text41910;"""Strangely enough, I quickly got used to waking up with an alarm, even though there had been a time when I'd thought it the worst punishment for a free man at the end of the 20th century."""
text41911;"""The awful sound of the devil's machine abruptly brought me back to reality, while Kagome didn't seem to notice it at all, carrying on sleeping while I got ready for work."""
text41912;"""Of course, I couldn't expect her to wake up this early just to see me out."""
text41913;"""But sometimes it felt like I'd already done and continued to do too much for Kagome, yet got almost nothing in return."""
text41914;"""Now I knew why — it was love."""
text41915;"""A classical case, straight out of the books."""
text41916;"""I was walking to my workplace, drowning in the morning fog, the only thought keeping me warm was that today was payday."""
text41917;"""I guess finances had never bothered me as much as now — when we needed that money to survive."""
text41918;"""But just yesterday evening I'd found something more important to me than that…"""
text41919;"""Even if by some miracle everything else would get resolved, I'd still have to live on with that newfound feeling."""
text41920;"""And, strangely enough, it brought anxiety rather than happiness."""
text41921;"""I wasn't at all sure that Kagome would reciprocate."""
text41922;"""Of course, she'd warmed up to me in the time we spent together, but, hand on my heart, we could be barely called friends, let alone a couple."""
text41923;"""Fellows in misfortune, maybe, but no more than that."""
text41924;"""And this is how I was starting a new chapter of my life, one that I wanted to share with Kagome."""
text41925;"""…"""
text41926;"""The CAT scan revealed that Mato-san's fracture wasn't as serious as it looked, which meant he'd recover after a while."""
text41927;"""We all felt quite relieved about that."""
text41928;"""Miners stick together, and something that happens to one of your coworkers might as well have happened to you."""
text41929;"""Nobody is immune to accidents — at any moment, the ground might collapse, a trolley might go off the rails, or gas might explode."""
text41930;"""This wasn't the job I'd dreamed of a month ago…"""
text41931;"""In fact, I only had had a very vague idea of what I was going to do in the future, but hard manual labor definitely wasn't on the list."""
text41932;"""Any healthy person usually overestimates their abilities."""
text41933;"""Likewise, I thought that even lacking knowledge and persistence, I could, so to speak, keep things rolling using my wit and intuition."""
text41934;"""However, in Japan, keeping things rolling isn't embedded in the culture."""
text41935;"""Even yakuza follow a strict set of internal rules and hierarchy."""
text41936;"""Celebrities, stars, didn't light up in the sky of the local music industry just thanks to their talent and luck — usually, there was the hard work of dozens of agents and producers behind their success."""
text41937;"""Japan was as logical and predictable of a production line country as there could be."""
text41938;"""Maybe that's why we found ourselves in this position — by trying to block that production line."""
text41939;"""…"""
text41940;"""Our boss gave us a little bonus today, so the guys immediately left to celebrate it, inviting me along."""
text41941;"""But I turned the invitation down, leaving none of them happy."""
text41942;"""Whatever! I wanted to spend that extra money to buy a gift for Kagome."""
text41943;"""I was walking up and down the main (and, in fact, only) street of the village, all the way from the grocery store, to the hardware store, passing by the clothes' store."""
text41944;"""What could I buy for her?"""
text41945;"""I had absolutely no idea what Kagome liked or what she was into."""
text41946;"""In her free time, she preferred to look out the window or silently think about something."""
text41947;"""Typical female gifts — flowers, fragrances, jewellery — didn't quite match her image in my mind."""
text41948;"""I could have bought Himitsu a cheap necklace out of the window of the shop owned by the kind old lady, Kono-san."""
text41949;"""Himitsu… The memory of her brought sadness."""
text41950;"""Himitsu and Kagome were so different."""
text41951;"""At the same time, she and Catherine probably had something in common."""
text41952;"""Next to the necklace stood a small snow globe."""
text41953;"""Maybe that was it?"""
text41954;"""Kagome would probably have been happy to appear in the place whose miniature copy was trapped inside that glass ball."""
text41955;"""To appear in Paris…"""
text41956;"""Kono-san noticed that I was examining her wares and walked out to the front of her store."""
text41957;"""It turned out that in the next few days they were going to have an autumn festival dedicated to some local spirit that apparently used to guard the mountain outside the village."""
text41958;"""Many Japanese still took their traditions of honoring spirits very seriously, those spirits usually connected to particular places."""
text41959;"""And a festival itself was a good event to go to."""
