Chapter 48 Santorini (2) Anafi Street.
Without memories, finding a person on an entire island is like finding a needle in a haystack.
The island sun was still shining brightly without a care in the world, but she didn't go out to sunbathe for a long time. Behind her was a white little ghost that only she could see, moving among the throngs of tourists.
The other party couldn't provide any useful clues, and it took a while to deduce some information from their fragmented words—a gentle female human.
She could only take the other person to the busiest part of town to try her luck. Although it sounded like a fantasy, maybe she would recognize them at a glance in the crowd.
"Look over there, the young woman sitting on the railing, is that her?"
She lingered at the edge of the flowerbed, questioning the little cat ghost floating beside her.
"no."
The little cat ghost strained to focus with its only blue eye, and even floated over to gaze intently for a moment, but the young girl with long flaxen hair was not the person it was looking for.
"This one, I just passed by, and I saw a white kitten on the back of her phone case."
"no."
"That auntie wearing the cat-themed shirt, she looks like someone who owns cats."
"no."
Every time Chichi asked, she was met with an even more bewildered denial from the little cat ghost. However, Chichi remained optimistic, thinking that at least the other party knew for sure that it wasn't true, which was much better than following everyone around like a headless fly.
“This is too inefficient,” 1221’s voice rang out. “Its memory is too fragmented and vague; we lack crucial clues.”
"Do you have a way to make it remember more?" Chi Chi jumped down from the flower bed, staring at the pairs of legs passing by. "For example, like in human movies, go to places it has been before and see things it used to be familiar with to stimulate its memory."
"It probably doesn't even know what it's familiar with," the orb of light flickered slightly, and said helplessly, "I don't have a better way either."
Even the system was helpless, and could only lead the other party to several busy locations to stake out, but ultimately they still gained nothing.
In an attempt to try his luck, he lingered in the town, and as he passed the iconic St. Mary's Church, he squatted between the blue dome and white walls and was surrounded by tourists.
The little cat ghost floated beside her, curiously watching the humans who were making "meow meow" noises.
"I remember now—"
Chichi suddenly perked up from being forced to work: "What did you remember?"
“She used to touch me like that, and play with me with sticks that were tied with things.”
Chichi shook his ears: "Anything else? Something related to her, like her appearance or features?"
The cat ghost's translucent body swayed slightly up and down, trying to capture more from the chaos: "Long hair. When she lowers her head, her hair falls from her shoulders and lands on me. It's itchy and smells like lemon."
It tried its best to piece together a blurry figure.
These keywords were like a puzzle piece, and the vague image that had been lingering in my mind finally became a little clearer.
"That's great." Chi Chi rubbed against the incorporeal cat ghost in encouragement. "It seems you haven't completely forgotten her. We'll definitely find that human."
Chichi took a sniff of each of the long-haired women in front of him, activating his most sensitive sense of smell and consciously trying to detect the scent of lemons in the vicinity of humans.
Humans love to wear citrus-scented perfumes, but after smelling them so often, they start to lose track of whether they smell like citrus or lemon.
She returned to the lemon tree where she had seen the kitten ghost that day. There were still some small, unripe fruits on the tree. She climbed up slowly and took a deep sniff. She didn't like the smell; it was sour and a little pungent.
“Humans probably don’t smell like real lemons; they’ll use modified scents,” 1221 said.
I hesitated for a long time before I realized it made sense.
She abandoned the real lemons on the tree and quietly slipped into the supermarket, specifically looking for lemon-scented bath products and incense on the shelves, wanting her sense of smell to remember those scents.
They wandered through the streets of Fira, repeatedly approaching the long-haired women, trying to discern their scents, and then having the little cat ghost identify them.
Arriving late at the terrace of a restaurant, I saw huge lemon decorations hanging overhead, gleaming brightly.
The kitten looked up, its eyes automatically drawn to anything resembling lemons, a feature it had been helping the kitten ghost find these past few days.
While she was still lost in thought, a ball of cheese covered in olive oil and herbs fell from the sky and landed at her feet. She leaned over and smelled it; it had a very rich milky aroma.
After finishing the cheese ball in a couple of bites, he squatted down and ate some snacks before finally going to the old reservoir to drink water.
A day passed in vain, the setting sun painted the buildings with color, and the little cat ghost lingered quietly beside her, its translucent body almost melting into the light, perched on the edge of the stone steps.
