X month X day

Today, it's another cloudless sunny day. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Perhaps, for a lot of people, it's pretty good weather. But, with all due respect, whether it's sunny, cloudy, or rainy, there's not even the slightest difference for me.

My time, since I left the place where I had lived for decades, had stopped like rusty gears. Since then, I have developed the habit of keeping a diary. But, these days, I'm not even sure what kind of things are worth documenting.

I don't hate meditation and tea drinking. Meditation keeps me in a peaceful state of mind at all times, and when it comes to tea drinking, it's pure enjoyment.

Tea bought from acquaintances, it is the highest grade thing. Pale color, but with an unimaginable fragrance. After the initial bitterness, the sweetness that gradually emerges in the mouth is superb. I dare to assert that even a tea shop in a big city can't match ...... Although, I'm still not sure if there's some chemical stuff in it that I can't name.

However, no one deliberately writes down such boring stuff. Especially, when these two behaviors have become a habit of life, there is no one in this world who can write down in a diary even how many times he breathed that day.

Today, it must be another meaningless sunny day.

If nothing happens, my diary will be cut off here...... Originally, I thought so.

"Excuse me, anyone?"

Well, it was probably in the evening.

In my almost stopped life, a small voice suddenly broke into this unchanging gray world.

The sound was very soft, coming from the main entrance, which was nearly a few tens of meters away from the dojo and separated by a wooden wall. The paper door didn't close, but the paper door was on the left side of the courtyard, and the sound had to come in a big circle, and it was impossible for me to hear it while meditating in the ashram.

It's a pity that I'm not a normal person, and common sense is not universal to me.

There are only two kinds of people who will come here in a dilapidated dojo like this, which is extremely remote and dilapidated. First, when there is something changing in the community, in order to inform the residents of the neighborhood of what is happening, the poor people who have to bite the bullet and even visit the dojo that is about to close down. Two, those two old guys.

This old bone, after all, is not as good as it used to be. At this distance, being able to tell that someone is talking is already the limit. The voice was indistinct, though it was certainly not the two old fellows...... The smug fool never knocked, and he always walked in laughing, not caring about the fact that his voice could reach a few streets away, and the other had nothing to do with him, as it had always been. I used to hate the laughter of the previous guy, especially since his laughter sounded like a sonic bomb to my ears if I hadn't gotten enough sleep the day before, compared to the guy who always had a straight face and claimed to be just businessman. Although, at that time, I had a stinky face in front of both of them.

I'm 100% sure it's not those two old guys. However, there is no way to tell if it will be the former possibility.

For an old man who is about to die, there is nothing more unnecessary than the affairs of the community to reach his ears. I was a little sorry for the poor man who came to visit, but I quickly made a decision...... Pretend not to hear. It's too far away from the gate, and there's no doorbell, so you can't hear that's what a normal person would like.

After a few brief knocks on the door, the sound from the front door finally stopped. Instead, a sound of footsteps sounded from the wooden hallway of the house, and it gradually approached.

This time, I heard it clearly.

Untrained, but almost as light as a silent footstep...... Only the weight of a small child can be released. Moreover, it is a relatively small type.

A little girl, or a skinny little boy.

Judging from the fact that he didn't use much force when he stepped on it, it wouldn't be those naughty kids who broke into other people's courtyards and explored new playgrounds, as if they couldn't run out of energy. The cautious pace was natural, sounding like a daily habit, rather than the result of breaking into a stranger's house and being careless, and it felt like a well-bred and somewhat timid person.

Why would a very well-bred and not very bold child trespass into someone else's house without permission?

Come to think of it, it's either that you're in a bad mood, or that curiosity has overcome common sense in a moment, right?

Because some parts of the corridor are in disrepair, when the other party steps on it, there will still be some "creaking" sounds occasionally.

I never thought that in addition to those two possibilities, there would be a third possibility of people coming to this dilapidated dojo. All of a sudden, my curiosity came out. For no reason, I decided to scare this little uninvited guest.

I pretended not to hear the footsteps, stood up as fast as I could, turned one hundred and eighty degrees, and sat down on the floor again. Then, like a stone statue in a fixed place, he turned his back to the entrance of the dojo and pretended not to be aware of the other party's coming.

For the first time since I left that place, I had shown my real skills to play a prank on a child I had never met. Even at the time, I felt that way, I was probably crazy. However, I didn't care about this little noise in my head, and I played my usual self without being harsh.

The footsteps stopped outside the door of the dojo.

Because my back was to the gate, I couldn't see the faces of the visitors.

I heard some very small noises, like hair rubbing against a paper door, and I thought the kid must have poked his head in. Because of this, there can be no flaws.

The other party is a cowardly rabbit who can easily be frightened, and will step into this place, but because of a chance coincidence, as long as there is a slight disturbance, he will run away.

In order to be able to surprise the other person at a better time, it is necessary to create an environment where he can be completely reassured before the time comes...... For this, I had to shake my spirits. The stone statue cannot be moved, and only the stone statue can reassure the intruder who thinks he has not been discovered.

It seems that my disguise was successful.

The little intruder did not realize that I had already discovered his arrival, and as if he was deeply shocked, his gaze fell directly on my back, as if he had seen some big man.

By this point, I actually regretted it a bit.

If it were an ordinary child, it would never be possible to look at an old man sitting still in a daze, they did not have the patience and could not be amused by it, and they should walk away on their own in less than a minute.

However, this child is different.

The child kept staring at my back, with neither malice nor kindness...... The only thing that exists is curiosity.

That kind of innocent gaze that is so pure that people can't say half a sentence is enough to eliminate all evil thoughts. The mischievous thoughts about the kid quickly dissipated with the breeze, and now I was just thinking about how I could get out of this situation without frightening the other person.

(To be continued.) )