[Serialized Novel] "Fragile Items Deposit Counter" is here (Episode 5)

It was back when I was in third or fourth grade of elementary school, on a day when relatives had gathered at my maternal grandmother's house for a memorial service.

"Haruru-chan, we've run out of floor cushions, could you go get some? There are three left in the closet in that room over there."

Asked by my grandmother, I went to a Japanese-style room a little ways away.
The old-fashioned guest cushions were large and thick, and I managed to lift them up and drag them out of the closet. My face ended up buried in the smooth vermilion fabric, and the dustiness made my nose itch a little.
It was just as I was about to close the sliding door.

"Did something just shine...?"

In the back of the bottom shelf, which had become empty after the cushions were removed, I felt like something had sparkled for an instant.
When I strained my eyes, I saw a wooden box with a clasp on the lid sitting all by itself.

When I crawled into the closet to get a better look, I saw that the box was relatively large and flat, and on the front, a mark of a crossed hammer and wrench was engraved in gold.

"Was it this that shined...?"

I touched the golden mark.

"Ouch!!!"

As I reflexively pulled my hand back, my grandmother was standing behind me before I knew it, peering in.

"Haruru-chan, thanks for the cushions. Could you help me carry them? ...Oh? What's wrong?"

Oh, Grandma, this... box... it's getting hot right here...

Ah, that box. Don't touch it.

I, I'm sorry...

It's alright, don't worry. More importantly, did you get burned?

Grandma examined my hand.

Good, it looks like you're okay.

...What is this box?

Ah, this is...

Grandma thought for a moment, then said,

This is my 'regret'.

She said that and smiled a little.

"Regret?"

"Yes."

When I came out of the closet, Grandma leaned her upper body inside and pulled out a box from the back.
The box was covered in a thin layer of dust with finger marks on it, and Grandma said this while brushing it off with her palm.

"It's been about forty years now. I really should have taken this, but I didn't have the courage to do it. Haru-chan, you have a tendency to overthink things and have trouble getting started, don't you? Don't you have things you regret not doing?"

I didn't really understand, so I stayed silent.

"It would be nice if we could live without regrets. But it's not that easy, is it?"

Grandma said this almost to herself, then put the box back into the depths of the closet and closed the sliding door.

"Where were you supposed to take it?"

I asked.

"It's a counter. They call it the 'Fragile Items Counter'."

"...?"

"I know, it's hard to understand. Even Grandma didn't get it. They say it appears somewhere, a counter made of wood... like a service window. It fixes things that are broken."

"Anything?"

"No, only things that fit the mold inside the box. But you know, Grandma never found that counter... no, that's not right. She never tried to find it."

"Is that why the box is still here?"

"That's right. But..."

I feel like Grandma said something after that, but my memory is hazy and I can't recall it.

Grandma is no longer with us.
So, whether the box is still somewhere, or what exactly was inside it, it's a shame that I can't ask anyone about it now.

"It was something from my childhood, so that's all I remember... I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help. But maybe because I remembered this, I've started to believe in the counter..."

"You saw that box when you were that young... that's amazing... I think for me, it started when I told my husband about it and he treated it like a delusion, which made me frustrated..."
"I told you I couldn't find it when I went to the island last summer, right?"
"So, I wondered what would happen to this box after the one-month deadline passed... and when it was about to turn midnight, I placed it in front of me and stared at it."

"Eh...?!"

"And then, you know..."

Kazumi slowly peered up at me from below.

"...It vanished! Right in front of my eyes! Just like that!"

"Whaaaat?!"

"It's true! Once you see that, don't you have no choice but to believe?"

Kazumi laughed, saying, "That sounded just like a ghost story!"
For a while after that, the two of us silently gazed at the distant inlet. The wind that blew occasionally passed through my body as if it considered me a part of nature.

"Shall we get going?"

Kazumi stood up. When we went down to the parking lot, both the car with the Kochi license plate and the young man on the motorcycle were gone.

＊

I left the observatory and drove the car. I went down the mountain road and entered a road where I could see the sea.
I was looking around restlessly, but I still couldn't find the counter.
In the first place, even if it's an island, it's too big, and I have no idea where or how to look. It was so reckless that I wondered if there were any hints like in a quiz...

"Looking at the map, it should be around here..."

I was also looking for the egg object, but I didn't really know where it was and couldn't find it easily.

"Did we already pass it...? Ah! Maybe that's it?! That's it! I found it!"

On the hill visible from the road, a large cream-colored egg could be seen peeking out.

"Eh?! Sorry, I didn't realize! I can't stop right away!"

We went a little further, made a U-turn, and came back.
Although Fumi's driving has some rough spots, it wasn't as bad as I imagined from the way she talks, and the way she stopped was careful.

"You're right! It was right there."

When we parked the car in an empty parking space, a purple banner with "Yakatazaki Sunset Hill" written on it was standing there, fluttering in the wind.

"Wow... it's bigger than I thought..."

"It looks like it's about four meters tall."

"Whoa! It's that big!!"

As I was taking pictures of the egg halfway up the hill, Fumi, who had climbed ahead, laughed and said,

"Haru-chan, you have to look at it from here!"

I hurried up to stand next to Fumi, and with the Seto Inland Sea in the background, the cracked egg stood out clearly.

"Huh?"

