Pathway to Japanese Literature

Blue Necktie

“Ohohohohoho…”

“But isn’t that absurd? ...I, you see. They claim I became disillusioned with the world after a failed romance and tried to kill myself time and time again.”

“No.” “I don’t know, you see.” “I have not the slightest memory of doing such a thing.” “From the very beginning, I never had any failed romance whatsoever.” “In the first place, I don’t even know who this supposed partner would be... don’t you agree?” “Isn’t that absurd?” “Ohohohohoho…” “That’s simply absurd.” “Ever since graduating from girls’ school, day after day I was confined in that prison-like room on the second floor of the storehouse, and told I mustn’t set a single foot outside.” “For reasons I couldn’t quite grasp… and to make matters worse, they took away even my kimono and everything else. Truly mortifying, I tell you.” “Because I’d tear my kimono to strangle myself with, they claim.” “I was so disheartened, so utterly disheartened……….”

“The only one who brought me meals was my wet nurse.” “My father passed away before I was born, and they say my mother too disappeared somewhere immediately after giving birth to me……” “Therefore, until that time I had remained unmarried and was taken in by my uncle who lent money, and was raised on that wet nurse’s milk.” “She was such a good wet nurse……”

How overjoyed I was when that wet nurse brought me the lovely naked doll I had as a child……. ……Oh my. “Where have you been hiding all this time?” “You had gone to a distant place with Mother, you know.” “Oh, you made it back safely after all…!” I said as I pressed my cheek against yours and wept. And so from that day forth, I spent each and every day conversing with that dear doll. “Things about Mother, things about friends, things about Teacher… why, she was such a gentle, lovely, clever dear doll.”

“And then, you see.” “And then one evening….”

“The storehouse rats gnawed through that dear doll’s belly.” “And from inside, they pulled out a small square of newspaper.” “Even though I was holding her so properly… Yes.” “That’s how it was.” “The damaged part of that dear doll’s belly had been patched with newspaper, then firmly covered over with sturdy Japanese paper.” “That peeled away and came out.” “The rats must have pulled it out thinking to eat the paste, I suppose.” “Poor dears.”

"There’s no telling how much I wept then. And then—feeling so terribly sorry—I thought to fix it back properly using leftover rice grains, when without any particular thought, I read that torn piece of newspaper article and received such a shock! I still have it memorized... it was so vexing... It was like this..."

...She finally went mad and was confined to the second floor of her uncle's storehouse. Thereupon, Mr. Blue Necktie—the famous detective who loved her—rose indignantly to investigate this matter thoroughly, whereupon an astonishing truth came to light. Namely, conclusive evidence was discovered that her avaricious uncle had secretly murdered her mother and entombed her within the cellar walls to embezzle her fortune, then unlawfully confined his niece—the rightful heiress—to drive her to madness and render her legally ineligible to inherit; once her sanity was confirmed, she came into an immense fortune while simultaneously entering matrimony with Mr. Blue Necktie. At the same time, her despicable uncle received the death penalty sentence...

“……That’s what they say, you know.” “Isn’t that so?” “That dear doll was an angel who came to tell me the truth, you know.” “You know.” “You see?” “I slipped out of the storehouse that very night, right after sunset…”

“No.” “Escaping the storehouse was nothing at all, you know.” “Because I was so vexed—those iron bars in the second-floor window of that storehouse, you see.” “When I grabbed them with both hands and pulled with all my might, they bent like candy and crumbled away with the window frame.” “They mustn’t have been iron at all—lead or some such, I suppose.” “That was when I first understood how completely everyone had been deceived.” “I leapt from that window, weeping bitter tears all the while.”

Then, so as not to be seen by anyone, I crawled up from the veranda, wedged myself between the long chest in the back closet and the wall, and stayed perfectly still. “It was quite painful... But Uncle is cautious, you see.” “If they closed the shutters, I couldn’t get in at all, you know.” After what felt like an eternity, night finally deepened. Once I distinctly counted the kitchen clock striking twelve with a clang, I quietly slipped out of the closet and stealthily drew out only the blade from the plain-scabbard sword hidden beneath Uncle’s futon… You see, he always slept like that. And then I slashed that detestable Uncle’s face to pieces as he lay there drinking himself to sleep stark naked… “Mother’s sworn enemy…” I declared.

