Preview
- This article may contain spoilers, it is recommended to read the novel before reading this article.
- This article represents personal opinions, and discussions and additions are welcome in the comments.
Story Synopsis
"Do you know about the Pudao Tunnel? It is said that if you enter that tunnel, you can get anything you want, but in return, you will also age..."
High school student Tano Kaoru heard about this urban legend and coincidentally discovered a tunnel that seemed to be referred to in the rumors on that night.
- Maybe by entering this tunnel, he can save his sister who passed away five years ago.
After school, Kaoru starts exploring the tunnel alone, but is discovered by transfer student Hanashiro Anzu. The two work together to get what they want from each other, but...
An extraordinary summer full of surprises is about to begin...
Facing Reality
In the novel, the protagonist's sister died in an accident five years ago, and the protagonist has always felt guilty and responsible. After losing his daughter, the mother left home, and the father's condition became unstable. The protagonist entered the Pudao Tunnel to try to save his deceased sister. However, when he actually saw his sister in the tunnel, he realized that his true wish was not to bring his sister back to life, but to regain the power to face reality and the qualification to love. After understanding this, the protagonist faces reality and accepts his sister's death, waking up from a sweet dream.
Romain Rolland wrote in "Michelangelo": "There is only one true heroism in the world, and that is to love life even after understanding its truth." Life is not always smooth sailing, and most of the time it is full of frustration and melancholy. How to face reality is a question worth pondering.
Leaving a Mark
This book is full of common elements in light novels: youth, school, family, friendship, love... But what deeply touched me is a passage:
"Tano, don't you think it's desperate? Even if I die, I won't leave anything behind, the world won't change. So why was I born? What am I to the world? If I'm just a insignificant existence, then do I have a meaning to live? Thinking like this, I can't help but feel that being ordinary is very terrifying. So I want to be one of the few, I want to be extraordinary, to be someone who can leave a mark in this world."
This passage is a confession spoken by the female protagonist before she and the male protagonist officially enter the Pudao Tunnel for exploration. This passage reveals the reason why the female protagonist wants to enter the tunnel, and it is because of this passage that I had the idea of "writing something".
Everyone wants to be unique, but most people end up being mediocre, and few people can leave a mark in this world. This is also the reason why I have always wanted to have a small blog to write something on it. We are like raindrops falling into a pond, splashing a little water in the moment of falling, and then blending into it in the next second, unable to distinguish. In school, we compete fiercely with others, hiding in mediocrity, and our nature is abandoned... But is this really the right thing to do?
Mr. Zhu Ziqing said in the essay "Hastiness": "In the fleeting days, in the world of thousands of households, what can I do? Just wandering, just rushing; in the hurried more than 8,000 days, besides wandering, what else is left? The past days are like light smoke, blown away by the breeze, like thin mist, evaporated by the morning sun; what traces have I left? Have I ever left traces like threads? I came to this world naked, and in an instant I will return naked? But what can't be flat, why do I have to go through this journey in vain?"
Finding what you want to do and leaving a mark is what I have always wanted to do and am currently working hard to achieve. I also hope that I can persist on this path. "What you love is your life."
Seizing the Present
The Pudao Tunnel does not make people age, but it makes time flow relatively slower inside the tunnel. The last time the protagonist entered the tunnel to search for his sister took him 47 hours and 56 minutes, which is equivalent to 13 years and 45 days in the outside world. After exiting the tunnel, the protagonist, who had a 17-year-old body, now has a registered age of 30. During the 13 years that disappeared, the protagonist did almost nothing, failed to bring his sister back from the tunnel, and failed to complete his high school and college studies. The only thing he gained was the power to face reality and the qualification to love.
When parting with his sister in the tunnel, his sister's last words to him were "Brother, you also have to live in the present." The word "also" expresses the expectation that the protagonist can return to the original reality and seize the present, living together with the original everyone. Living in the present does not mean being content with the status quo, but rather not dwelling too much on the past and not worrying too much about the future. The author probably wanted to express this through the words of the sister.
Illustrations