Seijun: A Girl's Bygone Days

Assembly Complete! / Dispatches from Hokkaido

And I can also see and hear Harumi cry, too.

Indeed, if she's the reincarnation of Noemi like she claims to be...

...the emotions of the two girls must be connected, linked, with nothing that stands between them.

I spend the last ten minutes of the storytelling session consoling her as I allow her to empty out those tears.

And once 7 o'clock ticks...

“Feeling better now, Harumi?”

“Y-Yes, Gunpei.”

“Let me accompany you to your unit. And... thanks for the ice cream sandwiches. My dinner's now complete.”

“Thank you, too.”

Like I told her, I guide her to her unit.

I can sense only a few sobs from her now.

“Have a great weekend, you hear?”

Those are my last words to her, softly spoken, as I close the door to her unit.

And right before the door is shut, I can sense a hint of a smile on her face.

Good.

It's Saturday once more.

I have lots of free time...

...free time that should be allotted for completing the semestral project at last.

Going to the arcade can come tomorrow, or even next weekend.

I'm not hurrying, anyway.

First, I check the carrot and scallion scraps I've submerged in water.

They're starting to grow roots.

I would want to plant them in soil right away, but...

There are some fixes in the sample plot that must be done first.

While the pipes with holes are a way to let the water in, especially in hot and dry months (and the micro-controller will determine if water is needed in the first place), there must be a way to let excessive water out if the entire plot is flooded.

Sure, the micro-controller's built-in weather sensors will warn the system if rain's coming and the plot will most likely be flooded, but I haven't programmed yet a subroutine that detects if the plot is excessively filled with unnecessary water.

Oh well... back to the drawing board again.

Instead of revising the original blueprint I've made for the prototype, which now has several signatures from my professors, I instead draw an appendix, a supplement, to such blueprint.

The basic idea is to have a simple flood height sensor that will warn the micro-controller if the plot is already flooded; and if the plot is indeed flooded, the micro-controller will then seal off the pipes from letting any water in, and have a floodgate open to expel the excessive water.

It took me an hour to make the necessary additions on paper, but I still have to implement them on the micro-controller's program.

So off to my laptop I go.

While programming in the additional subroutine to detect and expel excessive water, I listen to some tunes on a free music streaming app.

And I'm observing something.

Many English-language songs, especially from the sixties and seventies, have their titles not literally translated or even transliterated (i.e. transcribed to katakana) to Japanese.

Instead, they are given completely different titles, which may or may not be relevant to the song's actual lyrics and/or message.

After all, Japanese people back then couldn't pronounce the original English titles even if they tried, so the local distributors of the records the songs came in had to come up with a pragmatic solution.

For example, that song Noemi used to play on the rhythm game arcade machine many times?

In Japanese, the official title of the song is “Soyokaze no Yuuwaku”, or “Temptation of the Breeze” in English – which is a far, far cry from the original English title.

Indeed, this is but a curiosity of the entire music industry.

But now, thanks to the internet, we can easily research the original English titles and nail them good in terms of pronunciation and comprehension.

Now back to my project.

After an hour and a half of coding and debugging, the subroutine is complete.

Alright, now to take the newly-programmed micro-controller for a spin...

*Grrrruuuuuuggggggg...*

Not again.

That dreaded stomach grumble.

Guess I'll have to eat lunch first.

I check my pantry, and I want to whip up a quick and filling lunch out of what's currently there.

Alright, a pack of instant yakisoba, two eggs, and a can of luncheon meat.

A perfect energizer combo.

The yakisoba is in a bowl, so all I have to do is to pour in some hot water, cover the bowl, and let it sit for three minutes.

Cooking the eggs and the luncheon meat is also easy.

I fry the eggs sunny-side up, set them aside, and then toss in the already-diced luncheon meat into the frying pan.

Once the two are cooked, I just have to throw them into the bowl containing the already-cooked and already-seasoned yakisoba.

There! Lunch is complete!

Now to savor the fullness of the trio of ingredients before I resume my work.

Once the pangs of hunger are gone, I go back to actually testing out the micro-controller's added anti-flooding module.

Well... I should do some modifications to the prototype first before I move on with the testing.

Fortunately, this task is easy-peasy.

I just have to use a window/door sensor and jerry-rig it to make it sense overflowing water.

These types of sensors can be bought at 100-yen stores, and I already have one in possession.

As for the floodgate...

I already have a mini disc cutter I can use to make a hole, and then construct the floodgate's open-close mechanism while also taking care to make it watertight when it's sealed off.

There. I'm eventually done with the attachments, wiring, and stuff.

Testing should then begin any minute from now.

I first hook up the micro-controller to the prototype's sample plot, and then move the entire system to the kitchen where I easily access the faucet.

I turn on the micro-controller, and then turn on the faucet.

This is the moment of truth.

The water level is steadily rising in the sample plot, and the jerry-rigged flood sensor soon detects the over-flooding.

The sensor then instructs the micro-controller to open the floodgate, and the floodgate follows said instruction and drains the water out.

Alright! This works!

Now that this phase is complete, I go back to the sample crops.

As the carrot and scallion scraps start to grow roots, I just have to source the soil and put it in the sample plot.

After a quick trip outside, I now have ample soil for the entire prototype.

Planting then should be as easy-peasy as dong the mods... or even much easier.

Now that the crops are planted into the sample plot, it's time to test the entire thing again.

I intentionally fill up the entire sample plot and observe if the micro-controller is doing anything.

Indeed it does. The flood sensor works, and the floodgate immediately opens.

Score one for Gunpei Imahara the future robotics engineer!

