Without any accomplishments, Autumn came around. I wasn’t even aware of summer’s passing; the air in my room was always kept at a constant temperature.

Despite everything, I kept in touch with Shimizu. He had moved to Soma City and became a fisherman there. In short, so he could be with Kobayashi Koyomi. Even after a few years since the earthquake, Fukushima’s seafood’s reputation was irreparable.

–“Even if the bonito was fished from the same waters, it would become a Fukushima product the moment it landed on Fukushima port. I had to dock either in Kesennuma or Miyagi prefecture. Hmph, it’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”

Shimizu sounded unusually derisive. Perhaps he was indignant in his own way.

At the end of September, I received an unexpected call.

It was Yuzuki.

[Get a passport. Right now.]

It was the first conversation we had in three years.

It was as if there was a limit to the number of bytes of data I could send to people around me. But I was also in a state of mind where I couldn’t write anything other than novels. 

[Okay] I replied curtly.

It had been so long since I had been out to the outside world. It was dizzying. I was a gentile in my hometown. Would someone report my suspicious behavior?

I submitted my documents to the passport office at the Koriyama Joint Government Building and floundered at the counter.

I had forgotten how to speak.

　　　６

In mid October, Yuzuki contacted me again.

[get ready for the trip!]

[Okay]

I was at her beck and call. I wasn’t in a position to argue with ehr in the first place; I had been sleeping like a log for the past month. Five days later, at six in the morning of October thirteenth, her message finally made me feel uneasy.

[Come to Warsaw! My performance is on the sixteenth!]

As one would expect, I was taken aback. I was stunned…or perhaps I was more stupid than Yuzuki had imagined. She was the one who had the attention of so many people…

Of course, she would be competing in the International Chopin Piano Competition Why haven’t I thought of it earlier?

The description of the Tokyo International Arts Association was as follows: “Once every five years, the competition is an internationally renowned competition held once every five years for three weeks around October seventeenth, anniversary of Chopin’s death, in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It is the oldest of international music competitions that continues to this day and the winners of this competition are world-renowned pianists. The competition is composed exclusively of Chopin’s works, including etudes, sonatas, fantasias, waltzes, nocturnes, concertos, and many others. Together with the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition and the International Tchaikovsky Competition, it is considered one of the three most prestigious competitions in the world. This program is the gateway to success for pianists aspiring to go global.”

[TN: Phew, that was a long one.]

Wow…

If I was correct, the day I first met Yuzuki, she made me listen to a CD of Maurizio Pollini. He had won the VIth Chopin Competition in 1960 at the age of eighteen. Other pianists that Yuzuki and I had naturally come in contact with during our time together–Ashkenazy, Argerich, and Kiyoko Tanaka—had all won awards in this programme. 

And Yuzuki would be eighteen by the time of the XVIIth Competition, the same age as Pollini was. Yuzuki was now fighting on the world stage…

As if by fate…

I went back to check her message. It seemed that [Come to Warsaw! My performance is on the sixteenth!] was sent immediately after the results of the second round was announced. 

I didn’t have much time, but if I went immediately, I could make it in time to the third round.

I booked a flight and took a four-hour slow train from Koriyama Station to Tokyo. From there I took a monorail to Haneda Airport. I got lost on the road and was drunk by the crowd. Alas, I managed to board the plane by nine pm.

[TN: Ridden the monorail to Haneda a few days before translating this, it was a rollercoaster in its own right.]

I reported to Yuzuki at the gate. [I’m on the plane.]

[Good boy. Thank you. When are you arriving?]

[Around 18:00 there. At Warsaw Airport.]

[I’ll go pick you up then.]

The plane first flew to Kansai International Airport. From there, I changed planes and flew ten and a half hours to Helsinki Vantaa International Airport in Finland. After another transfer, I finally arrived at Warsaw Chopin Airport.

 　　　７

“Cold”

It was so cold that I involuntarily muttered so.

It was fifteen Celsius in Fukushima, a typical October temperature. Although it was only eight Celsius in Warsaw. In my haste, I had forgotten to check the climate of my destination.

I miserably headed for the gate.

My body was freezing at the unexpected cold, but my heart was pounding hard at the thought of seeing Yuzuki for the first time in three and a half years.

The blond man walking beside me suddenly sped up, collide into a red-haired woman and kissed fiercely—

I searched for Yuzuki.

Ah…

When did she become so beautiful?

Her black, flowing hair was as silky as ever, and her light makeup was in harmony with her natural beauty. The lines of her face were sharper, her almond-shaped eyes were more luminous and seductive, and her cherry-red lips were more colorful. Earrings gleamed in her ears. She was wearing a white coat over a striped cut-and-sewn, slim black pants and heels. Around her neck was a bright pear-green scarf.

[TN: Have mercy, author-sensei]

She had grown into a refined woman. I, on the other hand, was miserable and about to collapse.

At first, she smiled amiably at me, as I gradually approached her, the expression turned into shock.

“Huh?! You come dressed like that?! You’re a walking corpse!”

I couldn’t believe that it was the first word in three and a half years. I had ruined the meeting.

We walked side by side through the airport, talking about various things. There was a grand piano in an open area with windows all around. A man with a thick beard and the physique of a bodybuilder was playing Chopin’s Waltz No. 13. His performance was gorgeous and sweet, unbefitting of his appearance.

“Ah…” I checked my pockets. “I only brought Japanese yen. Where’s the exchange center?”

The Polish unit of exchange is the złoty, which is 31 yen per złoty. She didn’t bring me to exchange right away.

“No. Never exchange at an airport! The rate’s horrendous. I’ll pay for you for now, we’ll go exchange in town later.”

The board we walked past wrote 40 yen per zloty.

We went to a clothing store in the airport, and Yuzuki picked out a coat that suited me. She jokingly said I should wear gray because the dark color would make my pale face stand out. I watched her pay with her credit card and felt ashamed of myself for my lack of social skills.

We left the airport and took a cab. I finally noticed that she was wearing perfume.

“How was my performance?”

I tilted my head.

“Which performance?”

“What! You weren’t watching my YouTube?”

Apparently, there were live streams of Chopin Competition on YouTube. The competition has been a big talk on the internet. While I had locked myself away, the world had changed.

“I haven’t watched the archive. I didn’t even know this competition existed nor were you participating.”

“So you agreed to come here without knowing anything?”

“That’s more or less.”

She was aghast.

“What have you even been doing?”

I briefly described my life after graduating from high school. But there wasn’t much to say anyway. When I finished, I brace for her reprimand—

She puffed a laugh. “I knew you’d become a novelist someday.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Really,” she giggled. “Why weren’t you one until now.”

“Why?”

“Even people who spend a little time together with you can see that.”

Reasons aside, that might be as she said. I started writing because of Shimizu, and he might have the same thought as Yuzuki.

The streets of Warsaw were passing by the cab window as the night approached. While the area around the airport was tranquil, as we drew nearer to the city center, lights and colors began to animate the scenery.