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lierrelearns · 7 months

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皇居東御苑 The East Gardens of the Imperial (HIgashi-Gyoen) 所要時間大手本 → 本丸、二の丸ーー大手門およそ60分 →二の丸、ーーー平川門およそ30分 →本丸ーーーー北桔橋門およそ30分

乾門　Inui-mon Gate 至千鳥ヶ淵　For Chidorigafuchi 科学技術館　Science Museum 国立公文書館　National Archives of Japan 東京国立近代武術間　The National Museum of MODERN ART, Tokyo 乾濠　Inui-bori Moat 発券所　Ticket office 北桔橋門　Kita-hanebashi-mon Gate 平川濠　Hirakawa-bori Moat 1a出口 (Exit) 地下鉄　竹橋駅　Takebashi Sta. 清水濠　Shimizu-bori Moat 平川門　Hirakawa-mon Gate 天守台　Tenshudai (Tenshukaku Dunjon Base) 宮内庁書陵部庁舎　Shoryobu (Archives and Mausolea Department Bldg.) 桃華楽堂　Gakubu (Music Department Bldg.) 梅林坂　Bairin-zaka Slope 都道府県の木　Symbolic Prefectural Tree Emblems 天神濠　Tenjin-bori Moat 発券所　Ticket office 大手濠　Ote-bori Moat 内堀通り　Uchibori-street 諏訪の茶屋　Suwano-chaya Tea House 竹林　Bamboo Garden 石室　Ishimuro (Stone Cellar) 桜の島　Sakura Blossom Island 富士見多門　Fujimi-tamon Defence-house バラ園　Rose Garden 茶畑　Tea Garden ユーロッパアカマツ　Scots Pine 本丸　Honmaru 本丸大芝生　Honmaru Oshibafu (Lawn) 本丸休憩所　Honmaru Rest House 汐見坂　Shiomizaka Slope 白鳥濠　Hakucho-bori Moat 展望台　Observatory 二の丸休憩所　Ninomaru Rest House 二の丸雑木林　Ninomaru Grove 秋の七草　The Seven Flowers of Autumn 新雑木林　Renewed Grove 菖蒲田　Iris Garden 二の丸庭園　Ninomaru Garden 蓮池濠　Hausike-bori Moat 松の大廊下跡　Site of Matsuno-o-roka Corridor 果樹古品種園　Orchard (Old Species of Japanese Fruits) 野草の島　Wild Grass Island 緑の泉　Green Fountain 中雀門跡　Site of Chujaku-mon Gate 大番所　O-bansho Guardhouse 中之門跡　Site of Nakano-mon Gate 百人番所　Hyakunin-bansho Guardhouse 同心番所　Doshin-bansho Guardhouse 大手休憩所　Ote Rest House 三の丸尚蔵館　Sannomaru Shozokan　The museum of the Imperial Collections 皇居東御苑管理事務所　Office of the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace 発券所　Ticket Office 大手門　Ote-mon Gate 現在地　You are Here C13b出口 (Exit)　Otemachi Sta. 坂下門　Sakashita-mon Gate 富士見櫓　Fujimi-yagura (Mt. Fuji View Keep 蛤濠　Hamaguri-bori Moat 桔梗門　Kikyo-mon Gate 桔梗濠　Kikyo-bori Moat ←至　二重橋　For Nijubashi Bridge 皇居外苑　Kokyi gaien National garden 至 JR東京駅　For Tokyo Sta. 和田倉噴水公園　Wadakura Fountain Park 日比谷通り　Hibiya-street

皇居東御苑は、旧江戸城本丸、二の丸及び三の丸の一部を皇居付属庭園として、宮中行事に支障のない限り次のように公開(無量)しています。（Free of charge）

１．出入門大手門、平川門、北桔橋門の３つの門から出入り出来ます。２．休園日（１）月曜日及び金曜日ただし、天皇誕生日以外の「国民の祝日等の休日」は公開します。なお、月曜日が休日で公開する場合は、火曜日（休日を除く）を休園します。（２）12月28日から翌年1月3日までの日３．入園手続き入園するは、各門内の発券所で入園票を受け取り、退園の際にはいずれかの発券所にお返し下さい。宮内庁

