Chapter 16

Last century, a great man once remarked while riding a Neon train, "There's a sense that it makes you want to run." Coming into this new century, however, Miki Kashiwagi felt that trains and Shinkansen didn't even measure up to a single fraction of the Guangzhou Metro. Though it hadn't seen technological upgrades in decades, it was just about enough for a tiny speck of a place like Neon. Thus, Miki Kashiwagi took the train early to the spot where he and Tomori had agreed to meet—a small park, using the mirror by the washbasin at the entrance of the public restroom to straighten his hair.