Chapter 53 Countdown: Three Days
"Or where do you want to go?" Perhaps pleased by my answer, Atsushi Nakajima smiled reservedly and gently.
"Let's head east," I said after thinking for a moment. "If we get out, we'll head east."
A look of doubt crossed his eyes: "What's to the east?"
"It's in the center of Yokohama."
"Huh?" he asked, even more puzzled. "Why go to the city center?"
“Because I’ve been there.” I looked at him, and my right hand unconsciously reached through the gap to touch his hair. It should have been a beautiful head of short silver hair, but it looked messy because it wasn’t styled.
After doing all that, I smiled gently and continued, "There are very kind people there, and I believe Atsushi will meet them too."
However, what I said seemed to be even harder for him to understand. Atsushi Nakajima blinked, looking rather adorable with his blank expression. He looked at me, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "...or?"
He probably wanted to ask me about my past situation, but relying on his sensitive intuition and his inherently gentle nature, he didn't mention it at all.
So I changed the subject: "Sorry, Atsushi, I said something strange."
He shook his head: "It's okay."
Actually, if we really wanted to leave, I could take Atsushi Nakajima with me right now.
But my concern is the same as the reason the dean trapped him: what if we were wandering the road and he suddenly turned into a tiger? Wouldn't I be the one to take the blame?
I thought about it and figured that even if I really wanted to escape, it would have to be after his next tiger transformation.
I've been at the orphanage for a while now, and I've been observing Nakajima Atsushi all the time. It's not hard to tell that his tiger-transformation ability likely has a cooling-off period.
Just like skills in MOBA games have cooldowns, even in FPS games you need time to reload.
To my utter surprise, that night Atsushi Nakajima told me that he would rather stay with me than leave, and his promise to me that we would leave together shattered just two days later.
It needs to be clarified that the problem did not originate from me, but from Atsushi Nakajima.
But while it's true that he caused the problem, it's not entirely his fault—because he broke through the fence and escaped while in a state of loss of control after transforming into a tiger.
It happened at night, and everyone at the orphanage only discovered it early in the morning.
I heard the news in the morning as well.
After listening, I was like: ...
Little Dun, that's not how the script says it.
I took advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention at the orphanage and slipped out.
For me, sneaking out isn't difficult; the trouble is finding someone like Atsushi Nakajima who sneaks out before me at night.
His sudden departure suggests he was penniless, poorly clothed, and lost his way.
I'm different. Before I ran away, I put on an extra layer of light clothing. As for money... I don't have much money now. All I can do is take the meager amount of money I saved up while I was in the welfare home by helping out by delivering newspapers.
The corner I found was in the southwest of the orphanage, but I guessed that Nakajima Atsushi would have gone east once he regained consciousness, so I deliberately went around halfway to the east to see if I could find any traces.
"...Dun?"
Unexpectedly, before I even had a chance to think about it, I spotted Atsushi Nakajima nearby.
He only had one thin shirt, light gray, old-fashioned, and patched up quite a bit.
"Huo! You've come!" I don't know how many times I've seen his eyes light up like that, just like the moonlight streaming through the window and into his eyes on many nights.
In that instant, an indescribable sorrow welled up in my heart, as if a bottle of condiments had been spilled, leaving me with a mix of emotions.
He was overjoyed and ran over quickly.
The morning temperature was a bit low as the sun was out, and when I touched his arm, my palm felt a cool sensation.
"Dun, your hands are so cold." I said, taking off my coat and putting it on him.
When I raised my hand and met those purple-gold eyes, I smiled, a little smugly: "I wore four layers of clothing to sneak out."
He smiled and complimented me, "Huo, you've really thought of everything."
I picked up the thread and said, "That's not true."
I went around behind him and straightened his clothes. When I returned to the original spot and looked at Nakajima Atsushi again, I suddenly sensed that he was a little flustered.
"Dun?" I called out.
He lowered his eyes, rubbed his hands together, and hunched his neck, his entire face shrouded in shadow that I couldn't see: "Or... I'm sorry, I didn't want to leave on my own. I was kicked out by the dean. The dean won't let me go back, and I don't know how to find you."
I was stunned, and suddenly felt a lump in my throat.
So she put one arm around his neck, rested her chin on her arm, and gently patted his thin back with the other: "It's okay, Atsushi... I know, it's okay."
****
Compared to the orphanage, the days Atsushi Nakajima and I spent wandering were much more difficult. Although we weren't exactly emaciated and destitute, it would be more accurate to say we were trekking through mountains and rivers, enduring wind and rain.
Fortunately, it's not cold season in Yokohama right now, otherwise I would have to experience what it means to be biting cold again.
