Chapter 233: Endless Train
Sakurasou.
Everyone thought that Shishio and Shiina would go back at night, but they didn't expect that either of them would go back, and even though they didn't want to think something weird, their imagination was quite wild.
"They have sex," Mayumi said without hesitation.
"......."
"Mayumi!" Chihiro glared at Mayumi.
"You know that a young man like him is like a horny monkey, and both of them have gone to the love hotel, right? What do you think if both youngsters who are curious about sex stay together?" Mayumi said without hesitation.
"......."
Everyone became quiet again.
Shiro-san didn't stay in the living room and went to his room to write since he had gotten a lot of inspiration from the town before.
Misaki and Ritsu didn't say much. Both of them were doing their own things, but when they heard Mayumi's words, their expression changed, but they didn't stop what they were doing and listened to their conversation quietly.
As for Sorata, his face was bloodless, and his head was very dizzy when he imagined Shiina was being fucked by Shishio. He wondered why he left at that time, and right now, he just wanted to go back and sleep, hoping that everything was just a nightmare.
Chihiro didn't think too much when Sorata walked back to his room and decided to call Shishio. "I'll call him."
"Yeah, call him!" Mayumi snorted and said, "With that guy's face and talent, it is easy for him to become a scumbag in Tokyo, as his aunt, you should tell him not to become one." She hated scumbags. After all, she had been cheated several times, though she wasn't sure why. It seemed that she couldn't get away from a scumbag and became a scumbag magnet. However, all the scumbags that she had met were just trash, unlike Shishio's type of scumbag that was obviously different, which somehow made her lament her relationship history. 'If I met Shishio in my youth...' She sighed and just wanted to cry at this moment.
Chihiro looked at Mayumi and didn't say much. It didn't take a long time before her phone was answered, and she talked with him for a moment, ignoring everyone who was trying to eavesdrop on her. She talked for a while before she hung up the phone and let out a sigh.
"How?" Mayumi asked.
Misaki and Ritsu didn't say anything, but they looked at Chihiro, waiting for her answer.
"You don't need to worry. They won't have sex," Chihiro said simply. She couldn't force them to go back, but she could check them tomorrow. If Shiina couldn't walk straight, then...
They let out a long sigh of relief at the same time. Unfortunately, Sorata had returned and didn't hear Chihiro's words.
"When are they going back?" Ritsu asked.
"They won't be back tonight. They'll stay out," Chihiro said and chugged the can of beer in front of her directly. She had made up her mind before, but even so, it still felt uncomfortable.
"........"
"I will go back first," Ritsu said.
"Me too. I have to work on my anime!" Misaki said.
Mayumi looked at Ritsu and Misaki that had left, and somehow, she was left with Chihiro here.
Both of them were single women, and they were almost in their 30s too.
"Should we drink?" Mayumi asked.
"Let's drink until we go crazy!" Chihiro said without any hesitation since she just wanted to go drunk right now.
"OOOOHHH!!!"
---
Shiina stood on the side of the station in a daze, staring at a lot of people who were still walking in the station. It was at night, but she could see many people still entering the train one after another. She then looked at Shishio, who stood next to her, talking with someone on the phone. She then continued to look at many people in front of her since it was her first time seeing so many people at once. She felt a bit intimidated and held his hand tighter.
"Sorry for making you wait, Mashiro," Shishio said and put his phone back, holding her hand gently as if telling her that everything was alright.
"It's okay." Shiina shook her head and asked, "Chihiro?"
"Um." Shishio nodded since Chihiro had just called him and felt a bit speechless when she asked him whether he would have sex with Shiina. He and Shiina might have kissed each other and looked at each other naked bodies, but even so, they hadn't had sex yet. He wasn't able to say "I love you" to her. How could he have sex with her? If he did it, then he would be really worse than a scumbag.
Shishio might be a scumbag, but he was a responsible scumbag. "Let's buy something before we enter the train. Our trip is quite long, after all. Is there something that you want to eat?" He recalled that their trip to Iwafune would take at least a few hours, so he thought to buy something since they hadn't had dinner yet.
Shiina thought for a bit and said, "Baumkuchen."
"Well, let's go to the convenience store to buy it."
After they had decided to visit Iwafune, they went to Shinjuku station immediately. This station was known as the busiest station in the entire world, and there were at least 3 million people here every day, and they had to admit this place was very crowded.
"You know, if I'm not beside you here, I'm sure that you'll get lost in this place," Shishio said while looking at the crowd.
Shiina nodded and didn't doubt his words since she would really get lost in this place if Shishio wasn't on her side. "But it's okay. You're beside me." She knew that as long as he was right beside her, everything would be alright.
Shishio looked at Shiina for a moment and could only look at her with a gentle expression. "Let's be in a hurry, or else we'll be late."
Shiina nodded, staring at Shishio's expression, and wondered how he could show such a gentle expression, even though he was in so much pain, but no matter what, she had made up her mind to help him in this trip so he wouldn't be troubled by his emotion again.
'But how?'
Shiina questioned that question in her head, but she really had no idea what to do.
---
Now, the question is, why Iwafune?
Iwafune is just a small town that is located in Tochigi Prefecture.