……That was terrifying. Uncle, now blood-soaked and stark naked, came grabbing at me in a deathly frenzy. I managed to cut him down after desperately evading him here and there. Then a large number of hired hands came out and started noisily shouting that I was a madwoman, a lunatic. I was so frustrated that I acted out recklessly. I slashed and stabbed one after another at the large men charging toward me with various weapons, but I simply couldn't withstand their numbers... For they had called in a policeman skilled in swordsmanship to reinforce them. I, driven back before the alcove, fought desperately by swinging my sword about, but in the end had it knocked from my hands. To make matters worse, I tripped over Uncle’s corpse and fell flat on my backside with a thud, which made me lose my chance to escape and ended up being pinned down by that policeman. “But it was amusing.” “Ho ho ho ho ho ho...”

Then, after being brought to this hospital by car, the director here turned out to be an unexpectedly kind and exceptionally intelligent person. “He treated me to glass after glass of delicious cold water, listened to my entire story, and told me all sorts of things… ‘It would be best to keep pretending madness and stay in this hospital a while longer,’ he advised… ‘Your uncle is still alive and fighting Mr. Blue Necktie in court. Once his crimes are confirmed and he’s sent to prison, I’ll have you released from the hospital.’” “He will even let me marry Mr. Blue Necktie.” “If you don’t endure and wait until then，Uncle might devise some wicked scheme again and come to take your life.” “However, since he told me—‘If you hide in this reinforced concrete room, no one can approach you’—I’ve been completely at ease hiding here, you know.” “Before long, I thought Mr. Blue Necktie would surely come to visit me... and so I eagerly awaited him, you know...”

“Then something amusing happened… Oh do listen… I’ve only just realized it recently….”

“The director here is none other than the famous detective Mr. Blue Necktie himself… Just look! Anyone would be shocked—it’s only natural. Even I—a woman myself—would be startled. With that completely bald head of his, I didn’t notice it at all, you know.” “But lately, every time you pass by the window, you’ve been wearing a blue necktie, haven’t you? A new… garish checkered-striped… one, you know. That’s why I thought it might be so—when I paid proper attention, I finally realized it, you know.”

“I found myself grateful,” “After all, you’ve gone to such lengths to protect me…” That bald head was part of his disguise – A wig through and through! “Oh ho ho ho ho!” “Isn’t it absurd?” “I know full well yet feign ignorance.” “But at times the farce grows too ridiculous to endure.” To think I must wed such a cueball-headed man! “Ho ho ho ho ho ho.” “Ha ha ha ha ha ha…”

Kunlun tea

“Head Nurse… Head Nurse.” “I have a small request.” “Please come here for a moment.” “A matter of utmost urgency…”

“You see… please listen.” “I’m sorry, but…”

...I've discovered the cause of my insomnia. The reason I couldn't sleep at all since being admitted here... I'm under an outrageous curse.

“No.” “It’s not a fabrication.” “You haven’t been cursed by something like a graduation thesis and developed neurasthenia.”

"There is a perfectly legitimate cause." "The factual evidence lies right before your eyes."

"I... you mustn't be startled." "I..." "The Chinese exchange student sleeping in the bed right beside me." "That fellow has cursed me." "I'm being cursed by him and nearly killed." "So staying in this room means certain doom." "Huh? Which Chinese person do you mean...?" "Look... isn't he lying right there?" "On the bed behind you... What? You can't see it...?" "...Your eyes must be impaired... don't you agree?" "You understand now?" "That's him." "You just had an injection from the doctor." "See? He's snoring loudly."

