[Serialized Novel] "Fragile Items Reception Counter" is here (Episode 10)

With a sound that didn't fit the calm atmosphere of the park, both of our phones chimed at the same time.

"Whoa, that startled me."

Kazumi immediately took her smartphone out of her pocket and opened the group chat for the three of us that we had just created.

"It's Takano, just as I thought. I wonder if he's finished with his errands?"

He said he would be leaving his acquaintance's house in a little while, so he suggested we meet up somewhere.

"I wanted to go to that gelato shop by the coast, how about we meet there?"

Kazumi flipped through my guidebook and pointed to it, saying, "This one, this one."

"The gelato looks delicious...! I want to go there too."

When I looked it up, it was about a five-minute drive from here. When I told Takano in the group chat, he replied with a sticker of a dog saluting, saying, "Roger!!"

Since we still had some time, we went to look for olive leaves before leaving. It seemed that sometimes the tips of the long, thin leaves were heart-shaped, and we could laminate the ones we picked in the park to take home. We searched hard, but all we could find were ones with questionable shapes.
"Shall we go now? Maybe everyone else has already picked them all."

"Shall we go now? Maybe everyone else has already picked them all."

Even while saying that, Kazumi was searching for olive leaves with her eyes.

"It feels like this trip is just one long search for things... Oh! This might be it!"

Kazumi grabbed a branch that remained in a slightly higher spot, pulled it toward her, and plucked a leaf.

"Wow! It's a beautiful heart shape! That's nice... I want to find one too."

"We still have time, so let's keep looking until we find one. If it looks like we won't make it, I'll send Takano-kun a LINE message."

Normally, I would have held back, saying it was fine and that I didn't want to be a bother, but I nodded honestly and kept searching.

"Ah! I found one!! ...Wait, it's two leaves..."

While we were searching, with Kazumi laughing at me because the leaves were overlapping to look like a heart, I felt like I caught a glimpse of that shape on a lower branch.
Thinking it was probably just two leaves overlapping again, I pulled the branch toward me and found a beautiful heart-shaped leaf attached to it.

"This... this might be really good."

"Wow! That's a perfectly perfect heart!! Haru-chan, your persistence paid off!"

"Yeah, I'm so happy! Thank you."

I carefully tucked the laminated card I had made into my smartphone case.

＊

When we arrived at 'Kasumi Gelato,' Takano-kun hadn't come yet.
It was a simple, stylish shop that seemed to have been renovated from a single-story house with a tiled roof.
The sea was right in front of us, and there was a pier where small boats could dock. There was a candy store next door, and it was bustling with tourists.

As we were examining the menu written on a wooden board, a motorcycle pulled into the parking lot.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!!"

After parking his bike, Takano-kun came over, smoothing down his hair that had been flattened by his helmet.

"Have you already eaten? I want to have some gelato too!"

"We're just about to. Let's eat together. I'll treat you."

Kazumi said.

"Wow! Are you sure? Really?! Thank you so much! Between the somen noodles and the gelato... I'm so glad I came to Shodoshima!! Whoa... I can't decide which one to get..."

Takano-kun looked at the menu with a happy expression. There were many items using natural ingredients like local island specialties and seasonal vegetables, so everyone agonized over their choices before finally deciding.

Takano-kun chose a double scoop of chocolate and island lemon, while the two of us chose the same thing: a double scoop of soy sauce flavor and olive oil.
Takano-kun watched with an incredibly happy expression as the gelato was scooped from the showcase.

Once we received our cups, the three of us sat in a row on a bench outside.

"Whoa! This is amazing!!"

Takano-kun said as he shoveled it into his mouth.
We strongly agreed while eating slowly and enjoying it. It was my first time having soy sauce flavor, but the savory aroma was like caramel and it was delicious.

I am sitting here eating gelato with people I met only a few hours ago. I felt genuinely happy, and I was surprised at myself for feeling that way.
I really do feel like there is some kind of magic in this trip, and perhaps it really is under a spell.

"It's almost evening... I felt like I was being pushed around by that counter—or box, or whatever it is—but now that I've come to Shodoshima for the second time, I realize that's not the case at all."

Fumi said, scraping a little bit of gelato with her wooden spoon.

"I tried to convince myself that it was better not to look for it desperately, and acted like I was totally relaxed, but there was still a part of me that wanted to search for it desperately... But you know, now I truly feel from the bottom of my heart that I don't need to desperately look for the counter. Oh, I keep saying 'desperate' over and over, what a roundabout way to say it! I'm so sorry for being so desperate!"

Fumi laughed at her own remark.

"I was desperate too...! I was desperate, and I was thinking the exact same thing!"

I laughed too.