text41960;"""As a child, I'd gone a couple of times with Himitsu."""
text41961;"""Himitsu again…"""
text41962;"""I wasn't particularly sorry about leaving my old house, school, friends, or even Tokyo behind!"""
text41963;"""But parting with Himitsu caused a dull pain in my heart every time I thought about it."""
text41964;"""Although in reality we had parted long before that."""
text41965;"""Maybe even the day when Catherine returned, and I started my search for Akira Shinji."""
text41966;"""Everything that happened after that could be seen as just the spasming of a dying friendship that never became something more."""
text41967;"""Kono-san was definitely good at her trade, making a passing remark about how my girlfriend would need a yukata."""
text41968;"""But the prices of traditional Japanese clothing she sold were a complete mismatch with my miner's wage."""
text41969;"""Kono-san quickly estimated Kagome's size and offered me a few color variations."""
text41970;"""The yukatas looked great, but burning an entire half of my paycheck just for a little fun one time…"""
text41971;"""Only yesterday that argument might have been convincing, but now I was in a new reality, where love held my purse strings."""
text41972;"""Besides, I'd never known how to spend money wisely, let alone save it!"""
text41973;"""…"""
text41974;"""A snow globe in a bag, a yukata carefully wrapped in thick paper, the bright sun shining its rays on the village — this was the best day in a very, very long time."""
text41975;"""I suddenly realized I was smiling or, rather, grinning idiotically, but it didn't bother me at all."""
text41976;"""Let them look — I was in love and had nothing to be ashamed of!"""
text41977;"""A few women, holding basins with clothes, did actually cast surprised looks at me, but I couldn't care less."""
text41978;"""Noticing that, they laughed quietly, covering their mouths with their hands, and quickly entered a bathhouse."""
text41979;"""Every person has the right to be happy, don't they? Why did I have to be bothered with other people?"""
text41980;"""The only variable that was preventing me from solving this equation was Kagome…"""
text41981;"""I was so full of happiness that I forgot that the only happy love is one returned in kind."""
text41982;"""I guess that's how it had been with Katya, too — a simulacrum of her in my mind had completely replaced the real Catherine."""
text41983;"""But now things were way more complicated, as I had no idea what the real Kagome was like."""
text41984;"""If I'd dug deeper, was I even in love with the right person?"""
text41985;"""As for Catherine, that damned simulacrum was close enough to the real person."""
text41986;"""So, I needed that question answered."""
text41987;"""The sooner, the better!"""
text41988;"""Kagome lay on the floor reading a book."""
text41989;"""Murakami and some forest — I only managed to catch a glimpse of the title on the cover."""
text41990;"""Are you reading?"""
text41991;"""She only tilted her head in response."""
text41992;"""Is it interesting?"""
text41993;"""I got another simple nod."""
text41994;"""Where did you get it? This place hasn't seen literature since it's been built, apart from manga."""
text41995;"""I borrowed it from Kono-san."""
text41996;"""Kagome replied briefly."""
text41997;"""Kono-san, huh…"""
text41998;"""I said like a prosecutor combing over a witness' statement."""
text41999;"""I have something for you… Here!"""
text42000;"""Without any second thoughts, I took the snow globe out of the bag and handed it to her."""
text42001;"""Kagome didn't seem to understand what I wanted from her at first, opened her mouth slightly and looked at me in surprise."""
text42002;"""Then she grew embarrassed, took the snow globe and turned it upside down."""
text42003;"""Big flakes of snow fell onto the Eiffel Tower."""
text42004;"""You shouldn't have have, really…"""
text42005;"""Come on! They gave me a bonus at work!"""
text42006;"""I tried to sound confident while hiding the package with the yukata behind my back."""
text42007;"""You'd better have saved the money — who knows when we might need it."""
text42008;"""If you always save for a rainy day, when are you supposed to enjoy the sunny ones?!"""
text42009;"""You won't be saying that when that day comes!"""
text42010;"""Yeah, sure…"""
text42011;"""I didn't want to argue with her — Kagome was right in a way, I was just trying desperately not to accept the new rules I had to play by, which placed us at the very bottom of the pyramid."""
text42012;"""On the other hand, I now understood Kagome much better, particularly how difficult it was for her to lose everything she'd had after her mother's death."""
text42013;"""Saving every yen, saying no even to the most essential items — poverty holds you in a vice grip, slowly exhausting you, sucking all life from you."""
text42014;"""Then, slowly, silently, every desire to strive for something more, move forward and evolve, disappears — you can only think about survival."""
