The Passengers on the Hankyu Line полностью

‘OK, A-chan, you hide here! Then when B-san comes along, we’ll pretend not to know where you are and we’ll make her leave!’

‘Uh, OK …’ The one being made to hide, presumably A-chan, sounded confused.

Shoko sensed someone coming and looked up to see that a girl had stopped midway down the stairs. She too had on a yellow cap and a red randoseru backpack. This must have been B-san.

B-san had a sort of tense look on her face as she came down the rest of the stairs. She passed by Shoko and headed towards the other girls.

Shoko leaned casually against the stairs’ handrail, curious to see how this would play out.

‘Oh, B-san!’ exclaimed the girl who seemed to be the leader of the pack, her voice sweet and fake. ‘If you’re looking for A-chan, I think she left without you! We were looking for her too, she must have taken the earlier train?’

B-san hadn’t asked them anything about A-chan. Keeping a wary distance from the group, she stood there, on edge, completely ignoring the girl who was putting on the show and the others behind her who were unable to hold back their sniggers.

A-chan was still hiding behind the staircase, only a few steps away.

As B-san stood rooted to the spot, the leader of the group suddenly play-acted concern.

‘Didn’t you hear? I said, A-chan already went home!’

Shoko was behind B-san and couldn’t tell what her expression was.

‘Thank you for telling me even though I didn’t ask.’

Well said! Shoko thought.

As B-san again passed alongside Shoko, who was now inadvertently fully absorbed in this drama, the girl’s expression remained tense, though she showed no sign of tears. She kept walking towards the front of the platform, all the way to the end, where she took a seat on the bench that was the furthest away.

Her erect posture conveyed a specific message:

Fine. I won’t look over there, even when the next train arrives. And don’t worry, once we’re on the train I won’t check to see whether or not A-chan is with you either.

As young as they were, these girls were already spiteful, indecisive and prideful. Quite a range of catty behaviour was already on display in this little circle.

Something about B-san’s youthful pride was compelling to Shoko. She walked over to where B-san sat on the bench.

‘Mind if I sit next to you?’

B-san looked up at Shoko dubiously. The self-assertive set of her features reminded Shoko of her younger self.

‘… Go ahead.’

Nowadays children probably received strict instructions not to talk to strangers. It was perfectly clear that B-san was suspicious of Shoko.

‘You don’t know me at all but don’t worry, I mean you no harm.’

‘… OK.’

‘I just wanted to tell you how much I admired the way you handled those girls back there.’

B-san’s eyes grew wide, and then her tears seemed to spill out uncontrollably.

Shoko took a handkerchief out of her bag and handed it to her. She’d read that recently, for security purposes, elementary school students no longer wore nametags. If she hadn’t overheard the girls’ loud whispering earlier, she wouldn’t have been able to guess her name.

‘Here, take this, you can have it.’

‘But my mom will get mad at me …’

‘You can tell her that you fell over and a nice lady gave it to you. When the train comes, you don’t want them to know you’ve been crying. For now, they can’t see past me.’

B-san pursed her lips tightly and, without speaking, began to wipe her eyes with the handkerchief. So proud.

Shoko peeked over her shoulder and could tell that the girls in the group excluding B-san were trying to figure out what was going on here.

‘For a girl like you, life might not be all that easy. But that doesn’t mean that you won’t find people who see you. There will be plenty of people who admire the way you handle yourself. Like I do.’

So keep your chin up.

B-san looked up from behind the handkerchief.

‘Are you happy?’

The girl’s question hit a sore spot for Shoko. She forced a smile and offered the following:

‘I thought I was on the way to being happy, but I had a little setback and I’m in the midst of starting over.’

My new job is going well. I moved to a wonderful new place. And – when happiness betrayed me, I took my revenge. I have no regrets.

‘But I don’t regret it. I’m getting a bit of a later start but I still believe I’ll find happiness.’

‘Then I believe I can find it too!’

They heard the distant clanging of the bell at the crossing. The next train about to arrive was bound for Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi.

The train came and went on the opposite platform, and then there was the sound of the bell at the crossing for the train that would arrive on this platform.

‘Well then, take care of yourself.’