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Adachi to Shimamura - Volume Anime Special - Chapter 3




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Mura

“Are there any other people here?” 

“Nope.” 

Just me, the girl laughed. 

“It was the same for me”, I stated, all the while con¬tinuing to stare at her. “That’s why I left my town and came here.” 

“Right.” 

And so, the girl and I had met. 

Anyway. 

I had somehow failed to notice it while walking around earlier, but there was a giant, crater-looking hole in the ground right next to the town. Multiple streams of water flowed into this pit, forming waterfalls that then disappeared into darkness. Oh, how my knees had trembled when she first showed it to me. 

“Try not to fall in. You’ll die.” 

I had no reason to doubt the girl; the hole was so incredibly deep that I couldn’t even see what lay at the bottom of it due to lack of light. If not for the thun¬derous roar of water splashing against rocks, one might very well have thought that it was in fact bottomless. Personally, I quite hated the noise, which I suppose might have been explained at least in part by how quiet  my journey so far had been. 

Whereas I was left plugging my ears, the girl on the other hand did not seem to mind. 

“You’ll get used to it soon enough.” 

“I hope so.” 

I had another look down the hole. 

The strangest sensation passed through my mind as I did so. I felt almost... unworthy. “I wonder if it’d feel nice jumping in.” “I already told you, didn’t I? You’d die for sure.” A slightly worried smile formed on the girl’s face. So, yeah. I ended up spending the next few days  there, in the ruins of the town located next to the wa-terfall. I now found myself staring down into the darkness with no one by my side. 

How much time must the girl have spent getting all this ready? What I was referring to were of course the number of steps that had been put in place alongside the cliff face to enable one to make their way all the way down to the very centre of the massive crater. If it was drinking water she was after, she could easily have gotten that from the surface, leaving me to assume that  she’d done this either out of boredom or curiosity—or  perhaps a mixture of both. 

Perhaps the answers to the very secrets of this world were located at the bottom of this hole? Personally, I wasn’t all that interested in such things at the moment. 

I slowly made my way down the narrow pathway, putting extreme caution into every step as if walking down a ladder that might break at any moment. The climb had left me trembling in fear the first time around, and even now after a few trips up and down, still man¬aged to be quite intense—albeit much less so. 

“Guess she wasn’t kidding. I did get used to it.” 

A series of rocks protruded from the wall behind the waterfall, forming a roof of sorts. It was this cavern that I entered. Though muffled by the rock, the thunderous sound of falling water was still loud enough to make me want to cover my ears. This proved to be the least of my worries; occasionally, a rogue splash would hit me, causing me to feel as if my entire body had been dunked in a tank of ice water. 

It’d become a habit of mine to come here whenever I had time to kill. There was so much left to do in order to ensure my  survival, and yet, I much preferred simply wasting away  like this. 

To sum it up, I guess you could say that I was skip¬ping. “This isn’t good. Not good at all.” There was no weight to my words of remorse. The  only thing that felt heavy was my body. 

It often happened that once I settled down on the floor of the cave, it became impossible for me to force myself back up. 

“My, how shocking to find you here.” 

For whatever reason, the girl’s voice alone sounded crystal clear to my ears. It was as if all of the noise in the background had no effect on her. With a certain spring to her step, Yashiro made her way over and sat down on the floor next to me. As she did so, the darkness of the cave was replaced by her faint glow. 

“You should take care. It’s dangerous here.” 

“Is it really?” 

Again, whereas I had to shout in order to avoid my  voice being drowned out, Yashiro seemed practically unaffected. “Yes, it is. The roof might collapse at any moment,  and if that happens, you’re going to get turned into a  pancake.” I pointed at the layer of rock above us as I said this, earning myself a short “hmm” from Yashiro. 

A moment passed, after which the girl got up and jumped into the air. She made no sound as she did so. It was as if she was simply floating. 

Having touched the ceiling, Yashiro then returned to the ground next to me like nothing at all had happened. 

“I believe we will be safe for now.” 

“O-Oh, really?” 

My question prompted Yashiro to hold out her hand. A few droplets of water could be seen sitting on the surface of her palm, standing out against her pale white skin like paper lamps floating down a river. I squeezed one of her tiny fingers, and right away, a sharp wave of cold not at all dissimilar to when I had touched the waterfall earlier shot through my body. 

