Chapter 4 three

On the day I agreed to meet with Akari, it had been raining since the morning.The sky seemed to be covered with a wet gray cover, and fine, cold raindrops kept falling from the sky.The coming spring seems to have changed its mind and went back, and the surroundings are still filled with the breath of winter.I put on a dark brown thick woolen jacket over my school uniform, put the letter to Akari in the back of my schoolbag, and headed for school.Because it should be late at night when I got home according to the plan, so I left a note to my family saying that I would come back later at night, please don’t worry.My family members don't know about my affairs with Mingli, so even if I told them in advance that I was going to meet Mingli, they wouldn't agree, so it's better not to tell them.

That whole day, I was absent-mindedly looking at the scenery outside the window, completely unable to calm down and attend class.I couldn't listen to what the teacher was saying.In my mind, I just kept imagining the figure of Akari in school uniform, the topics that I should talk to her, and Akari's voice that sounded very comfortable.Yes, although I didn't realize it clearly at that time, but thinking about it now, I actually like Akari's voice very much. My favorite thing is to hear Akari's voice in the air.This is always a gentle treat to my ears.Soon I will be able to hear that voice.When I thought of this, I couldn't restrain the excitement in my body. In order to calm myself down, I looked out the window.

rain. Five meters per second.Looking out from the classroom, the sky was dark.Even during the day, the buildings and apartments outside were lit with lights.On the very distant building, neon lights flickered on. The rain outside was getting bigger and bigger under my gaze. When school was over, the rain turned into snow. After school, after checking that there were no other classmates around, I took out the letter and notes from my schoolbag.After a little hesitation, I put the letter in the pocket of my coat.This is a letter that must be handed over to Akari no matter what. Putting it in a place that can be touched by hand at any time will make my heart feel more at ease.The note records the location and time of the car change that I have investigated in advance. Although I have read it dozens of times, it is better to confirm it at the end.

First, take the Odakyu Line departing at 3:54 p.m. from Gotokuji Station to Shinjuku Station.From there, change to the Sakikyo Line to Omiya Station, then change to the Utsunomiya Line to Oyama Station.There, I will continue to transfer to the Liangmao Line, and finally arrive at the destination Yanzhou Station at 6:45.I made an appointment with Akari to meet at Iwafune Station at seven o'clock in the evening, so the time is just right.Although this is the first time to take such a long train alone, it shouldn't matter, I encouraged myself.No problem, there shouldn't be any difficulty!

I ran down the dark stairs of the school and opened the shoe box in front of the entrance.The heavy echo of opening the iron door echoed in the empty hall.I put aside the umbrella I brought in the morning, walked out of the porch and looked up at the sky.The air that smelled of rain in the morning smelled of snow at night.It was more transparent and clearer than rain, and a more immersing taste.Countless white snowflakes fluttered and fell in the gray sky. If you stare at it all the time, it seems that you will be sucked into the sky.I hurriedly put on my hat and hurried to the station. This is the first time I came to Shinjuku Station alone.Although this is a very strange place to my life circle, I went here once with my friends to watch a movie a few months ago.

At that time, I took the Odakyu Line to Shinjuku Station with two friends, and got lost after exiting the East Exit of JR.Compared with the content of the movie, the complexity and chaos of this station left a deeper impression on me. After I got off the Odakyu Line, in order not to get lost again, I carefully read the guide board in the station, found the location of the JR line ticket office, and walked in the indicated direction.In this huge space with countless pillars, a place with dozens of ticket vending machines suddenly appeared in front of it, and there was a long queue waiting to buy tickets in front of each machine.A strong smell of perfume wafted from the OL woman in front of me, making it difficult for me to breathe for some reason.The team next to it started to move, and at this moment an elderly man came over, and there was a stronger smell of moth balls from his coat, which immediately aroused my uneasiness about moving.The noisy voices of many people mixed together, forming a chaotic noise that echoed in the underground space.The front of the snow-wet shoes gradually became cold.My head also felt dizzy.When it was my turn to buy, I suddenly found that there was no button on the ticket vending machine and became confused (at that time, the ticket vending machines at most stations were still button-type).I took a peek at the people next to me, and found that others were pressing the destination sign directly on the screen, so I followed suit.

