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I could hear the sound of water in the darkness and see an old-fashioned brick sluice gateIt had a handle you could turn to open and close the gateThe stream it controlled was small enough to be hidden by the grass on its banksThe night was dark, so dark I couldn't see my feet when I turned out my torchHundreds of fireflies drifted over the pool of water held back by the sluice gate, their hot glow reflected in the water like a shower of sparksI closed my eyes and steeped myself in that long-ago darknessI heard the wind with unusual clarityA light breeze swept past me, leaving strangely brilliant trails in the darkI opened my eyes to find the darkness of the summer night a few degrees deeper than it had beenI twisted open the lid of the jar and took out the firefly, setting it on the two-inch lip of the water tankIt seemed not to grasp its new surroundingsIt hobbled around the head of a vintage chanel jewelry steel bolt, catching its legs on curling scabs of paintIt moved to the right until it found its way blocked, then circled back to the leftFinally, with some effort, it mounted the head of the bolt and crouched there for a while, unmoving, as if it had taken its last breathStill leaning against the handrail, I studied the fireflyNeither I nor it made a move for a very long timeThe wind continued sweeping past the two of us while the numberless leaves of the zelkova tree rustled in the darknessOnly much later did the firefly take to the airAs if some thought had suddenly occurred to it, the firefly spread its wings, and in a moment 57 it had flown past the handrail to float in the pale darknessIt traced a swift arc by the side of the water tank as though trying to bring back a lost interval in timeAnd then, after hovering there for a few seconds as if to watch its curved line of light cheap chanel purses blend into the wind, it finally flew off to the eastLong after the firefly had disappeared, the trail of its light remained inside me, its pale, faint glow hovering on and on in the thick darkness behind my eyelids like a lost soulMore than once I tried stretching my hand out in the darkMy fingers touched nothingThe faint glow remained, just beyond my grasp58 During the summer holidays the university called in the riot policeThey broke down the barricades and arrested the students insideThis was nothing newIt's what all the students were doing at the timeThe universities were not so easily "dismantled"Massive amounts of capital had been invested in them, and they were not about to dissolve just because a few students had gone wildAnd in fact those students who had sealed off the campus had not wanted to dismantle the university eitherAll they had really wanted to do was shift the balance prada clutch of power within the university structure, about which I couldn't have cared lessAnd so, when the strike was finally crushed, I felt nothingI went to the campus in September expecting to find rubbleThe place was untouchedThe library's books had not been carted off, the tutors' offices had not been destroyed, the student affairs office had not been burned to the groundWhat the hell had they been doing behind the barricades? When the strike was defused and lectures started up again under police occupation, the first ones to take their seats in the classrooms were those arseholes who had led the strikeAs if nothing had ever happened, they sat there taking notes and answering "present" when the register was takenI found this incredibleAfter all, the strike was still in effectThere had been no declaration bringing it to an endAll that had happened was that the university had called in the riot new omega watches police and torn down the barricades, but the strike itself was supposed to be 59 continuingThe arseholes had screamed their heads off at the time of the strike, denouncing students who opposed it (or just expressed doubts about it), at times even trying them in their own kangaroo courtsI made a point of visiting those former leaders and asking why they were attending lectures instead of continuing to strike, but they couldn't give me a straight answerWhat could they have said? That they were afraid of losing marks through lack of attendance? To think that these idiots had been the ones screaming for the dismantling of the university! What a jokeThe wind changes direction a little, and their cries become whispersHey, Kizuki, I thought, you're not missing a damn thingThis world is a piece of shitThe arseholes are getting good marks and helping to create a society in their own disgusting louis vuitton backpacks i