“What were you doing before I found you?” 

“Nothing much. Just idling away.” 

“I see, I see.” 

By this point, I was no longer bothering to yell; the girl appeared to hear me fine regardless. 

“And you?” 

“My work here is done, so I was thinking about de¬parting to my next destination soon.” 

The way the girl said that made it sound like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

“I enjoyed our time together greatly.” 

“Hmph...” 

As it often happened, I seriously had no idea what the girl was talking about. 

“Well, whatever.” 

I decided that it would be for the best if I didn’t think about it too hard. 

“That reminds me. What was it that you came here to do in the first place?” 

“Making sure that the two of you meet.” 

Huh? Did she mean what I thought she meant? I hastily pointed at myself, prompting the girl to nod her tiny head. 

“I already knew it was guaranteed to happen, but I thought I would come just in case.” 

I did make a promise, she added. I couldn’t help but feel like I had heard her mention that before. 

“After all, you were born to meet her, and so was she.” 

Before I knew it, my gaze had shifted upwards all on  its own. Why? Because in all likelihood, that was where the girl in question was currently residing. 

“Err... For real?” 

“For real-real.” 

All this was a bit too much for me to take in. For one, we weren’t even that close. I spent most of my time down here and not up there precisely because I didn’t know how to talk with her—the times I had done so were few enough to count with a single hand. This led me to wonder, why would the girl say something like that? Was she not even a human herself? I placed my hand on top of her head and pressed down partly to test out my theory and partly for fun, only for her body to squeeze together as if made out of jelly. 

“I just wonder... What am I supposed to say to her?” 

I found it impossible to properly gauge the distance between us. If I had to guess, I’d say that was because I had spent such a large portion of my life without anyone by my side. 

“Anything? I cannot see why it matters.” “Hmph. Seems like I picked the wrong person to ask help from...” 

In more ways than one, the girl was quite the enigma. 

“You are free to not believe me if you wish, but I do believe that things will work themselves out. We are already past the difficult part.” 

“Right...” 

“Do you know what is needed to draw a circle?” 

Before I could answer her, the girl stuck out her hand and gave it a spin, leaving a trail of glowy particles float¬ing in the air which then took the shape of a circle. I stared at this mysterious phenomenon in wonder, only for it to be swallowed by the waterfall mere moments later. 

What had she meant by that? Where was all this coming from? 

“Err...” 

I really wasn’t good with stuff like this. Thankfully, I didn’t end up having to think about it for too long as Yashiro quickly offered me an explanation: 

“What is needed is a line.” 

“Oh? I didn’t think it’d be something so literal...” 

“All it takes is a single spot where the line is broken, and the circle won’t be able to be formed.” 

As if to demonstrate her point, Yashiro went ahead  and drew a second circle. This time, however, she left the bottom right corner open. “Do you see? This shape is almost a circle, but at the same time, infinitely far away from being one.” 

“Hmm...” 

Was that really the case? I decided to try giving fixing the shape a try, if for nothing else than for the sake of it. Sure enough, attempting to do so quickly proved to be an exercise in futility. 

The girl had been right; the shape was indeed defective—a failure of a circle. 

Huh. 

“So?” 

“That was all.” 

“Sorry, but I don’t get it.” 

“Oh. We cannot have that.” 

Yashiro spent the next few moments staring into the waterfall before once again opening her mouth: 

“The circle I drew represents this very world.” 

“Okay?” 

“Please think of the missing section as the combined existence of you and Shima.” 

Shima? Oh, she was talking about the girl. I still  hadn’t fully gotten used to calling her by her name. It was something I very much hadn’t needed to deal with in the past. 

Anyway. It was quite the bombshell that had just been dropped on me, wasn’t it? I found myself compar¬ing our situation to the circle and the broken line. 

“Are we really that important?” 

“Yes, you are”, the girl stated while nodding her head. “Or rather, a better way to put it would be to say that everyone is equally important. In order to recreate something, everything needs to be exactly the same way as it was in the past. Naturally, this ’everything’ includes the two of you as well.” 

“Huh...” It took me a few moments to understand what it was that she was saying. 

