Solnus 3. The Chime, The Northernmost, The Shrimps Bay, The "Wake" of Dead Man, The Last Confab, and The Alien

5741 days, or 15 years, 8 months, and 2-3 weeks before The Circumadversum Omatsuri, one afternoon.

The bell is one part of the Bosai Musen, or Disaster Wireless, system. The bell is usually rung from a tower perched on a hilltop. The primary function of the bell is to test whether emergency alerts are still working in the event of a disaster such as a fire or tsunami.

Besides testing emergency alerts, the Bosai Musen bell has several other functions. Another benefit of the bell is that it serves as a daily time marker for the community, signaling that it has entered the afternoon. The bell can signal to parents that work is over and to children that playtime is over and they should return home.

The Bosai Musen bell rings in coastal areas at varying times depending on the region and time of year. Typically, the bell rings between 5 and 6 p.m. for about 20 to 30 seconds. At certain times, such as during winter, the bell can be rung earlier.

Because it is often rung at 5 p.m., the Bosai Musen bell is also known as the "Goji Chaimu" bell. "Goji" comes from the word "go," meaning five, and "ji," meaning hour or time. "Chaimu" is a loanword from the English word "chime."

The bell is rung with a various of melodies. Sometimes, different melodies are rung at different times, such as during holidays. One commonly used melody for the bell is the children's song "Yuuyake Koyake," which translates to "Sunset Glow" or "Fiery Red Sky." The song was composed in 1923 by composer Shin Kusakawa and lyricist Ukou Nakamura.

One afternoon, around 5:00 a.m., the Bosai Musen bell rang. At the same time, a man driving a car sang the lyrics to "Yuuyake Koyake."

“Yuuyake koyake de hi ga kure te”

[The sun is setting in a fiery red sky]

“Yama no otera no kane ga naru”

[The hillside temple is tolling the bell]

“Otete tsunaide mina kaero”

[Let's go home, everybody, hand in hand]

“Karasu to issyo ni kaerimasho”

[Let's go home together with the crows]

“Kodomo ga kaetta atokara wa”

[After the children get home you will see]

“Marui ookina otsukisama”

[A big round moon hanging in the sky]

“Kotori ga yume wo miru koro wa”

[When the little birds fall into a dream]

“Sora niwa kirakira kin no hoshi”

[The sky is twinkling with gold stars]

The man singing "Yuuyake Koyake" is a 35-year-old single man named Minato Nakamura. His name is written with the kanji "中村 湊世." "中村," read as "Nakamura," means "middle of the village." "湊世," read as "Minato," has the kanji "湊" meaning "port or harbor" and "世" meaning "society, generation, or world."

The song "Yuuyake Koyake" stops exactly one second before his car has to stop. The "kei car," or small car, has stopped at a red light. For your information, a kei car is a small car with a maximum engine capacity of 660 cc. Kei cars are designed to be fuel-efficient and handy to control, suitable for navigating or parking in small spaces. Minato's car, like other kei cars, also has a yellow license plate, which differs from the license plate of a regular car.

While waiting for the light to turn green, Minato muttered something about his name and identity. He spoke softly, expressing his thoughts, "I guess the surname Nakamura, with that kanji and that kanji Minato, really suits me."

From birth until high school, Minato lived in the same place. He only left his hometown to attend college. After graduating, he returned to his hometown to continue his family's fishing company.

Minato muttered, "In the middle of the countryside. In the middle of a small seaside town. I think I fit in well with a place like this. Of course, there should be Japanese people like me who should inhabit and revitalize rural areas."

Shortly afterward, Minato had to stop the car again because the railroad crossing gate was closing. He muttered again, "Many Japanese people who choose to work in big cities live in suburban areas and have to commute from their apartments to their workplaces for tens of minutes, an hour, or even two hours."

A small train with only two carriages crossed the tracks in front of Minato's car. Such trains are nicknamed "wanman unten." Wanman unten have only a few carriages per train and are operated by a single driver who also serves passengers and checks their tickets. These trains are common in rural Japan.