"If I can't remember, will I never find her again?"
No, it won't.
He hesitated to touch the other person with his nose, but only encountered emptiness: "There must be another way."
“1221.” Chi Chi turned to ask the light sphere, “Why does it feel like its shape is getting fainter and fainter?”
The edges were clearly visible at first, but now the white mist around the edge of the kitten ghost is becoming blurred, like a thick fog gradually being dispersed.
"Obsession is its reason for existence. When hope becomes slim, its own energy also weakens. If this continues, it might..."
1221 didn't say the rest, but Chichi understood.
The other party may disappear with regret, leaving not even a trace.
"We'll definitely find her!" Chi Chi lay down, bringing her warm body close to the cold white mist, even though she couldn't transfer warmth to her. "Think about what you want to say to her or do for her after you find her. I can help you with that."
The other person began to lower their head and think.
What are you saying?
The other person remained silent for a long time, and only then did they begin to think about the question.
If she were the other person, what would she say to the human she cares about?
Don't be too sad.
Compared to the long lifespan of humans, kittens can only accompany them for a small part of their lives, so they don't need to grieve for too long over their deaths.
1221: "If life can be reincarnated, they may still meet again. If the world is materialistic, life is just a tiny particle in the universe. One day they will come back, turn into a drop of rain, turn into a gust of wind, and meet again countless times."
"What’s wrong with you?"
Chichi saw the little cat ghost looking at him with a worried expression, a drop of cold water falling on its front paw, a feeling of bewilderment and unfamiliarity.
"Did I cry?"
Chichi blinked, then licked the water droplets off his paws with his tongue; they tasted a little bitter, carrying a hint of sadness.
1221 and the little cat ghost gathered around Chichi. The honey-eyed cat washed its face with its licked paws, and a lonely figure suddenly entered its mind.
It was rather abrupt to associate the other person with such a sad thing, but the feeling she had tasted had enveloped the other person since their first meeting.
"1221, take me to him."
"I--"
“He’ll know how to help it, right?” Chi Chi said firmly. “Even if you don’t take me, I can still find him, it’ll just be a little slower.”
"...Okay, I'll take you there."
This time, the tree in the yard had become an olive tree. Instead of jumping over the wall, it went in through a door that was slightly ajar.
The little cat ghost was stopped at the door and said in a weak voice, "I can't get in."
Chichi: "Wait for me outside."
The courtyard remained quiet and even more spacious. The other person had their back to the door, their pale, slender fingers resting on the edge of the railing. In the descending night, all that could be seen when they looked down was the other person's shadow.
He approached slowly and stopped beside the wheelchair.
Until the other person extends their hand.
She hesitated for a moment before jumping onto the other person's lap: "You're not one of those 'NPCs' that 1221 mentioned, who's been programmed beforehand. It never tells me who you really are."
The other party remained silent.
"Actually, I came here because there's something I want to ask you."
She slowly raised her head and saw the silvery moonlight shining on the other person's profile: "Do you know how to regain your memories?"
The faint ticking of the clock inside the room sounded like time gently dripping away.
A long time passed, so long that she thought he might not speak, but he gently stroked a tuft of hair that had stuck up on her back with his cool hand.
"Losing your memory isn't necessarily a bad thing..."
"If there is a lot of pain in your memory."
These words stunned Chi Chi.
She had never considered this possibility. Would it be better to forget if the painful parts of the memory were more prominent?
"But," Chi Chi tried to read the other person's expression, "whether it's pain or happiness, they are all very important memories. If all memories are forgotten, then wouldn't the happiness also disappear?"
Only by forgetting the past can we move forward.
"No."
Her honey-colored eyes held a straightforward persistence: "Forgetting is a sad thing, especially knowing clearly that you've forgotten it, like losing the most important part of your life."
"If I could, I would want to have all my memories, the good and the bad, instead of always feeling like something is missing, like I do now."
The air felt heavier, and the pervasive dampness made her slow her breathing.
She turned her head and glanced at the little cat ghost and the system still waiting outside the door: "It still has people it wants to see, please help it."
The little cat ghost timidly floated up, gazing longingly into the yard.
"Anafie Street".
Anafi Street?
These few words are like a key to unlocking the clues.
The person they're looking for is on Anafi Street.
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