The Flying Letters and the Auto-Memories Doll (Part 2)
In cities, villages and even forests, those touched by the winds laughed at its greatness. The raging gale's sounds were a melody of rattlings. With the grace of the Sun, limpid blue skies blessed the people below.
On that day, the wind had suddenly become strong from afternoon to evening. The vigorous airstream was almost as a dragon undulating its body and trampling down the earth. Wherever the gust dragon passed by, the sounds of leaves and cries of birds and insects chorused. Surrounded by woods, the site of Leidenschaftlich's army's Air Force base became the wind's playground as well.
Heaps of guests who had just arrived exited a passenger truck that had been going on repeated trips every now and then for the sake of the special day. As its interior became empty, it once again returned to the city. The people who had descended from it crossed the forest road while chatting cheerfully amongst one another. As they walked through the tree path, their roars and joyful voices rose at the profound, swiveling sound of fighter airplanes dancing in the sky.
The seveth Aeronautical Exhibition was taking place.
In that midst, the figures of members of CH Postal Service, led by Claudia Hodgins, were also present. From clerks who had been working in the office to postmen who were done with their deliveries, they all walked with faces enveloped in a feeling of liberation.
"Brighten up, Little Lux."
While everyone else seemed to be having fun, Lux alone had a sour expression. The president, who was now over thirty years old, desperately attempted to talk to her in order to make her smile.
Thinking that she was being a child herself, Lux spit out the incomprehensible feelings in her heart, "No, it's not like I'm in a bad mood. I... Something I couldn't do anything about no matter what... was solved with a single statement from you, President... I've once again come to understand how things work in this world; I'm merely climbing up the stairs of adulthood... This world is so..."
"Was it so bad to have the public office extend the deadline? But, look. Thanks to that, we were able to bring everyone from the company to the festival. I... had also wanted to do something for everyone, since they did their best at work because they had wanted to come here..."
"But that receptionist from the public office was your ex, right, President Hodgins?"
"Aah... well, was she?" He answered vaguely, as she was actually not someone who could be counted as a lover, for the two of them merely happened to know each other's naked bodies.
"In short, you have a relationship of sympathy, in which you normally overlook one another... that's why, if I had been the one to ask the favor, it would have been useless... that's why..."
Hodgins had been observing Lux, who was making several different comic faces, with worry at first, but it gradually turned into amusement and he wound up laughing. The childishness of that girl, who was still alienated to the subtleties of human relations despite having become able to do quite a lot of work, and therefore remained too innocent, was adorable.
"Little Lux. Getting frustrated over something like this is no good. You're my secretary, so you'll have to keep steadily learning my dirty ways from now on. The president's statements are...?"
"A-Absolute."
What was he trying to make her learn?
"You're lacking energy. One more time. The president's statements are...?"
"A-Absolute!"
Hodgins patted Lux's head in satisfaction. "Little Lux is so cute. I'll raise you into a great member of society."