Passing through the entrance of the automatic ticket gate, I carefully observed the bulletin board with the boarding location on it, and walked through the crowded crowd to the boarding platform of the Sakikyo Line.Yamanote Line outer line, Sobu Line Nakano bound, Yamanote Line inner line, Sobu Line Chiba bound, Chuo Line Rapid, Chuo Main Line Limited Express I passed through countless boarding platforms, and kept paying attention to the schematic diagram of the structure inside the station.The platform of the Sakikyo Line is at the deepest part of the station.I took the note out of my pocket and checked the time on my watch (a black G SHOCK I bought to celebrate my entrance into junior high school).The departure time from Shinjuku Station is 4:26.The LCD digital display on the watch is now four fifteen minutes past.Well, there are still ten minutes, and the time is completely in time.

I suddenly saw a toilet on the road. It is better to go there first just in case.It takes at least forty minutes to travel on the Sakikyo Line, so it's best to get everything ready before then.Look at yourself in the mirror while washing your hands.Some dirty mirrors reflected their own appearance under the white fluorescent lamp.In the past six months, my height has been increasing, and I should have become more mature.I don't know if it's because of the cold or the excitement, but my cheeks are flushed, and I feel a little embarrassed. (I'm about to meet Akari.) The train on the Sakikyo Line was full of people returning home from get off work, and they couldn't find a seat at all.I leaned against the back of the car, sometimes looking at the advertisements on the car and the weekly magazines on the bookshelf, sometimes looking out the window, and sometimes secretly observing the appearance of the surrounding passengers.I couldn't calm down just as much with my eyesight as my mood, and I wasn't even in the mood to read the science fiction novels in my schoolbag.

The girl who looked like a high school student was sitting on the seat, and the girl standing in front of her who seemed to be her friend was talking to each other.I stood aside and heard part of it intermittently.Both of them were wearing short skirts with only knee socks underneath. How about the boy from before? which? Of course it's the one in Beigao. Why?That's not good Not at all.I like that. Probably talking about a boy I met at a party or something.Although I wasn't talking about myself, I didn't know why I suddenly became embarrassed.While touching the letter to Akari in his pocket, he turned his gaze to the window.First time driving this route.There is a subtle difference between the way the Odakyu Line shakes and the sound when walking in peacetime, and the uneasiness of going to an unknown place has become more and more intense.The setting sun in winter dyes the horizon orange. Looking from a distance, the buildings in front stand side by side in the afterglow of the setting sun.The snow is still falling.Now I'm at the position where I have left Tokyo and entered Saitama.Compared with the natural scenery, the architecture of the city is similar.There are high-rise buildings and condominiums everywhere.

When passing through Musashi-Uraai Station on the way, the train stopped temporarily to give way to the high-speed train.There was an announcement in the car that urgent passengers heading to Omiya, please transfer at the opposite platform. Most of the passengers in the car immediately got off and went to the opposite platform. I also followed at the end of the crowd.The snowflakes constantly falling from the sky, the thick dark clouds in the western sky, and the occasional sunset light shining through the dark clouds, the light covers the houses in the distance with a layer of light color.

