Chapter 2 Part 1 | Contents | Chapter 2 Part 3
June 30, 1991 (Heisei 3) – Sunday
What in the world were my eyes seeing? I definitely hadn’t closed my ears, either.
After scouring the newspapers, I discovered that the morning paper from 26th June had already reported on Slovenia and Croatia declaring independence. It also included an excerpt from a speech by the Chairman of Slovenia’s National Assembly, Kučan. “Through birth man acquires the right to dreams. Through work he acquires the right to draw life and dreams together. Yesterday we linked the two together; for ourselves, for many generations of Slovenes, who long ago dreamt those same dreams and for future generations, who will build a new world upon those dreams.” And the evening paper from the 27th reported that the Yugoslav People’s Army invaded Slovenia’s territory.
I was under the impression that I knew some things about Yugoslavia, but that was an overly optimistic assessment. I was completely unaware that some ominous turmoil had been brewing within the country. Come to think of it, the eastern regions of Europe had been turbulent in the past few years, starting from 1989. There were all sorts of news articles about it, but I never imagined that it would be relevant to the people around me.
Swayed by scant information, I spent my days in a stupor, as if I was dreaming. But Shirakawa must have been impacted harder than me. She did tell me about Maja’s state, but would sometimes ramble incoherently about something else. Still, according to what I heard from her, Maja had borrowed their phone to make some calls to somewhere, but had not seemed upset.
In Shirakawa’s words, “Maja was not excited, or sad. She was quieter than I thought she would be, and kept her cool, but I felt…”
After agonizing over it for a moment, she finally completed her sentence, apparently unable to find any other way to express her thoughts.
“…That she was angry.”
Three days passed.
The civil war was starting to subside, almost anticlimactically so.
The Yugoslav People’s Army overwhelmed the Republic of Slovenia’s outnumbered defense forces, bombed the airport in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana, and closed the borders. On top of that, a three-month freeze on the declaration of independence was quickly established through EC1 mediation.
The footage of armored personnel carriers was too ominous, and with the Gulf War still fresh in my mind, I’d thought the situation to be more serious than it actually was. But it was all much ado about nothing. I’d freaked out and gotten cold feet over a minor matter that ended in just four days. Unfortunately, about forty or so people were killed, but the war was over. Yugoslavia may have faltered a little, but it would probably soon recover. And one day, it would welcome Maja with open arms when she comes into her own. There were no problems at all. No, some problems remained, but they were not significant ones.
On that morning, the skies were clear.
There was some homework for English class, so I planned to complete it at the municipal library. It probably wouldn’t take more than half an hour, so I decided to do a refresher on idioms as well. I’d dropped the ball and forgotten that the next standardized assessment would be for English. It wasn’t a subject that I struggled with, but perhaps that was a reason for my complacence. I was just thinking that I needed to do some revision. A brilliant way of spending a Sunday in which I had nothing to do.
I knew it myself, but what I wanted a refresher on was not idioms, but on the fact that I was a student who was about to take entrance examinations. Eastern Europe would take up only a minuscule part of those exams. No matter how much attention I paid to Yugoslavia, it would make little to no contribution towards my primary role. I had to let it go, and work on my exam preparations. But even while I was aware of that, the bag I was carrying contained three of the books I’d bought. It was something I couldn’t quite let go.
Eventually, many clouds gathered above, but it was still a hot day. It would be July starting from tomorrow. Summer was close by, or rather, it was already summer. It would take me roughly twenty minutes to get to the municipal library from my house by bicycle. Whenever I braked at an intersection, I would take a pocket towel out and use it to dab my forehead. Perhaps I should cut my hair a little shorter before the heat reached its peak.
Before leaving the house, I’d called Tachiarai, because I knew that she used the library a lot more frequently than I did. My read that she would also be using it today turned out to be correct, and she’d said that she would be going over. She should have reached the library now. I was still halfway, but there was no need for me to rush. Our phone call had gone like this.
“You going to the library?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll also be going.”
“I see.”
“Looks like it’s going to be hot.”
“I suppose so.”
That was the conversation we’d had, though I would hesitate to call it that. We hadn’t made an agreement to go to the library or anything like that. That made me wonder why I even bothered to make a phone call, but this sort of thing wasn’t unusual when dealing with Tachiarai.
The English homework was a little tougher than I’d expected, so I was unable to breeze through it within half an hour. Even so, I finished it in one hour without needing to concentrate that much, then flipped to a random page in the idiom section of my vocabulary book and started re-memorizing some idioms. The six-person table I was at was filled with other students who were studying for entrance exams like me, and Tachiarai was sitting opposite me, solemnly attempting a mathematical problem.
After a while, my throat felt dry, so I stood up to buy a cup of iced coffee from the vending machine in the lobby. Tachiarai also came over, though she wasn’t chasing after me. Like me, she bought an iced coffee, but pushed the button to add more sugar. After taking a couple of sips from her coffee, she spoke to me in a small voice.
“You still looking into it?”
