Aqueronte72
6
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jul. 06, 2025
If the night had lasted longer, oh, what else might have happened to the bizarre Keiko driving Hiryu? She might have ended up in another country without the promised 2 million yen, as can be seen from this bizarre road adventure, which could only happen to someone like her—an impetuous driver and occasional truck driver. First, she announces on the radio—arguing with her colleague in the distance—the best route to avoid traffic, going through Nihonmatsu and exiting at Doshi, and in a way competing with Chabo, who hates being called that; then a beggar on the street with a cardboard sign, Oryu-chan, asks for a lift to the village of Yamada. But this elderly hitchhiker, who is not travelling alone but with a teenager with some kind of mental disability named Sayuri, will be a pain in the neck but ultimately a source of free comfort on a tortuous and eventful journey that she never expected to have. First of all, the old woman literally kidnaps the young driver when the teenager threatens her with a gun that she will only fire later, with disastrous consequences, damaging the truck's radiator and preventing the cargo from arriving on time. Let's say that the journey will be musical, and to continue with the metaphor, there is a violinist who appears from time to time and plays something while the hours tick away towards the deadline for delivering the cargo. Kei and the old woman Oryu engage in a constant skirmish since the driver refused to take the two women to Yamada because it is on the other side of Mount Fuji, where she has to deliver everything. Sayuri points the gun at Kei again when she tries to escape, and it is already clear that the fates of the three are irrevocably linked. Soon, their relationship improves, and the old woman tells her that they are on their way to Yamada to deliver Sayuri to her family. Unfortunately, the family in the village does not accept Sayuri, who, as I mentioned, suffers from a type of aphasia and never speaks. When Oryu-chan leaves the teenager behind, the girl catches up with her crying, and the three of them get off the flying dragon truck to continue their journey, which is once again interrupted by Nakajima. The mysterious violinist is Nakajima, who, as we understand from the story, had some kind of close relationship with Kei in the past and they do not get along badly. The old woman asks him if he has checked what they are transporting, and Oryu does so, confirming that it is just paper, a huge container full of paper, as if for printing. Only at the end do we learn that it is money—real or fake—rolled up, and when it is all over, Keiko hands Sayuri a wad of banknotes for her maintenance, which is why the old woman said she made the trip to Yamada. Unfortunately, as they were loading the huge container of paper money, it slipped off the platform and threatened to fall on Sayuri, but Oryu stepped in and, although she momentarily looked like a heroine saving the child, she died in the truck before she could enjoy the money Kei had given her. The ending is sad but fitting given the circumstances of the characters.