The woman pulled up the clothes covering her shoulders and buried her head in it, like a silly ostrich that buries its head in the sand when in danger.
"Boss, please bring me two bowls of ramen." Akira Sakurai said to the ramen chef.
"Another bottle of soju! I want it hot!" The woman raised her hand.
Akira Sakurai looked at the boiled water aside and blinked at the boss, who understood.
"Hey, Mingjun, have we met before?"
A woman in her late thirties is charming and at her most charming age.
She rested her head on her arm, the eye shadow at the corners of her eyes was red and narrow, and her eyes looking at Sakurai Akira were as bright and moving as a pool of autumn water.
Sakurai Akira's body stiffened for a moment, turned around and asked, "Why did Sister Sakura say that?"
"Don't underestimate a woman's intuition." The woman said with a sideways smile, "This shouldn't be the first time you've seen me, right? I can feel that you have known me a long time ago. When was it? Could it be that you
Is he the junior student who secretly had a crush on me?"
"Hmm..." The woman tilted her head, her hair hanging down, "I feel like the ages don't match up. I'm at least five years older than you, right? Could it be that we went to the same elementary school?"
Akira Sakurai was silent for a moment and said, "Sister Sakura and I have never met before today."
The woman keenly captured the special words in the big boy's mouth.
She pursed her lips and smiled: "What's this life? Could it be that Mingjun wants to say that we were lovers in the previous life? Well, it seems that Mingjun's reincarnation was delayed for a few years!"
Akira Sakurai forced a smile and said, "Sister Sakura, what would Sister Sakura do if she didn't meet me tonight?"
Dark shadows could not be restrained from passing through the woman's hazy drunken eyes, just like the gray seasons that she would always encounter in her life. She held her cheeks with her hands and was in a daze.
"Let me think about it... I went there today just to get drunk and choose a man that I liked to sleep with. If I hadn't met Mingjun..." the woman covered her face and muttered, "It should be with someone who looks like
Nice man, let’s get a room.”
A nice looking man?
Sakurai Akira was silent.
"Sister Ying, is this completely 'self-mutilation'?" He said expressionlessly, "If she encounters a bad person, a drunk woman has no power to fight back, and her life and death will be in the hands of others. If she encounters any pervert, Sister Ying will not be able to fight back in the future.
Is your life completely ruined?"
The woman couldn't help but shuddered, grabbed the coat draped over her shoulders with both hands, and shrank her neck. She had previously looked like a strong woman, showing a rare feminine attitude.
"Well... that's true." She looked darkly and said softly, "It's really ridiculous now that I think about it. I actually thought it was revenge against that cheating scumbag. It was obviously... that I was hurting myself."
"Yes, this is not revenge at all, but an act of self-mutilation." Sakurai Akira pushed the hot water handed by the boss into the woman's hand, "He is just a scumbag. With Sister Ying's conditions, it will only take a minute to find a better one.
matter."
"Hey!" The woman held the hot water and felt the heat coming from the wall of the cup. She couldn't help shouting, "You guys, are you really not an acquaintance of mine?"
"Actually, I would also like to get to know Sister Ying earlier, but unfortunately conditions do not allow it." Akira Sakurai smiled bitterly, "I used to live in the mountains, where is Sister Ying?"
"In the mountains?" The woman was stunned, then curled her lips and said, "It seems like I really don't know him anymore. I have never been to the mountains in my life."
The interior of the van suddenly became quiet.
I could only hear the sound of rain falling outside the tent, and the sound of the boss clearing away the soup pot.
"Here it comes! Two bowls of soy milk ramen!" The ramen chef enthusiastically served two bowls of steaming ramen.
"Soy...soy milk ramen?" Akira Sakurai's eyes widened, looking at the milky white soup stock in front of him.
Miss Sakura was surprised: "Mingjun, haven't you seen soy milk ramen?"
"Not at all!" Akira Sakurai carefully brought the ramen that she had never seen before, and took a gentle sniff. It really had the aroma of soy milk!
Miss Ying sighed and said, "I believe now that Mingjun, you really lived in the mountains before."
Sakurai Akira picked up the spoon with great interest, carefully took a mouthful of soup stock, blew it into his mouth, and the taste he had never experienced before spread in his mouth.
"Why did Mingjun help me today?" Miss Ying asked suddenly, and said meaningfully, "What women hate most is a man who tells lies."
"Actually, I'm here to see Sister Sakura today." Sakurai Akira lowered his head, the heat of the ramen rising on his face, and his expression melted in the heat.
"Didn't you just say that we have never met before?" the woman said angrily.
"Well, in this life!" Sakurai Akira raised his head and showed an ugly smile that seemed to be extremely forced, but also a kind of happy smile from the heart.
What the hell is this guy doing?
Miss Sakura was stunned.
Akira Sakurai glanced at the time and said, "It's almost time."
