The Lord of the Heat Haze #03 Episode 1: First Love (2)
Episode 1: First Love (2)
Silence.
Perhaps I'm being teased. That's exactly why I need to fire back with a witty remark instantly. I whip myself, telling myself that this is why I'm not popular with girls.
"Ah, haha... that's funny, you're joking, right?"
What slipped out in my panic was a clumsy, uninspired response.
Disappointed in myself, I let my shoulders slump. It can't be helped; that was the best I could do.
However, she is looking at me with an entirely serious expression.
"I'm serious. If you don't believe me, try touching me."
Touch her? What is she saying now? Could this be... a honey trap?
I cautiously glance around, but there are no scary-looking men to be found anywhere.
"...N-no, I couldn't. In this day and age of compliance, I can't just go around touching a woman I've just met."
She tilts her head with a blank expression.
"...Tempura and apricots?"
"Ah, no, that's not even close. Compliance. It means obeying the law, so if I touch a woman recklessly, I'll get arrested, and that would be the end of my life..."
Her brow furrows.
"Stop making excuses and just try touching me!"
"Y-yes, ma'am."
For some reason, I find it hard to defy her words, and I timidly reach out toward her thin, white arm.
"Eh...?"
My fingertips, which I thought had made contact, pass right through her arm with no resistance. Just cool, cold air.
"Ah... it's true. Um... I'm sorry for doubting you."
I pull my hand back and stare at it intently, then bow deeply. At that reaction, the woman looks surprised and leans in to observe me again.
"...You're not surprised, even though you realized I'm a ghost. Everyone who sees me runs away in a panic when I try to talk to them."
As she said, I feel it myself, it is a strange feeling. I definitely held the belief that ghost equals scary until now.
"Uh, yeah... I am confused, at least to some extent. But, it feels unreal, and, well, you don't seem like you're going to attack me like in a horror movie."
"What would I gain from attacking you?"
I finally understood her point. Indeed, even if she attacked me while I was moping around in a place like this, it wouldn't do her any good.
"Yeah. Now that you mention it, that's certainly true."
I felt strangely cheerful and laughed, "Haha," and I felt that the corners of her mouth, which had been expressionless until then, lifted slightly.
While feeling relieved, I also became curious about her, the first ghost I had ever met in my life.
"How long... have you been here?"
At that question, she closed her eyes sadly and shook her head.
"I don't remember anymore. What year of the Showa era is it now?"
"Uh, the Showa era ended a long time ago. The Heisei era that followed it also ended, and now it's Reiwa."
"Heisei? Reiwa? What year is it in the Imperial Calendar?"
"Imperial Calendar? It's the year 202X now."
"Huh? What does that mean? If it were 600 years ago, it would be the Muromachi period, wouldn't it? Your clothes don't look like someone from that era at all."
The conversation was completely out of sync, and I scratched my head.
"Hmm, I don't really understand, but at least I know that we don't have a common understanding of the era."
At those words, the female ghost looked dejected.
"I see, I'm sorry. I haven't talked to anyone since I died..."
For some reason, my chest ached at her sad expression, and I had an idea.
"Oh, uh... I'm Takumi Oda. I work as an engineer at an automobile company straight down this road. If you don't mind, could you tell me your name?"
She looked up in surprise at my sudden self-introduction.
"Oh... I'm Sachiko Shinjo. What a coincidence, when I was alive, I also worked in accounting at an automobile factory one station away. Could it be the same company?"
Now I was the one who was surprised. I had heard during my new employee training that the automobile company I work for had existed since before the war. Although, it seems they were building military trucks and tanks during the war.
"That might be true. Then, Sachiko-san, you're my senior colleague."
Finding out that we might have worked at the same company, I felt a sense of familiarity. She seemed to feel the same way, as she switched from her previous expressionless look to a soft smile.
"So, why did you want to die? Was work hard?"
Sachiko asked with interest. She brought that up again. Still, there was no point in putting on airs in front of a ghost.
"…I've always had someone I liked. A girl I grew up with."
She widens her eyes. Is it just my imagination, or does she look somewhat delighted?
"But I didn't have the courage, and I was afraid of being rejected, so I never confessed. Before I knew it, she fell in love with a man I didn't know and got married."
I laugh self-deprecatingly, place my hands on the railing, and cast my gaze down at the river surface.
"That's wonderful."
"Huh?"
I look up and turn around at her unexpected words.
"How nice for her, that childhood friend of yours... Falling in love and getting married... That's very happy, isn't it? She's the woman who held her ceremony over there at noon today, right?"
She asks me, her eyes sparkling.
I realize that girls in any era love this kind of story. Even though I feel like crying.
"Ah... yeah. You were watching too, huh?"
"Yes. Not just today, I've been watching for a long time. From this spot, watching the people who smile so happily."
Sachiko gazes at the chapel with a lonely look, a complete change from her expression just a moment ago.
Oh? I think to myself, and as I peer at her, our eyes meet.
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