Michiko led the way, followed by Ronnie, and the two of them arrived at the highest point on the island, "Beacon". Looking at the food on the ground, Ronnie asked curiously, "When did you prepare so much food? huh! there's even a piece of meat, where did it come from?"
"This meat was taken from Monta's mouth,it often comes back with some uneaten mallard ducks," Michiko explained.
Ronnie said regretfully, "If only it'd just take a few live ones, maybe we'd have some duck meat to eat later."
"You can have more if you want, I don't like meat," Michiko laughed.
"Better save some for my sister! she hasn't eaten meat for seven years and eats fish every day."
Michiko did not accept Ronnie's words, but turned to him with a serious face and said, "Ronnie, I'm going to ask you something today and you have to answer me honestly.”
Seeing her serious face, Ronnie had already guessed the generalization in his mind, but still opened his mouth, "What do you want to ask?"
"When we celebrated your and Alice's birthday at the 'Umbrella House', you said that you wanted me to be your girlfriend, what do you think now?"
When Ronnie heard that it was indeed this question, fearing that she was going to have another attack, he quickly waved his hand and explained, "Michiko, I was still young then, those were just nonsense words, you must not take them seriously.”
"You are a man, are you so irresponsible with your words? have you never thought of me as a love interest?"
"Michiko, I'm sorry, I always thought of you as my sister."
Ronnie's words set Michiko on fire. "Your sister is Alice, not me, and I don't want to be your sister."
"I, I!" Ronnie didn't know how to answer for a moment and could only repeat the previous sentence mechanically, "I, I've always thought of you as my sister."
"All right then! I hope you won't regret it," Michiko closed her eyes in despair, and only after a long time did she slowly open them and turn away.
Looking at her distant back, Ronnie's heart felt empty for a moment and he murmured, "I'm sorry, Michiko!"
With that in mind, let's get out of the story and talk about something else. I'm sure those of you who have stuck around long enough to see this have already enjoyed the story. It's late June 2020, the sun is blazing hot, and I'm sitting in a study in a district of a southern city in China, in front of a desktop computer, not too well configured, but good enough for me to write on. There is no air conditioning in the room, just a small fan on the desk that blows hot air from time to time. Where the air conditioner used to be, there is now a small bookshelf with two little dolls and a green plant on it. The green plant has already climbed a meter into the lighted area.
The sweeper also automatically turned on its sweeping mode at 11:00 a.m. The little red fish in the aquarium had died to the point that there were only three left. When they die, I want to replace them with some fighting fish. As I looked at the little fish swimming around in the tank, I suddenly remembered the fish pond at Ronnie's Beach. "If only I had a pond that big, maybe I could make a pond as good as Ronnie's. That's a bit of a tangent, so let's get back to the book, which, probably to no one's surprise, is the last conversation Ronnie and Michiko have on the island. When they meet again, half a century has passed. Ronnie regrets having spent his whole life looking for Michiko. A new story is about to begin, as Ronnie and his sister enter the New World, where they will have another adventure.
After Michiko left, Ronnie looked at the food that had been prepared for him lying on the floor and felt a little sad that he didn't eat it. He ate randomly and then took the duck with him, thinking that the three of them could share it that night for Michiko's birthday. He quickly returned home, Alice was organizing Michiko's birthday, and when she saw him, she asked, "Where have you been? you haven't been seen for half a day.”
"I was just with Michiko, where is Michiko? she should be home by now!"
"I haven't seen her."
"Maybe she was in a bad mood and went for a walk on the beach."
The siblings waited until after 6 p.m., but Michiko still hadn't returned. The duo became worried. They split up to look for her, but they searched the entire island and saw no one. "Ronnie, where did you and Michiko split up?" Alice asked.
Ronnie told her what happened at the beacon. "You mean her last line was 'I hope you don't regret it'?"
"Yes, I remember it well."
The two rushed to the beach to look for her, but the sea was vast and there was no Michiko. Ronnie sat on the ground in pain, holding his head in his hands in agony, "I really should have followed her instead of sitting there eating.”
