I smiled at the girl, and she smiled back. The greenery shook gently in the wind and a cool fragrance swept around us and then drifted off. The girl kept sitting there next to me, she wasn't moving, and since I couldn't very well stand up and walk off myself, I kept on sitting where I was, too, staring straight ahead. She had this odd sort of aura about her—this feeling of not-quite-rightness, like she didn't belong in these surroundings. Her long hair streamed down over her shoulders; she was a lovely young woman. Yet I had the impression that something about her was off. The thought crossed my mind that she might be slightly mad. All the same, I could feel myself starting to relax, ever so slowly, just from being with her, being with someone.

Shiori and I used to sit here like this, looking at the swings, I thought. We'd stay up all night watching videos and then in the morning we'd be so filled with energy that we couldn't get to sleep, so we'd buy a can of hot tea and a few seaweed-wrapped balls of rice at a convenience store and then come here to eat. I always hated the ones with the tuna packed in the middle, but Shiori loved that kind. . . .

“You better go to the train station right away.”

The girl spoke so suddenly that I jumped. I'd been falling asleep again. I turned to look at her and was met with an extremely severe expression. Her eyebrows had come together to form a single dark shadow. And her tone of voice was completely different now, much sharper and deeper.

“What? The station?”

I didn't know what to say. It looks like she is crazy, I thought, and started to feel slightly afraid. She stood up, positioned herself directly in front of me, and looked straight into my eyes. Her eyes really were strange. She was staring right at me, but the look in her eyes gave the impression that she was focusing on some point way off in the distance. I was mesmerized by those eyes, charmed. I couldn't say a word.

The girl continued, “Once you're there, go to the newsstand and pick up a copy of the Job-Hunter's Journal. Then look through it and find yourself a job. Even if it's only for a very short period of time, just do it. You could be some kind of model or an usher at a show or something. An office job is no good because you'll fall asleep. You need some kind of work that'll keep you standing up and moving your hands and feet around. Just go do it, all right? I can't even stand to look at you. If you go on like this you'll end up getting trapped in this mode, you know, you won't be able to go back to being what you were—that's the way you look. It frightens me.”