Yoshiko did see that person, and I did too.
Although many years had passed, I could still remember the situation vividly when I tried to recall that event.
It was a long time ago when I first entered university. The university I attended was a famous institution, and students came from all over. The dormitory facilities were excellent. In the same dormitory room as me, there was a very quiet person named Fang Tian.
Fang Tian was a sickly person, with pale skin tinged with a bluish hue. His appearance didn't give people a good impression, so he was very lonely. I often saw him staring at the sky for hours without feeling tired.
While he stared at the sky, he always hummed a very strange tune. A few times, I asked him if it was a folk song from some distant place, and he told me it was from a very distant place.
Fang Tian, who was not popular among others, ended up in our dormitory room. The main reason was that the other two students in our room were sports stars, not very bright academically, while Fang Tian was the top student in the entire school. We were all amazed by his intelligence.
We were studying mathematics at the time (later I realized I didn't have the talent for it and changed my major), and Fang Tian found even the most difficult problems as easy as solving a simple equation. He became almost like a part-time tutor for the two sports stars.
In the first half of the semester, there was nothing noteworthy. It wasn't until the second half of the semester, which hadn't even begun for three days, that something happened. It was a hot afternoon, and I was alone in the dormitory when one of the sports stars rushed in, his face pale and lips trembling. He still held a tennis racket in his hand.
As he entered, he gasped for breath and asked me, "I... just played tennis with Fang Tian."
I fanned myself and said, "Why are you so surprised?"
He sighed and said, "Fang Tian fell and cut his knee. The blood that flowed out, ah... his blood..." He stopped, his eyes bulging with anger, looking terrifying.
I was shocked and asked, "Was he badly hurt? Why didn't you call the school doctor?"
As I spoke, I jumped up from the bed and rushed out. Before I reached the tennis court, I saw Fang Tian walking towards me. He had a towel wrapped around his knee. I quickly went up to him and asked, "Are you injured? Should I take you to the school doctor?"
Fang Tian suddenly paused and asked, "How did you know?"
I said, "Lin Wei told me." Lin Wei was the name of the person who had rushed in just now. Fang Tian's expression became even more tense, and he grasped my arm. His hand was cold as ice as he asked, "What did he say?"
I said, "Nothing much, he said you fell."
Fang Tian's behavior was very strange. He sighed and said, "Actually, Lin Wei is a good person, he's just very unlucky." I was puzzled and asked, "Unlucky? What do you mean?"
Fang Tian shook his head again, not saying more.
We were talking as we walked back to the dormitory. When we reached the door of our
room and I pushed open the door, the scene that greeted me after I pushed it open was unforgettable for the rest of my life. Lin Wei was sitting on his bed.
He was facing us, desperately holding his razor, cutting his own neck!
Thick blood flowed out like pulp, staining his face and right hand completely red, but he kept cutting. And his face carried a strange and eerie expression.
Lin Wei is committing suicide!
This is simply impossible. He is a typical optimist, believing that even if the sky falls, there will be someone to hold it up. People of this type, if they were to commit suicide, the whole world would have perished long ago.
However, Lin Wei is indeed committing suicide. Not to mention when I was young, even in the years that followed, I have never seen anyone making such an effort to cut their own throat.
I don't know how long I stood there. All I know is that I felt like I was in a nightmare, wanting to scream but unable to. When I finally managed to speak, my first words were, "Lin Wei, what are you doing?"
People tend to say foolish things in emergencies, and my words at that moment were a prime example. Lin Wei didn't answer me. I rushed to his bedside, snatched the razor from him, and his body leaned back. I did everything I could to administer first aid.
Fang Tian stood behind me, and I heard him say, "He... he's a good person!"
That was the second time I heard him say that. Although I found it strange and incomprehensible, in that situation, no one would delve into such a meaningless remark.
I shouted loudly, "Help! Help!"
In less than three minutes, the entire dormitory was in an uproar. The face of the dormitory supervisor was as ugly as it could be. The details of what followed are blurry in my memory. All I remember is that Fang Tian and I were questioned by the police, and Lin Wei was rescued from suicide.
There were countless bizarre rumors circulating in the school about Lin Wei's suicide.
Some said there were ghosts in the dormitory, others said Lin Wei committed suicide because he was secretly in love with a girl. The commotion lasted for more than half a year before gradually quieting down. After Lin Wei recovered, he never returned to school and we lost contact with him.
Six months later, it was winter vacation, and most of the students had gone home. The dormitory was quiet and cold. I had decided not to go home, and Fang Tian seemed to have no intention of going home either. We spent our days skating on the campus. One day, as usual, we were skating together, circling the rink.
Suddenly, Fang Tian in front of me leaned to the side, and then there was a loud "snap". His right ice skate blade broke into two pieces, and one of the broken pieces flew up and hit his thigh.
As a result, Fang Tian naturally fell on the ice. I hurried over, only to see Fang Tian pressing his right hand against the wound on his thigh. Blood was flowing between his fingers, and there were bloodstains on the ice. This would have been nothing unusual - getting injured while skating is the most common thing on the ice rink.
