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eop e leer ....
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Nurie Kushimura.
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Calculatedly avoiding happiness.
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A "good experience" for him. Yuko had said that early on.
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"Even without spirits getting involved, people can cause
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plenty of strange events on their own. You have a healthy
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mind, Watanuki, and there are all kinds of people you would
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consider creepy. That is part of mankind, something that
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dwells within all humans. You always talk about spirits as if
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they are frightening or evil. but there is nothing as frighten-
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ing or evil as humans. When you have time, Watanuki, sit
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somewhere alone and toy with that idea awhile. When you
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have finished paying off your fair price, and your eyes can no
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longer see spirits ...
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"Will you be able to see people?"
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He could have sworn ...
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... he heard the sound of horrible jagged teeth snapping
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shut.
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"Just kidding!"
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Watanuki was unable to respond.
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Yako continued merrily, "Now I'm all done with work,
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but you, Watanuki, have just begun! When my coffee is
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ready, you have quite a task ahead of you! You have to make
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up for being late yesterday and skipping entirely the day be-
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fore, or you may find yourself working at this shop for all
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eternity!"
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•
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66167
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OUTERHOLIC
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"What task?"
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"Flowing somen!" Y ako beamed.
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As if that was the best possible choice.
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Good things always brought suffering.
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Oh.
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Oh, no.
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I did it again.
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I wasted time.
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• • • •
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And time is so precious.
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Nobody could possibly solve my problems. Nobody
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could possibly grant my wish. I knew it would be pointless,
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so why?
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Let that nice child talk me into it ... let myself sit in that
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terrifying woman's gaze.
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And all I got was this ordinary pair of glasses.
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What was the point of that?
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She had said things that sounded right, but anybody
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could tell these were cheaply made plastic things, the kind
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sold in any hundred-yen shop. The origins she had given
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were not remotely believable.
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What was that all about?
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Some sort of scam?
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Taking advantage of people's troubles?
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But it wasn't as though I'd lost anything. I had wasted a
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little time, but lost nothing. Not only that, but I had been
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given this pair of cheap fake glasses.
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Fair price.
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ANOTHERHOLIC: LANDOLT- RING AEROSOL
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The boy had used that phrase.
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But what fair price had I paid to acquire these? I didn't
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feel as though I had done anything, but now that I was think-
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ing about it ... something felt different.
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Something felt wrong.
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I felt as though I had lost a tangible part of myself.
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Should I throw these things away?
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These glasses .. _ there was nothing special about them. If
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I threw them away, would this strange sense ofloss inside me
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fade away?
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As though I had lost a comfortable place.
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As though I had lost a comfortable escape route.
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As though I had a hole opened in my heart.
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Or as though I had fllied a hole in my heart.
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I looked at the trash can.
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I should throw these glasses in there.
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But then ...
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"Go ahead. I dare you. "
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I heard her voice.
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My hand stopped.
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I was hearing things, of course. I had just remembered
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that phrase suddenly.
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But . .. why not? I thought. I didn't need to make up my
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mind right away.
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I walked on past the garbage can, keeping the glasses.
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There was a crosswalk ahead of me.
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The light was red, so I stopped.
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