In the town of Delhi, I stayed at a reasonably expensive hotel. It was a solid three-story stone building with a rooftop.
At night, Jin left his room, unable to sleep for some reason, and went up the stairs to the roof. There was a small light on, and he could manage to see his feet.
The stars were twinkling in the spring night sky.
"Ah, it's a beautiful night sky. I don't know the constellations over here.
Jin looked up at the starry night sky and felt uncharacteristically sentimental. Then..,
"Reiko, are you here?"
"Yes, Father."
Reiko, the faithful automata who has always protected Jin, breaks her stealth spell and appears.
"Come here."
"Yes."
Jin, who had been feeling lonely for some reason, calls Reiko over and pats her on the head.
"Father?"
Reiko looked at Jin a little differently than usual and raised a questioning voice.
"Yes. You've always been by my side, you know."
"Yes, that's the reason for my existence.
"You always say that. "Well, you'll always be there for me, won't you?"
"Yes, of course."
It was too dark for Jin to see, but at that moment Reiko had a big smile on her face.
"・・・・・・"
Suddenly a song spills out of Jin's mouth. A song that for some reason he had long since forgotten.
It is the ending theme of the story of a group of people who go to the west in search of sutras. This is a song I heard on a videotape, not a cassette tape, in the Director's collection.
"Father ......"
Reiko holds Jin's hand. She hopes it will make him feel a little less lonely.
"・・・・・・・・・"
Just as Jin finished singing.
Reiko turns around quickly. Reiko quickly turns around and gets into a fighting stance,......, but...
"Jin-kun?"
It was Erza. Erza's room was on the third floor, and she had come up because she heard Jin's voice.
"Erza? What's wrong?"
Jin asked her,
"That's what I'm talking about. What's wrong, Jin?
"What's wrong? I couldn't sleep for some reason, so I came out here.
Erza gave me a probing look,
"Hmm."
She looked as if she was satisfied with the answer.
"So, what did you just sing?"
"Somewhat."
Erza seemed to be unconvinced by this answer, and showed a thoughtful look,
Jin-kun, are you lonely?
She then answered bluntly, "Are you lonely, Jin-kun?
"What?"
Jin was clearly flustered, although the darkness of the room prevented him from seeing the look of impatience on his face. He had not expected Elsa to say something like that.
"Why?"
I asked in a slightly hoarse voice,
"Because I was like that."
Elsa said something like that.
"My father is a soldier and is rarely home. My mother is frail and doesn't leave her room much. My brothers and I are too old to talk to each other."
Hearing about Elsa's family structure again, I still feel sorry for her.
"My brother Rai doesn't always play with me. Especially since I became a diplomat, I didn't get to see him very often.
He must not have had many friends his own age. Jin thought that this might be the reason why he was not good at conversation.
"When I am lonely, I sometimes want to be alone. Then I remember the good times I had.