1、The hour hand on the clock had already past ten.The sound of the wind blowing to the west outside in the black darkness could be heard by everyone sitting there together in a circle in the room.Leaves rustled in the garden, the panes of the window rattled slightly, and the wind rose up in a shrill w
2、histle before blowing away into the night.That was a special type of wave, a colossus, the like of which Ive never again seen, the man continued.That wave only missed finishing me off by hairs breadth.But instead it drank up the most essential part of me, and transported it to another world.It took
3、such a long time before I was finally completely recovered.So much precious time.The Seventh Man looked to be in his mid-fifties. Tall and gaunt, he had a profusion of whiskers around his mouth, and there was a small but deep wound by his right eye, that appeared to have been made by a knife stroke.
4、His hair was short, and had bristly touches of white here and there.His face seemed to bear the expression of a man who suddenly doesnt know quite what to say, except that he seemed to have worn this expression consistently for a long time, and there was something quite familiar about it.He wore a c
5、heerless blue shirt under a grey tweed jacket.He occasionally took the collar of his shirt into his hand.No one knew his name.There was probably nobody who knew anything about him.The Seventh Man coughed quietly.All other words dropped away into silence.Without saying anything, everyone waited for h
6、im to go on.In my case, it was a wave.Of course, I cant say anything about how it is with other people.But in my case it just happened to be a wave.I had no advance warning.Suddenly it was just there in front of me one day: that fatal force presenting itself in the shape of an enormous wave.I grew u
7、p in S Prefecture, in this town by the sea.It was such a nowhere town that even if I told you the name, it probably wouldnt make an impression on you.My father was engaged as a medical practitioner there, and at first I had a relatively untroubled childhood.I had one very close friend for as long as
8、 I could remember.His name was K.He lived in the house next door to ours, and was a year behind me in school.We walked to school together everyday, and when we returned home in the afternoon the two of us always played together.We might as well have been brothers.Though we were friends for a very lo
9、ng time, never once did any kind of trouble arise between us.I actually had a real brother, but because he was six years older than me we didnt have much in common, and to speak frankly, there wasnt much love lost between us.It was because of this that I felt more fraternal love for my friend than I
10、 did for my real brother.K was pale and slight, and had the delicate features of a girl.He also had a speech impediment, and couldnt talk well.When strangers met him for the first time, I imagine they got the impression that he was retarded.And since he wasnt very strong, I frequently found myself a
11、cting as his protector both at school and after school when we were playing.Anybody can see right away that Im a pretty big guy, and fairly athletic.The thing that I liked most about being with K was his kindness and the beauty of his soul.There was absolutely nothing wrong with his mind, but his im
12、pediment led him to have academic problems, and going to class was troublesome for him.He was exceptionally gifted at drawing pictures, though, and whenever he took up a pencil or his paints, he created such exquisite pictures exuding such vitality that even his teacher was blown away.He frequently
13、won prizes in competitions and received commendations.If he had grown up unpreturbed, I think that he probably would have made a name for himself as an artist.He was particularly fond of painting landscapes, and went to the shore incessantly to draw the sea.I spent countless days sitting next to him
14、, watching his nimble hand guide the pencil over the paper.The way he could bring such life-like shapes and colors out of the pure white of the paper in an instant impressed me deeply, and was truly amazing.When I think about it now, it was really nothing short of genius.One year in September, the r
15、egion where I lived was beset by a fierce typhoon.According to the report on the radio, this was going to be the biggest typhoon the area had seen in ten years.School was quickly dismissed, and all the shops in town were closed and shuttered tight.My father and brother got out the tool box and began putting up storm doors around the house, while my mother busied herself in the kitchen preparing onigiri as emergency rations.Bottles and canteens
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