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Four Years' TimeAuthor: Kusaka Yōko
| Original Title | 四年のあいだのこと |
|---|---|
| Author | 久坂 葉子 |
| Genre | Modern Short Fiction |
| Author Type | Female Author |
| Summary | A young woman wanders through a sun-drenched May afternoon, clutching a bouquet of sweet peas whose intoxicating fragrance seems to pull her toward an unknown destiny. Drawn by an inexplicable force, she stumbles upon a secluded Western-style house where a fleeting glimpse of a figure in a white coat sends her fleeing to the riverbank, heart racing. Memories surface of her sixteen-year-old self—a girl who once waited daily on narrow stone steps to brush past a mysterious doctor in a navy suit, their silent encounters charged with unspoken longing. Years later, their paths cross again in fleeting moments shadowed by societal expectations and missed connections. Now a disillusioned working woman, she traces fragments of their past through rain-soaked hospital corridors and crowded streets, haunted by a love that refuses to fade even as time transforms them both. Whispers of chance reunions and lingering glances blur the line between fate and obsession, leaving her to wonder: can a single scent, a half-remembered silhouette, rewrite the story of a lifetime? |
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