“What did you say...? Are you saying... that Chinese man is a delusion produced by my obsessive thoughts...? Th-that’s impossible... How could such a thing be real?” “I’m telling you because it’s an established fact. You see? Look.” “With sunken cheeks like a corpse’s, half-open white eyes and white lips... sleeping with yellowish skin the color of unglazed pottery, you see?” It was upon seeing that complexion that I finally realized. This exchange student must have been born in the hinterlands of China. He must be one of those notorious tea addicts from that region, I concluded...

"No." "You couldn't possibly know." "The skin color of tea-addicted humans all changes to a cold yellowish hue resembling Anna-style twilight." "The luster completely disappears." "And thus they fall victim to cruel insomnia and end up like invalids."

“No. That’s different from regular tea.” “If it were ordinary tea, even if I drank buckets of it, it wouldn’t affect me in the slightest. What that exchange student has isn’t anything so harmless. It’s called Kunlun tea—an essence refined from tea containing a special tannin. With an indescribable, peerless, and dreadful allure—something no words or brush could capture—it poisons anyone who drinks it just once. It’s utterly terrifying—the supreme tea among teas, you might say—the number one of all teas.”

“That exchange student has hidden away somewhere this thing called ‘tea essence’—a white powder made from the extract of that Kunlun tea.” “I don’t know where he’s hidden it… but there are many wizard-like individuals among Chinese people, you see. …He’s been slipping small amounts of that stuff into the sedatives by my pillow.” “And so he’s trying to take my life without anyone noticing… You see, I have this habit of occasionally pulling the quilt over my head.” “I think he slips it in during that moment… The sedatives I receive are terribly bitter, you see.” “Moreover, there’s a pungent smell, right?” “That’s why you can’t detect that ‘tea essence’ has been mixed in there.”

“Huh? The reason for doing such mischief?” “Isn’t that perfectly obvious? You’ve never suffered from insomnia before, have you?” “That’s right.” “……Always, always sleepy to the point of trouble…… Ahaha…… That’s why you don’t understand how insomnia patients feel.” “……This is how it is. When that guy sees me snoring away thanks to the doctor’s injection, he grows strangely irritated—it really gets under his skin. And in the end, he grows so hateful that he wants to kill me.”

“No.” “That’s right.” “This is the characteristic of insomnia patients.” “In other words, they end up becoming extreme egotists.” “The more they try to sleep—the harder they try—the more they realize they can’t, and gradually start feeling like they’re going mad… When they fixate on thoughts like ‘How delightful it’d be if I alone could sleep soundly while every human on earth writhes with insomnia…’—right at that moment—if peaceful snores drift over from beside them… it becomes utterly unbearable.” “My nerves would sharpen all at once, boiling over with anger.” “Even when trying not to listen, each tranquil breath would seep deep into my ears.” “Each time, the irritation would seethe and redouble.” “Eventually, every one of those breaths began feeling like some form of excruciating torture, until cold sweat soaked through my entire body.” “Then comes that desperate feeling—either kill that snoring bastard or commit suicide—and I start tossing from side to side.” “That guy endures these feelings every night because of me.” “Moreover, since I have hypertrophic rhinitis, I snore all night when asleep.” “And since he’s an obstinate individualist of a Chinese man, it must be all the more unbearable.”

“Therefore, he’s using that tea essence to ensure I never sleep.” “And then he’s scheming to gradually weaken me and finish me off.” “No.” “There’s no mistake about that.” “I’m not agitated.” “That’s exactly how it is.” “No good. No good.” “It’s not my imagination or anything.” “……If I stay in this room, I’ll surely be killed.” “……Please, if you intend to help me, move me to another room… Huh? The rooms are all full?” “Then I don’t mind sleeping outdoors.” “Please, please—I implore you—move me to another room…”

“……What is it?” “The origin of Kunlun tea?” “……You don’t know?” “Huh.” “If one could determine what sort of tea Kunlun tea is, curing the addiction would be trivial… I see.” “There are various plant-based stimulants, so unless one listens carefully to the account, there’s no way to determine.” “……Is that how it is… Well then, it should be simple.” “If you confiscate and analyze that ‘tea essence’ the exchange student has, it would become immediately clear.”

