Golden Time:Volume6 Chapter3

Status: Incomplete

8% completed (estimated)

   

Golden Time 6: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

That town's station was far from Banri's normal stomping grounds, but according to the map was still barely within city limits. But as Banri left the ticket gate the word "Dejima" welled up in the back of his mind like the scum on a hot pot made from cheap pork, forever unable to disappear. This place, its appearance, its culture and everything else about it seemed to have been taken over by its neighboring prefectures. The black and brown heads of the people meandering before him as far as he could see all along the straight riverbank. Desolate fields. The black shadows of apartment and condominium towers. The white lights of electric lamps in every direction. A gas tank so large it made one nervous for no reason.

Shouting "Me! Right now! I'm in Tokyo!" with all his might, he jumped up, as if his head was hitting the ceiling of "localness" and punching straight through. This was a trap that many young people heading up to Tokyo fell into. Even though he should have been excited to come to Tokyo, he always found the area around his hometown railway station to be visibly more prosperous.

He returned his gaze to his hand. Checking the time on his cell phone, Banri stood impatiently alone in the middle of the hustle and bustle. No sooner had he stepped off the train on to the platform and had been swallowed up as if by a swirling mass of people crowded together, his steps turned slow and sluggish. Had he known it would be so crowded, he would have given himself more time. It seemed he had not taken a few things into account.

Just outside the ticket gate, a banner for this evening's fireworks display hung overhead, several young station employees, sweating so much they seemed to have been doused in water, were directing people to the exit with a loudspeaker. "It will be very crowded today because of the fireworks display! If you are coming to the venue, then go to the left of the ticket gate! Please go to the left! ...It seemed virtually everyone was going to the left. But whether the exit was blocked, or the occasional person was jostling to go to the right, the neither spacious nor impressive station was even more crowded than during rush hour.

A dangerous weapon zipped past Banri's nose, which was on the edge of oxygen deficiency. Right before his eyes, a group of girls was laughing noisily and imitating the station worker's way of speaking, "Wow! This is sooo good!" "Bwah hah ha!" They were dressed in yukatas and the pins stuck in their dumpling buns of hair were aimed straight at his eyes. Having no choice, he fought back using his cell-phone as a shield. But then "Ugh!" his feet got stepped on. "Oof...!" by beach sandals. The other one was wearing clogs.

He had a bad feeling about this.

Shortly after sunset, the train Banri was on was already packed with groups of young people in yukata and parents with children. With all the excitement, the train cars were like a tea-house for wild animals, filled with a deafening roar, and this wasn't even the main event yet. The posters inside the cars were all about the fireworks display. At that point, as he finally wondered (no way...), almost everybody on board got off the train at this station, the same station as Banri was going to. Naturally, the station premises were crowded. And every few minutes more and more people arrived from other places, and he was sure they would keep on coming in large quantities.

There was no point in complaining, as they were all in the same boat. Banri headed slowly with everybody else taking their time heading for the exit stairs. He was just managing to escape from the station, but as for the surface of the road, the crush of people on top of it, the straight path leading to the venue on the riverside was so crowded with people that one could not even see the markings on the road. Head after head, a single butt-crack, no, that was another head.

In amazed wonderment, the word "incredible..." escaped his mouth without his meaning it to. Do you guys like fireworks that much? That much? You like it that much? Fireworks.

Before Banri's impatient eyes, a group of rough-looking middle and high school girls all dressed like men in jinbei deployed themselves in a beautiful fan shape, blocking his way. "What!? My phone's got no signal!" Their faces looked demonic as they made a horrible racket. Then there was that couple over to the side, the two of them wearing disgusting yukatas made of a strangely thin and glistening cloth, like lamé. At the launch of a shell, Boom!, perhaps because they were already excited, when they walked together their butts wrinkled in unison. The woman had put so much effort into her long, red fingernails that they looked just like five hot peppers on display. The man's five fingers were digging excessively into the knot of the sash around her yukata. Banri couldn't stand the sight of it.

At first he'd been told to meet up at the train station exit, but in the afternoon he'd received a message from Kosshi-senpai, and it was changed so they would meet up separately at the destination. Banri thought that was the right thing to do. Even if they had met up there, the members of Omaken would probably have spent an eternity meeting up and separating, being pushed and shoved over and over again for no good reason.

Eventually, beyond the human wave, he could see the gate leading to the steps up the riverbank. The stalls, painted in bright colors and emitting almost violent smells, were lined up all along the steps and down the slope, with signs of "Takoyaki", "Yakisoba", "Beef Skewers", "Ikayaki" and "Explosive Monja (what in the world is that...?)". Here and there were clearly unsavory types, with all sorts of designs seemingly etched into their bodies, with dark, evil eyes and menacing voices calling out, "Hey, you there, come over here!" "I'm gonna kill ya, suckaa!" It was not a deception to call it a 'fireworks display,' but it was entirely a festival. It wasn't just a great gathering. It was a festival. And festivals were the natural occasions to which to summon the Omaken.

His ears deafened by the noise and the sound of generators, pushing through as if dividing the people flowing along the stalls, Banri finally tumbled out of the maelstrom. Once he walked one street in from the one right along the levee, he came out to a street lined with tall, skinny pencil-towers and old buildings where he could finally walk normally. People could be seen here and there, mostly on the outside of the buildings and on the balconies, waiting in anticipation for the fireworks to start.

Many of the bars and restaurants along the street had signs saying “Full” or “Reserved”, but before long he spotted the name of the place he was looking for, and gently opened the glass door.

The waiter told him that the whole floor had been reserved for the day, but when he replied that he was part of the Japanese Festival Research Club, he was directed to go up to the roof using a narrow staircase at the back of the restaurant.

Up to the third floor, it all seemed to be for customers, but after that, with beer cases and mops here and there, it was suddenly all business. But he’d been told to go to the roof, so he guessed it was all right. Immediately feeling uneasy, he climbed the stairs, the soles of his flip-flops sometimes sticking strangely, he felt a bit like a cockroach climbing the steps.

When put his weight against the heavy iron door to open it, there he was, outside. The space opened out and he felt the soft wind caressing his cheeks.

He had come out on the roof of the building.

The space, concealed by a simple fence, was fairly large. The view of the riverbank was entirely unobstructed, with a large expanse of hazy deep blue sky in front of him that had yet to darken. When he considered how many spectators were crowded below, this place was indeed close to paradise.

A breeze smelling a bit like fish, perhaps due to the river right in front of him, blew quite comfortably over his sweaty T-shirt. It was still summer in the daytime, but it cooled off as the sun set, and it definitely seemed like the change of season was underway.

There were a few tables placed together on the concrete floor, and a few small chairs, most of them still stacked on top of one another.

It seemed that most of the senior members of Omaken were already there. As first year novices, this situation should not have happened.

But the seniors all had their backs turned to Banri, bent over in front of the fence working on something, and seemed to not have noticed him. For some reason they were holding a miniature light bulb cable like those used for Christmas decorations. Even though it was a special place from which to view the fireworks, they seemed to be trying to brighten up the rather bleak space by fixing crawling flickering lights to the fence.

Trying to make up for having arrived late as if he were the boss rather than the lowest man on the totem pole,

<~~8% Completed~~>

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