"What..." Before Miss Ying could finish her words, the cell phone in her pocket rang.
She took out her mobile phone and saw Sakurai Akira's calm smile before she connected.
Did this guy expect this call just now?
She subconsciously lowered her head and looked at the screen of her phone - her mother.
"Hey, Mom..."
There was a flurry of messages on the other end of the phone, and the love and concern from her mother tightly wrapped this recently lovelorn woman.
"Hmm... no, I'm eating ramen with my colleagues... um, I'll be back soon... it's soy milk ramen! I'm really eating it. If you don't believe me, I'll take a photo for you... um, I'll be back soon..."
Listening to her anxious and worried mother's voice on the phone, Miss Ying's nose felt sore.
"Mingjun... who are you?" Miss Ying put down her phone and asked in a low voice, "You... had expected it before my mother called, right?"
Sakurai Akira pointed to the clock hanging in the carriage and said softly: "Sister Sakura, if you don't leave, you won't be able to catch the last train."
The woman looked up in shock, suddenly jumped up, put on her bag and took out her wallet to pay, but a hand pressed on her wallet.
"How can you leave things like checking out to women? Hurry up and catch the subway, Sister Ying. Don't miss the last bus home!"
This big boy, who was obviously meeting for the first time, but who seemed to have known her for a long, long time, opened the umbrella for her, handed the umbrella handle to her hand, and pushed her out of the van.
He waved through the rain and bid her farewell loudly.
The woman holding an umbrella and chasing the last subway turned around the corner and saw the model figure under the dim lights not far away through the rain.
A sudden realization came to her.
This is their first encounter, and it will also be their last.
…
…
"Boss, have a bottle of sake!"
In the van, Sakurai Akira, who had not yet left, raised his hand and ordered a bottle of sake.
The ramen chef brought the hot sake in front of him, said nothing, and continued busy with his own business.
Sakurai Ming drank alone in the drizzle tonight.
I don't know if it's because of the rain, but there are not many customers in the ramen restaurant today.
Under the bright yellow light of the van, there were only Sakurai Akira, who was sitting at the long table drinking alone, and the ramen chef, who was humming a tune and standing in front of the soup pot.
"How long have you been working here, uncle?"
"A few decades."
"Hey, have you been making ramen for decades?"
"Um."
"How did uncle persist?"
"Only full of love."
Two idle people started chatting for no apparent reason.
"Why didn't Mingjun take that girl to check out a room just now?" the ramen chef asked curiously, "Is it possible that you are a vegetarian?"
"...How could it be? It's just that I have someone I like, and I didn't find Sister Ying just for this kind of thing."
"What's that for?"
"Atonement for your sins."
"Atonement?"
"Hmm. Uncle, what do you think after living in Tokyo for so many years?"
"What do you think? No idea. If I had to say it, I really want to move to France."
"Uncle, after living here for so many years, don't you like this city at all?"
The ramen chef put down the rag, lifted the curtain, and looked at the city covered with a layer of gauze under the drizzle and slanting wind. He had lived in this city for decades, but he had not been able to fall in love with it until now.
"If I have to say it, it's probably because there is no one I love and no one who loves me in this city."
The ramen chef shrugged, lowered the curtain, and turned to look at the soup pot.
"Then why don't you go to a city where there are people who love you?" Sakurai Akira shook the soju in his glass, drunkenly, and whispered in a drunken voice, "There must be something here that makes you have to stay, uncle."
?”
Heavy raindrops made a crackling sound on the roof of the van. The rain outside had become heavier at some point, and the chill in the air quickly intensified.
The heavy rain hit the surrounding wooden houses that were nearly a century old. The rainwater rushed along the tile troughs and shot out silver parabolas in the night.
"Where is Mingjun from?"
"Me? Well, it's a rural place, I guess. I used to live in the mountains."
"Da Shan? That's really rare. How long have you been in Tokyo?"
"Three days, I'm leaving tonight."
"In such a hurry?"
"I can't help it, there are still people I want to meet."
"Then in the past few days, has Mingjun fallen in love with this city?"
"Uncle, why do you ask that?"
"I have stayed in this city for decades, not because I like this city so much, but because I am the same as Mingjun."
The ramen chef carried a bottle of sake and sat next to Akira Sakurai. He shook the glass and listened to the sound of rain outside. He seemed to be drunk even before he drank the wine.
"Same?"
"Yes, didn't Mingjun say that he was atone for his sins?" The ramen chef smiled.
Akira Sakurai was stunned.
He turned his head slightly, listening to the sound of rain falling so close. The rainwater splashed on the ground and occasionally splashed on his trousers.
"Is uncle also trying to atone for his sins?"
"Yes, everyone has their own sins." The ramen chef took out a silver cross from his collar and held it in his palm, whispering, "You should regret your sins and pray to the Lord, or maybe the thoughts in your heart may be forgiven.