“……I see.” “Not knowing where it’s hidden would be troublesome… That does make sense.” “He must indeed be some sort of sorcerer-like fellow.” “……But that’s not all.” “If you rouse someone sleeping from injections midway, leftover medication might harm their body… Is that truly how it works?” “Hmm….”

“To tell the truth, I don’t actually know anything about Kunlun tea’s components either.” “No.” “It’s not some tall tale!” “If it’s just those incredible stories about the tea, I actually read about them in some book long ago… But I’ve always liked researching China, you know.” “China has been a truly mysterious country since ancient times, you know.” “You could almost call it the country I’ve yearned for.” “In fact, I even wrote about literature on Chinese spirit summoning techniques in my recent graduation thesis…”

“Hmm.” “Do you also enjoy stories about China?” “Because your grandfather was a Chinese scholar… Ah, I see.” “Then I shall certainly tell you.” “However, while other stories may be one thing, if it’s about Kunlun tea, you may have already heard it from your esteemed grandfather ages ago, as it’s a famous tale… Hmm.” “You truly have no knowledge of it at all?” “How curious.” “Then I shall tell you and see whether it stirs your recollection.”

“However, might that Chinese fellow not wake up?” “Hmm.” “Rest assured, he’ll be fine until tomorrow morning.” “I see.” “Then I shall tell you.” “Well, please have a seat.”

“Are you unaware that many around Sichuan Province have ruined themselves through tea?” “Is that so?” “You don’t know this either?” “Given it’s localized there, it’s rather notorious…” “Yes indeed.” “A most peculiar affair.” “While squandering fortunes on drink and women is commonplace, bankrupting oneself through tea indulgence while wrecking one’s health—that transcends mere absurdity.” “Precisely the sort of tale only China could produce.”

"As you know—though you might not have heard—these Chanchans, these Chinese people, could be said to have virtually no concept of nation or society, being such individualistic animals. But in exchange, when it comes to developing means for private pleasure in daily life, one could assert they’re unparalleled in the world. Whether in clothing, residences, cuisine, alcohol, or perfumes… you see… as you’re aware… even in erotic matters or anything else—when it comes to personal mechanisms of pleasure, backed by four thousand years of history, they’ve developed remarkably sophisticated extremes."

“Therefore, even regarding a single matter like tea, one can immediately imagine there must be extraordinarily thorough research conducted.” “That’s precisely correct.” “Moreover, they’ve achieved such bizarrely advanced developments that however much we Japanese might imagine, we couldn’t possibly keep pace—but even among those, this Kunlun tea incident stands as a specially crafted peerless affair.” “First, let us suppose there exists among the wealthy individuals residing deep within China’s Sichuan Province through Yunnan and Guizhou those who thoroughly understand tea’s nuances—people utterly fixated on refined tastes like tea utensils or tea rooms.” “Or perhaps consider those who’ve exhausted all luxuries—be it through wine, women, opium or gambling—and now resolve to plunge deeply into the refined pursuit of tea.” “Are you following?” “So they spare no expense ceaselessly acquiring one rare tea after another—boasting about their finds at gatherings, attempting picnics to showcase them—until their tea obsession escalates to where they simply must taste Kunlun tea.” “…Of course Kunlun tea isn’t merely recognized as the captivating ace among tea connoisseurs—the teahouses frequented by those Chanchans bombard them with flamboyant proclamations like ‘Unless one knows Kunlun tea’s taste, one’s unworthy to discourse on tea at all!’ With such extreme enticements, those already primed for obsession find it utterly unbearable.” “Thus—through such reasoning—they end up entrusting vast sums to teahouses and commissioning their mediation.”

