9 Giovanni's Ticket (3/3)

by Kenji Miyazawa

Giovanni stood up as if shot from a cannon. Leaning out the window so no one could hear, he beat his chest with all his might and cried out. After that, he began to weep until his throat was choked.

He felt as if his surroundings had suddenly gone dark for a moment. Just then, a gentle, cello-like voice came from behind him. "What on earth are you crying about? Take a look over here."

Giovanni, startled, wiped his tears and turned around. There, in the seat where Campanella had been sitting, was a thin adult with a pale face and a large black hat, holding a large book and smiling gently.

"Your friend has gone somewhere. He truly went far away tonight. It's useless to look for Campanella anymore."

"Why is that?" Giovanni asked sadly. "I told Campanella we would go straight together."

"Yes, everyone thinks that. But you cannot go together. And everyone is Campanella. Everyone you meet has eaten apples with you and ridden trains with you many times. So, as you just thought, seek the greatest happiness for everyone, and go there quickly with everyone. Then, you will truly be able to be with Campanella forever there."

"I will certainly do that. But how should I seek it?"

"I am also seeking that. You must hold onto your ticket tightly. And you must study diligently. You've studied chemistry, haven't you? You know that water is made of oxygen and hydrogen. No one doubts that now, because if you experiment, it truly is so. However, in the past, people debated it, saying it was made of mercury and salt, or mercury and sulfur, and so on. Everyone will say their own god is the true god, but when you think of those who believe in other gods, tears might sometimes fall. And even if we debate whether our hearts are good or bad, it ultimately won't be settled. But if you truly study and can properly distinguish between true and false ideas through experiments, once the experimental method is determined, faith will become like chemistry. Now, look at this book. This is a dictionary of geography and history. This page describes the geography and history of 2200 BC. Look closely, it's not about 2200 BC itself, but rather the geography and history as people of that era thought it was."

"So, this single page is equivalent to an entire book of geography and history. Listen, and what is written in it was mostly true around 2200 BC. If you search, you'll find a lot of evidence. However, if you start to have even a little doubt, there's the next page."

"1000 BC. Geography and history would have changed considerably, wouldn't they? This is how it was at that time. Please don't make a strange face. Our bodies, our thoughts, the Milky Way, trains, and even history, we just perceive them that way. Now, let's try to quiet our minds a bit together."

The person raised one finger and quietly lowered it. Then, suddenly, Giovanni saw his own existence and thoughts, along with the train, the scholar, and the Milky Way, glow brightly and quietly disappear, then glow brightly again and disappear. And when one of them glowed brightly, the wide world opened up empty, all history was prepared, and when it vanished, it became just empty, nothing more. This happened faster and faster, and soon everything returned to normal.

“Now, listen. Therefore, your experiment must encompass the beginning to the end of these fragmented thoughts. That is the difficult part. However, even if it's only for that moment, it's fine. Oh, look, there's Plesios. You must unlock the chains of that Plesios.”

At that moment, a pale signal flare shot up from beyond the dark horizon, as if it were daytime, and the inside of the train became completely bright. And the flare hung high in the sky, continuing to shine.

“Ah, Magellan's Nebula. Now, I will surely search for true, true happiness for myself, for my mother, for Campanella, for everyone.”

Giovanni bit his lip and stood gazing at Magellan's Nebula. For that happiest person!

“Now, hold your ticket tightly. You are no longer on the railway of dreams, but must walk straight with long strides through the fire and fierce waves of the real world. Never lose that one true ticket in the Milky Way.”

Just as he thought he heard that cello-like voice, Giovanni saw the Milky Way become distant, and felt the wind blowing as he stood straight on a grassy hill. He also heard the quiet footsteps of Dr. Vulcanillo approaching from afar.

"Thank you. I conducted a very good experiment. I was just thinking that I wanted to conduct an experiment in a quiet place like this, conveying my thoughts to people from afar. Everything you said has been recorded in my notebook. Now, go home and get some rest. You should proceed straight ahead, just as you resolved in your dream. And from now on, come to me anytime for advice on anything."

"I will surely go straight forward. I will surely seek true happiness," Giovanni said with force.

"Then, goodbye. This is the ticket from earlier."

The doctor placed a small, folded green paper into Giovanni's pocket. And then, his figure disappeared beyond the Weather Vane Pillar.

Giovanni ran straight and dashed down the hill. He noticed his pocket was heavy and clinking, so he stopped in the forest. When he checked his pocket, he found two large gold coins wrapped in that green, mysterious heavenly ticket he had seen in his dream.

"Thank you, Doctor, Mother. I'll bring the milk right away!" Giovanni shouted and started running again. Various emotions surged into his chest all at once, and he felt an indescribable sadness and newness.

The Lyra constellation had moved westward, stretching its legs like a dream. Giovanni woke up. He had been sleeping, exhausted, in the grass on the hill. His chest was warm, and cold tears streamed down his cheeks.

