Just then,
the train arrived at the station.

The woman folded her umbrella
and stepped inside.

Guu watched the departing train,
singing softly:

“Guu… guu… guu…”

From her seat,
the woman gazed absentmindedly
at Guu growing distant beyond the window.

“Perhaps…
what I think is so painful
is not such a serious thing after all.”

Before she knew it,
she had fallen asleep.

Even when the train reached her station,
she did not wake.

In her dream, she thought:

“Missing work for a single day
is not such a serious thing.

I will stop worrying about what comes next.”

She continued to sleep peacefully.

Before long,
the rain had stopped,
and the morning light
began to illuminate the town.

Guu, washed by the rain,
drifted away
into the clear sky.

When she awoke in the train,
she realized—
for the first time—
that she was free.

“Until now,
perhaps it was I myself
who had taken away my own freedom.”

At the next station,
she stepped off the train
and began to walk
in the direction she wished.