For a moment I wondered what she was talking about, but soon realized that it was the Yugoslavia matter. I nodded.
“So you’ve taken an interest in current affairs, huh?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Did you get any results? Do you understand the reason for the war, for example?”
Her tone made it seem like it was someone else’s problem, which caused me to feel a little annoyed. I drank a mouthful of coffee to calm myself down.
“I still don’t understand why those two republics tried to become independent. But I do somewhat understand why the six republics wanted to form a federation in the first place.”
“I see.”
Tachiarai glanced at the smoking corner. As could only happen on a Sunday afternoon, the library was crowded everywhere, and even the smoking corner was filled with men. After returning her gaze, she smiled only with her lips.
“It’s been a while. How about you talk to me about something?”
She gestured me to come with her to the smoking corner. It was partitioned off by a thin wall, and was one of the only places in the library you could openly talk at.
“About Yugoslavia?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
It was exactly what I wanted to do too. Talking to someone is the best way to organize what you’ve learned.
As Tachiarai had mentioned herself, it had certainly been a long time since she’d told me to talk to her about something. We put some distance between us and two men chatting up a storm about baseball, and sat next to each other on a bench. I quickly drained my iced coffee. Tachiarai had only drunk some coffee at the beginning, so the contents of her cup had almost not gone down at all. Lightly fanning away some smoke that had drifted near my face, I started talking.
“The word ‘Yugo’ means ‘South’. So ‘Yugoslavia’ means ‘Land of the South Slavs’. Yugoslavia is made up of six republics, which became one under the public stance that they are all made up of South Slavs.”
In general, Tachiarai never gave any agreeable responses. That made it hard to tell if she was listening to what someone was saying. However, I was used to that, so I didn’t mind the lack of feedback and instead focused on extracting the correct bits from my memory.
“So, Yugoslavia was formed for the ‘self-determination of South Slavs’, or at least that was the stated reason. The formation was not done due to the influence of foreign powers, but was a spontaneous act by the six republics.
“Now, as for the true reason for the merge, there were two main republics. One was Serbia, and the other was Croatia. Serbia was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, and Croatia was part of the Habsburg monarchy2. The Ottoman Empire became considerably weaker in the 19th century, and as a result Serbia became stronger. They established independence in the first half of the century.
“Serbia’s main ambition was to gather the territories where Serbs had been scattered into one country. On the other hand, Croatia wanted to consolidate the territories that used to be part of Croatia. I suppose you could call it their historical land.
“To meet those two goals, those two republics could merge, and kill two birds with one stone. But the Habsburg monarchy was a hindrance to that.”
“So the trigger for World War I was…”
She interjected, which was rare for her.
“…the war between Austria and Serbia, right?”
Impressed, I nodded.
“Serbia suffered huge casualties, but the Habsburg monarchy also collapsed as a result. Not tied down any longer, Croatia and Serbia formed a new country. With their languages being similar, they felt that they were part of the same ethnic group. I believe it was written that this merge was done under the influence of Romantic ideals. Since the public reason for that was the self-determination of South Slavs, other groups of South Slavs came together as well.
“But it didn’t work out. There was no consensus among the South Slavs in the first place, so trying to create a shared sense of identity only led to contradictions. Serbia and Croatia came to be at odds with one another, and Yugoslavia was quickly split when War War II started. Serbia was on the side of the Axis Powers, while Croatia was on the side of the Allies, so they fought each other. That said, there were almost no conventional battles. Every piece of reading material said that both sides massacred the other.”
“I don’t think you can use the word ‘massacre’ for soldiers killing each other.”
“The soldiers killed civilians, which is why they hated each other to the bone.
“At that time, a third power appeared. You might know about it since you’re good at world history, but it was the Partisans, led by Tito. In the end, the Partisans won, and Yugoslavia became a socialist country. Tito decided not to forcibly establish Yugoslavia as a country of South Slavs, and instead gave each republic the right to self-governance.
“However, it was bad that they won without assistance from the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia, which maintained its political influence and was blessed with an excellent leader, was an eyesore for the Soviet Union. After the war, it was not accepted by the east, and also did not join the west, instead striking out on their own. Yugoslavia has been like this until today… and that is the end of my story.”
Tachiarai took another small sip of her iced coffee, in which almost all of the ice had melted.
“So it fell apart because it was a loveless marriage.”
I stared intently at her side profile, but all she did was add another statement in a disinterested manner.
“It would be easier if the situation could be summed up in that one line.”
I felt relieved hearing Tachiarai say that. Sure, the six republics of Yugoslavia definitely didn’t have a problem-free history. But saying that this situation was unavoidable because they had historically bad relationships with one another was something that I didn’t want to do. That would be a lack of understanding, or rather, an abandonment of understanding.
That said…
“But I still don’t know their motives for declaring independence.”
“Do you plan to look into it until you understand?”
“Asking Maja would be the best solution, but I can’t bring myself to do it, and I haven’t had the chance to, anyway.”
“So you’ll be working hard.”
“I suppose, but…”
I put on a mild grin.