With the assembly and testing of the micro-controller-powered uninterruptible irrigation system complete, the rest of Saturday is free time.

I bet the professors will be impressed at how I managed to build a system at the lowest cost possible.

The next day. Sunday.

I just hope Harumi's alright after that breakdown last Friday.

Because if she's not, she'll be heading towards the downward spiral of depression, and that is definitely not good news.

In this breezy weekend morning, I stand outside my unit, on the open-air hallway on the second floor.

In the ten years that I live in this coastal town, I feel like there's still more to explore here.

“Morning, Gunpei!”

Yup, it's Harumi. And in a much chirpier mood, thank goodness.

“Hey! How about we hit the bowling alley in the northern part of town? I got two tickets from a classmate who had an excess of them. I forgot that she gave them to me due to that Friday night full of tears.”

“I see. My school project's complete, and I have nothing else to do, so... why not?”

“Great! Let's go! ...After we eat breakfast, that is.”

“Haha.”

So after heading back to our own units and eating the mandatory breakfast, we both are in our literal Sunday best.

I wear a white hoodie over a black shirt plus gray pants; while she wears a one-piece dress with animal prints and white sleeves, and she carries a handbag.

Yup, it's in her blood to look innocent yet outgoing.

Without further ado, we head towards the northern part of town.

Specifically, the Zxuriq Bowling Alley.

“What were they thinking, making this name unpronounceable?!”

We first react to the absurd-looking name...

...before correcting ourselves once we see the proper way to pronounce the name, in katakana.

The proper pronunciation is “Churikku”, which is kinda close to “Zurich” (“Chuurihhi”).

OK, we've both calmed down to not cause a ruckus, and straightaway we head inside the bowling alley.

As I observe the lanes filled with players who are getting good at it, or are consistent in their epic fails...

How long has it been since I've last touched a bowling ball and attempted to knock the pins down?

When I was a kid, maybe?

I remember my parents taking me to several establishments in my hometown.

They said it was a way for me to explore new places behind the confines of my old yet still humble home.

“Uh... you're getting all spaced out. Let's start knocking them down!”

“Oh! Yes, sorry!”

I first remember the phrase “knock down” from an RPG – the first one that eventually became a part of a long-running series and was credited as the game that saved the company that developed it from bankruptcy.

With that memory fresh in mind, I pick up a ball and hold it as snugly as I can.

Harumi does the same thing, as the lane she occupies is next to mine.

Now, I focus on how should I launch the ball for maximum strength and accuracy.

Sure, it's not like the bowling video games I sometimes play every now and then, but the basic mechanics are still there.

And once I determine the ideal strength and angle, I launch the ball with all my might, all while loudly quipping...

“I, Gunpei, will knock you all down!”

The ball goes directly into the pins, not veering to the sides as I have feared.

The result? Eight out of ten pins knocked down.

Not bad, but I need to down the remaining two.

Which I did, after a flub.

On Harumi's side, she knocks down at most six pins, but at least she makes up by knocking down all ten pins in just two hits.

Eventually, we have all the bowling fun we have, and thus we eat lunch.

Coincidentally, at Tenraku-ya, the same sushi restaurant Noemi first introduced to me on our first meeting.

Once we both head back to our apartment, we encounter a delivery man. He asks...

“Is this the apartment in which... uh... Mr. Gunpei Imahara lives?”

“Yup, it's me.”

“There's a package coming from Mr. and Mrs. Rintaro Imahara of Hokkaido.”

“Oh, it's the monthly care package from my parents? Sweet!”

“Great. Now please sign in the necessary forms.”

After doing the necessary procedure...

“OK. You can then get the package. Thank you for receiving it on time.”

“Yeah. Thanks to you, too. So long, then.”

As I bid the delivery man goodbye, Harumi asks the obvious.

“So why do your parents send you a package every month?”

“This is their way of not just caring for me as their only child, but also their friendly reminder for me not to become a spendthrift. Even with the money they send me alongside the package, they will watch out for something I will buy that will drain their finances pretty hard – even though I always save for a rainy day. And thus, if I request something from them that's a tad expensive, it's usually put into the package.”

“How thoughtful of them!”

“Now then, let's head inside and partake in the blessings.”

“Sure!”

We both head towards my unit.

No sooner do we coordinate in opening the package.

Besides the mandatory native treats from my native land such as melon steam cakes, freshly-baked cookies with a while chocolate filling (which has an actual name that translates to “White Lover” in English), cheese omelets and cheesecakes, and sponge cakes...

We're treated to the unique contents exclusive for this month, which includes one of my most-requested stuff... a Double Screen Boy, which is a handheld console with the obvious two screens.

“Uh... Gunpei, why are you excited over a somewhat old handheld?”

“Well, in the past, I always requested my parents to get me one. But alas, they've always forgotten it. Every. Single. Time. Well, I can't blame them since they're normally busy with their jobs and all.”

With the handheld console comes a note. It simply explains that their neighbor's child basically outgrew the console and had to give it away for free.

Alright. Time to test if it works.

And it does, thank goodness.

The shell has a few scratches, but I can manage them all with some polishing compound.

There are also a few cartridges that come with the handheld, and they also most likely come from the neighbor.

And thus, we make the most of the rest of Sunday, taking turns playing games.

As I'm a more experienced gamer than her, I beat her at the challenges we impose on ourselves.

Like reaching the goal in a racing game in the shortest time possible.

These laid-back quality times are the reason why I loved spending more time with Noemi.

And as for Harumi... yup, seeing her spend quality time with me has earned her another credibility point.