Toggle Background Color
VIDEO: Himatsubushi-hen | TIP 7: Barley Tea, Black Tea & a Millstone
BGM: Silence
“At this rate, you'll still be kicking after a couple hundred more years, Oryou-san."
The young doctor in his medical coat said that as he undid the blood pressure cuff from the arm of the old woman tucked away in her futon.
The old lady, Oryou, laughed faintly with a broad smile on her face.
Then, turning towards the sliding door, she called out in a strong voice.
"Is Shimiko-san or Taeko-san there? Bring some tea for Dr. Irie!"
The sound of rushed footsteps from the hallway drew closer, until finally the door slid smoothly open.
What it revealed was a young girl. ...It looked like the old lady's granddaughter.
"Mion, make some barley tea for Dr. Irie."
"Okay, got it. Did you want some too, Granny? Or would black tea be better? Want lots of milk and sugar?"
"I'll measure it out myself, so you don't have to put any in. Just bring the sugar jar and some milk when you bring the tea."
"Kay kay."
The girl named Mion, after giving a rather uninterested response to her taskmaster of a grandmother, returned to the hallway.
"Yeah, yeah. You're such a fussypants."
A tired voice wafted a reply from down the hallway.
The apathetic tone of voice was far from unusual. The old lady let a wry smile slip across her face as she chided the girl.
"Geez, that girl just won't learn. Nothing I ever scold her about sticks."
"Her mother was the same way... couldn't teach her anything. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!"
"Aha ha ha ha. So her mother's mother must be exactly the same, no?"
The old lady burst out laughing. Her expression showed she hadn't taken the comment the wrong way.
"Dr. Irie. I'm sorry, but could you open the doors for me? It seems there's a nice cool breeze outside."
The cool chirping of the higurashi had at some point started leaking through the gap in the doorway.
Irie stood up, and opened the door a bit.
BGM: Night Higurashi
SFX: Night Higurashi
"It's gotten fairly hot during the day, but the evenings are still rather cool, aren't they. It was almost downright chilly last night."
"Yeah. ...Those types of mornings and evenings are another one of Hinamizawa's fine points."
Irie replied with a smile as he returned to sit on the cushion beside the old lady.
And then the two of them, for a little while, soaked in the voices of the higurashi…
BGM: Silence
"...To get the government to withdraw a decision they've already made is a fairly difficult thing to do..."
"The way this country does things is like turning a millstone. A heavy one at that."
"...A millstone?"
"Don'tcha know?? A millstone."
Irie quickly affirmed that of course he knew what the old lady was talking about.
For he knew full well that Oryou didn't like having her stories interrupted.
“Lots of people have to work in unison to get it to even budge. It's that type of millstone."
Irie pursed his lips, listening quietly to what she was saying.
Seeing that Oryou was talking and in a good mood, she quietly knelt down and laid out the sets for the barley and black tea, careful not to interrupt.
"That's why, when it gets going, it's not that easy to stop. ...It takes the most effort to move it right before it starts turning. Everybody hates that, so everybody keeps pushing it along without rest."
"You're talking about friction, right? I get what you're saying."
"So in other words. If there's some sort of mistake, and the millstone suddenly stops turning... to get it turning again takes a great deal of power, more'r less."
"...Certainly, to get a project that's been suspended going again takes quite a lot of work."
"It's a millstone that isn't easily stopped. ...But once it's stopped, it'll never turn again. It's that kind of millstone."
When Irie responded with that, Mion and the old lady suddenly sunk into silence...
Irie, instinctively thinking he had said something rude, searched in a small panic for the words to correct himself.
But that silence wasn't the result of rude words.
...For what crept across the Mion and the old lady's faces were contemptuous smiles.
The atmosphere surrounding Irie suddenly froze, leaving him flabbergasted.
...Thinking that the scornful smiles creeping across both of their faces was the result of some mistake of his, he could only grow afraid.
"..."
"......"
It hadn't been that long at all since he was enveloped by silence.
However, unable to stand it, Irie could only let out a weak laugh.
Irie's laugh eventually spread to Mion and the old lady. Not knowing exactly what they were laughing at, their laughter left a lingering chill.
...The only ones not laughing were the higurashi, who continued their simple and unchanging chorus...