Taxi to Yubiwa [One-shot story]

[Free talk: This is a one-shot story by Mase Azusa which is first published on Dessert’s March issue 2013. In English, that title is Taxi and the Ring. This is part of a collection of short stories by the mangaka, Chikyuu Umare no Anata e. ]

At the office, a young man looks his left hand and says, “Ah, I lost the ring.” His older colleague asks if he wants him to help him find it. “Won’t your wife get angry?” Putting his coat on, the young man says that it doesn’t matter. Taking a decorated flower pot of orchids, he says that he’ll bring this home as a gift to pacify his wife. And, later on, he hails down a taxi. Narration: “On the third year of marriage with my wife, we have a constant ‘always quarrelling’ life.” Sitting in the taxi cab, the young man tells the driver to go to Yuutenji. The driver says okay. Narration: “It has been as long as a half a year that treating my wife’s infertility has become unbearable. *Flashback: Wife shouted at him that the treatment is really very painful! “Why don’t you come home early to accompany me!?” He shouted back, “I have work!” Wife cried, “I know. It is this body’s fault. I’m working hard at it but I only want you to accompany me, that’s all..” End flashback. The young man thinks that he knows that, save him for it’s quite annoying. He bites his lip and thinks that it’s so annoying to death. The driver casually asks him if he is going to give that flowers as a gift.

Holding the flower pot, the young man says no, he is going to deceive his wife with it. “I saw it at the company and now I’m going to bring it home. I have carelessly lost the ring.” The driver exclaims in surprise and says that isn’t that a big thing! “Did you lose it at work? Shouldn’t you go back right now!?” Thinking that it is only a ring, the young man says that there is no need for she is currently having her infertility treated so basically, she is in a bad mood. So, no matter what he does, it is useless. He wonders why he is whining at a taxi driver. He assumes that it is because of the heavy pressure. The driver asks if he still remembers the scene when he proposed to his wife. “Think of your wife at that time, no matter if she is being unreasonable, you can only see her cute side, right?” The young man says ya. He asks the driver what was his wedding proposal like. Narration: “I merely asked this topic, out of a bit of curiosity..” The taxi driver says, “At that time, I..” Flashback: It was 1975 at Ginza. In a small apartment, a young man is trembling as he looked at a ring in a box. “I bought it..an engagement ring!!” A woman called out to him, “Satoshi-kun. Satoshi-kun!” [guesswork from 明] He quickly tried to keep the ring that he hit his hand.

A woman went in the living room and told him to quickly look, ta-da, she had made a super cute bento box for him~~ Satoshi blushed and called out, “Yumi-chan~~” [Guesswork from 勇美] “Idiot, today’s Saturday so there’s no need for me to bring a bento box-” Yumi exclaimed in surprise over her confusion. Narration: “This person is not yet a taxi driver. He is living at a place provided by the factory where he works, and it is only four tatami mat size big. His girlfriend goes to see him at his place everyday. It has been two years since they have gone steady.” While they are eating, Yumi said that this seasonal eggplant is very delicious. Satoshi told her that to make this again in next year’s eggplant season. She didn’t reply. Then, she called out his name and kissed him. She said that there is a rice grain on the corner of his lips. Blushing Satoshi said that she’s lying. Yumi giggled and said yes, she actually just wants to kiss him. “Work hard again today, okay.” Trembling in happiness, Satoshi blushed and became teary-eyed. Narration: “Ah, ah, this world is really beautiful. Thank you earth for bring her to my side. Compared to Eisaku Satō who received the Noble Peace prize, her existence is more valuable and commendable thing. Yumi-chan, I want to propose to you!”

At night, Satoshi thought of immediately making Yumi the world’s happiest woman!! There is cake and ‘love’ labeled sake on the table. The place is decorated with paper chains. In a suit, Satoshi looked at the ring and thought, “‘Become the woman behind my back!’ ..that feels wrong. ‘Become my lifetime’s Doenjang jjigae soup!’” [<- stew-like Korean traditional dish, made with doenjang (Korean soybean paste) and available ingredients such as vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, or dubu (tofu). Source: wiki] Appearing behind him, Yumi asked him why he is dressed up so formally. Hiding the ring behind his back, Satoshi exclaimed that she’s here. Yumi laughed for he combed his hair to 7-3rds. [/spit bangs at the side 70% and 30% at the other side.] Satoshi coughed. Bending down to her, he called out her name. Carrying some groceries, she asked what it is. Flustered Satoshi exclaimed, “Become my lifetime’s Doenjang jjigae soup!! Ah, wrong, what I mean is, I want to be with you forever, Yumi. *held out the ring* Please marry me.” He bent down and held up the ring. There is no response so he looked up to her. He is surprised to see Yumi looking stunned. She asked him to please let her think about it for a while. He said, ah, okay..

