The Passengers on the Hankyu Line

Mondo Yakujin Station

Mondo Yakujin is the second-to-last stop on the Imazu Line and the station nearest to the eponymous temple. At the New Year, extra services are laid on here, especially from New Year’s Eve into New Year’s Day, when trains operate continuously to shuttle the throngs of people paying their first visit of the year to pray for safety and prosperity. The locals refer to the talisman at the shrine there as Yakujin-san, and though the area is urban, the temple sits on a small rise dotted with rice paddies that give the surrounding residential streets the rustic feel of an earlier era. Or so it had been described by a local classmate to Kei’ichi when he arrived here for university.

Even so, despite how close it is to campus, I still haven’t been there yet myself, Kei’ichi mused to himself. His thoughts were then disrupted by the boisterous pack of high-school girls that had boarded the same car. Older passengers were blatantly glaring in their direction but Kei’ichi was the kind of person who, in such situations, could easily flip a switch in his brain. Still, every so often the girls’ coquettish voices pierced through the headphones he was wearing, so it wasn’t as if he didn’t understand they could be aggravating.

But, being a first-year university student, he wasn’t so far removed from the experience of having fun and camaraderie either.

Once the train glided into the platform, the number of passengers on this humble little commuter line would reach its peak – having accumulated six stations’ worth already, it would take on one more station’s travellers, quite the throng even on the weekend – before reaching the terminal.

In trying to avoid the oncoming crush from the passengers boarding the train, a girl with a short haircut who had been leaning against the window on the door collided with Kei’ichi, who was also standing there. She looked over her shoulder and ducked her head in an apologetic shrug, perhaps a bit apprehensive about his slightly punk appearance.

The title of the book sticking out of the tote bag on her shoulder was the same as the textbook that Kei’ichi had tucked under his arm. It was for a compulsory course in the core curriculum, written by the professor himself and quite expensive. Students grumbled that he must be raking in the royalties by assigning his own book as required reading for first-year students. A questionable practice, to say the least, and unscrupulous, at worst, it had earned the professor the anger of most of the student body.

Kei’ichi assumed, from the sight of this infamous textbook, that she must be in the same year as him, though he didn’t recall seeing her in class. She was neatly dressed in trousers, her look unassuming – especially when compared to the group of girls who were trying to stand out and reminded him of a flutter of butterflies.

Once the passengers had packed their way inside the car and there was a little more space in front of the door, she distanced herself somewhat from Kei’ichi. Do I look that threatening? he thought to himself, a bit offended, but then he saw her bend and crouch a little in order to peer out at the scenery.

Is there something to see? Kei’ichi wondered, already feeling a sort of affinity with her because they had the same textbook. He stooped his tall frame to peek out of the upper part of the window.

It made her turn towards him in surprise. No wonder – a sudden awkward movement above your head would give anyone a start.

This time it was Kei’ichi’s turn to nod apologetically. ‘Uh, sorry. I wondered what you were looking at,’ he said. In response to her wary expression, he showed her the textbook under his arm.

No further explanation needed. Her guardedness instantly dissipated, to be replaced with a bashful smile. For the first time since acquiring the textbook, Kei’ichi was glad he’d shelled out the money for it.

In the crowded train carriage, she ceded some of the space between them as she pointed at the sky.

‘I thought some kind of accident must have happened over there.’

Her intonation had none of the local Kansai dialect that Kei’ichi had grown accustomed to hearing. He was from the countryside and wondered if she might be too. He thought he detected the trace of a Kyushu accent, while perhaps she could hear his own Chugoku inflection.

He looked in the direction that she had pointed and off in the distance, in a blue sky that heralded the summer to come, he could see the dark shapes of five helicopters in formation.

‘Ah, no – that’s not what you think,’ he replied automatically. ‘Those are Self-Defence Force utility helicopters. News media helicopters don’t fly in such a precise formation. See how, even at that altitude, they look like they’re all flying along together smoothly as a single unit? And the intervals between them don’t change either. There’s an air base in Itami so occasionally they fly over. I don’t know if they’re doing training drills or something else.’

Kei’ichi suddenly realized that her gaze had grown round-eyed as she looked at him.

Crap, I did it again, he thought, jogging an unpleasant memory.

Back in high school, before he came up to the city for university, some girls had labelled him an army geek and made fun of him. He’d been in the school light music club and the other members were reasonably popular with girls, but Kei’ichi alone was teased mercilessly. Occasionally a group of girls would ask him something about weapons or military stuff and, because he was so keen on these topics, he’d respond too enthusiastically, and then they’d laugh at him, saying, ‘He really is an army geek …’

Kei’ichi had been hurt when another member of the club told him this, which was still painful for him to recall. ‘They even said, “Too bad, because if he wasn’t so into that stuff …”,’ which only made Kei’ichi feel worse.

