We took the train into the city. There were large crowds, so we nearly lost sight of each other. Neither of us owned a cell phone; so, if we were separated even once, it would be the end of everything. In this large city, we never would be able to find each other again. We had to be careful.

Even so, Misaki was wandering heedlessly. I, too, was mostly just plodding along. “Where should we go?” I asked.

“Somewhere.”

“What about lunch?”

“We just ate together, didn’t we?”

“What about a movie?”

“Okay.”

We watched a movie. It was an astounding Hollywood action flick. Someone was being blown away by bombs, and he swung his arms around in circles as he floated high up into the sky. Then, he died. I longed to be like him.

“That was very interesting. Do you think I should buy the informational pamphlet?”[33]

Misaki was blown away by the thousand-yen price tag, though, so she didn’t end up buying it. “Why are they so expensive?!”

“That’s the price they usually are, isn’t it?”

“Hm, really?” It seemed that she hadn’t known.

When we exited the movie theater, we were once again at a loss over what to do.

“Where should we go?”

“Somewhere.”

“What about lunch?”

“We just ate, didn’t we?”

We kept walking aimlessly. We had no place to go, and I didn’t know what to do. Misaki felt the same way, and we both were troubled by it.

Eventually, we arrived at a needlessly large city park. There were a lot of people there, of course—and in the very center was a large fountain. Pigeons fluttered around us.

Seated on a bench, I was dazed. We chatted amiably until sunset. Finally, we ran out of conversation topics; when only our restless silence remained, Misaki pulled her secret notebook from her bag.

“Let’s walk toward our dreams!”

I responded, “It doesn’t matter anymore. This stuff isn’t going to change anything.”

“Don’t say such negative things.”

“Even if I try to believe these lies, in the end, there’s nothing I’d be able to do.”

“Actually, they’ve made me quite normal.”

“What part of you?”

“You don’t think I seem normal?” she asked.

“You’re strange”, I stated. “You’ve always been strange. Ever since I first saw you, I thought you seemed rather off.”

“Really…”

We both grew silent.

In front of us, a pigeon waddled by. Misaki tried to catch it. Naturally, the pigeon escaped. She repeated her attempt several times; after they all failed, she simply stared at the fountain in front of us.

Then, she said, “Satou, when it comes to you and me, and the idea of which of us is more worthless, you must be more worthless then I am, right?”

I agreed with her completely.

“Well, that’s why. That’s why you were selected for my project, Satou.”