There was nothing special about this town. Everything was so dull and normal.
In 2015, this town merged into Tochigi town since the population of that town kept decreasing and almost turned into a dead town.
However, this town had become the setting of the "5 Centimeters per Second", where Takaki (main character) and Akari (heroine) saw each other for the last time at Iwafune station.
Shiina had read Shishio's story, and she realized that the story he had written was so sad and bitter, but at the same time, she was confused since the end of the story that he had written didn't match his personality.
Shishio's personality was very assertive and aggressive. As long as he made up his mind on something, he would do it without hesitation, which was why Shiina didn't understand the ending of the "5 Centimeters per Second" that he had written.
Shiina knew that Akari (the heroine of the story) was about to marry someone. Still, with Shishio's personality, even if Akari married, she thought that Takaki (the story's protagonist) would steal Akari from her fiance.
It might be a bad ending for Akari's fiance, but it was a happy ending for Takaki. As for Akari's happiness, Shiina thought Akari would be happier with Takaki since Takaki was Akari's crush. Such an ending was suitable with Shishio's personality, which was why Shiina didn't understand. She wanted to ask him why he made such an ending.
Shishio and Shiina were on the train together, and the train to Iwafune was fairly empty since there weren't many people who would go to Iwafune. The sound of the train was the only thing that they could hear, and somehow they felt like there were only both of them in this world.
Bright lights, colorful buildings, and dazzling cars, Shishio watched each of those things through his eyes. It was like he was watching a silent movie, but Shiina's voice awoke him.
"Shishio."
Shishio looked at Shiina and asked, "Do you want to eat, Mashiro?"
Shiina looked at Shishio for a moment and nodded.
"Rather than Baumkuchen, how about you eat a bun?" Shishio asked since the bun that he had bought before was still warm.
Looking at the white steam from the paper bag where the bun was kept, Shiina nodded without hesitation.
Shishio took the sesame sweet bun for Shiina and took the cheese bun for himself. He pulled the paper under the bun and gave the bun to Shiina. "Here."
"Thank you." Shiina took the slightly hot bun in her hand and looked at it for a while before she ate it gently. Her tongue was slightly sensitive, which made it hard for her to eat the bun, but slowly, the heat from the bun reduced, and she started to chew the soft sweet bun.
Shishio ate the cheese bun while looking at Shiina curiously. "How is it?"
"Delicious." Shiina took another bite of the sweet bun.
"Eat slowly," Shishio said while looking at Shiina with a smile.
Shiina nodded and took the warm lemon tea that they had bought before, drinking it slowly. Her way of eating was like a small animal. She took a small bite before she chewed it slowly.
Both of them ate the bun quietly while looking at the scenery through the window of the train.
The trip to Iwafune was quite long, and they needed to change trains before they could arrive at Iwafune then. When they were sitting on the last train before they arrived at the Iwafune station, only the two of them were inside the train.
Sitting next to each other, they moved very close so they could share each other's warmth.
"Shishio, can I ask?"
"What's wrong?"
"Why did you make such an ending?" Shiina asked while looking at Shishio.
Shishio looked at Shiina for a moment and knew that she had read his story so without hesitation, he asked, "Mashiro, what kind of story do you think will be remembered by people forever?"
Shiina was surprised by this question, but then she shook her head. "I don't know."
"It's a tragedy." Shishio looked at the ceiling of the train, holding the bottle of lemon tea with both of his hands on his lap, and said, "Unlike a manga, if a novel wants to be remembered, you need to write a tragedy. The same goes for my story, which is why I have written such an ending."
"Lie."
Shishio was stunned and looked at Shiina.
"Lie!" Shiina's eyes were red, and she said, "You're lying, Shishio."
Shishio looked at Shiina, then shook his head and said, "I'm not lying."
"No, you're lying." Shiina shook her head.
"Why do you think I'm lying?" Shishio asked.
"Because... because you were crying at that time..." Shiina was sad. She was sad that Shishio couldn't trust her and depended on her. Before, she might not have understood what she was feeling, but now, she understood it. "I love you, Shishio."
"...."
Shiina looked at Shishio, straight into her eyes, and said, "When I am with you, I feel happy. When I see you smiling, I also smile. When I see you sad, I also feel sad, but more importantly, I feel sadder when you can't even trust me to help you."
"....."
"I... I want to be your strength. I want to be your strength so you can overcome your trouble," Shiina said with tears dripped from her eyes.
Shishio looked at Shiina and said, "Why did you cry?" He helped to wipe the tears on her eyes.
"I don't know. I don't know, but my heart hurts..." Shiina said while shaking her head.
"You know, I'm the worst kind of man, and you might not be my only one," Shishio said.
"I don't mind. I just want to be with you," Shiina said and kept looking at him with red eyes.
Shishio looked at Shiina and saw how determined she was. He closed his eyes and pictured an image of her in her mind. He loved her, but he knew that it was impossible to meet her now, so for now, it was enough for him to be able to picture her on his mind and treasure all of those precious memories inside his heart.
Shishio opened his eyes, looked at Shiina for a moment, and said, "Mashiro, do you want to listen to my story?"
"Yes." Tears still dripped from her eyes, but Shiina showed a bright smile at this moment.