The man from Wugeng's family is indeed reliable

Now all I can do

There is no time to think, and even before thinking, the body takes action.

Without saying hello to anyone, without any preparation or plan, when Hiroshi came to his senses, his body was already on the train heading to his destination.

The exchange with Michiru suddenly started one day for unknown reasons and ended another day for unknown reasons. Hiroshi could not figure out the reason.

However, the dream and reality overlapped when Hiroshi saw the big photo.

Michiru Hyodo repeated the name over and over in his mind. She was undoubtedly a real girl. Everything about them was so familiar: the slightly cool warmth, the orchid-like fragrance, the gentle, delicate voice, the faint smile he could glimpse in the mirror, the faint blush on her cheeks that passed through his eyelids, and the lively eyes that reached the lens of his eyes. Thinking about this, his desire to see her soon grew stronger.

This memory, repeated over and over again, stirred within Hiroshi. Though so far away, it still felt so real. She must be there, somewhere at her destination, cheering herself up alone.

The life wave that I feel in my heart is so strong, so this girl Michiru cannot be unreal. I really want to see her soon.

As I thought about this, I felt a surge of worry. Why had that experience suddenly changed? Was something wrong with her? Was she running a fever or something?

By the way, I fell ill after sleeping alone in the park last time. I must talk to her about it if we meet again.

No, it’s not if, there is no if, they will definitely meet.

Hiroshi firmly believed this in his heart, and even as an atheist he covered his pounding heart.

The uneasiness gradually faded away. Perhaps this uneasiness was just Hiroki's excessive worry. I wonder if Michiru, who was facing such a situation over there, would also feel uneasy.

There was no need to give the answer, because Hiroshi set off without any hesitation. With his wallet and mobile phone, traveling all over Japan and even the world was no problem.

The photos of that place were taken at the memorial yesterday, and there was a prompt on Sogou Maps when I got off the car, so everything was fine.

Because he missed her, Hiroshi chose to meet her directly.

Urala

The sound of the rails rubbing against the wheels, and the small country station we finally arrived at in the afternoon,

“From now on, you still have to rely on yourself.”

He got out of the car alone, tapped the phone in his hand, and muttered to himself dejectedly.

But it’s not that simple.

Unaware of the exact location of Michiru's town, Hiroki relied on his memory to take the train to a place he thought was nearby. He then used the photos he had taken as clues. He showed them to the locals, asked around, and headed north along the route. The scenery in his memory was familiar, so following the route wouldn't be wrong. While there was a certain randomness that made it difficult to call it a plan, he couldn't think of any other way. Besides, towns with maple forests and beautiful waterfalls weren't all that common. He thought he'd be able to achieve something today. He had no real basis for this, but he was confident. Hiroki pumped his fists to encourage himself.

"Then, let's go!"

First, he held up his mobile phone and asked the taxi driver in front of the station.

then

"...It's not that easy after all..."

Hiroshi sat down at the bus stop with a discouraged look on his face, lowering his head in frustration.

The ambitious expression at the beginning has long disappeared. The change in expression makes people feel that this guy is really interesting and complicated.

From the very beginning when the driver casually said he didn't know, to the intersection, convenience stores, souvenir shops, B&Bs, small restaurants, from farmers to elementary school students, Haoshu, who was anxious and almost crying, asked everyone without caring about his image, but in the end he found nothing about this small town with rich scenery.

Local trains only run every two hours during the day, so getting back home is out of the question. The locals are incredibly unfriendly. I asked so many people, but no one knew where I was. Hiroshi even tried to ask a few more people on the bus, but no one was there to ask him. Even the driver wasn't in the mood to ask anymore, and when we got to the end of the line, we saw a deserted, desolate area.

"Anyway, let's go get something to eat."

Pursing his lips and rubbing his stomach, Hiroshi found a grocery store and walked in.

This place is really remote, but this grocery store looks like it was just built and renovated not long ago. It must be someone who loves this land very much. Thinking this in his heart, Hao Shu stepped into the store.

I picked up a few loaves of bread and drinks from the shelves and gave them to the old man at the cashier, who was probably the owner of the store.

His hair is a little long and looks like it hasn't been cut for a long time. I don't know if it's an illusion, but Hiroshi always has an inexplicable sense of familiarity with this old man.

"Give me your change"

Facing the change handed over by the old man, Haoshu stretched out his wrist to take it. Suddenly, the old man grabbed Haoshu's arm as if he saw something, and looked at the purple headband on Haoshu's wrist as if he saw something incredible.

"Where did you get this, young man? This knot should only be tied by that family."

"Which one? I'm not sure, maybe a friend gave it to me a few years ago."

The purple knot evoked inexplicable fragments of memories. It seemed that this thing was a gift from someone I had been looking forward to for a long time. Because it was very commemorative, I have been wearing it on my wrist for the past few years. Does this old man know that person from a few years ago? Who was that guy?

No, now is not the time to talk about this. Hao Shu shook his head and took out his cell phone.

"Grandpa, do you know this place?"

In the fluorescent light of the screen, flickering were the familiar maple leaves and waterfalls, and in the faint corner was a stone tablet carved by him.

"Is it really you?"

The hand that was holding Haoshu slowly lost its strength and fell down. The old man looked at Haoshu with an extremely complicated look. From his eyes, Haoshu seemed to feel that he was looking at another person through his body.

The atmosphere became eerily quiet. Staring at the old man's face in front of him, Hao Shu paused and asked cautiously.

"Hyoudou Michiru, do you know her?"

Chapter 88 Gogen Hiroki and the Ghost

"Hyoudou Michiru, do you know her?"