１．The Gardens are open on the following days. However the Gardens are closed in the period between 28 December and 3 January and may be closed due to Court functions and other reasons. ① Wednesdays ② Thursdays ③ Saturdays ④ Sundays ⑤ National Holidays (excluding the Emperor’s Birthday, 23 December) ⑥ Mondays immediately following the National Holiday which falls on Sunday ⑦ Tuesdays (excluding Tuesday immediately following ⑤ and ⑥) ２．While you are in the Gardens, please keep the plastic ticket which you will receive at the gate. Please return the ticket to the officer at the exit gate. IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD AGENCY

公益財団法人菊葉文化協会寄贈財団法人日本宝くじ協会

Vocab 皇居（こうきょ）imperial 御苑（ぎょえん）imperial garden 所要時間（しょようじかん）time required, time taken 至（し）to 科学時術（かがくじじゅつ）science and technology 近代美術館（きんだいびじゅつかん）museum of modern art 濠（ほり）moat, canal 発券（はっけん）issuing (a ticket, etc.) 宮内庁（くないちょう）Imperial Household Agency 書陵部（しょりょうぶ）agency that takes care of records and the tombs 庁舎（ちょうしゃ）government office building 梅林（ばいりん）plum grove 都道府県（とどうふけん）prefectures of Japan 竹林（ちくりん）bamboo grove 茶畑（ちゃばたけ）tea field ユーロッパアカマツ Scots/Scotch pine, Pinus slyvestris 芝生（しばふ）lawn, grass 休憩所（きゅうけいしょ）rest area, rest stop 展望台（てんぼうだい）observation deck 雑木林（ぞうきばやし）thicket; grove of miscellaneous trees 秋の七草（あきのななくさ）seven flowers of autumn: bush clover, Chinese silvergrass, kudzu, fringed pink, golden lace, thoroughwort, and balloon flower 菖蒲（しょうぶ）Japanese iris (Iris ensata var. ensata) [coll.] 果樹（かじゅ）fruit tree 品種（ひんしゅ）breed variety, cultivar 野草（のぐさ）wild grasses 泉（いずみ）fountain 番所（ばんしょ）guardhouse 桔梗（ききょう）Chinese bellflower (Platycodon grandiflorus) 外苑（がいえん）outer garden 噴水（ふんすい）water fountain 付属（ふぞく）being attached (to), belonging (to) 宮中（きゅうちゅう）imperial court 行事（ぎょうじ）event, function 支障（ししょう）obstacle, hindrance 休園日（きゅうえんび）day on which a park (or kindergarten or zoo) is closed 祝日（しゅくじつ）national holiday なお　furthermore 除く（のぞく）to exclude, except 手続き（てつづき）procedure, process 票（ひょう）ticket, stub (suffix) 公益財団法人（こうえきざいだんほうじん）public interest incorporated foundation 文化協会（ぶんかきょうかい）cultural association 公益財団法人菊葉文化協会（こうえきざいだんほうじんきくようぶんかきょうかい）a cultural association that focuses its research on making artifacts of the imperial household available to the public. 寄贈（きぞう）donation, gift 宝くじ（たからくじ）lottery ticket

#日本語 #日本 #japanese language #japanese langblr #japanese vocabulary #japan #東京 #Tokyo #Tokyo imperial gardens #皇居東御苑

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szallejhscorner · 3 years

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Footprints

The Human Heart - Part 16

“Ugh! I really don’t wanna do this any longer.” Kuina leans against a board with Tokyo’s subway line network and rolls her eyes while chewing on her cigarette substitute or whatever that is. She has grumbled about it for quite some time now and Chishiya barely listens to her anymore.

“Honestly though! It has been three days and we haven’t found something. Why don’t we just… give it up and return to the others?”

Chishiya doesn’t lift his eyes off the note he’s holding in one hand. What seems to be a child’s drawing remains the only hint he’s got, and he still doesn’t know what it’s supposed to be other than wild lines filling a piece of paper. Only the dark blood spots remind him that there has to be a meaning, because the woman from the Spades game wouldn’t have carried it with her otherwise.

Kuina hasn’t been entirely right though. Chishiya has found out something, and while it doesn’t help finding the Dealer base, it is not unimportant. He had been awake at midnight, watching the sky and waiting for the lasers to kill those players whose visa have been expired. But not a single one of the red beams came down, and not a single game area had been lit in the hours prior, every night since the Witch Hunt. As if the whole construct is on hold now that all cards have been collected.

