Yes and No

This is the third series starring Mariko Shinoda.

As winter turned to spring, Mariko was constantly in my thoughts. We had only met up twice since the holidays, but we often spoke over the phone. But one morning in the beginning of May, Mariko unexpectedly showed up at my house. She invited me on a vacation with her, to a small house she owned in the countryside.

I quickly accepted, joyous at the thought of spending time with her. We rode the train to the city nearest to her house, then started to walk the rest of the way.

Are we there yet? I called out to her, groaning.

'''We’ll be there soon! You silly child,''' she replied with a smile.



When we arrived, Mariko went out into the garden and lay down on a bench. Even though she was clearly tired, she also seemed to be very happy.

'''You know, I spent a long part of my life in this house... I'm glad that you came with me. I'll show you how wonderful life here can be,''' she told me.



Mariko and I strolled together through the small town not far from her house. She walked surely through the streets, clearly recognizing every path.

'''I spent a lot of time on these streets when I was younger. School was just so boring to me. Being out here was always a little more interesting,''' she revealed.

'''Sometimes a lot of people were on the streets while I was skipping school. It really annoyed how they were all blindly running after something. Money and jobs, friendships and relationships...''' She trailed off, and we walked for a long moment in silence.

'''Back then all those things seemed totally useless to me. I didn't want to waste my life on any of that. To be honest... I never wanted to to take responsibility for anything,''' she said with a sigh.

'''I was always standing on street corners, not even knowing what I wanted to find. When I stared at strangers, it was funny to see the way they looked back at me,''' she said, a mocking note in her voice.

'''But in the end, I didn’t care about anything that happened during the day. I think I lived only for that moment that night would finally fall... The moment when I started to party. At night I could forget everything that made me unhappy,''' she admitted.



The morning after I arrived, we walked together on the beach. Although we held hands tightly, she didn't speak and rarely looked over at me. Instead, her gaze was focused on the distant horizon where the sea and sky met.

This beach is full of memories to me, she murmured, finally breaking the silence.

And unfortunately not all of them are good ones, she added.

'''Then why don't we make happy memories for ourselves here? The kind we’ll remember for our whole lives,''' I replied.

After she heard my words, her expression changed to a smile.