He’d vowed that, at university, he would conceal his military geekdom and reinvent himself, and now look what he’d done. He gnashed his teeth.

‘That’s amazing.’ The girl said this with what appeared to be genuine admiration, which Kei’ichi had a hard time accepting at face value, caught up as he was in past experiences.

‘Sure. You probably think I’m an army geek.’

‘What’s an army geek?’

He was disarmed by her sincerity.

‘Uh … someone who’s obsessed with military stuff and weapons? Kind of like a railway buff.’

‘Ah, I’ve heard about people who are into trains. Like, they know all kinds of things about train carriages, or what series train it is. They can recite timetables, they set themselves up on the platform with amazing cameras.’

I’m not into photography, I don’t even own a telephoto lens, he thought to himself – but don’t get started on how they’re actually called telelenses …

‘You can tell the different types of helicopters?’

‘It’s hard to know for sure, from this distance. I’d say those are most likely UH-1Js.’

‘Ah, but you can make a pretty good guess – it’s impressive.’ As she spoke, she bent her knees and crouched again in an attempt to follow the formation as they disappeared behind the rows of houses. ‘What an incredible thing to get to see today!’

Her expression seemed so delighted that it served to defuse his somewhat cynical attitude.

‘You really like those?’

Despite the fact that he knew they went to the same university and were in the same year, he could hardly believe that he was able to talk with this girl so easily.

‘Well …’ She gave her head a little tilt. The helicopters were no longer visible so she turned to face Kei’ichi. ‘Doesn’t it make you happy to discover something unusual or that you didn’t know about? That’s why, when I ride the train, I always position myself so that I can see outside. In particular, my favourite spot is by the door, where there’s a big window.’

That must have been why, when the crush of passengers had boarded the train at Mondo Yakujin, she had squeezed next to Kei’ichi instead of allowing herself to be swept further into the carriage. A person of small stature like her could get away with squishing to the side and still not be in the way of people getting on and off the train.

‘I’ve only ever seen SDF helicopters on the news, so then to see them right here in the city! What’s more, it’s amazing how they’re able to fly in such close alignment. This was definitely the big-ticket item of the day!’

‘You know, we’re in the same year, we can speak informally,’ he offered. She had been sprinkling her words with formal keigo.

She responded automatically with a just-as-formal ‘yes’ but then corrected herself with an awkwardly enunciated ‘yeah’ and a nod. Perhaps she wasn’t all that used to speaking casually with a guy.

‘My name is Kei’ichi Kosaka. And you are?’

He meant it as an innocent icebreaker but her expression instantly hardened. He had thought they were hitting it off, though maybe he’d got the wrong impression and she was simply a friendly person.

‘Ah, sorry, I guess that was forward of me.’

He offered a tentative apology, and she reached into her tote bag. From what appeared to be the inner pocket, she pulled out a card wallet.

It was packed with several cards and from these she extracted her student ID, which she held out for him to see as she gazed at him with upturned eyes.

The name listed there read:

MIHO GONDAWARA

He almost burst out laughing – without meaning any harm – but he quickly contained himself. Clearly this was a source of trauma for her. Like Kei’ichi being called an army geek.

‘… that’s a pretty macho name. It sounds like it comes from the Warring States era or something.’

He had barely managed to suppress the laughter that had welled up in his throat but he wasn’t sure whether the comment he eventually spluttered out was inappropriate or not.

‘People have always made fun of it, ever since I was a kid. Even at university, I didn’t stand a chance, the nickname “Gon-chan” is just too irresistible. Whenever I introduce myself, out on a group date or something, people always laugh at me.’

They may not have meant any harm (just as Kei’ichi hadn’t) but that didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt, every single time. Even if she laughed along with them.

‘When I got to college, I so wanted everyone to call me Miho-chan. But I screwed up my debut.’ She put away her ID as she said this.

Hoping to smooth over this uncomfortable moment, Kei’ichi blurted out his own revelation.

‘I also saw university as a chance to make a fresh start. All through high school, girls had called me “army geek” and made fun of me. I thought if I could hide my interest I might be able to get a girlfriend. But now here I go, unable to stop myself from blabbing about it.’

‘Oh, well, you don’t have to worry – I won’t tell anyone that you’re an army geek.’ There was a slight hesitation in her speech, but she had taken up his offer to speak informally.

‘When someone asks me about something I’m into, I get carried away and just jabber on – I guess I give myself away, I really am a geek!’

‘With my problem, it’s not really a matter of whether or not I give myself away …’

She pouted sulkily and he thought, Gon-chan is pretty cute.

‘The only way to change my name is to get married.’

‘Ah, you’re right. I shouldn’t talk about my problem as if it’s on the same level as yours. Sorry.’

