Flow into time ~To the Lighthouse of Time~ Spin-off #1

【Today is a side story】
Now that the story is heating up, today is a side story. The reason is that for the past week, from last Sunday to the day before yesterday, Saturday, I attended an international conference held in Paris, France, and there were some points of contact with the story. What kind of connection does the novel "Flow into time ~To the Lighthouse of Time~," set in a Japanese satoyama, have with Paris?
(This article was written in Paris on June 29th)

Trying to become Aki from the story in Paris

Places related to Aki

In the novel's setting, although not explicitly stated, the graduate school Aki attended during her time in London is the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her lover, Makoto, is set as a current graduate student in the Department of Computer Science at University College London (UCL), which is also the university I failed to apply to when I first decided to study abroad in Germany because I didn't get a reply from the professor there. I have Makoto attending it instead. As mentioned in the article below, UCL is also a university with deep ties to Japan.

Aki majored in Diversity Management (an academic field that optimizes human resource management when multiple races, religions, and cultures are mixed in the workplace) in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at LSE, and after completing it, she got a job at a financial consulting firm in London. However, she lost her mental balance and returned to Japan, ending up at the Sanso Post Office. Up to this point in the flow, neither France nor Paris has appeared.

* * *

France? Paris? 🇫🇷

"Flow into time ~To the Lighthouse of Time~" and France or Paris are connected by the "Tablier," an important prop that appears in the story. Tablier is French for apron, and it includes the type tied with strings often seen in Japan, as well as the smock type worn over the head, as described in the novel. Although I won't write the school name here, there is actually an affiliated school in Japan that officially adopts the tablier as school wear, and Nanae is from there.
And the color that Tanku, who drives Nanae to the excavation site every day, likes is Bleu de France. You can see what kind of color it is from the site below, or by simply entering the color code "#318ce7" into a Google search.

Now that the tablier and the color Bleu de France have appeared, the connection between the novel and France or Paris has become visible. It is stated that Aki bought a tablier via mail order and bought an umbrella in a color close to Bleu de France at Hands Shibuya (the novel is set in 2024, so it is "Hands" instead of "Tokyu Hands"). So, I am still in Paris now.
I can't help but look for a Bleu de France colored tablier in Paris!

* * *

This is the place to be if you want to become Aki!

The conference ended on Friday night, and the Eurostar back to the Netherlands departs from Gare du Nord in Paris just after 2:00 PM on Saturday. Initially, I had planned to go to the Musée d'Orsay on Saturday morning, but unfortunately, the tickets were sold out. As Plan B, I decided to do a "Tour to become Aki in Paris."

Located about 20 minutes by metro from Gare du Nord is the popular store "Merci." Perhaps because it is listed on travel sites and magazines, I hear Japanese as soon as I enter the store. Sensibly, it feels like Japanese is the most common language after French and English. There are many clothes, but judging by the feel of the store, kitchenware, miscellaneous goods, and bed linen seem to be their specialty. This is what the store's website and entrance look like.

Bed linen usually comes in the same size and design with color variations, so I thought there must be Bleu de France. Perhaps there might be tabliers in various colors too. The first floor of the store has an open atrium.

One of the pleasures of any shopping for me is talking to the staff, so I immediately talk to a nearby staff member. First in French, then in English.

Oh, they have them! I eagerly went down to the basement, went to the corner with placemats and tea towels (large dishcloths), and talked to another staff member.

It wasn't the 'not very cute' smock type that Aki bought, but a 'cute' type of tablier, and the shop's logo was embroidered in red thread. Merci seems to be known for its French linen products, and that tablier was also 100% linen.

On the floor above, there is a lot of lovely bed linen. Whether it's clothes, towels, or bed linen, I tend to choose based on texture and color rather than design. Merci's 100% linen bed linen had none of the stiffness typical of linen; it was as soft as cotton. I instinctively thought, 'Should I buy a duvet cover?', but I was shocked by the price of 43,000 yen—more than ten times that of IKEA! In the end, I decided to buy a pillowcase and head home. As it gets hotter towards summer, even just a 100% linen pillowcase should feel comfortable.
Merci's products, including tea towels, placemats, tablecloths, cushion covers, duvet covers, and pillowcases, are all available in the same materials and color variations. I have to decide on a color soon. If I introduce too many colors, the room will look cluttered. I call out to a staff member in the less crowded bed linen section.

The friend, of course, is Tanatsu. Tanatsu had mentioned that she wanted to buy an umbrella in the color Bleu de France, but that if you isolate that color, the vibrancy suddenly disappears. The staff member said, 'I'll go ask my senior!' and went out of her way to go to the back to ask.

She said this while bringing over a book from the store and pointing to a part of the color on its cover. Then, she added,

It was the same answer I had imagined, so I was relieved. In the end, after much deliberation, I bought a pillowcase, a tablier, and a tea towel in the same color and 100% linen material, and left the store. I wonder if this is how Aki felt when she bought 'purple' bath salts and an umbrella in a color close to Bleu de France at the Hands Shibuya store.

* * *

Time, reality, and unreality are all matters of human perception.

I received feedback from someone who read the novel, saying, 'There is a story within a story, and it's written on note, which gives me a strange sensation where I momentarily lose track of which world I am in.' That is exactly what this novel aims for.

The story was published on note in the summer of 2024, and the 'reality' part within the story is also the summer of 2024, while the story 'The Bend in the Road' that appears within it is set in the summer of 1995.
In this slightly complex structure where there is one reality and two fictions within two eras, the present and the past, reality and unreality sometimes tangle, sometimes unravel, and tangle again, the sensation of not knowing which time you are in, or whether you are in the real world or dreaming of an unreal world, is what I expressed as 'Flow into time'.

When you think about it, there is no 'objective evidence' that we are living in 2024. It is only that numbers like those on a calendar say 2024. If we take human observational perception as fact in terms of quantum mechanics, just as the 'Matrix' film series depicted, what is reality and what is a dream can actually only be defined relatively.
I also think that as I actually search for and buy Bleu de France—a color I set as a favorite for the fictional character Tanatsu—in Paris, and use it at my home in the Netherlands, I might start to feel as if Tanatsu is a real person. And I feel that 'a person who exists but with whom you do not communicate' and 'a fictional character' are infinitely close from the perspective of human perception.

* * *

From episode 10 onwards, the mystery solving and the development of human relationships will accelerate all at once. There is half a month left until the completion in mid-July, thank you for your continued support.

By the way, what should I do with the Bleu de France colored apron I bought while pretending to be Aki? "Should I wear the apron and cook while listening to jazz?"

(Continues to Episode 10)