Episode 17
And so, a month later, when the green of the trees had deepened and summer was beginning to approach,
we went together to city hall and submitted the divorce papers.
Since we were now nothing more than strangers, it felt odd to act together afterward…
Neither of us suggested it aloud, but on the way back we naturally went our separate ways.
As I was walking home, a message arrived from Mana.
“I have always, always loved you, and these twelve years have been so very happy for me… thank you.
But I’ve fallen in love with another man, and though it hurts, this is goodbye.
Someone as wonderful as you will surely find a new love soon.
Please be happy with her.”
That was the message she sent.
I read Mana’s email over and over, again and again.
I strained my eyes, searching for some hidden truth between the lines,
some concealed emotion buried in her words.
—
The first thing that didn’t sit right with me was the “twelve years” part.
Today, the day we submitted the divorce papers, marked our thirteenth year of marriage.
If she had written the exact length of our marriage, it should have been thirteen years.
Was it simply a careless miscalculation on her part?
Or was it intentional?
If intentional… then it was a very big problem.
She had brought up divorce a month ago.
But if I take her words literally, that means I had ceased to be the man she “loved” almost a year ago.
And yet—looking back, we had spent this last year without quarrels, living together peacefully.
And still…
“Though it hurts, this is goodbye…”
If she already had another man she loved, then why would parting from me be painful?
“Why say it hurts, if your heart already belongs elsewhere?”
Now I’ve been abandoned, discarded in this one-sided divorce.
“I’m at rock bottom. Do you really think I can so easily find happiness again?”
Her message felt ambiguous—almost as if it held some hidden depth,
yet at the same time, it could just as easily be dismissed as nothing more than careless insensitivity.
All I could do was remain utterly bewildered.
