Could This Guy Have Shrunk?

"A whole world has been lost..."

Sato Miwako silently stared at the road ahead, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightening involuntarily.

"Life is full of uncertainties, ups and downs, and naturally there will be regrets. There will also be someone who suddenly appears in that small world, fills it all, and then suddenly disappears."

Fujino rolled down the car window, took out a cigarette case from his pocket, pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. "Residual memories will gradually fill a person's heart. Even if the face in the memory has long been blurred, it will always suddenly emerge from the bottom of the heart and mind when the night is quiet."

"These memories cannot be erased even by time. Whenever I try to forget them, they always come back to me suddenly and I write them down again."

"Some people are unable to escape the torment that keeps repeating itself, no matter how hard they try."

"Maybe I'm just that kind of person."

Sato Miwako pulled the car over to the side of the road, lowered her gaze, gripped the steering wheel, and her eyes gradually reddened. "Even if you spend your whole life trying, you can't get over it. Even if you want to forget, you can't. Those memories keep echoing in your mind..."

"If you can't forget it, then you can't forget it."

Fujino rested his hand on the car window, looking at the scenery. "Isn't it enough to just accept it?"

"Accept?"

"What has already happened cannot be changed, but the future can still be changed."

Fujino continued without turning his head, "Regret, unrequited love—these are all part of life. The process may be painful, but there's no other way..."

"After all, all we can do is accept it. Perhaps many years later, these memories will still linger in our hearts..."

Fujino chuckled softly, "But back then, I think when I think back on the past, I'll smile with relief, because at least it means that person was once here."

"That person, came here before..."

Sato Miwako lowered her eyes, placed her hands on the steering wheel, and a look of reminiscence flickered in her eyes.

I don't know if you've ever heard this saying before.

Fujino turned his gaze back to the road in front of him. "Some people say that a person will experience three deaths in his life... The first is brain death, which means the body dies; the second is the funeral, which means dying in society; and the last is being completely forgotten."

"When no one in this world can remember you, then you are completely dead, utterly vanished from this world, and your soul will also disappear..."

"Soul or something?"

Sato Miwako looked up at Fujino: "Does it really exist?"

"It might actually exist."

Fujino, with an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips, leaned back in his seat, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes. "Although I don't know if it's true, when a person is completely forgotten, there is indeed nothing to prove that he ever existed in this world."

"So no matter what, as long as someone remembers that he was here, then it is not a complete death."

As he spoke, he looked at Sato Miwako and asked, "How are you feeling, Tough Woman Miss?"

"Um..."

Sato Miwako looked up, rested her head on the back seat, and covered her reddened eyes. "Hearing you say that, I do feel a little better."

"That's good."

Fujino nodded, relieved, and said, "So, don't take my joke about going to see a psychologist seriously. If you actually went to see a psychologist as a joke, you'd probably be admitted to a mental hospital on the spot as a mental patient. After all, mental hospitals are places where even normal people can become mentally ill."

Sato Miwako: "..."

Are you telling me all this just because you're afraid I'll see a psychologist?

No, normal people can indeed become mentally ill.

It's hard to say about others, Fujino felt that if he went to a mental hospital, he could definitely give him a diagnosis of severe time perception disorder on the same day.

"Honestly, he was just lecturing people on life principles like a middle-aged man a moment ago, and now he's acting all frivolous!"

Sato Miwako rubbed her eyes, sighed resentfully, and then looked at Fujino: "So, why are you telling me all this? It's like you've experienced this feeling before?"

"I don't understand, how would I understand?"

Fujino leaned back in the back seat and slumped down, saying, "I'm only eighteen. How could I possibly have that much life experience..."

"Eighteen years old..."

Sato Miwako eyes slightly, looking suspicious.

So, this guy who just comforted himself, looking like a weathered middle-aged man who's been through the triple whammy of social, emotional, and familial trials, and who looks like a life mentor, is really eighteen?

Could this guy have shrunk?

Sato Miwako clicked her tongue, even wondering if the person opposite her was an older man who had shrunk like Sakura Juro, and was actually older than her.

But thinking about it, that's impossible, isn't it?

This world is still quite scientific.

Such a thing could never happen!

Yeah, I think so...

Sato Miwako shook her head slightly, banishing the frightening thought from her mind. Then, she looked at Fujino and suddenly narrowed her eyes. "So, our eighteen-year-old little adult isn't an adult yet, right? Where did he get the cigarettes?"

"Forehead...?"

Fujino paused, the unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

Oh no, I got so into it that I even pulled out the cigarettes that life coach uncles always have on hand.

After realizing what was happening, Fujino made a quick decision.

It took almost 0.01 seconds.

He casually tossed the cigarette out the car window.

Then he tried to evade the question, "What cigarette? Tough Woman Miss, did you see anyone light a cigarette? I, Teng, hate gambling and drugs more than anything in my life. Who is doing such a thing that violates public morals and procedures? I'll smash their dog head in!"

"..."

Sato Miwako's lips twitched involuntarily.

That's tough, my fist's hardened!

Taking a deep breath, she calmed her agitated mood and sighed helplessly, "That's why people like you who are serious one minute and not serious the next are really annoying."

"Oh, that's good. It would be troublesome if someone liked you."

Fujino rubbed his chin and murmured, "After all, I'm only eighteen. It wouldn't be good if some twenty-eight-year-old shrew were to take advantage of me."

"Hey, who are you calling an old cow eating young grass? Who are you calling a shrew!"

"Ahem, no... right!"

Fujino coughed lightly, glanced at his watch, and changed the subject, saying, "I think I've suddenly thought of a clue as to where the bomb is hidden!"

"Don't look away..."

Sato Miwako frowned, then paused, realizing what she was doing. "You have a lead?"

"I've got it."

Fujino nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and looked at the red spire in the distance. "That's Tokyo Tower."

"But there..."

Sato Miwako looked over and asked in confusion, but then she immediately realized something. "The steel batter's box, the blood-stained pitcher's mound... I see!"