.”
"Is this the Bible?" Sakurai Akira didn't expect that this uncle was still a devout believer.
"Selected from the Bible, Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 8, Verse 22." The ramen chef returned to the soup pot with the wine bottle.
"Uncle, do you believe there is a god in this world?" Sakurai Akira suddenly asked.
"Of course." The ramen chef turned his back to him and whispered, "If there is no God, then who will rain thunder and fire on me, a sinner?"
His back was tall and bleak, as if saying that some things were enough to crucify a person for life.
You can repent, you can atone for your sins, but you will never be free because God will not forgive you.
"I believe it too." Sakurai Akira's voice came from behind, word by word.
The ramen chef's hand holding the spoon paused, and he looked at the young man in surprise for the first time.
Akira Sakurai drank the last of the wine in his glass, stood up and held up the umbrella beside him. He lifted up the cloth cover of the van and strode into the pouring rain.
Under the rain curtain, the man's figure was gradually washed away, like a touch of pen and ink dissolving in the water.
Only the hot and deep ambition amidst the sound of wind and rain was left.
"Uncle, I really believe in God in this world, because God has given me the opportunity to change my destiny."
"I'm sorry for lying to you just now. I'm not here to atone for my sins. I'm here to forgive myself."
"If uncle, you are waiting for the thunder and fire falling from the sky to wash away your sins, then I am waiting for the dawn to rise and the first ray of morning light to illuminate our dark world."
"We no longer believe in fate."
…
…
"Sakurai Akira's location has been locked."
"where is he?"
"On a train bound for Hokkaido."
"Preparing for a roundup."
"Yes! Let me confirm again, are you going to capture them alive, right?"
"Well, dad said he might have the secrets we need, so we'll give priority to catching him alive."
"Understood. We plan to carry out the arrest mission on the Xiashan Bridge,"
…
…
On the railway track, the train rumbled all the way north, passing through the mountains, leaving white smoke trails.
This is an old-fashioned steam locomotive with slow speed, and the destination is the distant Hokkaido. It has to stop at every small station on the way, so passengers often have to sit on the train for 12 hours.
Logically speaking, no one should care about such a train, but every spring many young people choose to take this train. The reason is that this slow train runs on mountain railway tracks that were laid decades ago, and it is a rare sight along the way. What a view.
Most of the passengers who like to take this bus are high school students and young lovers on their academic trips.
Staying with the person you love for 12 hours in an old-fashioned iron train, watching the washed green mountains behind you one by one outside the window, every girl will want to rest her head on a boy's shoulder.
Akira Sakurai sat quietly by the window, waiting for the end of this trip.
This was the fifteenth day of his escape, and he met fifteen women along the way.
Those women are not his lovers, nor are they pen pals or Internet friends whom he has known for many years but has never met.
The relationship between them is that of victim and murderer.
In another fateful path, Sakurai Akira, who had not met the adult, accepted the poisonous hope, chose to ignite his life in exchange for the opportunity to touch the light, and embarked on a path of no return.
On that road, Sakurai Akira, who was swallowed by power and dragon blood, targeted fifteen women one after another and brutally killed them one by one.
On that road, he was a beast indulged in black desires. No matter how loud the Buddha's voice was or how holy the prayer was, they could not replace his humanity.
He was a murderer.
And Miss Sakura was once a victim.
This is the relationship between them.
There is no love that travels through time and space or across the world, there is just a boy who has made irreparable mistakes looking back at the past at the corner of his destiny.
There were footsteps stopping beside him.
This moment.
He smelled the fragrance of grass and trees that filled the mountains and fields in his dream again.
"Is it Madoka?" Akira Sakurai looked back.
Standing next to him was a girl who looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old. She was carrying a Hello Kitty backpack. She had a youthful air all over her body. She also had a pair of beautiful long legs.
The girl hesitated whether to sit down and talk, her feet in small square leather shoes tapping nervously on the ground.
When she heard her name being announced directly, Madoka was stunned, bowed deeply and said, "Yes, yes! I am Madoka Ogata, how did you know my name, senior?"
"My name is Sakurai Akira, and I am a magician, so I know your name. We are destined to meet."
It seemed like the distant mountains stretched out the window into the distance, flying dust danced lightly in the sunlight, and the early morning light fell on the boy's fair face.
He looked at the girl in front of him with a smile, tears couldn't stop pouring out of the corners of his eyes and dripping to the ground.
He finally reached the end of this journey.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Everyone, go to bed early today. You can dream about everything, such as the tenth watch (dog head)
In addition, you may not know... It is now on the shelf. After it is on the shelf, you can subscribe without reading. If you want to subscribe to the book, you can click on automatic subscription. Automatic subscription = subscribe to the book (confirm)
Also, I’ll give you a cool one in tomorrow’s chapter!
This chapter has been completed!