emptiness bit by bit, and night fell quietly.