“It’s good that there’s no need for me to be so serious about it. While there’s a civil war going on, it’s almost over, right? I’ll take it easy, and it’ll be great if I can see the actual place some day.”
But Tachiarai replied while looking forward, in a tone of voice that was the same as before.
“Really? Maja doesn’t seem to think so.”
For a moment, I was lost for words.
“What do you mean, she doesn’t seem to think so?”
“She thinks that it hasn’t ended… last night, I got a phone call from Izuru and Maja. She knew about the freeze on the declaration of independence, but said she doesn’t think it’s over.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“Why?”
I spoke too enthusiastically, and got some cigarette smoke in my throat. I coughed two or three times.
“…That’s a pessimistic view, isn’t it? Was there a reason for that?”
Tachiarai nodded blankly, then deliberately took a cigarette out of her pocket. But after taking a glance at me, she returned it to her pocket as slowly as she had when taking it out.
“A reason? She did say something about that, but if you want to know, I think it’s better to ask her directly.”
“I want to know now.”
“I see.”
Tachiarai then looked intently at my face.
“What is it?”
“Your face changed a little.”
“……”
“You’ve got quite a funny face on now.”
With that, she quickly stood up and left the smoking corner with her paper cup in hand. I sullenly trailed behind her.
From the smoking corner, we went back to the lobby and headed towards the open shelves. We wouldn’t draw the ire of others if we talked while we were still in the lobby. Tachiarai dumped the contents of her cup, which was still half full, into the ice disposal area, and also got rid of the cup.
“Sendou!”
I hissed, causing Tachiarai to turn her head slightly back.
“Maja says that the Yugoslav People’s Army won’t stop. The prime minister of Yugoslavia… Moriya-kun, do you know his name?”
“……”
“It’s Marković. Anyway, Marković cannot stop the People’s Army. And because of that, Slovenia also cannot be stopped. That was what she said.”
I couldn’t understand. It was beyond my comprehension.
Tachiarai stopped moving near the center of the lobby.
“Ah, another thing. Maja will leave Japan on the 10th of July. We’ll be throwing a farewell party for her, so Izuru asked if you’ll be joining. Maja apparently wants to try some Japanese sake.”
I gently cast my eyes to the ceiling.
“Maja’s… I thought her time here wouldn’t end, but she’s leaving, huh.”
I mused, but Tachiarai’s words were remarkably blunt in contrast.
“Seems like it.”
She didn’t mean any malice in that. It was just a normal response for her. I knew as much, but for a moment I was unable to prevent my irritation at her from flaring up. Before I knew it, I blurted out these words.
“Sendou. You don’t seem to care that Maja’s leaving, huh?”
She didn’t even raise an eyebrow.
“I suppose, but that’s not an entirely accurate way of putting it. I just find it weird to place my concern in something that Maja’s doing based on her convictions.”
What a thing to say!
“If so…”
I swallowed some saliva, before impulsively going on.
“For example, if I were to die, would you think it strange to place your concern in that?”
“Oh, Moriya-kun, you’re dying?”
“That’s just an example.”
A light grin formed on Tachiarai’s lips, or at least that was what it seemed like to me.
“That’s a bad example. I can’t answer to that.”
I couldn’t help but see that smile as one of mockery, although there was no way she would mock someone.
With a swish of her long hair, she turned on her heel. The tiled floor of the lobby produced squeaking sounds as she did so.
As my eyes followed her, I clenched my back teeth.
What Tachiarai said was sound. She was saying that it was weird to stick her nose into a decision that Maja had made after thinking long and hard about it. She was also saying that she couldn’t answer my example, when I hadn’t made up my mind yet. Both of them were natural conclusions.
Tachiarai hadn’t shown her true thoughts on the matter, and I could only draw out the most obvious words from her. I couldn’t help but feel utterly pathetic about that. Her smile probably looked like a mocking one to me because I’d noticed my own deplorability.
I reached the bookshelves, and was about to return to my seat.
At that moment, Tachiarai suddenly stood up, clearly smiling this time. She turned to me, and spoke to me in a whisper.
“Hey, Moriya-kun… you seem blissful, y’know?”
Ah…
After that, I was unable to study at all.
The sky was cloudy again on the way back.
After I got home, I rolled around in bed.
When you don’t know why you’re doing something, one option is to carry on with whatever it is you’re doing. The same goes for when you don’t know what exactly you want to do. That is easy in both cases. Or perhaps that is actually better for getting things done. This indifference can be transformed into a slogan: “Worry later, try now!” That is how mistakes do not get corrected, and are repeated in the future.
I didn’t know if it was a mistake taking a strong interest in Yugoslavia. I’d decided to give up on thinking about it at two in the morning. But my stubbornness, nosy curiosity, and something else I couldn’t quite explain drove me to start my research again.
That something else could be, as Tachiarai had mentioned, my state of bliss. But if was to live a long, drawn-out life anyway, I could deal with that issue later.
Chapter 2 Part 1 | Contents | Chapter 2 Part 3
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