For whatever reason, my mind wandered to the red berries I ate on the regular. While some did occasion¬ally taste a bit different than others, they were—in all likelihood—made of the same stuff. It was the reason why you didn’t have to worry about getting poisoned whenever you ate one. Was this what the girl was at¬tempting to get across? 

“I have no doubt that things will work out fine. You  two are fated to end up together, after all. It is simply a  natural part of the world we live in.” 

“I see...” 

I had to say, while I mostly thought of her as little more than a lazy rodent, the girl did every now and then manage to catch me quite off-guard with her strange remarks. It was almost as if she knew more than her appearance let on. 

She truly was an enigma, wasn’t she, this creature from the sky? 

Just what sorts of wonders must she have witnessed before coming here? 

I turned to look away while wiping my face clean from the moisture filling the cave. 

I... 

“I don’t get it. At all.” 

“You will once you get a bit older.” 

“Hmph. You cheeky brat.” 

I grabbed Yashiro by the cheeks and squished them. Her face was soft and distorted easily, yet this didn’t stop the girl from laughing. Not in the slightest. It was almost as if her mouth wasn’t where her voice was coming from. I quickly let go, and as I did so, I noticed that my fingertips too had grown slightly blue. I couldn’t help but find myself feeling a bit melancholic as I watched the colour fade away. 

“So, yes. Please do try to get along with Shima. Do that, and you are sure to find happiness.” 

It seemed that she was done trying to make me un¬derstand. 

Happiness, huh? What happiness did there exist in this world? 

Wherever I looked, all I saw were ruins of the world that had once been. 

Multiple days had gone by since I’d met the girl, yet this was still very much the case. 

“Hmph... Well, I guess making friends is as good of a goal as any”, I stated out loud while stroking my knees, with the sounds of the waterfall still continuing to roar all around me. “If nothing else, it should at least give me something to do. Been kinda lacking in that department lately, I feel.” 

It’d always been my goal to meet another human being, and now that I’d done that, I couldn’t help but find myself a bit lost. Sure, I could always get moving and see if I could find someone else, but I didn’t exactly feel like doing that. Another option that came to mind was returning to my home village, but that too was sadly unfeasible; it wasn’t like I’d drawn a map or anything of the sort that I could use to retrace my steps. That all was to say, I was stuck here. This would be my home for the days to come. 

I’d be living here with another person by my side. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but something about that filled my heart with uncertainty. “And how about you? Where are you planning on heading next?” 

“Hmm”, Yashiro hummed with a grin on her face. Judging by her expression, it didn’t seem like there was much going on in her head. “I have chosen my next destination already, but before I head there, I would very much like to visit a hot spring.” 

“A hot spring?” “Indeed. While I do dislike bathing in general, hot springs are an exception to that.” 

I was quite familiar with what bathing was, but a hot spring? I honestly had no clue. I could only assume that it was something from the old world, a concept that had  been lost to time before I came to be. 

“I don’t really get it, but sure, sounds great. You do you.” 

That I will, the girl nodded. 

“It will only be my second time visiting one.” 

“Say, Shimamura. Do you like warm places?” 

It was immediately obvious to me that this wasn’t actually what she wanted to know. Rather, there was something else hiding behind it, some other question. What could that something be? I spent a few moments thinking about it. 

Was it a trick question? Some sort of a psychological test, perhaps? Coming to the conclusion that both of those seemed quite unlikely, I went ahead and gave her an honest answer. 

“I suppose I do. I’d never say no to a nice warm futon, for example.” 

Regardless of the season, if I had to pick one place to spend an entire day, it would have to be in my very own bed under a thick layer of warm blankets. I was very sensitive to the cold that way. Truly, there was a reason why life was naturally attracted to warmer regions. 

Adachi was currently sitting on the floor in front of  me, holding the pillow I’d tossed her on top of her knees. As usual, the way she was behaving simply screamed suspicious. Take her right hand for an example; she’d been tapping her fingers against the side of her leg as if it was a keyboard or something for quite some time now. 

It’d been early Friday afternoon when Adachi had suddenly informed me that she wanted to come over to my place. A few hours had passed and the sun had started setting, yet I still had no clue what it was that she wanted to tell me. How could I tell that the sun was setting when the room we were in had no windows? Simple: the temperature of the air was going down. 

There we were, Adachi and I, in the small room lo¬cated upstairs. 