text42015;"""Poverty doesn't put you in a mind to buy a yukata or enjoy a festival."""
text42016;"""Ah, right!"""
text42017;"""I exclaimed, awkwardly backing away to the door."""
text42018;"""The landlady asked me for help. I'll be back in a moment!"""
text42019;"""Kagome just shrugged."""
text42020;"""…"""
text42021;"""Kono-san was definitely good at her trade… and she wasn't too happy when I went back to return the yukata and ask for a refund."""
text42022;"""I tried to explain that I'd behaved impulsively, and our budget couldn't withstand expenses like that."""
text42023;"""But she parried sharply — business wasn't going well, she had taxes to pay, her grandson was going to a university in Tokyo, and her son-in-law was about to lose his job…"""
text42024;"""Next I'd probably hear about lunar phases, Chinese calendar, and the predictions of a wise woman."""
text42025;"""I sighed, apologized again, and walked out of the shop."""
text42026;"""But I still couldn't show the yukata to Kagome."""
text42027;"""Thankfully, the landlady agreed to keep it for some time."""
text42028;"""Disappointed, I returned to our room."""
text42029;"""That was quick."""
text42030;"""Kagome lay in the same pose, reading her Murakami book."""
text42031;"""Didn't take long."""
text42032;"""I grunted and fell to the floor."""
text42033;"""Did something happen?"""
text42034;"""She finally closed the book and looked gave me a serious look."""
text42035;"""I'm just tired from work."""
text42036;"""How's Mato-san?"""
text42037;"""Oh, right. Turns out his fracture isn't that serious, so he'll walk again."""
text42038;"""I'm glad to hear that."""
text42039;"""She smiled, and I immediately grew embarrassed."""
text42040;"""No, Kagome's smile wasn't something unusual, although she didn't smile often."""
text42041;"""But now that I'd realized how important this girl was to me, it was as if I had to get to know her anew."""
text42042;"""Every gesture, every look, every slight movement of her lips or her little sighs."""
text42043;"""You must be hungry?"""
text42044;"""She stood up liked a bird flying off a windowsill, noticing a human close by."""
text42045;"""Yes, it'd be nice to eat something."""
text42046;"""She walked out of the room, leaving me with my new feelings."""
text42047;"""…"""
text42048;"""Everything was delicious as usual."""
text42049;"""Having completely emptied the bowls, I carefully put away the chopsticks and looked at Kagome."""
text42050;"""What?"""
text42051;"""Thank you."""
text42052;"""For what?"""
text42053;"""She got a bit embarrassed."""
text42054;"""For the food. It was delicious."""
text42055;"""Ah, right, you're welcome."""
text42056;"""She froze for a moment, like a lion about to pounce, and took out a cassette from under the table."""
text42057;"""Here, it's for you. We got a bonus too."""
text42058;"""A new album from one of my favorite bands!"""
text42059;"""Wow!"""
text42060;"""I was genuinely excited."""
text42061;"""I saw their poster on a wall while I was living at your house. Besides, it was very cheap! Probably cheaper than that trinket of yours!"""
text42062;"""I was a little offended she'd called the snow globe a trinket, but I was too happy about Kagome's gift to say anything."""
text42063;"""It wasn't even about the cassette itself — the only player I could use to listen to it didn't exactly have great sound quality."""
text42064;"""I didn't want to assume anything — the gift might have just been out of formality."""
text42065;"""Thank you, I'm really glad. Honest!"""
text42066;"""Come on, what's so special about it? You're acting like it's a briefcase full of cash and not a cassette!"""
text42067;"""She was blushing more and more."""
text42068;"""You know what people say? It's the thought that counts."""
text42069;"""You can stare at water all you want, but to learn how to swim you need to dive into it."""
text42070;"""What do you mean?"""
text42071;"""Niko-san, if you hadn't helped me and my grandfather, we wouldn't have to stay here."""
text42072;"""…"""
text42073;"""Was she really going to start blaming me again?"""
text42074;"""Maybe we wouldn't even be alive.."""
text42075;"""Come on, don't say that!"""
text42076;"""Although she probably wasn't exaggerating — things really could have gone poorly for them."""
text42077;"""I probably did have my reasons to blame her for what had happened, but now I couldn't even think about that!"""
text42078;"""I was thankful that we'd ever met in the first place, even though I had to sacrifice almost everything I had for it."""
text42079;"""In any case, I'm glad that…"""
text42080;"""Was I ready to confess to her?"""
