I had a lot of time as I sat there waiting… Unmoving. Staking out the activity of the precinct who comes and goes and when but really I might as well have been in a deep sleep. There’s wind this morning and the grey skies doesn’t help but the straw hat and coat helps. I go ahead and take out my gloves and put it on, my fingers was starting to stiffen and become numb. If only the sun would come. In Aizu or rather in the lands up North, it didn’t matter how cold it got as long as the sun kept us company. With the sun, the snow seemingly sparkles and though I’m not one for pretty sights, it’s certainly better than -this-… What’s become of this town.
I reach into my pocket and smoke, from where I’m sitting across the precinct almost a block away no one would know. There’s very few people out in this bitter cold and again this town, has changed for the worse. Is that it? Whatever it is that we touch end up like this? All I have now are regrets and a desire to at least fix what I can. Still I’ve felt it, the passage of time that led me immobile – even my desire for the orderly closure of this place wasn’t enough to keep me moving.
But what has? I ash the cigarette and look to the side. I -know- what pulls me back. Unfinished business but not for old ghosts or stories of the past. And neither for Makoto nor Tsutomu, they’re strong and have each other, they’ll be fine. And Yukiko is in a good place while Eiji will eventually find his place in the world. And as for Yoshi? He’s now someone else’s. And as for that woman who I left behind? She’ll always have Kyoto to go back to – her brothers will take care of her. They’ll understand the -mistake- she’d chosen and treat her kindly. But there’s someone I want to see. Something I need to give and to tell before the orderly closure of this place. For that one, I must try to keep moving – instead of abruptly ending it, like I told her, I promised -myself- back then, that one day I’d find the courage to actually -end- it.
It’s cold and I remember holding that one close. Warm and soft that cool night and early that one morning. But it’s almost mid-day and I grow impatient for Musashi. Did he manage to intercept Yamato’s message and Yasutake’s bribe money? Perhaps I put too much on him? No. He was -reliable- when we needed support here in Ito and it’s their home town, though I’m not one to -know- what that feels like. I grimace a little realizing how thin the line is between him who they call a wanderer and I.
(OOC: to be continued)