“Beds are... important too, yes. Very important.” 

“Right...” 

Important, huh? I guess that was one way to put it. As to why she was blushing, that I could not tell you. 

“I was thinking of something a bit... How to put it... A bit more open than a bed.” 

You could hear Adachi mumble in the middle of her sentence as she frantically tried searching for the right words. Like a bed, but more open? She wasn’t giving me much to go by here, was she? 

Personally, I would have preferred it if she kept the extent of my intelligence in mind and limited her rid¬dles to the likes of “What’s a bread you can’t eat?”. 

Oh, and this is a complete tangent, but that riddle once came up while I was talking with Mom. Her an¬swer: the curry bread from high school. Apparently, the carrots in it had been raw and very difficult to bite into. Done reminiscing about those sorts of trivial matters, I returned to reality with a solid “dunno”. 

“It’s kinda like... Soothing. Healing. Something like that...” “It’d be a real lifesaver if you just skipped past all this and went to the point already.” 

As we both knew, Japanese had never been my strongest subject. I soon found myself sitting on the floor in front of her. 

Appearing to have given up, Adachi lifted her head, and doing so revealed just how red her cheeks had grown. There, as if shooting out this redness into my direction, she spoke the following words: 

“I was thinking, why don’t we go visit a hot spring?” 

Something warm, something soothing. As was often the case, the answer seemed so obvious in retrospect. 

“A hot spring, huh?” 

Yes, Adachi nodded. If you asked me, she already looked like she was immersed shoulders-deep in boiling water. 

“Just the two of us?” 

Yes yes yes, she nodded again. Three nods this time. Meanwhile, her ears continued growing more and more red. I was honestly a little surprised; I would’ve thought for sure that was as red as they could get. 

“Oh, and, I’ll pay!” she added hastily. What was the implication there? That I didn’t have enough money to cover my own expenses? 

“I don’t know who you see me as, Adachi, but I’m not the sort of person who enjoys wasting their girlfriend’s hard-earned money visiting hot springs and stuff.” 

It simply wasn’t what I wanted our relationship to be like. Now, what about Adachi? Did she want to turn me into that kind of a woman? 

“Y-You’re not wasting it. Not at all.” 

“Hmph...” 

“Every time I spend money on you, it’s because I  want to. I wouldn’t do it for any other reason.” 

Adachi brushed the hair resting on top of her left ear aside as she said that. She often did so in these sorts of situations. You could almost say that it was a habit of hers. Hmm... So, in other words, what she was saying was that spending money on me, she was effectively spending it on herself? Honestly, that seemed quite reasonable. I found myself hard-pressed attempting to come up with a reason to stop her. If that meant me becoming completely reliant on her, then I guess I had no choice but to go along with it. 

No choice, huh? 

“Hmm.” 

A hot spring trip with just the two of us. Adachi’s bright-red face. Put two and two together, and what you get is... 

“Hmmm...” 

It was hardly something that required much thinking, yet I still couldn’t help but approach the matter in the most roundabout of ways. 

This time for sure I had no choice. 

“Oh? That’s what you mean?” I ended up saying out loud. A bit mean-spirited perhaps, asking her straight like that, but I simply was not able to stop myself. 

Adachi sprang up and straightened out her back. It was as if she’d just been hit by a strong gust of wind. The colour of her face had done a full circle, and she was now back to her usual pale self. Staring at her as she did at me, I found myself feeling just the slightest bit embarrassed. 

“Oh you, little Adachi.” 

I went ahead and patted her shoulder like an overly eager grandma would. A familiar tone of red immedi¬ately returned to her face, filling me with relief. Truly, seeing her act all flustered while blushing from ear to ear was simply so much more relaxing than the alternative. More relaxing for me, that was. 

“When you say ’that’s what I mean’, do you mean—?” 

Adachi’s mid-sentence stuttering almost made it sound like she’d caught something in her throat. While I wouldn’t have at all minded spending a bit more time staring at her, before I did that, there was something else I needed to get out of the way. Mainly, the matter of the hot spring. 

We’d agreed a while ago to one day travel overseas. 