I hurried up to stand next to Fumi, and with the Seto Inland Sea in the background, the cracked egg stood out clearly.

"You're right, it looks more beautiful from here..."

"Maybe this egg will crack open and a counter will appear. And then a dinosaur might come out and say, 'Give me your fragile items.'"

Fumi said jokingly.

"If it were a dinosaur, it would probably be smashed to pieces in no time..."

"You're right!! It would say, 'Give it here, I'll fix it,' and then CRUNCH!!"

Fumi struck a dinosaur-like pose and quickly thrust her hands in front of me, which made me jump in surprise, and we both burst into laughter.


Until yesterday, I never imagined a tomorrow like this would come.
I had boarded the ferry with a heavy heart. Even though we shared the common goal of searching for a mysterious counter, I still can't believe I'm laughing with someone I just met like this.
What if Fumi is actually on the side of the 'Fragile Items Reception Counter,' and I'm being manipulated and deceived... but even if that were the case, I thought, not in a defeatist way, that I wouldn't mind.

I can see weeds growing through the cracks in the egg.
I wasn't born from an egg, but I wondered what I would want to be like if I were to break out of a shell and be born now.

I'm always the last one to finish writing the childcare log, and I'm slower and less efficient at everything than the other teachers. I want to be able to move more briskly, efficiently, and quickly.
I want to talk to people without overthinking it so much. I want to be someone who doesn't worry too much about reading people's expressions or what they think of me.
When someone in a bad mood is in the same room, I sense it immediately and get exhausted. I want to be someone who is always in a good mood and doesn't let other people's moods bother me.
I wish I could have asked Kyohei sooner what he was suffering from. I wanted to be the kind of person he could talk to.

After that, I searched around the egg, but I couldn't find the counter, so I gave up and headed back toward the parking lot.
Right next to the car, there was a swing and a hammock attached to natural trees.

"I've been curious about this for a while now. I love hammocks!"

Fumi skillfully crawled inside.

"Ah, this feels good."

Fumi closed her eyes as she lay on her back and didn't move for a while, so I got on the large swing attached to a tree branch.
When I started swinging, perhaps because the ropes were long, the movement was slow and comfortable. The sound of the wind rushing past brushed against my ears, giving me a nostalgic feeling.

Come to think of it, the first time I talked to Kyohei a lot was also on a swing at a park. No matter how much we talked, it wasn't enough, I wanted to talk more... that's how we gradually grew closer.
But Kyohei was acting strange before he disappeared. I knew he had been distracted while eating dinner at my place, but he suddenly stopped eating and muttered.

"...But just a little more... no, to think like that, I am..."

"What's wrong, Kyohei?"

...Oh, no, it's nothing...

I knew there was something on his mind, but I overthought it as usual, worrying that he might not want to be asked, and in the end, I couldn't bring myself to ask.
I should have asked him, even if he thought I was annoying.
Though Kyohei certainly wasn't the type of person to think that way.

A swing on a hill overlooking the Seto Inland Sea—this is just... completely like a tourist spot, I thought.
Until yesterday, I had been desperately trying to figure out why I had suddenly lost contact with Kyohei and what he was struggling with, but now I was swinging like Heidi with a calm expression on my face.

"Ah, that felt so good~ Haruru-chan, have you ever been in a hammock?"

Kazumi said as she got out of the hammock.

"Oh, um, I don't think so..."

"Then, go ahead!"

"...Thank you."

A hammock was something I had always longed to try sleeping in.
I put my foot on it. I wondered how to get on... but then I remembered I had decided to try everything on this trip! I spread the fabric with my hands, gathered some momentum, and hopped on. That was when it happened.

THUD!!

"Whoa! Haruru-chan, are you okay?!"

The hammock spun around, and I fell to the ground with no way to stop it.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..."

It wasn't a high enough fall to get hurt, but I felt embarrassed that I couldn't even manage to stay on a single hammock. But more than that, the fact that I immediately thought, 'I'm so funny for falling...' was something that didn't usually happen to me.

"Hehehe... Ahahahaha!!"

I looked up at Fumi, who was peering down at me with concern, and I started to laugh. Seeing that, Fumi felt relieved and laughed along with me. But mixed into that laughter was another voice.
However, a different voice was mixed into that laughter.

"Wahahahaha!!!"

"?!"

When I looked, the young man on the motorcycle I had seen at the observation deck was standing there.

"Ah! Sorry! I couldn't help it... I just happened to see you fall..."

I was laughed at by a complete stranger, and my ears turned bright red.

"Um... excuse me! I, uh, I was supposed to meet you guys here... actually, I've been watching you since I was at the observation deck... and I wanted to talk to you..."

"Huh? Creepy! Don't tell me you followed us?"

Kazumi said.

"Eh?! Ah!! That's not what I meant..."

"Haruru-chan, let's go."

Kazumi grabbed my arm, pulled me to my feet, and headed toward the car.

"Wait! It's a, a misunderstanding!!"

Without even looking at the young man, Kazumi unlocked the car and got into the driver's seat. I hurriedly got into the passenger seat.

"Hey! Um..."

The young man said in a panic, but Kazumi ignored him and started the engine.

"Wait! Uh, please wait! I was asked to deliver a message... um! Fr-fragile ite..."

Kazumi brought the car, which had started to pull onto the road, to a sudden stop and quickly rolled down the driver's side window.

(Continues to Episode 6)

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