text42081;"""Not that I'm glad… I mean… Despite some minor inconveniences…"""
text42082;"""Minor inconveniences?"""
text42083;"""Kagome laughed sincerely."""
text42084;"""Niko-san, you're either very patient or very silly."""
text42085;"""Or very much in love!"""
text42086;"""I lowered my head and pretended I was carefully studying the empty bowl."""
text42087;"""Not everyone would do that for someone they barely know."""
text42088;"""What do you mean by that?"""
text42089;"""I don't know… I just wondered, what would I have done if we switched places?"""
text42090;"""So?"""
text42091;"""Kagome smiled mysteriously."""
text42092;"""It's a simple question that requires a very complicated answer."""
text42093;"""I didn't even know if I wanted to hear that answer."""
text42094;"""It's alright, I understand, you don't need to say anything. After all, I didn't help you for your thanks…"""
text42095;"""And not for your own advantage?"""
text42096;"""She suddenly leaned forward, getting very close to my face."""
text42097;"""And what sort of advantage could I get out of it?"""
text42098;"""I felt my neck start to sweat."""
text42099;"""That disgusting feeling — huge droplets of sweat running down my neck — made me even more nervous."""
text42100;"""I think you know exactly what I mean."""
text42101;"""The snow globe is one thing, but a yukata!"""
text42102;"""Yu…yukata?!"""
text42103;"""You thought you could trick me?"""
text42104;"""How would I trick you if I'd already bought it?"""
text42105;"""There was no point asking how how she knew about the yukata — what difference did it make?"""
text42106;"""Then why were you hiding it?"""
text42107;"""I just heard about the festival from Kono-san and decided it wouldn't be good to go without the proper clothing."""
text42108;"""You could've asked me first if I want to go."""
text42109;"""Kagome frowned and pulled away."""
text42110;"""Right, I know, we don't have much money, and I can't burn it like that…"""
text42111;"""Niko-san."""
text42112;"""She stopped me confidently."""
text42113;"""You still haven't asked me whether I want to go!"""
text42114;"""Do you…?"""
text42115;"""I said timidly."""
text42116;"""I hadn't even thought about it this morning, but since you're putting me on the spot…"""
text42117;"""You can always refuse."""
text42118;"""Can we return the yukata and get the money back?"""
text42119;"""Well…"""
text42120;"""I drawled and looked around, as if trying to find something in the tiny hotel room."""
text42121;"""Knowing Kono-san, I very much doubt it."""
text42122;"""Kagome smiled, still giving an intense look."""
text42123;"""Listen, I could go back, get on my knees and beg for a refund!"""
text42124;"""Don't."""
text42125;"""What?"""
text42126;"""I said, don't. Instead bring the yukata here — I want to try it on."""
text42127;"""…"""
text42128;"""I hesitated, not knowing what to do next."""
text42129;"""Was she mocking me or did she really like the festival idea?"""
text42130;"""I could hardly believe the latter but decided not to argue and went down for the yukata."""
text42131;"""The landlady smiled cunningly as she handed me the package."""
text42132;"""And to think I considered her a good person!! She must've been the one to tell Kagome!"""
text42133;"""…"""
text42134;"""The yukata fit Kagome so well it seemed like it was made for her."""
text42135;"""It suits you…"""
text42136;"""Let's see, let's see!"""
text42137;"""She was as happy as a child."""
text42138;"""I might have expected such a reaction from Himitsu, but not from the ever-serious Iwamura."""
text42139;"""We walked out to the hall with its big mirror, and Kagome started spinning around in front it, looking at herself from different angles."""
text42140;"""The landlady complimented both the yukata and Kagome."""
text42141;"""If I forgot how much I'd spent on the thing, everything seemed to be going a little too smoothly."""
text42142;"""I could think of something to worry about even when nothing was going on, and now I had a good reason."""
text42143;"""When we returned to the room, Kagome squinted slyly and said:"""
text42144;"""Niko-san, you look like you're waiting for a punishment."""
text42145;"""But we really can't afford this sort of thing…"""
text42146;"""What's the point of talking about that now, since we can't return the yukata?"""
text42147;"""Well, I'm glad you think so…"""
text42148;"""Where was the catch?"""
text42149;"""But…?"""
text42150;"""She looked at me intensely like a strict teacher waiting for an explanation from a mischievous pupil."""
text42151;"""I really don't know why I did that. Why I bought something so expensive."""