‘Oh, no, I wasn’t trying to make you feel bad. I’m the one who’s sorry.’

There was a lull in the conversation, until Kei’ichi broke their silence.

‘So before you saw the helicopters, what else did you come across today that was special?’

‘Three Borzoi!’ Gon-chan’s response was immediate. ‘They were on their morning walk, I spotted them from the train on my way out. An elderly couple was walking all three of them.’

He inferred that she must have had a lecture during Saturday’s first period. He figured that wasn’t a required course, it had to be an elective subject. It fitted with his reasonable assumption from her appearance that she was a serious student. In contrast to himself, who practically had to be strong-armed into taking just the one compulsory class during Saturday’s second period (that of the aforementioned and infamous textbook author).

‘Are Borzoi the dogs that are tall and really long and skinny?’

‘That’s right. One of them on its own has a lot of poise, but three of them together is something to see. An abundance of elegance, you might say!’

They were certainly posh dogs, and he imagined that the couple who owned them would have to be rich to afford the care and food for three of them, but to say so might have provoked scorn from Gon-chan so he held his tongue.

He didn’t want to throw cold water on her unguarded enthusiasm either.

‘The Imazu Line is good, from here to Nishi-Kita, at least. One of these days I’d like to ride it all the way to the other end, at Takarazuka Station. But so far I haven’t had a reason to go in the opposite direction.’

‘It’s no good past Nishi-Kita?’

‘That’s not what I meant, not at all.’ Something curious about the Imazu Line is that it doesn’t run directly all the way to Imazu; the tracks split at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi. Passengers have to disembark there and cross over to a different platform in order to carry on to Imazu, two stations further, which was something Kei’ichi had never done.

She continued her explanation. ‘I’m living with my aunt near the Hanshin-Kokudo Station, which is convenient because it’s close to the JR line, or if I go all the way to the terminus at Imazu I can transfer to the Hanshin Main Line. Plus there are tons of stores there, you can get whatever you need. But the tracks are elevated after Nishi-Kita. It’s much easier to spot interesting things when the train runs at street level.’

Kei’ichi had been nodding along as he listened. ‘Hey, you just slipped back to formal,’ he teased her. Her cheeks flushed as she quickly corrected herself, repeating the last thing she’d said but more casually.

‘Go easy on me, please! Boys have mostly only ever teased me about my name, I’m not used to having normal conversations with them. Certainly not with a cool guy like you, Kosaka-kun.’

She thinks I’m cool …?

‘Well, that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that about me. Like I said, all through middle and high school, I was known as “army-geek guy”. Meaning I’ve never had a girlfriend.’

‘So, are you saying I have strange taste?’

‘Hey now, don’t go back on what you said just like that!’

‘Ah, sorry, no! I’ve never had a boyfriend either!’

She’s funny. And she’s cute. And we seem to get each other.

At some point he had taken off his headphones and they were hanging around his neck. Talking to Gon-chan was more interesting than listening to the same old music.

‘Kosaka-kun, you don’t seem like you’re from Kansai. I’m from Nagasaki, what about you?’

It was the first personal question she had asked him. He took it as a sign that she was enjoying talking to him too.

‘I’m from Hiroshima. I live a short bike ride from Nishi-Kita.’

He may have overshared by including where he lived, but Gon-chan had mentioned the station that was nearest to her too.

‘Huh, but isn’t rent expensive in Nishi-Kita?’

‘I got a late start on my apartment search. But I found a decent place that’s only a ten-minute bike ride from the station, and the rent is pretty cheap. Actually it’s kind of close to the Mukogawa River.’

The iron bridge over the Mukogawa River was the first one along the route from Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi towards Umeda. A lot of people who lived on either side of the river thought the Hankyu Line was a bit less convenient to get to, but for a student – especially one who grew up in a provincial city and whose primary means of transport was a bicycle – it was more than suitable.

‘Oh, that’s not far from where I am.’

Based upon her response, he figured maybe the environment where she had grown up was similar.

‘I can do my shopping near the station on the way home, and there’s a supermarket close to my apartment too,’ he said.

‘Oh, do you cook for yourself? I’m impressed.’

‘I don’t have the budget to buy prepared meals or junk food all the time. So I crib from cooking magazines that I read in the store, because they usually have cheap and easy recipes. I make a lot of mistakes in the kitchen, though.’

‘Wow. I leave all the meals up to my aunt.’

Just as they were speaking, the train had passed the last crossing before the station, so the pressure of passengers about to disembark was growing on either side.

As Kei’ichi subtly moved as if to protect Gon-chan from the onslaught and waited for the doors to open, he thought to himself, I wish we could keep talking.

At last they had reached Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi, the terminus, though it isn’t actually the last stop on the Imazu Line.