All except the face cards.

The weight of the deck still rests in his pocket, held together by a single rubber band. “You’re free to go, Kuina. Go back to your friends whenever you want to, I won’t stop you.”

Kuina sighs and rubs her temble as if honestly weighing her options. “Don’t you miss her?”

He does. Which is stupid, because as Kuina has said – it has only been three days. Chishiya doesn’t allow himself to think about his stubborn too often, but when he does, his thoughts always come back to that kiss. The Beach has been too loud and noisy, and more than once has Chishiya wished for a place to be alone, and yet it is too silent now that she’s not around.

“I have more important things to care about right now.”

“Okay, you know what?” Kuina punches against the board next to her while rolling her eyes, “what I said about you actually having a heart – forget about it. Guess I was wrong.”

But Chishiya doesn’t care about her words. His eyes are fixed on the line network, and something about it seems painfully familiar, although huge parts of it are covered by Kuina’s body.

“Out of the way.”

He steps closer, but Kuina doesn’t budge. “Huh? What the-“

“Step aside.” Now standing right in front of the board, he stares up to Kuina and she finally seems to understand. Chishiya lifts the piece of paper and holds it next to the map, turns it around multiple times until the lines match. It hasn’t been a child’s drawing all along. It is a map.

“No way!” Kuina exclaims next to him, and the cigarette substitute even falls out of her mouth. “I actually found it!”

With a snort, Chishiya turns his head to the dreadlocked woman. “You?” All she did was stand next to a sign and even cover the most important parts. “Where is it, then? I’m sure you can tell me now that you’ve contributed so much already.”

He even hands Kuina the paper and she takes it with a pout, holding it next to the map the same way Chishiya did. Only that she holds it the wrong way round. “I suppose the big spot here is our base? So… Takebashi?”

“No.” He turns the note while Kuina still pins it against the board, until the lines perfectly match the ones of the subway network, and pats on the one spot that equals the marked point on the note. “Shibuya.”

The Shibuya station is not too far from their current location – two or three hours to walk if they hurry up. But this might just be a first clue out of many, since the station is huge. And a whole Dealer base is something they want to keep hidden from curious eyes for sure, so it might require three days more of searching.

“Let’s go.”

He tucks the note back in his pocket and starts to walk, and Kuina follows immediately after picking up the backpack she had placed on the ground before. Chishiya didn’t care to take much with him, since he spends every night somewhere else, and experience has shown that it’s always likely to find some food on the way.

This part of Tokyo isn’t actually silent anymore, although it is a different kind of noise. Instead of honking cars and talking humans, the streets are filled with singing birds, barking dogs and the wind blowing all kinds of stuff over the concrete. It’s incredible how much sound tin cans and newspapers can make, and only yesterday, one of the smaller buildings had given in to its fate and crashed right next to them. Kuina took the whole rest of the day to recover from her shock.

Even now she eyes the stores and houses they pass with caution, but the most spectacular they see is a deer nibbling on herbs in a front yard, and it doesn’t seem to feel bothered by the presence of two humans.

Kuina doesn’t complain the fast pace, and they reach Shibuya at high noon. His companion has insisted to roam a food store nearby for a quick lunch, and she still munches at some salt crackers when the crossroads and famous advertising panels come in sight. The whole place is littered with trash, and a lone car stands abandoned on the road as if waiting for someone to get in and drive away.

“Aww! Hey, Chishiya, look at this!” Kuina has rushed ahead and is now leaning against a bronze statue of what turns out to be a dog. For the first time this day, her eyes seem to shine, and the childlike joy in her eyes reminds him of his stubborn, although Chishiya can’t tell what should be so exciting about a dog statue. His expression seems to mirror his thoughts, because Kuina rolls her eyes and points towards the bronze dog.

“This! Hachiko! You have never heard of its story?”

“Of course I have”, he answers with a shrug. A dog that spent ten years waiting for his deceased owner and earned itself a statue by doing so. Whee.

“And? Isn’t that the cutest shit you’ve ever heard? How pure this love must have been if the poor little thing came here day by day, for almost a decade, just because it hoped that its owner would come back one day!”