Looking at the scenery in front of me, I suddenly had a feeling of deja vu. (Yes. It's not my first ride.) When I was about to enter the third grade of elementary school and moved from Nagano to Tokyo, my parents and I took this train to Shinjuku at Omiya Station.At that time, I was used to seeing the rural scenery of Nagano. When I sat in the car and looked at the strange scene full of tall buildings outside the window, I couldn't help but feel a strong anxiety in my heart.Looking at the strange place full of buildings around me, I almost cried out of anxiety as I thought about living here from now on.But after only five years, I actually want to live here forever.Although I'm only thirteen years old, I don't think it's an exaggeration at all.Because Mingli is here, I hope to live with Mingli forever. Omiya Station is also a huge transit station not inferior to Shinjuku Station in scale.Going down from the Sakikyo Line, I went through a long staircase, passed through the mixed crowd at the station, and headed towards the platform of the Utsunomiya Line where I transferred.The smell of snow in the air became more and more intense, and the boots of pedestrians were also covered with snow and looked wet.The platform of the Utsunomiya Line was also full of people who were about to go home, standing in a long queue at the door of the tram.I stood alone a little distance from the queue waiting for the tram to pull in and it was here that I started to have some foreboding.The broadcast inside the station further confirmed the accuracy of my hunch. Attention all passengers.The train on the Utsunomiya Line towards Oyama is now arriving eight minutes late due to the snow. Until this time, I realized that I had never considered the possibility of the tram being late.I checked the time on my notes and my watch. According to the itinerary on the notes, I should take the tram on the Utsunomiya Line at 5:04, but it is already 5:10.I suddenly felt that the surroundings became colder, and my body couldn't help shivering.Two minutes later, I felt a little warmer when the tram pulled into the station with a long whistle. Among the Utsunomiya Line, it is even more crowded and chaotic than the Odakyu Line and the Sakikyo Line.It's almost time for everyone to go home after a day of work and study.Compared with the tram I took just now, the tram on the Utsunomiya Line looks quite old. The seats are box seats for groups of four, reminiscent of the bus lines in the Nagano countryside.With one hand on the seat handle and the other in my pocket, I stood in the aisle between the seats.The car seemed to be extremely warm with the air conditioner on, and the four corners of the windows were covered with drops of water due to the temperature difference.The people in the car probably didn't speak a word because of fatigue, they just stayed quietly in the old car under the light.When I realized that I was a bit out of place with the surrounding environment, in order not to appear too incongruous, I kept silent as much as possible and kept looking at the scenery outside the window. The scenery outside the window soon became the same, the original tall buildings disappeared, replaced by endless farmland covered by heavy snow.Farther away, you can also see the lights of some houses flickering.The train kept a certain distance from the distant mountains and ran.The huge black projection of the distant mountains is like giant soldiers lined up on the snow field.This is already a world I don't know at all.I looked at the scenery outside, and all I could think about was the time to meet Akari.There's absolutely no way for me to notify Akari in advance if I'm late.At that time, mobile phones were not popular among middle school students, and I didn't know the phone number of Akari's home after she moved.The snow outside the window is getting bigger and bigger. The journey to the next transfer station, Oyama Station, should have taken about an hour, but the tram was getting slower and slower in the heavy snow.Moreover, the distance between the stations has become unbelievably far compared with Tokyo, and the time for the train to stop at each station has also become unbelievably long.And every time at this time, the broadcast in the car will keep repeating the same content. I am very sorry for delaying everyone's time. Because the subsequent trains are delayed, this train stops temporarily at this station.Passengers with urgent matters are really sorry, please wait for a while I kept looking at my watch, praying desperately in my heart that it would never be seven o'clock.But even so, while the distance has not shortened in any way, the time is indeed passing by every minute.I suddenly felt that there seemed to be an invisible force around me beating me non-stop, making my whole body ache.It was as if an invisible fence was tightening around me. I was really too late to get there on time. By the time our agreed seven o'clock arrived, the tram hadn't even reached Oyama Station, but stopped at a station called Nogi two stations away from Oyama Station. Iwafune Station, where Akari is located, needs to take another 20 minutes by car after changing trains from Oyama Station.During the two hours of departure from Omiya Station, my heart was constantly tormented by the growing anxiety and despair.Such a long and unbearable time was the first time for me who was young at that time.I can't even feel whether it's cold or hot in the car now.All I could feel was the smell of the night floating in the car, and the feeling of an empty stomach that I hadn't eaten since noon.When I noticed, there was no one in the car, and I was the only one standing in the car.I walked to the box next to no one and sat down.There was a tingling pain in my paralyzed foot, and the fatigue all over my body hit