"Ronnie, do you think Michiko went to see her brother, maybe she longed to be there?"
"No, she wouldn't kill herself, I believe her, she must have been kidnapped," Ronnie screamed like crazy. After coming to his senses he continued, "Maybe the two falconers came to the island and took her?"
Seeing that he was losing control of his emotions, Alice shook his shoulders and said, "Ronnie, calm down, let's have a look around, maybe we can find some clues."
There was no other way, Ronnie could only listen to his sister's advice, the two of them started from the "Beacon" and searched all the way from the place where Michiko might have been, and they found the north beach, at this time the two of them found that there were some big footprints on the beach, and these big footprints were definitely not left by the three people on the island, because these were the footprints of an adult man, a smaller footprint would be Michiko's. Ronnie was both happy and worried when he saw the large footprints; happy that Michiko hadn't committed suicide, and worried that she probably wasn't on the island anymore. "It's true that an outsider was on the island."
"Looks like you were right, Michiko was abducted," Alice nodded.
"Sister, I really want to get out of here now and look for Michiko."
"Even if you have a boat, where are you going to look for her? The world is too big and we don't even know who he is?"
"I'll definitely think of a way to get out of here," Ronnie clenched his fists, a determined look in his eyes.
"All right, don't think about it, let's go home first! we'll figure out a way when we get home."
When the siblings returned home, the house was much colder with one less person. It should have been a happy day, but now it had become a farewell of life and death, and Ronnie had sighed as he entered the house. Alice was also sad to see him like this. At that time, Alice suddenly said, "Huh! I haven't seen 'Monta' for a day, where did it go?" It hadn't seen Michiko, and it searched the whole island until midnight, and when it couldn't find her, it flew away. It was a month later when it returned.
Ronnie was overjoyed to see 'Monta' again and thought he would disappear just like Michiko. After a month of depression, he slowly came back to reality. With his mind set on leaving the island, he began preparing to build a boat and set sail again. Alice didn't quite agree and was more concerned about Ronnie's safety than finding Michiko. The last time they went out to sea, the three of them survived nine deaths before returning to the island. She didn't want Ronnie to die, so she cajoled him bitterly. "Ronnie, will you live on the island with me? let's wait a little longer, didn't a ship pass by here last time? we can light a fire at the beacon every night so we can be seen from afar."
Ronnie didn't listen to his sister, his head still buried in his work. Seeing him like that, Alice got angry and said, "You'll only die if you go out to sea now, and if Michiko knew, she wouldn't agree either."
"Sister, leave me alone!" Ronnie ignored his sister's bitter advice and continued to work.
Alice had no choice but to leave. In the middle of the night, she quietly got up and, following Michiko's example, lit a fire to burn the boat. She hid after burning the boat, knowing that Ronnie would surely storm out when he found out the boat was burned. When Ronnie saw the burned boat early the next morning, he was so angry that he wanted to fight. He searched the whole island and didn't see Alice, which was so similar to the last time he looked for Michiko. He began to wonder if he was dreaming, he pulled his ear hard, "Ah ... it hurts! it's not a dream! strange? is there anyone else on this island?" By this time, Alice was playing hide-and-seek with him. Ronnie looked for her until midnight, screaming his head off. He really didn't have the strength and went home to get a drink of water. Alice saw him go back and followed him.
Ronnie drank his water and sat on the floor in a daze, saying to himself, "Sister, where the hell are you?"
"Ronnie, I am here," Alice, standing outside the door, replied softly. She had thought her voice was soft, but in this quiet night, her words were incomparably clear. Ronnie snapped back and ran straight to her, wrapping her in his arms, "Sister, I thought I'd never see you again.”
"Ronnie, I'm sorry! I burned your boat,don't you blame me?"
"No, I should have listened to you and never built another boat."
The two siblings hugged each other for a long time before letting go. The duo was exhausted from the day's hunting. They cooked something, ate it, and went to bed.