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So cold.
I got on the slow train at Hachiōji,
and even though no more than two hours had passed
everything around was covered in snow.
It was too cold.
I rushed into the waiting room.
I took off my backpack and sat on a bench.
My limbs slowly unfroze as the electric heater in the middle of the room warmed me up.
My smartphone rang in my pocket.
I checked it, and of course
it was a LINE message from Kawashima.
This is my lunch, yammy!
I had met Kawashima at summer school.
We had the same interests and hit it off straight away.
While we traveled on our youth passes we would send each other updates on what we were up to several times a day.
It seemed that today
Kawashima was taking the opposite route towards Kōfu.
I enlarged the photo she had sent in the message and
smiled wryly.
Why did she shoot Soba noodle ?
If she was on the Minobu line then
there were hot springs, Mt. Fuji,
all kinds of picturesque possibilities,
but she shad purposefully sent me a picture of soba noodle
-- she was a strange one alright.
I went to take a speedy photo of the elegant station building,
then flew back into the waiting room.
I attached the photo I had just taken and pressed the send button.
Where do you think this is?
I recognize it.
Where though?
Wait a second.
Wheerrrreeee?
I'm working through my mental route map, hold on.
I've remembered.
anayama station
bingo!
We're going to overlap. We are.
Yeah. We're near.
I hadn't met up with
Kawashima once since summer school.
Through photos of delicious station bentō
and beautiful scenery
we had shared our experiences.
Shall we meet up?
Near Kōfu.
There's no point.
Huh.
I'm about to arrive.
... What?
The in-bound line slow train to Ōtsuki is about to arrive.