Now, those who went to drink Kunlun tea would gather in cities across Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces before departing mostly between late January through February. Their departure timing was determined by each group’s distance from the Kunlun Mountains, but the procession itself was said to be a truly magnificent spectacle. At the forefront rode two or three guides bearing yellow flags on horseback. Behind them came monkeys tied to the horses’ backs in groups of two or three—amounting to twenty or thirty, sometimes even forty or fifty in total. Mingling among them were twenty or thirty men in green short coats—tea pickers—and others clad in yellow robes—tea masters—though the monkeys’ purpose would only become clear later. Following these came three or four—or more commonly seven or eight up to ten—magnificently decorated two-horse carriages. Inside rode tycoons and nobles bound for Kunlun tea-tasting, each cradling their prized tea utensils. Yet uniquely for this occasion, not a single concubine—those ever-present companions of Chinese magnates—joined the procession. It was said to be an entirely male entourage, though the reason for this would gradually become clear.

Following those came carts bearing two pickled plum jars adorned with gold and silver phoenixes and butterfly decorations at their forefront, loaded with provisions like small trunks, large trunks, and tents. Following those came bandit-like guards forming an imposing cavalry procession—so that any unknowing observer could hardly tell whether it was a war or a tea party. “It’s exactly like a caravan crossing the Arabian desert.” “To think they’d stage such an uproar merely to taste new tea—one can scarcely fathom just how thoroughly Chinese hedonism permeates their being.”

They crossed rugged mountain paths, traversed wilderness plains inhabited by bandits and wild beasts, and navigated sub-zero desert plateaus guided solely by their leaders' visual reckoning—until at last they arrived near Lake Yūshin, a secret realm deep within the Kunlun Mountains. As seasons arrived late in those parts, the warmth around that time was said to be akin to early spring—but as for the beauty of the scenery, well, it remains beyond all description.

While the details remain unclear, it is said that around Lake Yūshin there once existed in prehistoric times a kingdom called Kunlun Country, which boasted a splendidly advanced culture. However, as a result of cultivating excessively peaceful pursuits and overindulging in Kunlun tea's flavor, the citizens completely lost their vitality and were ultimately destroyed by barbarians, it is said. It is said that even now, those ruins still jut up here and there from mountain shadows and lake bottoms, surrounded by natural forests flourishing around them and alpine-style flower fields spreading out, where rare birds and unfamiliar butterflies flutter and sing in tranquility. Between the blue sky, clear down to its deepest depths, and the lake, a fresh sun glinted and spun... such indescribable scenes unfolded everywhere, beyond the reach of brush or canvas. At the most scenic vantage point among these, the caravans gathered from various regions would vie to set up their tents first, then—each holding incense or burning charm papers in their hands—pray for the Kunlun Mountain Deity’s divine protection while simultaneously holding a grand tea festival to console the myriad spirits of the fallen Kunlun Kingdom. This was ultimately nothing more than superstitious comfort for the Chinese people, while also serving merely to alleviate boredom as they waited for the tea to be prepared.

Meanwhile, the tea pickers who dismounted from their horses set out to harvest tea without a moment’s rest, each carrying monkeys tethered by long ropes upon their shoulders. After passing through a dense forest region, they climbed the Kunlun Mountains with their jagged rocks towering halfway to the sky and searched for tea trees; however, the tea trees that grow in clusters throughout the Kunlun Mountains appeared to be of a different variety from ordinary tea trees. They were all magnificent large trees, growing by pushing through rock crevices midway up sheer cliffs as if cleaved by an axe—so without using monkeys, it would have been extremely dangerous and impossible to approach them. Now these monkeys were exceptionally well-trained indeed—they would nimbly pluck only the newest buds among new buds, those barely beginning to sprout at the very tips of those great tea trees' branches, then return straight to human hands without even pausing for reward.

So ten or fourteen or fifteen tea pickers who had undertaken such perilous efforts would each obtain a handful or two of tea buds and hurry back to their tented campsite. Then the tea masters who had been waiting—that is to say, the tea ceremony experts— They would solemnly receive these Kunlun tea buds and refine them into green tea through characteristically Chinese methods—meticulous and elaborate in the extreme. Then they scooped clear spring water from nearby into silver pots and placed them upon a handmade seven-ring stove called Kunro to boil lukewarm water. They poured that plain hot water into an intricately crafted tea bowl, placed a white paper lid over it, and atop this put a pinch of Kunlun green tea resembling black needles. Once they determined the white paper lid had faintly yellowed, they removed the tea residue from the paper, entered the tent, and before the nobles reclining in armchairs—presented it with three bows and nine prostrations.