After the yellow-and-black barrier opened, Minato started the car again. He muttered again, "That's their choice. Being closer to the city offers more choices and opportunities, and one of those choices is transportation out of town. But I personally enjoy living in a place like this. The long commute during the morning and evening rush is so tiring for me."

Minato's car drove along the coastal road as he muttered, "But no matter what our choice, ultimately humans can't choose not to die."

Minato's last words came from remembering what he had to do now. He was driving to the nearest airport in his area, Wakkanai Airport. It didn't take long for Minato to get there from his home.

For your information, Wakkanai is the northernmost region in Japan. Wakkanai is the capital of Soya Subprefecture. Soya Subprefecture is part of Hokkaido Prefecture. Hokkaido is the largest prefecture in Japan, consisting of the island of Hokkaido and several smaller islands.

From Wakkanai Airport, Minato will fly for one hour to New Chitose Airport in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture. From Hokkaido's largest city, Minato will fly another one hour and forty-five minutes to "The Big Mikan." From Tokyo, he will take a bullet train to Toyama City, which will take about one hour. At Toyama Station, he will take a taxi to his final stop on this journey.

To reach Toyama, Minato would choose to fly straight to Komatsu, if possible. Unluckily, at this time there's no flight available from Sapporo to Komatsu. The flight time to Komatsu from Sapporo is approximately one hour and forty-five minutes. However, from Komatsu to Toyama, it only takes about thirty minutes.

Toyama is the capital of Toyama Prefecture. Near Toyama City lies Toyama Bay, one of the largest bays in all of Japan. Another thing that makes Toyama Bay special is the unique marine life that lives there.

One of the marine animals that lives in Toyama Bay is the shiro ebi, also known as shira ebi or hirata ebi. Shiro ebi are white-bodied shrimp. These shrimp are nicknamed "the jewels of Toyama Bay" because they can only be caught in this bay. This is because Toyama Bay has a unique topography that provides the perfect breeding environment for shiro ebi.

One of the fishermen who caught shiro ebi in Toyama Bay was a relative of Minato Nakamura, Manjiro Nakamura. Manjiro retired from fishing a dozen years ago. He was pronounced dead around this afternoon.

It was Minato Nakamura's duty to attend his relative's wake, or "otsuya." The term "wake" is a loanword from the English word "wake." Meanwhile, "otsuya" is a Japanese term. Otsuya is a tradition where family and friends of a recently deceased person gather at night to pay their respects before the body is cremated or buried the next day.

Because of this, Minato had to get to Toyama as quickly as possible. While concentrating on the steering wheel and the road, Minato's mind flashed back to his last meeting with Manjiro Nakamura. At that time, they were engaged in a private one-on-one conference.

One of the topics Minato and Manjiro discussed during that meeting was the large number of foreign workers, also known as gaijin, or aliens, who would be employed by Japanese industries, including the fisheries industry they were involved in. At that moment, Manjiro said, "It looks like we'll be seeing other Etajimas, where the oyster industry employs up to 90 percent foreign workers. With the decreasing Japanese population and the declining interest of young Japanese working in fisheries. Dou shiyou mo nai. Shou ga nai na?"

Suddenly, the memory of his last encounter with Manjiro stopped in Minato's mind. Simultaneously, he slowly slowed down the car until finally the kei car pulled over and stopped. Minato turned his head to the side toward the ocean. His eyes caught something above the waves of the Soya Strait, or La Perouse Strait.

Minato asked himself, "What's that there? Is there a speck of light bobbing on the waves?"

Three seconds later, Minato looked away from the swells of the strait between Wakkanai and Russia's Sakhalin Island. He concluded, "Ah, maybe it was just my eyesight."

He quickly restarted the car, remembering that he had something important to do. He, a middle-aged man, had to visit a deceased person as soon as possible. The four circles underneath the vehicle began to spin again.