CH 30

To sum it up, getting to Masha was more difficult than I expected.

Somehow I asked for directions and went to the address I had sent the letter toㅡfortunately it was within walking distanceㅡbut a complete stranger opened the door, not Masha.

[Ah. Isn’t this Masha’s house, by any chance?]

[If you’re talking about that red-haired girl… It’s been a while since she moved, though.]

The person who greeted me seemed to be the owner of the building Masha had rented. I hadn’t met Masha, but I still had the slightest hint of hope that someone knew her.

When she asked how long she lived here and left, and if he knew where she had moved, the man said with a puzzled look.

[I think I heard where she worked before. Would you like to go there too?]

Upon hearing that, I went to the small but neat clothing store.

[Masha? She followed the chief designer to the head office. I think you can go that way.]

Hearing this, I went back to the downtown area and stopped by a fancy clothing store.

[She left work early today… Are you really Masha’s friend? Could her friend not even know her home address?]

After being seriously questioned by the staff who remained there, I finally managed to find out the home address of the place where Masha had moved.

I was able to come to Masha’s present house only after I went back the way I came and wandered around. Why is it so hard to just go to a friend’s house?

No, should I feel fortunate just being able to come here like this… After a moment of confusion, I lifted the knock handle.

Knock, knock, following my gestures, a cheerful sound of knocking on the wooden door resonated. Yet there was no sign of anyone answering or approaching the door.

Is she not at home? I heard from the dressing room earlier that she left work early today, though.

She must have gone somewhere for a while, whatever. I knocked a few more times, then sat down on the stairs, intending to wait for Masha to come.

After casually sitting on the cold floor, I realized that I was wandering around aimlessly without taking proper measures. What if I can’t find Masha after all this hard work?

On the way here, I had even thought that the Masha living in this house might be a different person from the Masha I was looking for. It’s not common to see redheads with the name Masha, but it’s not like there aren’t any.

However, I didn’t even imagine the situation or worry in advance. Why would I think in a bad way? That only makes my stamina drop. If there was something that would change just because of my anxiety, I would have been anxious many times.

So the only thought in my mind was that if a stranger were coming to this house, I would have to get out of the way quickly.

I knew that I was very carefree, but this was my own way of surviving.

I didn’t know that I would have to wait this long. I thought that if I waited for a while, I would meet someone, yet I was wrong. Contrary to my expectations, the person living in this house didn’t come for a long time. In the beginning, I would get up from my seat whenever someone passed by on the street, but later it became a nuisance, then I would just sit and watch unless someone approached close to the gate.

As time passed and the sun went down, did I fall asleep in the spot where I sat for a while?

I was awakened vaguely by the sound of someone walking. As I rubbed my cloudy eyes and raised my head, I saw a shadow slowly coming around the corner.

The shadow got closer and closer to the front door, and at some point stopped abruptly on the spot. And then the sound of something falling.

A fruit rolled in front of my feet.

“…Ei?”

When I got up from my seat picking up the fruit, I was finally able to identify the owner of the shadow.

The person I’ve been waiting for so far, my friend whom I haven’t seen in a long time.

“Masha.”

I was fortunate to be able to meet you like this.

***

Masha was just as I remembered it. No, did she change a bit? Still, it wasn’t difficult to recognize her face.

“Ei!”

Masha, whose expression looked as if she forgot to breathe, ran over and hugged me tightly. She didn’t care whether I stumbled at the intensity and held me tight.

“Is it really you? You’re really Ei?”

“Yeah. Long time no see, Masha.”

I was completely distracted by the gesture of her grabbing my face and turning me around, but I answered steadily anyway. After my name was called several times, I felt relieved as I realized that I had really met Masha.

As much as I had been looking for Masha all day, I wanted to express my joy, but I didn’t have the time to do so. She let go of me and started screaming.

“Where have you been?!”

“No, wait.”

“Until this day! Without any contact! You never came to see me even once!”

Masha grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me wildly. The Masha in front of me looked so angry, and I didn’t dare to say anything to the angry Masha,thus I just shut my mouth.

“Why aren’t you answering me!”

Although I was scolded once more for keeping my mouth shut.

Masha, who had been pouring out her anger for a while, gradually burst into tears as time passed. Her hands, which shook my shoulders, lost strength, and her head fell.

I was bewildered by the emotional ups and downs for a moment, and soon after, a voice mixed with crying was heard.

“After hearing the news from the village, I thought you were dead too. How much, how much I have…”

I could see  drops of water dripping down her face. It was only when I heard the sobs that continued even after her words came to a halt that I realized that Masha was more surprised than I thought.

In fact, it would be strange if she weren’t surprised. Her hometown is said to have been engulfed in an explosion, and a friend from that village suddenly comes to her house.

When I closed my eyes and opened them, the world had changed, so I felt that I hadn’t been away from Masha for long, yet it didn’t seem to be the case with her. Judging from Masha’s reaction, it must have taken me quite a while to be alive again.

Of course, I was in a situation where I couldn’t even contact her, but in any case, from Masha’s point of view, I would look like someone didn’t contact her even though I was alive. I sighed and hugged Masha.

Thinking that this would be everyone’s reaction when one’s friend, whom they thought was dead, suddenly appeared in front of them.

Masha, whom I held gently in my arms, was silent for a long time.

“I’m sorry.”

“Is this something to be sorry for?!”

I took advantage of the silence and apologized, yet then she screamed again just like she was crying. Reflexively, I snuggled down her flinching hand, and slowly patted Masha on the back. I’m sure I’m hugging her, but maybe it’s because I’m shorter, so it looks like Masha is the one who’s hugging me.

The whimpering continued for a long time after that. The Masha whom I held, no, who held me, didn’t fall until long after she had stopped crying.

Although she looked a little less energetic than before, Masha’s eyes were still sharp. Seeing that she seemed determined to never forgive me, I slightly turned my eyes.

“If you were alive, you should’ve come and found me, shouldn’t you?”

“Well, in the meantime… I’m in a certain situation.”

There’s such a thing as dying and surviving.

“If it’s something that makes you unable to come in person, you should have sent a letter! At least before I moved!”

“No, that…”

“I thought you were dead for 10 years!”

Yes, I have been here for 10 years… What?

“Wait, what?”

“Huh?”

“What did you just say?”

“What. A letter?”

“No, after that.”

“I thought you were dead for ten years?”

Wow, how could this be? I didn’t hear it wrong. I rather wished my ears were wrong.

When I lifted my head and looked closely, I saw Masha’s face clearly more mature than I remembered.

I thought she had somehow changed a little bit, yet she was getting older. Unbeknownst to me, a laugh came out.

“Has it been 10 years?”

“What are you talking about?”

Although I could feel Masha’s puzzled gaze, my mouth didn’t move. 10 years, I had died and returned countless times, but it had never taken this long. I thought it wouldn’t have been more than 5 years at the longest, but it’s 10 years, not 5 or 8 years. 10 years.

Masha called me one more time, “Ei?” before I could open my mouth.

“Masha, I wasn’t alive.”

“What?”

“I was dead too.”

Masha’s face turned pale as she asked what I was talking about. It was my turn to tell my story to a friend I hadn’t seen in a while.