Atsushi Nakajima has always placed an extremely high level of trust in me.
Aside from the mutual dependence among companions under difficult circumstances, the initial part is because I am born from his wishes, so he will have an instinctive kindness and trust towards me.
Many of my online aliases are like this.
Mr. Mimori likes me, Mr. Francis is very friendly to me, and even my role as a designer for Alice, which I played a long time ago, is favored by the Port Mafia boss.
...Ah, speaking of which, I can't help but bring up Fyodor again to criticize him.
Because Fyodor is an exception.
Although there were some bumps along the way, I think my journey from the hospital to the hospital with Atsushi Nakajima was relatively smooth.
There was only one thing that didn't expect me—I met Fushiguro Megumi.
But we didn't exchange a single word, only simple eye contact.
For a moment after seeing Fushiguro Megumi, I was stunned, and I even began to wonder if I had taken Nakajima Atsushi all the way from Yokohama to Tokyo.
However, I immediately dismissed this absurd idea, because my familiarity with the Yokohama route convinced me that I was indeed in Yokohama.
Fukuro Megumi glanced at me from afar, his dark pupils calm and still, and he didn't spend much time keeping his gaze on me.
Because his name was being called from his side and behind.
— “Fu Hei”.
Someone shouted that.
He turned his neck, and my gaze followed him past his waist to two figures running behind him, one on the left and one on the right, both wearing the uniform of the High School of Spellcasting.
At first, they were a little blurry, but as they got closer, I recognized them: Yuji Itadori on the left and Nobara Kugizaki on the right.
Fushiguro Megumi had his back to me completely. Itadori Yuujin and Kugizaki Nobara stopped in front of him, tugged at his sleeve, looked him up and down, and asked, "Fushiguro, are you alright?"
The three of them huddled together, and the barrier of their laughter and chatter created an invisible distance between me and them, yet it also infected me.
I couldn't help but laugh, feeling a mix of nostalgia and感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of deep emotion or reflection).
However, that feeling only lasted a very short time, because I remembered that Nakajima Atsushi was still waiting for me, so I quickly turned into the street corner.
It was several days later that Atsushi Nakajima and I actually arrived in the area of Yokohama that I was most familiar with.
The river within the city rippled with tiny waves, the crests of which shimmered with golden sunlight. Pebble heads sprouted from the grassy banks, their tips prickly and slightly sharp.
But Atsushi Nakajima and I had no time to pay attention. We lay neatly on the light green lawn, and all we could see above us was the clear blue sky of Yokohama.
As the wind carried away the sound of my heaving breaths, I heard Atsushi Nakajima say, "Have you ever stayed here before?"
"Mmm." I answered forcefully to prevent my voice from being carried away by the wind.
"That's amazing," he muttered, his voice so soft I could barely hear him, before asking, "Do you have friends here?"
"Yes," I said.
He turned over and his gaze fell on my profile. I felt it, so I glanced at him and smiled: "Dun, you will have your own friends in the future."
While wanting to leave the orphanage, Atsushi Nakajima undoubtedly also longed for friends; otherwise, I wouldn't have appeared.
Sure enough, he subconsciously raised the corners of his mouth when he heard what I said, but then, as if considering something, that upward curve returned to silence.
He put his arms behind his head, bent his knees, curled up, and asked me cautiously, expectantly, and nervously, "Really?"
"Yes," I said. "You have to believe in yourself."
I sat up abruptly and looked down at him: "Dun."
The light from the infinite distance fell, and the interplay of light and shadow shimmered in his eyes.
Atsushi Nakajima paused, sat cross-legged and looked at me. Sensing that I had something to say, he remained silent, intending to listen quietly as I continued.
“If you’re lucky enough, you should meet someone named Edogawa Ranpo,” I said. “If I do meet him—”
In the half-second pause, the image of Edogawa Ranpo's childlike face, which seemed out of place with his age, suddenly appeared before my eyes.
"Just trust him."
If we can meet.
"Edogawa... Ranpo?" He repeated the slightly awkward name after me. "Is he a friend of mine?"
"Yes," I nodded, "and someone I am very, very grateful to."
“Ranpo-san is a very good person, so in return, we should treat Ranpo-san very well.” I sighed softly in my heart, but smiled brightly on the surface. “…Can you remember that, Atsushi?”
He was very confident: "Of course I can remember it."
I brushed my fingers across his eyebrows and eyes, then slid them down behind his ears and neck, finally patting his shoulder with my palm.
"Okay," I said softly.
A gentle breeze blows, so soft it feels comfortable.
Just as I was about to stand up, suddenly, I heard the sound of a heavy object falling into the water from the middle of the narrow river.
— "Thump".
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