Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
- Language: English
- Genre: Time Travel Science Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
The Daughter
‘Why are you in Hokkaido?’
Kei Tokita’s voice sounded tinny coming from the handset.
‘Hey, relax, it’s OK.’
Nagare Tokita was hearing his wife’s voice for the first time in fourteen
years. He was in Hokkaido – Hakodate, to be exact.
The city of Hakodate is full of Western-style houses, dating from the
early twentieth century. Those houses, dotted throughout the city, have a
unique architectural style, characterized by Japanese ground floors and
Western upper floors. The Motomachi area (whose name means ‘original
town’), located at the very base of Mount Hakodate, is a popular tourist
destination. Its old-town charm is enhanced by such popular historic sites as
the former public hall, a rectangular concrete electricity pole – the first ever
erected in Japan – and the red-brick warehouses in its historical Bay Area.
Kei, on the other end of the phone line, was far away in Tokyo, at a
certain cafe that offered its customers the chance to travel through time. It
was called Funiculi Funicula. She had travelled fifteen years into the future
from the past in order to meet her daughter. In that Tokyo cafe, she only had
a brief time before she had to drink her cooling coffee. As he was far away
in Hokkaido, in northern Japan, Nagare had no idea how far her coffee had
cooled already. He was therefore careful to stick to the matter at hand.
‘There’s no time to explain why I’m in Hokkaido. Please, just listen.’
Of course, Kei was well aware that there was no time.
‘What’s that? There’s no time? I’m the one with no time!’ She sounded
upset.
But Nagare paid no attention. ‘A girl is there, right? Who looks like she
might be in middle school.’
‘What? A schoolgirl? Yes, she’s here. The same one who visited the cafe
about two weeks ago; she came from the future to get a photo with me.’
It had been two weeks ago for Kei, but she was referring to something
that for Nagare happened a whole fifteen years ago.
‘She’s got big round eyes . . . and she’s wearing a turtle-neck?’
‘Yes, yes. What about her?’
‘OK, just calm down and listen. You’ve accidentally travelled fifteen
years into the future.’
‘Like I told you, I can hardly hear what you’re saying.’
A howling gust of wind had struck Nagare just as he was about to tell her
something crucial. It was blowing a gale down his phone, making it next to
impossible to communicate. Pressed by the lack of time, Nagare hurried.
‘Anyway, that girl you’re looking at,’ he said, louder.
‘Eh? What? That girl?’
‘She’s our daughter!’
‘What?’
The phone in Nagare’s hands fell completely silent. Then instead of Kei’s
voice, he heard the middle pendulum clock in Funiculi Funicula begin
chiming a familiar dong, dong. Letting out a small sigh, he began
explaining calmly.
‘You agreed to travel ten years into the future, so you think that your
child will be about ten, but there was some kind of mistake and you
travelled fifteen years. It seems ten years fifteen hours and fifteen years ten
hours got mixed up. Just look at the time of the middle pendulum clock. It
says ten o’clock, right?’
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