He sprang up like a coiled spring. The town was completely back to normal, and many lights shone below, but their glow somehow felt warmer than before. The Milky Way, which he had walked in his dream, still flowed white and hazy, appearing particularly smoky above the southern horizon. To its right, the red star of Scorpio shone beautifully, and the overall appearance of the sky seemed not to have changed much.

Giovanni hurried down the hill. His heart was filled with thoughts of his mother waiting for dinner. He passed through the black pine forest, circled the pale white pasture fence, and returned to the front of the dark cowshed through the same entrance as before. Someone seemed to have returned, as a car that hadn't been there earlier was now parked, carrying two barrels of some kind.

"Good evening!" Giovanni called out.

"Yes," a person in thick white trousers immediately came out and stood up. "How may I help you?"

"The milk didn't come to my place today."

"Oh, I apologize." The person immediately went inside, brought out a bottle of milk, and handed it to Giovanni, saying, "I'm truly sorry. This afternoon, I carelessly left the gate open, and the boss immediately went to the mother cow and drank about half of it..." The person laughed.

"Is that so? Then I'll take it."

"Yes, I'm truly sorry."

"No, it's fine." Giovanni held the still-warm bottle of milk with both hands, as if cradling it, and left the pasture fence.

After walking through the tree-lined town for a while and then along the main street, the road forked into a cross. To the right, the large bridge tower over the river where Campanella and the others had floated their lights earlier stood vaguely against the night sky.

However, at the street corners and in front of the shops at that crossroads, seven or eight women were gathered, whispering something to each other while looking towards the bridge. And the bridge itself was full of various lights.

Giovanni suddenly felt a chill in his chest for some reason. And he asked, almost shouting to the people nearby, "Has something happened?"

"A child fell into the water," one person said, and they all looked at Giovanni. Giovanni ran towards the bridge as if in a trance. The bridge was full of people, and the river was not visible. A police officer in a white uniform was also present.

Giovanni flew down from the foot of the bridge to the wide riverbed below. Many lights at the water's edge of the riverbed busily moved up and down. Seven or eight fires were also moving on the dark bank opposite. Through the middle of it, the river, without even the light of a snake gourd, flowed quietly and gray, making only a faint sound.

At the furthest downstream part of the riverbed, where a sandbar jutted out, people gathered, casting distinct black shadows. Giovanni ran towards them. Then, Giovanni suddenly encountered Marso, with whom he had been with Campanella earlier. Marso ran up to Giovanni and said,

"Giovanni, Campanella went into the river."

"Why, when?"

"Zanelli, you see, tried to push the snake gourd light from the boat towards the flowing water. The boat swayed then, and he fell into the water. Then Campanella immediately jumped in and pushed Zanelli towards the boat. Zanelli was caught by Kato. But Campanella hasn't been seen since."

"Everyone must be looking for him."

"Yes, everyone came right away. Campanella's father also came. But he can't be found. Zanelli was taken home."

Giovanni headed towards where everyone was. There, surrounded by students and townspeople, Campanella's father, with a pale, pointed chin, stood upright in a black suit, holding a watch in his left hand and staring intently at it.

Everyone was also staring at the river. No one said a single word. Giovanni's legs trembled with excitement. He could see many acetylene lamps, used for catching fish, busily moving back and forth, and the black river water flowing with tiny, shimmering ripples.

Downstream, the Milky Way was largely reflected in the river, looking just like the sky itself without water. Giovanni couldn't help but feel that Campanella was now only at the edge of that Milky Way.

However, everyone still seemed to feel that Campanella might emerge from somewhere between the waves, saying, "I've swum quite a bit," or that Campanella might have reached some unknown sandbar and was standing there, waiting for someone to arrive. But suddenly, Campanella's father said firmly,

"It's no use anymore. Forty-five minutes have passed since he fell."

Giovanni instinctively ran up and stood before the professor. He wanted to say, "I know which way Campanella went. I was walking with him," but his throat was constricted, and he couldn't say anything. The professor, perhaps thinking Giovanni had come to greet him, stared at him for a while.

"You are Giovanni, aren't you? Thank you very much for tonight," the professor said politely.

Giovanni couldn't reply and simply bowed.

"Has your father returned yet?" the professor asked again, gripping his watch tightly.

"No," Giovanni shook his head faintly.

"I wonder what happened. I received a cheerful letter from him the day before yesterday. He should be arriving around today, but perhaps the ship was delayed. Giovanni, please come to my house with everyone after school tomorrow."

Saying that, the professor again fixed his gaze on the reflection of the Milky Way downstream.

Giovanni's chest was full of various thoughts, and he left the doctor's presence without saying anything. He ran headlong along the riverbank towards the town, eager to take the milk to his mother quickly and tell her about his father's return.