The wealthy nobles there would remove the white paper lid covering the tea vessel and take a soft sip of lukewarm water. Of course when first tasted it was said to resemble ordinary hot water, but by holding it motionless in one’s mouth without swallowing, Kunlun tea’s flavor would gradually reveal itself. This occurred because—so they claimed—the green tea’s essence resting upon the paper became infused into plain water through steam permeating upwards.

“You see… ‘Isn’t it a splendid story?’ An indescribably secretive and noble fragrance wound its way through each tooth root, being breathed in ever so faintly. In time, all delusions and distractions condensed and settled like crystal, their vital energy clearing like azure skies—until unknowingly merging with a sage’s state of mind, becoming so enraptured one forgot all distinctions of right and wrong, or so it was said. That divine comfort became something utterly unforgettable once experienced.”

“Indeed.” “Of course that’s precisely so.” That they could not sleep even at night went without saying, yet the wealthy individuals felt not the slightest fatigue. Through the miraculous efficacy of Kunlun tea brought in shifts by yellow-robed tea masters who attended like shadows, they became completely akin to immortals day and night. Divine essence condensed; malevolent spirits sank; they conversed with constellations and embraced the terrain without ever tiring. They prepared the first cup to welcome the Sun Deity, then sipped the second cup while turning their gaze to the Moon Deity. “It is written in books that their imposing spirit overwhelmed mountains and rivers, and all things sparkled with a clarity whose refreshing knew no bounds.”

However, during that time, they consumed no food to better appreciate the tea’s flavor. They consumed nothing but one salt-pickled plum and one sugar-preserved plum each, three times a day—so of course the wealthy individuals’ bodies rapidly wasted away. The sight of them stretched out in their armchairs, turned a yellowish ashen color like deathly embers with only their eyes glittering brightly, was said to resemble nothing so much as a mummy exhibition—being neither entirely creepy nor wholly terrifying.

“However, in the end, even that light in their eyes dimly faded away, leaving them in a psychological state no different from that of a blankly vacant doll. Since they could not move a muscle, they had caretakers make them drink the tea. They say the tea tasted especially exquisite at that time, enveloping their entire bodies in its aromatic fragrance to induce a dazed contentment—though this too must have stemmed from their utterly exhausted nerves. Instead, they lost control over both feces and urine, and particularly when their mental exhaustion reached its peak, every last one of them began experiencing nocturnal emissions—but all such matters were apparently taken care of by the tea masters, said to be truly thorough.”

As two or three weeks passed in this manner, the new tea buds that had initially been near the foothills gradually ascended to ever-higher regions of the Kunlun Mountains. With harvesting growing increasingly difficult through this progression, once no new tea could be gathered at all, the tea pickers and masters joined forces to carry those nobles and tycoons—reduced to living corpses—into their respective carriages, transporting them homeward at an even more languid pace than their outward journey while providing high-grade nutrients like butter and bone broth. They avoided daylight travel entirely, moving the horses only during mornings and evenings, for driving them too briskly or exposing them to the nearing summer sun risked making the beasts collapse with rolling eyes.

Now, there were said to be those who—even after finally returning home seven or eight months later through such trials—still remained like half-dead invalids, but in any case, those who had once tasted Kunlun tea were beyond saving. Since they had become complete tea addicts, by the time next New Year passed, they’d be unbearably compelled to go drink it again… Though admittedly, this was hardly an unreasonable outcome. “Since these nobles had gorged themselves on characteristically Chinese garish eroticism, gambling, and New Year’s revelries of decadent feasting, their physiological craving for such transcendental picnic-like escapism might indeed have been inevitable.”