Looking at the statue, Chishiya can’t even say that it is a pretty one. Sure, it looks like a dog, but it could have been any of millions of dogs. Watching from the side, it has more resemblance with a pit bull than with an Akita. “It’s pathetic.” He walks on and Kuina follows, but not without complaints muttered under her breath.

“Dogs might not be the smartest animals, but this one should have at least been clever enough to realize that its master has died and won’t come back.”

A hard punch strikes his shoulder and causes him to hiss at the pain. While he begins to massage the hurting spot, Kuina glares at him with her hands now crossed. “Can’t you say something nice, just for once? Don’t you get annoyed of being an asshole for the whole time?”

She sighs, which obviously makes her the annoyed one instead of him. “I mean it. When I first heard Hachiko’s story as a child, it made me cry. I always wanted to be loved by someone in such a deep and pure way, and I know that there’s at least one person who waits for you to return to them just like Hachiko did.”

Chishiya has compared his stubborn to a puppy multiple times now, that’s true. But she’s smarter than that dog – she’ll know when it’s time to stop waiting.

They enter the station together, and the air cools down noticeably as soon as it’s out of the sun’s reach. The dim light stands in high contrast to the bright sunlight, and Chishiya has to blink a few times until his eyes can adjust to the new circumstances.

“What now?” Kuina’s voice echoes through the empty building, and the previous joy has left her voice. This is where the searching begins, and no one can guarantee that they will actually find anything useful. Chishiya gives Kuina a couple of hours more until dinner time and then she will return to her complaints about wasting time. Maybe it is a waste of time, but there is no way to find out other than to start searching.

Following no particular hint, Chishiya chooses a random escalator to descend into the underground parts of the station. A thick layer of dust has settled on the handrail, but every few steps, a handprint disrupts the otherwise even dust, which means that someone has been here not that long ago.

Kuina sneezes so loud that it can probably still be heard outside of the station. “This place could use some cleaning up, don’t you think?”

Throwing a glance over his shoulder, Chishiya snorts at the woman who is making more noise than a herd of elephants could have managed. “At least everyone in here knows that we’re coming now.”

She whispers a “sorry”, as if that could silence her previous noise, and tries desperately to silence the next sneeze.

Her “what now” still lingers in the air as they both stand on the platform and stare at the tracks. It’s too dark to see much except the last rays of light that managed to get all the way down the escalators, and it will be impossible to find out anything like this.

“If only we had brought a flashlight with us, hm?” Kuina chuckles next to him, and Chishiya is about to agree and send her up again to find something useful when a beam of light breaks through the darkness. “How good for us that I’m not as useless as you thought!”

The flashlight in her hands flickers a couple of times and she strikes against it until the flickering stops before she slowly turns around to get an overview of this place.

One of the tunnels is blocked by a train, and even though the windows are dirty, Chishiya is sure that a hand is printed on one of them, all covered in red. At least one game has taken place in here, probably more. But right now, the station is silent – no train causes the ground under his feet to rumble. Even if there were games today, it would still be too early for them to start.

Chishiya paces along the platform, searching for another hint. The piece of paper has guided him here, and that’s it. He can’t find a secret message on the other side, no code, no hint at other locations. Only the signs in the dust, leading down here, but it could as well have been the player who died inside that train.

“Chishiya!” shouts Kuina, again not caring about her volume at all. He turns around to the source of light and finds her kneeling on the ground, her fingers hovering over a bit of dirt staining the tiles. Only that it’s not just dirt.

What Kuina is pointing at is a footprint, caused by dirt clinging to a shoe and most likely left when it had been raining for half a day. But now the leftovers are dry, which means that they, too, are at least two or three days old. And there’s more of them, leading to the edge of one platform and then disappearing in the dark.

“I suppose we follow them?”

He nods, waiting for Kuina to lead the way with her flashlight, which causes her to roll her eyes before she begins to walk. “Thank you, Kuina”, she mocks in a once again childish tone, “for thinking one step ahead and bringing a flashlight!”

“Are you done now?” Chishiya climbs down the platform and tries to make out anything in the darkness of the tunnel. The air is cold and musty, but at least there’s not so much dust. The ray of light sways around the whole area while Kuina jumps down herself, and then it points towards the tracks vanishing in the darkness ahead.