But I was stunned!
The blood flowing from between Fang Tian's fingers and the blood on the ice were all blue!
The color was so deep blue, as if a bottle of blue ink had been spilled!
Immediately, I remembered what had happened six months ago.
Six months ago, when Lin Wei rushed back to the dormitory from the tennis court in a panic, he shouted to me, "His blood...
...his blood..." At that time, he didn't finish his sentence, and I never understood what Lin Wei meant.
But now, I understood!
At that moment, Lin Wei must have seen the bright blue blood flowing from Fang Tian's body, which shocked him so much that he ran back to the dormitory.
And when he saw me, wanting to tell me what he had seen, he must have felt it was too absurd to continue. And now, I have also seen the strange truth!
I stood there dumbfounded, and exclaimed, "Fang Tian, your blood..." Fang Tian looked up at me, and suddenly I felt dizzy, and my body slumped to the ice! I had thought the sudden dizziness was due to the reflection of sunlight on the ice.
When I stood up again, Fang Tian was no longer on the ice rink. There was a person walking away in the distance, seeming to be Fang Tian. I called out a few times, but the person didn't turn around.
I looked down at the bloodstains on the ice again, trying to confirm if I had imagined it. However, there were no traces on the ice, neither red nor blue. I naturally lost interest in skating and took off my skates, draping them over my shoulder as I returned to the dormitory.
Upon entering the dormitory, I noticed that Fang Tian's bed had obviously been hastily searched, and his personal belongings, which had always been kept in a small iron box by his bedside, were also missing. I sat down on the edge of the bed and went over what I had just seen.
I felt sure I wasn't hallucinating, but the idea of a person having blue blood seemed too unbelievable!
I thought for a while, and inevitably thought of Lin Wei again. When Lin Wei suddenly wanted to commit suicide, the moment I thought of the word "suicide," I felt a strange sensation in my heart.
Suddenly, I felt that suicide wasn't such a terrifying thing. In that moment, I felt that suicide was as easy and casual as talking to a girlfriend, something worth trying over and over again!
I looked up at the window sill and immediately thought that hanging oneself there would surely lead to death. I lowered my head and looked at the ice skates on the ground. The blade of the ice skate gleamed coldly. I suddenly wondered if the ice skate could also be used to end my own life?
Looking back on it later, my state of mind at that time was completely like being hypnotized, and the thoughts that arose were not my own!
Of course, I would never have thought of suicide. However, when I thought about using the blade of the ice skate on the sole of the skate to end my life, I bent down and picked up the ice skates. I aimed the tip of the blade at my temple without hesitation. I felt a strange and incredible sensation, and I forcefully brought the blade down on my temple!
If it had hit, I would have surely been dead by then. However, at that critical moment, I suddenly heard someone shout, "Wei Sili, what are you doing?"
It was a woman's voice, coming from the corridor outside the door.
I was immediately shaken. After the shock, I was like waking up from a big dream. For a short time, I didn't know why I was holding the ice skates high, aiming the tip of the blade at my temple!
Of course, I immediately understood what I was about to do. I was trying to commit suicide!
I felt a chill all over, and at that moment, three girls in brightly colored jackets rushed in, shouting, "Wei Sili, teach us to ice skate!" I was very grateful to them because they saved my life.
But I never mentioned this to them because it was something that couldn't be explained.
I followed them back to the ice rink and didn't return to the dormitory until noon.
I sat alone, quietly thinking. I understood the reason why Lin Wei suddenly wanted to commit suicide; he was involuntary, just like I had imagined suicide moments ago!
But why did both Lin Wei and I have such a strong intent to end our own lives after seeing Fang Tian bleed, and even carry it out?
I dared not stay in the dormitory any longer, and that day I moved to a relative's house in the city until school started again.
I never mentioned this to anyone, and since that day, I have never seen Fang Tian again. Fang Tian never returned to class, and I don't know where he went.
Afterward, I gradually forgot about this incident because I thought it was all coincidental. The sudden desire to commit suicide that day was probably due to the intense sunlight, causing an abnormal psychological reaction. And I concluded that the blue blood I had seen was probably a hallucination. Fang Tian's disappearance was attributed to coincidence.
If it weren't for Kusuda Yoshiko telling me about the reason she suddenly slipped down the hillside, I would have completely forgotten about that incident!
But now, I remember the whole thing again. Walking alone back to Mrs. Teng's inn in the flying snow, I went over every detail of the past.
I hope that tonight my instructions to Kusuda Yoshiko are all nonsense, and I hope that after listening to my words, she will borrow some relaxing records from the inn and fall asleep immediately. I hope that everything I imagined is just groundless worry.
With my head down, I continued to move forward. Just as I was about to reach Mrs. Teng's inn, I suddenly heard the distant sirens, breaking the silence of the cold night.
My heart pounded, and involuntarily I cried out, "No! No! It's not Yoshiko, she's not in trouble!"
I immediately turned around and ran forward!