Then, she went to the kitchen and asked about making dinner. After saying yes, Satoshi wondered what she meant by thinking about it. “Is there still something that has to be thought about? It is obviously okay for me to only have you. Could it be that you do not think that way?” While at the factory, Satoshi kept on telling himself not to think towards a negative direction. “I have to believe in Yumi, and properly wait!! I believe in you, Yumi-chan!!” And, he came back to his apartment to see Yumi sitting inside. Her things are packed in a bag. With bowed head, she said, “I cannot marry you. I’m sorry. *started to go out* Goodbye.” And she left stunned Satoshi. Later on, using a public phone, he called up her landlord to say that it is Satoshi and is Yumi there. The landlord said sorry, she isn’t. Satoshi said is that so..sorry for troubling you. He sat alone in his apartment and thought that he couldn’t contact Yumi and it has been 10 days. He has written to her yet there is no answer. He waited for her outside his house, and called the landlord but she is always not around. He becomes flustered. Riding on his motorcycle, he tearfully cursed for what had happened, Yumi-chan, why is it like this. “The feelings that I have for you are all meaningless.”

In a fit of anger, he stopped his motorcycle and threw the ring into the river. He cried for he was dumped. “Everything is over.” Afterwards, in order to remove his memories of her, he would wildly ride his motorcycle everyday. After two weeks, there was a rainstorm. The motorcycle had gotten stuck at the overflowing river. As he tried to get his motorcycle upright, he hoped for his heart to quickly forget about Yumi, who couldn’t marry him. Then, he got caught in a huge wave. As he is almost drowning, he thought that if he died like this, then, everything can just disappear. And, he ‘sees’ smiling Yumi, Yumi turning to see him while it is snowing, Yumi waiting for him at the train station, and how she called his name, “Satoshi-kun, Satoshi-kun!” Satoshi stood up from the water and thought, “I like her!! *teary eyed* I really want to die but the first thing that comes into my mind is her face. How you eat. How you stood by the shade of the tree and I had my eye on you. Your smile, your tears, and even your gentle expression. Even if everything were to end today, you are still my beloved. In these past two years until the end of my life, I cannot forget you. I love you, Yumi-chan!! I love you!! I love you!!”

As he sits by the riverbank, he noticed something stuck by some plant in the water. It is a small box. He walked towards it and opened the box. It is filled with leaves of plants and the ring he had tossed away before. His heart is filled with determination that urged him to quickly run back. “My heart is only thinking about proposing to her one more time.” As he pushed his motorcycle towards his house, Satoshi saw a woman knocking at the door. He called out, Yumi..? She turned around and it is indeed Yumi, standing in front of his dorm. “No way!!!” She asked him what he is doing. He timidly said nothing, don’t mind him. Yumi said that she came to apologize for she thought that she cannot keep on being like this. Satoshi is puzzled over why she had to apologize. He urged her to first go inside his house but she refused. “I’m sorry but in these past two years, I always didn’t tell you clearly about it.” Satoshi asked, what? Crying and trembling, Yumi said, “I cannot give you a child. *Satoshi looked surprised* Three years before, I learned of it after I went to a gynecologist for a hospital check-up. It is because of this reason that I rejected your proposal. Afterwards, I kept on avoiding you. I’m sorry. I’m always very worried that you’ll know. Just thinking of that, this happiness will be destroyed because of my body.. I’m so..afraid to the point of death.”

Satoshi thought that these two years, she is suppressing this fear in her heart as if her life depended on it but in order to give me an answer, she came back to apologize to him. “Compared to my ‘abandoning myself to despair’, that needs an immense amount of courage.” Satoshi hugged her and said, “Regarding the future, we can talk about it slowly but no matter what is the outcome, I only want to tell you. *held out the ring to her* Please marry me.” After looking surprised, Yumi started to cry again and said, ‘Yes..’ End flashback. The taxi driver says that after they formally visit both parents who had a huge quarrel, he formally got naturalized [/become a citizen]. “Even if we do not have a child, but the two of us still had a blessed marriage.” The young man is speechless. Then, he asked, if there is more to it. The taxi driver says that his wife had passed away first, ahead of him. “It is cancer. Right now, I thought of properly passing the remainder of my life along with her share. In this life, we only have each other but it is indeed great that I was able to have her as my wife..”

Back at the office, the young man is saying, “Not here, not here.” His colleague asks didn’t he already go home and what is he doing. Crawling down on the floor, the young man says that he is looking for the ring. His colleague says that didn’t he say earlier that it doesn’t matter so what’s with this.. Looking down the table, the young man thinks that if he thinks of it in detail, the ring is quite a small thing and he won’t be able to easily find it.. He sees a flower petal on the floor. He thinks that it is the petals of the flower that he planned to bring home. He picks up the petal and sees in front of him, the ring among the petals. So, from his heart, there is a determination that urged him to run back home and that is his only thought. He calls out, “I’m home” Narration: “I think that it is a gift that I got from the taxi driver and his wife.” His teary-eyed wife opens the door and says, “I’m pregnant.” A tear falls down from the young man’s eye. Narration: “This is a true story. Losing and regaining a pair of rings. Passing on the determination of having perseverance, loving each other and mutually protecting this happiness.” The end.

Comment: Isn’t it nice and moving? ^^ I love this story and hope you enjoyed reading the story ^^ Scans by 离境汉化组

Quote of the day:

The genuine love of your life is the one that makes your heart beat a little faster, the person you are constantly trying to impress, the person whose voice you need to hear, and whose smile you love to see, the person you do the little things for. But most importantly, it is the person you feel complete with. ~ Rashida Rowe