"I had this prayer-like feeling that if I could just get the squirrel figurine fixed, everything would be solved and things could go back to the way they were... But 'the way they were,' that might not be right, might it?"

"Yeah. Simply going back in time wouldn't mean anything, that's not what it's about. Whether a connection is broken or restored, it's meaningless unless you move forward. And that 'forward' is a place you have to move toward, even if it's somewhere you don't want to go..."

"That's true. ...But if you're going to move forward regardless of fear, then in a sense, it might not be scary at all. Because if you have to move forward in the end anyway, it's all the same..."

"Yeah. But there is one thing I know..."

Kazumi closed her mouth at that point.

"You two are being way too philosophical... I can't keep up!"

Takano-kun said, and we laughed.

"Um, what is the one thing you know?"

"Ho. Young man, why don't you try answering that?"

Kazumi crossed her arms and grinned.

"Eh?! Hmm. ...Regret comes too late? Or something like that?"

"Oh, young man. That's a pretty good answer. But what I was about to say just now was... Haru-sensei, go ahead."

Kazumi pointed at me with a theatrical gesture.

"So... in the end, does it mean things will work out as they will?"

"Exactly!! That's it!!"

Kazumi clapped her hands together with a snap.
Things will work out as they will. It feels a bit cliché, but I realized that's what it comes down to in the end.

I always fear the future more than necessary. I create things in my mind that haven't even happened yet and get scared.
But time cannot be stopped or turned back. It moves forward equally for the wealthy, the criminal, and the ordinary person alike.

"Oh! We might want to head to Angel Road soon."

Takano-kun said, looking at his watch.

"Low tide is at 6:30 PM, right? It's only a little past 3:00. Isn't that too early?"

"If we cut it too close, the sand path might be covered by the sea and we won't be able to see it, so I think it's better to go a bit early.
Besides, your return ferry is from Fukuda Port, right? I'm fine heading back from Tonosho, but that's a bit far from Fukuda Port."

It was just as we stood up and started walking. A large dog wearing a red collar appeared, and Takano-kun said,

"Wow! So cuuuute! I wonder if they keep it here?"

Saying that, he ruffled the brown fur.
He looked genuinely happy as the dog played with him and licked his face all over.


Just then, the dog slipped past Takano-kun's arm and came toward me.
Oh, is it going to let me pet it too? I thought, but that wasn't it; the dog tapped the ground at my feet with its front paw.

"Eh...?"

As I stood there unable to move, the dog tapped my feet again. Looking closely, I saw a small light blue stone lying there. I crouched down and picked it up.
The dog nodded lightly as if satisfied and walked away with a light step.

"W-what was that just now..."

Both Kazumi and Takano-kun peered at the stone in my palm. It was a pale, light blue, translucent, elongated stone.

"Isn't this sea glass?"

Kazumi said.

"Sea glass? What is that?"

Since Takano-kun didn't know, I explained,

"It's when broken glass from bottles and such drifts in the ocean for a long time, and the edges get worn down until it looks like a round stone. They're pretty, so they're sometimes sold in gift shops."

I told them.
As the three of us tilted our heads, wondering what that dog was all about, Takano-kun suddenly shouted "Ah!" and said:

"Wait!! I told you that when I found the counter, I also took out the crown I picked up, right?! That! That..."

"Ah!! You're right! Isn't this something that should be brought to the counter along with the wooden box?!"

Kazumi said.

"Indeed... It was almost as if it was telling me, 'Pick me up!'..."

"I've got it!! Isn't this like the payment for the repair?"

"Payment... but that's it! It must be!!"

The three of them stared in silence for a while at the beach glass resting in my palm.
The "Fragile Items Reception Counter" might finally be about to appear.
Thinking that made me feel a bit shaky, and though I couldn't quite put it into words, I also started to feel a bit scared.

Just then, Takano-kun's smartphone rang, and the air, which had been frozen as if paralyzed, began to move again.

"Yes! What is it? Did I leave something behind? ...Ah, I'm at Kasumi Gelato right now. Yes..................Eh? ...Eh..."

Ehhhhhh?!?!?!

"W-why do you know that?! Eh? You're coming here soon? ...Ah! Yes! Okay, I'll be waiting!"

"What's wrong?"

"Um... the person who let me stay over, his name is Mr. Sayama, and it's shocking, but... he seemed to know about the... c-counter!"

"Whaaaaaat?!"

"I just found out too... I'm so surprised... He said the counter instructed him to give you two a clue at this 'Kasumi Gelato'...!"

"Whaaaat?!"

"If we have one more hint, we might be able to find it...!"

Kazumi clapped her hands.

"Let's ask him the details, like how he knows and why he told me just now, once he gets here!"

(Continued in Episode 11)

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