With the narrow stone walls around them, their footsteps echo even louder. Somewhere close has to be a leak in the tunnel, because the sounds of dripping water can be heard as well, and a rat scurries between Chishiya’s feet before it disappears in the dark.

The beam of the flashlight trembles, and Kuina seems more than uncomfortable being here. “It feels so wrong”, she admits when she notices Chishiya’s glance, “all the time I expect a train to appear in the distance, but so fast that we couldn’t escape it even it we ran as quickly as possible.”

“You know that’s stupid.” No train will come this way, because not only have most humans vanished from this place, but the tracks are already blocked by another vehicle.

“Of course I do.” She moves the flashlight along the walls and back to the tracks, searching for more footsteps. They’re much harder to find with pebbles covering most of the ground here, but Chishiya has seen at least one, so it has to be the right path. “That doesn’t change the fact that I’m still scared though.”

It seems to go on and on forever without any trace, and Chishiya would have almost missed it because Kuina is lighting the other side of the wall. But a glint catches his attention, and when he tells Kuina to move around the flashlight, a single metal door interrupts the monotony of the grey stones. And in front of it is a dirty footprint.

Chishiya approaches the door with a smirk, and he doesn’t have to try it to find out that it’s locked. A number pad has been built into the wall next to the door, and only the right code will open it.

“Tell me you’re clever enough to figure it out”, huffs Kuina while keeping the flashlight on the pad. Trying out all possible combinations would take forever, but of course that’s not necessary at all. The flickering light is enough to show that several numbers are already worn-out, and their surface seems smoother than the others. The pad has been designed for codes between four and six digits long, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Dealers went for the six-digit code to keep their little hide-out as safe as possible.

“Oh, but of course I am.”

With six digits, there could be a million different options. But since only four of the numbers seem to be used regularly, it narrows the possibilities down to around less than a third of that. And with four numbers in a six-digit code, at least one of them has to repeat itself. Upon further investigation, two and five seem more worn-out than the others, and when Chishiya moves his finger over the keys in question, the answer is almost in reach.

“Some of the keys are covered in a greasy film”, he explains to Kuina while she doesn’t seem able to follow his train of thought, “as if the last person entering the code had oil on their fingers.”

Kuina, still perplexed, tilts her head and watches the number pad. “You mean… like Cheetos?”

A stupid comparison, but at least it leads in the same direction. He nods and continues to explain. “The two seems the greasiest, while the five almost looks like the other, unused keys.”

“So our code starts with a two and ends with a five? This almost feels like a Diamonds game.” Kuina scratches her head. “But how do we find out about the middle part?”

“Easy.” With four numbers left and no other repetitions because two and five are already used twice, it leaves twenty-four possibilities for the middle part. And in case Chishiya has noticed right and the six appears almost as greasy as the two…

Assuming that six is the second digit, the remaining three are five, nine and two. A direct repetition seems unlikely, so the five will either be the third or fourth digit, but it looks cleaner than the nine. And in case his intellect isn’t fooling him entirely…

One single try is all it needs for the pad to turn green, and the door opens almost silently, revealing just another pitch black hallway. Kuina inhales sharply, but not because of the dark. “You’re a creep, Chishiya.”

He shrugs, not in the mood for long explanations how observation and using one’s brain can solve almost every problem, and points towards the hallway.

“Ladies first.”

The way slopes down sharply, but with only concrete on the floor, some footprints have become visible again. But even without them there would be no doubt that this leads to something important, something that is supposed to be kept secret from the outside.

Kuina shudders, a movement only visible in the shaking of the flashlight. “I really don’t think we’re supposed to be here. Don’t you think they’ll punish us for finding their base?”

“We’ll have to find out about that”, Chishiya replies in a low tone. No one can tell what will happen if they enter the base just like that, but most likely the Dealers already know. It wouldn’t be surprising if they had surveillance cameras all over the place, watching every single step on huge monitors and comfy sofas.

And when the last door opens, this time without any locks to stop them, it becomes clear why this is kept so secret, because a giant room stretches in front of them with hundreds if not thousands of monitors attached to the walls and to work desks everywhere around.

Only that someone must have been quicker than them, since not a single soul inside this room is still alive.

“Fuck.”

#chishiya #chishiya shuntaro #aib chishiya #shuntaro chishiya #alice in borderland #Imawa no Kuni no Alice #the human heart

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