When he heard this name, the look in the old man's eyes became more complicated.

He really knew something.

Seeing this expression, Hiroshi couldn't help but feel excited. Would he be able to see her soon?

"If you know anything, could you tell me?"

Hiroshi leaned forward eagerly, his anticipation evident in his expression.

However, Hiroshi's expression made the old man frown, and even his body trembled slightly. As if he was suppressing his anger, he answered with an irrelevant, even rhetorical question.

"Why, why did you come now?"

"Hey, why did you come just now? What does this mean?"

Hiroshi pointed at himself, dilated his pupils and took a few steps back.

"呲"

Looking at Hiroshi's clueless expression, the old man pursed his lips, and the flames of anger seemed to burn even more fiercely.

Looking directly at this expression, Hiroshi's shadow, which had been trying to burst out of his head, began to stir, emitting an ominous aura, and the uneasiness in his heart became even stronger.

"I'm really sorry. Although I don't know what exactly happened, maybe I'm just overthinking it and there's no basis for it, but I absolutely cannot remain indifferent. So please tell me everything."

Although he didn't know what had happened, nor did he know what he had done to make the old man so angry, he should show his utmost sincerity before asking for help, so that he could get closer to the answer.

"What's your name?"

"Eh? My name?"

"Nonsense, there are only two of us here. If I'm not asking for your name, whose other name is it?"

"Goseng Hiroki, you can just call me Hiroki."

"Gokoro Hiroki? What an ugly name, so unfashionable."

""

In response to the old man's venting complaints, Hiroshi could only scratch his head and smile awkwardly.

After gazing at Hiroshi deeply again, the old man sighed softly and turned back into the house.

A moment later, he came out of the house holding a box and handed it to Hiroshi.

"this is?"

In response, the old man turned around and glared at Hiroshi fiercely, holding his words back in his stomach.

"Pick up your things and follow me, why are you talking so much?"

I followed the old man out of the store and got into a Wuling Hongguang truck.

Is it really okay to drive at such an advanced age? Hiroshi couldn't help but feel like he was in a black car.

"I go for a physical checkup every year. You little brats shouldn't look down on the elderly."

Looking straight ahead, the old man seemed to see through what Hiroshi was thinking and taught again.

It’s so scary. Today’s elderly people are really scary.

creak

The car was going very fast and drifting due to inertia. Before Haoshu could finish admiring the old man's wisdom, the car stopped steadily with a series of tire friction sounds.

Following the old man, we walked a short distance along the cracked asphalt road and stopped in front of a fence dotted with no-entry signs. The two of us cast long shadows on the cracked asphalt road.

quack quack

The cries of crows permeated the atmosphere, and the picture unfolding before Hiroshi was like a photo on a cell phone.

The sight of the ruined town, torn apart bit by bit by the immense force.

He covered his mouth nervously. The scenery in front of him was correct. It was the world he saw through Michiru's eyes when he was strolling in this street corridor a week ago, but the world in front of him was even more collapsed.

His stomach was twitching, and the chaotic feeling brought about by the contradiction between memory and reality made Haoshu feel uncomfortable, nauseous and want to vomit.

“…Is this really the place?”

His voice unconsciously became hoarse and trembling.

"This is where you came to, right, you overly late fellow."

Yes, the old man was right, this was where he wanted to go.

He shifted his gaze from the ruins below him and looked around at the surrounding scenery.

It wasn't just the town itself. The campus, the surrounding mountains, and even the school itself—everything was exactly as he remembered it. Without a doubt, Hiroshi had come to the right place.

Behind them lay the dust-covered campus, its windows shattered. Looking down from the flat, vast, dilapidated campus, the apocalyptic ruins lay before them.

"died."

Hiroshi looked at the old man who suddenly spoke, and the most unacceptable words came out of the old man's mouth.

"Several years ago, in that great disaster, most of the people in this town, including the girl you are looking for, died here."

Disaster? The biggest earthquake ever recorded in Japan? Died then?

impossible.

Only Hiroshi never wanted to admit it!

""

While searching for words, he opened his backpack to look for evidence.

"That guy clearly wrote a diary in the notebook a week ago!"

He hurriedly took out the notebook and opened it. Then, as if his eyes were blurry, the words in the diary seemed to sway for a moment.

"How"

One word after another.

Michiru's writing dissolved into incomprehensible words. Soon, they flickered like a candle flame, then vanished. And so, whole lines of her diary vanished, line by line. As if an invisible hand were erasing the paper. Right before Hiroki's eyes, her writing vanished.

"how come……"

A feeble murmur. The crow's cry, high and deep, still echoes.

Withered vines, old trees, crows, and a heartbroken person far away.

"I had a stomachache the day before, so my son took me to the county to be cared for. Then, without any warning or preparation, this happened. The earth was shaking, the sky was trembling, and the mountains and rivers were moving. When the rescue team allowed me to enter, the place had already become like this."

Suppressing his pain, the old man seemed to still be able to recall the scene of that day.

Hiroshi certainly couldn't be unaware of this widely known fact. He had a vivid memory of how, years ago, as a middle school student, he had hurriedly carried his sister to the nearest safe place on the shaky ground.

But, Hiroshi felt very strange.

None of this makes sense.

Clearly, a week ago, he was still living in this place as Michi.

At this moment, the air around him grew thinner, and his heart beat erratically, unable to calm down.

Vivid memories overlapped with the scene before my eyes, and my sense of reality and the air were silently sucked into the black hole.

The objects in his hands became heavier, and blood seemed to be oozing out from the back of his neck, and when he touched it, it was all transparent sweat.