me all at once.I wanted to relax my stiff body and found that I couldn't even do that.I took out the letter to Akari from the pocket of my coat and stared straight at it.The agreed time has already passed, Akari must have started to worry now.I suddenly remembered the last phone call I had with Akari.Why is it always like this! After stopping at Nogi Station for about fifteen minutes, the tram finally moved slowly again. When the tram finally arrived at Xiaoshan Station, it was already past seven forty.I got off the tram and walked to the Liangmao Line platform where I was going to transfer.Halfway through, he crumpled up the notes that had no effect at all and threw them into the trash can on the platform. Xiaoshan Station only has a large platform, but there are very few people.When I walked through the station, I could only occasionally see one or two people sitting on the waiting chairs in the empty space like a square.Maybe it's here waiting for the family to drive to pick it up.Looking at them, they seem to blend into the scenery here naturally.I was the only one anxiously moving forward. The platform of the Liangmao Line needs to go down the stairs from here and pass through a place that looks like an underground passage.Numerous reinforced concrete columns supporting the entire building are equally spaced, and many pipes criss-cross on the ceiling.The space separated by the pillars was filled with the sound of wind and snow blowing in from both sides of the platform.The pale light dimmed the tunnel-like space.The automatic doors of the newsstands on the platform were tightly shut.Just when I thought I was in the wrong place, I suddenly found that there were several passengers waiting on the platform in front of me.Although the yellowish glow of the soba noodle vendor pushing carts next to it and the two vending machines side by side made the place look a little warmer, it still feels like a very cold place overall. Now the two woolen lines are running late because of the heavy snow.I am very sorry for causing trouble to all passengers.Please be patient until the train arrives.A completely emotionless broadcast echoed on the platform.In order to maintain the temperature a little bit, I pulled down the hood of my coat and put it on my head, and then I leaned on the leeward pillar to avoid the cold wind and snow while waiting for the train to enter the station. The bone-chilling cold hit me from the icy ground.The anxiety that made Akari wait was intertwined with the cold that continued to take away my body temperature and the tingling empty stomach in my stomach, making my body gradually stiffen.Next to the soba noodle cart, two salaried men were eating noodles.Although I also want to eat a bowl of soba noodles, it is not fair to think that Akari may be waiting for me hungry, and I am the only one who is full.So to warm myself up a bit, I headed over to the vending machine.The letter I wrote to Akari fell out as I took out my wallet from my coat pocket. Looking back now, even if that incident hadn't happened at the time, I'm not sure whether that letter would have been handed over to Mingli.No matter what happens, nothing changes in the end.Our life is full of countless great misfortunes, and that letter is only one part of it.In the end, no matter how strong the longing is, it will gradually fade and disappear over a long period of time.It doesn't matter whether the letter was handed over to her or not. As I took out my wallet, the letter fell out of my pocket, and at that moment, with the strong wind blowing non-stop, it passed through the platform and disappeared into the dim night in a blink of an eye.At that time, I really wanted to cry.I stood there and lowered my head deeply, biting my lips tightly, trying not to let my tears fall down.In the end, I didn't even buy hot coffee. The two wool lines I took stopped completely on the way to the destination.Due to the snowfall, the wheel broke down, and the announcement in the temporarily parked car said, I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused to all passengers, and the current situation cannot be repaired.Outside the window was a dim, snow-covered field.The blizzard kept hitting the windows with a desperate sound.Why do you have to park in such a place where there is no front and no village and no shop behind?I have absolutely no idea why.I looked at my watch, two hours had passed since the time we agreed on.In one day today, I probably looked at this watch hundreds of times.Tired of continuing to stare at the passing time, I took off my watch and put it on the small table by the window.I have run out of options.I can only keep praying that the tram will restart sooner. How is Guishu-kun?Mingli wrote in the letter.Because the club activities are relatively early, I am writing this letter on the tram. Why does Akari, which I read from the letter, always give people a feeling of being alone?So it occurred to me that, in fact, I, too, have always been alone.I made a lot of friends at school, but sitting alone in an empty train with a hat covering my face like this is my true self.Although the air conditioner was still on in the tram, it was still very cold in the empty compartment.How should I put it? I have never experienced such a cruel time before.I sat alone on the empty seat, curled up my whole body and gritted my teeth, desperately holding back tears, and made a final fight against time full of malice.The more I thought of Akari waiting for me alone in the cold station, and her gentle expression, the more anxious I became.Mingli don't wait any longer, go home, I began to sincerely hope so. But Akari will definitely wait there forever. I was so aware of this that I became more sad and miserable. The heavy snow outside the window was still falling from the sky.