Chapter14: Boy and Girl

They had been walking all night and into the morning, following the moonlit road delineators towards their destination. They had seen small pieces of encouragements as they walked on their slow journey. First was seeing the barricades that sealed off the town from the rest of the Japan; knowing that they had passed the barrier and are now entering into human civilisation. Second was seeing the first streetlights along a sealed road; lit-up like lanterns guiding them forward.

The rumble and whoosh of the first trucks passing them felt like they were being cheered and egged on by giant spectators. It was a marathon, but they felt motivated.

The boy and girl kept walking along the road, listening out for any more vehicles. They were hoping that with the morning sun slowly creeping in, they would be able to flag a passing vehicle and get a ride into the city. But the first, second and each subsequent car that came all whooshed past them without stopping.

As morning took light and people started going about their daily business, the boy and girl decided to find where their location was and what their next directions were to the next town. Perhaps when they got to the next town, they would have a chance to catch a bus or grab a lift from someone going the same direction. So far, each town passed had been fast asleep and unstirring through the night.

As they made their way into town, they looked around. It was a small village; the town centre existed on both sides of the main road. A few large shops presided over the town; a second-hand book shop, a convenience store, a family restaurant and a supermarket. The shops stood as if custodians of the town.

There should be someone in one of these stores that could help, the boy and girl thought.

At first, they thought that the townsfolk were just rude; too busy in their morning commute to stop and help. Each person they met would ignore their waves and pleas for assistance and walk past them. Only when they arrived at a convenience store that the reality of their existence dawned on them. When they walked to the doors of the convenience store, the automatic doors wouldn't open no matter how much they walked and jumped and stood in front of the sensors. There was no 'push' button like most other doors either so that they couldn't get inside. How strange they thought, the staff clerk only seemed peer at the door and have a confused look when they tried knocking. Then they looked on the ground.

They had no shadow. The boy and girl looked at each other. It was as if they did not even exist.

The boy held the girl's hand. At least they had each other?

Whether not perturbed or acting unperturbed the girl took the boy's hand and dragged him forwards. They kept walking until they saw a petrol station. The girl had an idea.

She climbed onto the back of a pick-up truck and motioned for the boy to get on too. 'This would be a lot faster travelling,' the girl thought. Hopefully it would be in the right direction, but somehow the girl felt like luck or perhaps fate was on her side right now.

As they waited for the driver to begin moving, the girl stretched herself out along the back tray of the ute to make herself as comfortable as possible. It had taken such a long time walking already; she was looking forward to the free ride. The boy stood more nervously, holding onto the top hand rail, so he could look out to see the road signs.

As the truck pulled away and the looked at the surrounds the girl felt pretty confident that the direction they were heading was correct; in this area, all the towns connected up and all the road led through Gifu anyway. The boy was less confident however, as he had rarely gone out of the city experiencing the vast distances that would be travelled between country towns.

They rode the vehicle for what felt like an hour or two. It was a relatively peaceful ride; the girl would stick her face into the wind, enjoying the wind whipping against her face. She began to understand why dogs seemed to love doing the same. The boy also eventually eased up once he saw enough street signs guiding to their destination.

Eventually, as they rode, they saw the Nagara river. The girl tugged on the boy's sleeves; they were close to the city now. The boy had been pensively looking out of the truck watching the scenery change from serene river banks and pristine forest into artificial canals and concrete jungle. The girl motioned to the boy; they had to be prepared to get off as they were in the city now. So this is Gifu, the boy thought. It would have been nice to stay here longer to sightsee around the city and try the kei-chan chicken.

After a while, the girl nodded at the boy. The boy nodded back, ready. As the car slowed down to stop at a traffic light, they hopped off the truck quickly and scurried to the sidewalk. They walked for another half hour or so until the boy saw a sign he had been looking out for. Pointing the sign out to the girl, the girl nodded and took charge walking to the Gifu municipal council. The boy followed behind the girl towards the municipal building.

As they arrived, they looked up at the building they were going to enter; it was a lot bigger than what the girl was expecting. The building was split into three different sections, and she was unsure on which building to go to. The boy put his hand on the girl's shoulder, he'll take charge. They walked into the entrance as the boy read the signboard. After confirming, the boy walked to a different building on the west side, and walked down a long corridor. Eventually they came to a sign. 'Archives' the sign read. This was where they wanted to be.

The boy was glad; they still had paper records of the citizens. He was pretty sure the city he was from had converted to solely electronic records, and in their physical state, he wasn't sure they'd be able to access those files. The boy looked and the naming system; it was sorted by gojuon order. That would make it easier. He moved forward and began looking through the files and cabinets, 'Pe, 'Po…'Ma…'Mi!', the boy and girl came to the section they were looking for…'Miyamizu!' they found the right family name, but with each entry they looked at, the girl shook her head. It wasn't the right Miyamizu…

The boy, not being disheartened look for, 'Te' and 'Na', but the girl also shook her head, it was not the right Teshigawara or Natori either… they didn't seem to have the entries they were looking for.

The boy and girl looked at each other in disappointment. The girl sat down on the floor, back leaning against the bookcases. The boy paced up and down, thinking as to what else they could do. We walked towards the window and looked at the streetscape outside. It was still early morning.

Maybe there was somewhere else to look, he thought as he saw the streetlights turn off on the street.

He turned around to make another circle of pacing. And then he saw it. At the end of the room was another sign; 'Relocation Settlements' the category read. The boy walked quickly towards it; Itomori' read another cabinet. With excitement he rifled through the folders till he found 'Miyamizu'. This was what they were looking for. He raced back to the girl, holding the file on hand.

The girl looked up at the boy, as she read the folder, her face changed from a look of defeat to one of motivation again. They flicked through the folder, a name, address, and photo was there. This was it!

They knew an address now, and it wouldn't be much longer that they would have to stay in this form.