Beyond Time, Living in Sengoku
Chapter 3: Strange Encounters
I had dozen off.
Cla.s.sroom? Hmm, no, there is something wet at my feet.
"Where am I?"
I raised up my head to look at my feet.
"Gra.s.s?"
I was surprised to find that my feet were lying on the gra.s.s rather than something wet, and I got up.
(Why was I sleeping by the river?)
Looking around, I found an unfamiliar view.
The bank by the riverside wasn’t well maintained, and I found myself buried in weeds. I got scared, got both of my arms tangled in the vegetation, and curled up my whole body. That"s when
"You, where are you from? Are you lost? What"s your name?”
It was the voice of a man asking those quick questions. I looked up at the owner of the voice.
(What? This person…)
There was a guy wearing a costume, he looked to be in his late teens.
He was standing with his arms folded and looking down on me.
The man is wearing a yukata with one sleeve off and a hakama. Around his waist there was wrapped a rope, off which were hanging things such as flint stones and a gourd.
"You look as if you encountered something scary."
When the man said that, he squatted down to look at my face directly. I could see that the yarn tying his hair up in a bundle was colorful. He put his right hand on the red-lacquered sword sheath at his waist.
"Can"t you speak the language?"
The man asked again, but I kept staring at his eyes without saying anything.
"Are you not from this country? You’re dressed weirdly."
The man said that while looking over my body.
I was wearing a high school uniform at that time. It was a two-piece light blue sailor suit, with two dark blue lines on the collar and a white ribbon on the neck.
"It looks strange."
He looked suspicious and stopped his eyes at my feet.
(What are you looking at?) I held my knees and pulled both legs close to me.
"Stop it, you’re getting wet."
The man said in a hurry.
(Wet? Yes, somehow only my right foot was soaked.)
I looked at the wet foot.
"Oh, I"m sorry."
(Hmm? You"re sorry? )
I looked into the man"s face.
“I didn’t see you lying down there, and p.i.s.sed.”
There was no malice. The man put his hands together in front of his face, as if praying, and looked at Aoi.
(That"s the way it is. I was sleeping here. But wasn’t I standing...)
The apology guy apologized again.
When I saw the man"s apologetic face, I said, "Why are you apologizing?”
"You can talk?"
The guy seemed to perk up at that.
"I can talk, of course. But I can"t grasp most of this situation. You"re wearing a costume."
"A costume?"
The man put his hand under his chin and his eyebrows knit together.
"Oda n.o.bunaga, right? That appearance. I"ve seen it somewhere before."
After saying that, I stood up. The guy also did the same.
The man was taller than my own 168 centimeters. His mouth curled up and he said,
"It is rare for people to call me Oda n.o.bunaga. I usually get called the great fool of Oda."
"Yes, yes, that’s right. Thanks for the trouble."
I didn’t want to be involved with this wannabe n.o.bunaga any more.
(I want to go home, anyway.)
I patted off the dirt from my uniform, and looked up at the sky, finding it was already dusk.
I couldn’t find the cell phone I had put in my skirt pocket.
Rather than being scared of having to sleep in a strange place, I was worried about something else.
(Mom…)
I thought of my mother, who brought me up as an only child, and my father, who was abroad alone.
"Can you go home alone?"
The guy realized.
(I don"t know, I want to go home.)
"Where are we?"
"Kiyosu."
"Isn’t Kiyosu in Nagoya! This is Tokyom Kichijoji in Tokyo. Answer me seriously."
I was angry at the guy playing around, and started climbing up the river bank with my hands.
Usually, I would have no problem climbing up this gentle slope with my strength, but now I couldn’t.
"I"ll help you out."
The man"s voice was pleasant.
One of my feet was wet. I would rely on this person now. I honestly thought so.
"If you can walk, I want you to take me to the station, you can call me a taxi with your phone. Can you lend me your mobile phone? I"ll call my mother."
I spoke quickly while he helped me walk up the bank.
“Mobile? What are you carrying?”
Saying that, the man pointed in a certain direction.
And in that direction, there was a horse.
“Horse… countryside, period drama. What do you mean?”
At the top of the riverbank, I could see the shape of a house built out of wood. There were no concrete buildings around, and the people walking around looked like the ones in period drama. However, the atmosphere wasn’t that of costumes or of a play, it was different.
"It"s a lie, isn"t it?"
I could feel my blood draining away.
I lost consciousness.
Notes:
– During his childhood and teens, n.o.bunaga was known as “The Great Fool of Owari” due to his bizarre behavior.
– “Mobile? What are you carrying?” The joke here doesn’t translate that well in English. In j.a.panese, “mobile phone” and “carrying” are read the exact same way, and n.o.bunaga a.s.sumed the wrong thing, not knowing what mobile phones are.