There was no point in rushing now, so she strolled down the street towards the supermarket that the security guard had pointed out.
In the four-level supermarket, the ladies’ clothing section was not far from the escalator to the second floor. As she browsed around, Shoko was aware of people’s gaze upon her, still without any sense of meanness. The clothing on offer was targeted at older women, or else young housewives – it wasn’t the kind of place where Shoko would usually shop.
She selected an acceptable pair of trousers and a knit top, which she brought to the cash register.
‘Excuse me, I’d like to wear these right away. Could you cut the tags off so that I can change into them in the fitting room?’
Clad in a navy uniform, the female employee gave Shoko a look. After showing her to the fitting room, she lingered outside while Shoko changed, as if suspecting she was up to some kind of clever trick. Even if that wasn’t the case, clearly Shoko’s dress had been noticed.
Having changed out of it, Shoko stuffed the dress into her plastic bag, making the package as compact as possible and tying off the handles.
She pulled back the curtain and came out of the fitting room, and when the employee saw what was crammed into the transparent plastic bag, she exclaimed with surprise, ‘But miss, your dress …’
She was obviously concerned that the outfit Shoko had changed out of was much more expensive than what she had just purchased.
‘It’s fine,’ Shoko said as she slipped her high heels back on and picked up her handbag. These dressy accessories were a bit incongruous with her now-casual clothing, but not quite enough to attract attention. ‘Well then …’ Shoko bowed her head as she departed, leaving the employee standing dumbfounded.
Once outside, Shoko tossed the bag stuffed with the dress into a garbage bin.
Considering what she had spent on it, perhaps she ought to have got rid of it at a consignment shop, but the dress was tainted with Shoko’s grudge and with the successful incursion into the wedding reception of the woman who had slept with her fiancé. Shoko wouldn’t want to inflict that misfortune on anyone else, so her better judgement had prevailed.
And anyway, it would have been a futile effort to recoup a trifling sum. The hundred thousand yen she’d paid for the dress was the price of her incursion – and it had been money well spent. She needn’t worry about the shoes and the bag – those were things she’d already had in her wardrobe.
These thoughts cleared her head.
It was a pain to have to carry the wedding favour all the way home, but those items would need to go into the recycling so that couldn’t be helped.
Having come all the way here, she figured she might as well have a good look around, so she set off walking again, heading for a narrow, bustling street when—
From the eaves of a boxed-lunch shop and a beauty parlour nestling along the street, three swallows swooped low, like a fluttering flash. A closer look revealed that the eaves of these shops were also home to nests.
Of course, Shoko had seen swallows before, but it had been a long time since she’d had such an up-close-and-personal encounter with their nesting behaviour and swooping flight patterns.
This town was far from sleepy – rather, it was as lively as one could expect for a population of its size. But for migrating swallows, it clearly seemed like a fine place to build a nest and to raise their young.
It was just as the old woman had said.
Though since Shoko was unfamiliar with the area, best not to venture too far. She’d do a loop around the supermarket and then head back to the station. The trees lining the road around the supermarket’s parking lot looked to be in full bloom.
They appeared to be the same variety of tree but in different colours, practically bursting with flowers in alternating white and pink. She was filled with awe – even the landscaping was a delight.
She had made it almost all the way around the supermarket so she continued walking under those pink and white blossoms as she headed towards the station.
Passing a drugstore along the way, she decided to pick up a travel packet of facial cleansing wipes.
She walked idly on towards the station. Despite the narrowness of the streets, there was a steady stream of cars coming and going – it seemed the town was thriving.
Slowly – and reluctantly – she arrived back at the path to the station.