text42152;"""You know our life isn't exactly a paradise! And I saw an opportunity to distract ourselves a little."""
text42153;"""When are we going to have a day off at the same time again?"""
text42154;"""You don't have to come up with excuses, Niko-san!"""
text42155;"""Kagome frowned and crossed her arms over her chest defensively."""
text42156;"""If it's only about the money…"""
text42157;"""What else would it be about?"""
text42158;"""I asked, surprised."""
text42159;"""Nothing."""
text42160;"""She scoffed and turned away."""
text42161;"""You see, you're mad about something again."""
text42162;"""I'm mad about how stupid, short sighted, and insensitive you are!"""
text42163;"""I'd been called the first two before, but insensitive…?"""
text42164;"""Well, Iwamura-san, you're hard to please!"""
text42165;"""You started well, too!"""
text42166;"""She was getting angrier and angrier."""
text42167;"""Started what?"""
text42168;"""Now I was getting annoyed with her baseless attacks."""
text42169;"""Scolding me for spending so much money was one thing, I may have deserved it."""
text42170;"""But when you don't understand what the other person is mad at you for… The person you love…"""
text42171;"""If you want to tell me something…"""
text42172;"""Don't you want to tell me anything, Niko-san?"""
text42173;"""What was she trying to say?"""
text42174;"""As if out of thick fog, an unexpected hunch began to take shape in my mind."""
text42175;"""To be honest, I wasn't going to do it so soon…"""
text42176;"""If you were any other girl…"""
text42177;"""But we've just been thrust together by fate, we're fellows in misery — and relationships like that rarely last long or end well…"""
text42178;"""I was talking absolute drivel and shifting my gaze all around the room, stubbornly trying to look at anything but Kagome."""
text42179;"""It was pleasant to think that she was waiting for me to declare my love for her, except I was completely unprepared for it."""
text42180;"""I guess it took me very long to realize my feeling for you, and everything happened so quickly…"""
text42181;"""Niko-san…"""
text42182;"""Her voice was ice cold."""
text42183;"""So, what do you want to tell me?"""
text42184;"""I want to say…"""
text42185;"""Judging by her reaction, it seemed like my love confession would be followed by my head becoming the target for every object in the room light enough for Kagome to pick up."""
text42186;"""Why was it so difficult with her?!"""
text42187;"""I summoned all my courage and blurted out:"""
text42188;"""I love you, Iwamura Kagome!"""
text42189;"""If she didn't want to hear a long speech, I'd keep it short."""
text42190;"""Kagome's eyes opened wider and wider, and I prepared to defend myself against dishes, chairs, or something more dangerous."""
text42191;"""Took you a while."""
text42192;"""Suddenly, her face quivered and tears swelled in her eyes."""
text42193;"""What…?"""
text42194;"""I was waiting so long, I almost gave up hope…"""
text42195;"""So, you… too…?"""
text42196;"""I was probably ready for any reaction — but not reciprocity."""
text42197;"""It wasn't even that I wasn't confident of myself as a man or didn't understand her as a woman."""
text42198;"""It was Kagome! If it were any other girl in her place, I would've understood my feelings much earlier!"""
text42199;"""Niko-san, you're asking a Japanese girl to confess her love for you."""
text42200;"""I don't know how it is in your country, but we have certain rules."""
text42201;"""Her words sounded just as silly as mine."""
text42202;"""I'm not asking for anything…"""
text42203;"""I'm just glad that you, too… Sorry, I'm really nervous."""
text42204;"""I really felt like I was on tenterhooks."""
text42205;"""Here you go apologizing again!"""
text42206;"""Kagome laughed and looked unbelievably beautiful to me with tears in her eyes and her cheeks red."""
text42207;"""It was hard for me to keep looking at her and stick to the rules she'd talked about, so I lowered my head and stared at the empty bowl on the table."""
text42208;"""…"""
text42209;"""What are we supposed to do next?"""
text42210;"""What do you mean?"""
text42211;"""It was hard enough to start living in a room with a young man, and now…"""
text42212;"""Of course, I'd also thought about it more than once, but when Kagome put it that way, the problem started to seem much more serious to me."""
text42213;"""I'll behave like a gentleman! You have nothing to fear!"""
text42214;"""Except…"""
text42215;"""She said quietly, lowering her eyes."""
text42216;"""I don't know if I can behave like a lady…"""
text42217;"""…"""
text42218;"""…"""
text42219;"""Everything happened by itself, and Kagome found herself in my arms."""