Higurashi [2]

...Somebody has been apologizing for a while now.

I wonder what she's apologizing for. It felt wrong to eavesgrop, so I tried to ignore it.

It had been a while since I'd last went to the city. I only returned to attend the funeral of a relative. Even though I'd lived there until last month, I found the bustle of the city to be overwhelming.

Those skyscrapers and the multi-lane roads. The melodious cacophony of the crosswalk. Even the campaingn speeches blaring in front of the station felt nostalgic.

The place where I live now isn't nearly as lively.

There's only the chirpin of locusts and the babbling of brooks. And the cry of the higurashi - the evening cicadas.

Rather than making me feel lonely, that quietness had begun to instill a sense of serenity.

There is nothing where I'm living now. I don't just mean there aren't any burger joints. There aren't even vending machines. No music stores, no restaurants... and no arcades. Even an ice cream parlor would be unlikely.

The nearest town has some stuff like that, but it's an hour away by bike.

But come to think of it, it wasn't really a big deal.

There were music stores and arcades and ice cream parlors, but it wasn't like I ever hung out at any of them.

I had lived in the city for ten years and never once been to an ice cream parlor.

...I should have gone at least once.
It's only now that I'm starting to regret that a little.

...Somebody is still apologizing.

Who is she apologizing to?
She's apologized so much, so just forgive her already.
There's no reason anyone should ever need to apologize so mcuh.

I started to feel a bit annoyed at whoever was refusing to forgive her.

No matter how bad the mistake, there's nothing that can't be forgiven.
There's no such thing as an irreparable mistake.
You just need to be more careful next time.

...She's still apologizing, even now.

Then... has she really done something that can't be fixed?

I have no idea what she's done, but if it can't be fixed, then that's all the more reason to forgive her. No matter how much she apologizes, nothing will change.

But even so, she keeps apologizing in such a hearbreaking voice...

Hey, you. The one she's apologizing to...
Why dorn't you just go ahead and forgive her?

She's apologizing... in such a pathetic voice...

"Keiichi, we're almost there. Wake up."

I was finally roused from my nap by my father's prodding.
It seemed the train had reached its final stop.

We'd spent hours riding everything from the bullet train to the local routes.
It was hard to believe that the landscape beyond the window and the city I was in half a day ago were in the same country.
No... that they were even from the same era.

From there, we'd take a car deeper into the mountains.

Past where the dense forest encroaching on the mountain road suddenly opened up...

There, where I live now. Hinamizawa.

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