So they went again. The following year, they went again. As their visits multiplied over time, they came to be not only envied by their fellow tea enthusiasts but also revered with utmost respect as Knights of Kunlun Tea. They were said to be honored with special titles like Kunlun Immortal or Daoist and treated as celestial beings—but considering that even a single trip cost an entire fortune, leaving them as useless invalids both mentally and physically while depleting their wealth from every direction, unless they were exceptionally wealthy tycoons, their assets became completely drained within four or five journeys to drink Kunlun tea. “Moreover, that this Kunlun tea possesses an allure unparalleled across time—one worth risking life itself—is something you must have largely come to understand by now.”

“You see, Head Nurse? A splendid story, isn’t it?” “Even Yankee-style luxury wouldn’t be this thorough.”

“Hahaha….”

However, there remained one troubling problem. That was the Kunlun Immortal addict who had exhausted his entire fortune. Of course he no longer had the means to go drink Kunlun tea again, but that flavor had seeped into his very core, making it utterly impossible for him to let go. “So having no other choice,” he bought and drank something called ‘tea essence’ from a familiar tea shop—if only to savor that splendidly transcendent feeling of divine focus and demon-quelling. This was a white powder produced by the wealthy group I just mentioned—refined from discarded green tea leaves they abandoned at Kunlun Mountain’s foothills—which was said to be exorbitantly expensive. Yet if one endured and tried taking it mixed with ordinary tea—while lacking any exceptional aroma or flavor—being a pure extract meant its effect in sharpening divine energy was extraordinary. “They can’t sleep day or night without cease.” And so many ended up unable to tell day from night—reduced to mere skin and bones as they drifted between dream and reality until dying. “Moreover being China—its regulation becomes just as utterly impossible as with opium.” There were even young men and women who—never having tasted Kunlun tea itself—became addicted solely to this ‘tea essence’ through crude imitation—withering their very youth—and that Chinese student sleeping over there was undoubtedly one such case. “There’s no doubt it’s his fault I’ve become unable to sleep without injections since being admitted here.”

......Right?

“Head Nurse.” “Therefore I must apologize, but please change my room.” “No no.” “This isn’t an excuse.” “I don’t want to become one of those horrifying tea addicts and let my youth wither away.” “Please—I’m begging you... qu-quickly... before that one wakes up...” “Wh... What did you say...?” “Chinese magic...?......”

"Hmm... Among the Chinese magic techniques you learned from your grandfather, there's one called boomerang magic." "Hmm..." "What kind of magic is that?" "No." "This is the first time I've heard of it." "I don't know anything about it." "Boomerang magic or something... Hmm..." "If you apply that magic, all my torment would be effortlessly resolved." "Is that true... Hmm." "It's convenient precisely because it can only be performed in such a sealed room." "Hmm..." "Surely you wouldn't lie." "Please tell me." "Please try it." "And that boomerang magic you mentioned... what are we to do?"

“Eyes closed… Good.” “They’re closed.” “…Then count from one to ten… using the Chinese method… yes.” “I know it well.” “In a loud voice… Good.” “Understood.” “Alright? I’ll start counting.”

……Oooone……. “……Twoooo…... Threeee…...” “Foooour….” “Fiiive….” “Sixxxx….” “See-even….” “Eeeight….” “Nineeeee….” “Teeeeen…... A-and…...”

“Are you ready?” “I’ll open my eyes now.”

……Oh…… This is strange…….

The foreign student wasn't here. The bed had vanished along with him. It's turned into a concrete wall... Definitely a wall. It has become a narrow room where only one bed can fit. ...Strange... I've been fixated on that Chinese man all this time... How odd. "What's wrong, Head Nurse...?"

……Oh… The Head Nurse isn’t here either. When did she leave? Under the bed... Not here either. It keeps getting stranger. I wonder if I've been talking to myself this whole time. I'll try tasting this medicine... ...It's not bitter at all. Tastes salty... Just baking soda. Strange... So strange... ……Ahahahahah. I finally understand. This is boomerang magic. The room and medicine were swapped during that time.

...That's incredible... Head Nurse's magic... It's just like Tenkatsu. Grateful... So grateful... Now I can finally sleep peacefully thanks to this. ...Ah... How startled I was... What an interesting country this China is...

Ahahahahahahaha….