This obviously wasn’t that, and so, it took me a moment to readjust the scale, so to say. Oh, but don’t get me wrong; it wasn’t that I had something against the idea of going somewhere with her. That wasn’t the issue. No, what I was afraid of was not being able to meet whatever expectations she had set up in her head. It was for this reason that I found myself hesitating a little as to how to answer her. 

“Hmm...” 

At the same time, a part of me did also just want to say “why not”. 

Like, wasn’t it a bit too late for this sort of thinking? 

When I said that I loved Adachi, I really did mean it. 

As for Adachi, well, let’s just say that she left very little room for doubt in the way she expressed her affection. 

Add to this the way the wind was making my body shiver, and what you were left with was one clear-cut decision. 

“Sure, why not. Let’s go.” I suppose you could say that being attracted to hot springs was simply a part of my nature. Adachi showed no visible signs of excitement to¬wards my answer. Rather, what she did was nod her  head repeatedly before leaping up and proclaiming the  following: 

“I’ve got some preparing to do!” 

“Preparing?” 

I found myself quite enjoying the way she said that particular word. “Y-Yes, preparing.” Done repeating herself—and sounding much more  feeble than before—Adachi then ran out of the room. Or slid, rather; for whatever reason, she chose to make sure not to lift her feet off the floor as she walked. Was it an attempt to make herself not seem flustered? If so, then she was doing a horrible job at it. The fact that I could hear her break into a full-on sprint as soon as she’d made it to the other side of the door certainly did not help either. I even heard her make a pinball-like sound as she presumably smashed into a wall. I could only pray that she at least had the good sense to slow down for the stairs. 

“So, preparations.” 

I didn’t have to think about those words of hers for more than a second to find myself blushing intensely. Well, not like that was what she meant. She was obvi¬ ously just talking about preparing for the trip. Obvi¬ ously. “I should probably start getting ready myself. That means... what?” 

Assuming that we were simply going to be spending a day or two at a hot spring inn, then there really was nothing special that I needed to do beforehand. 

However, it was also possible for the situation to play out a bit differently. One thing would lead to another, and then... And then... 

“Then what? What should I do?” 

...Study? 

Study... 

Study? 

“This is making my head hurt.” 

I already felt out of my depth attempting to approach  this topic, let alone thinking about it in any sort of real detail. For that reason, I decided to let it be for now. Perhaps I would come back to it later, when I was more ready. However, there was one thing that was clear to me. Just one little thing. “Adachi wants to see me nude again, doesn’t she? 

Hmm...” 

When said out loud like that, it sounded... I don’t know... kinda embarrassing? 

I went ahead and slowly lay down on my backside. I was no longer under the kotatsu, yet for whatever reason, the cold didn’t really bother me anymore. I laughed a little, stared in front of me, and thought about Adachi. 

I know the expression “pleasant” was most often as¬sociated with warm situations, and while this wasn’t exactly that, it was still how I felt in the moment. 

“She’s so simple, that girl. I really do like that about her...” 

What a nice thing indeed. 

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we’d already had our first kiss a while ago. 

Adachi had been biting her lip like crazy before we did it, and as a result, I’d ended up getting a bit of her blood in my mouth. 

I’d tasted her blood. Adachi’s blood. If there was one thought that could make my back billow, then that had to be it. 

The hot spring inn we arrived at was located not that far from my home. Much to my surprise, it turned out that Adachi hadn’t gone out of her way to wear a full-on yukata. Now, if you thought this was a sign suggesting that she was going to be acting normal for the rest of the trip, you better think again; no sooner had we entered our room and Adachi had grabbed the TV remote to turn the device on, the thing slipped out of her hand and almost hit the window. She ran to pick it up, only for her to slam her shin against the corner of the table in the most painful-looking of ways. The final nail in the coffin came a few moments later as she gulped down the cup of steaming-hot tea I’d poured for her without checking its temperature first. With the expression of a person who had simultaneously experienced all of the pain in the universe, Adachi fell down and collapsed on the tatami floor. 

“This buzzing in my ears is killing me”, I could hear her mumble softly from below me. 

“Personally, I think you fought well.” 

Like a warrior who never gave up, not even when they were driven to a corner. 

“Sometimes, I really don’t understand the things that come out of your mouth, Shimamura...” 

“Oh? Is the buzzing that bad? Should we go see a  doctor?” 

“That’s not how I meant it...” 

Pressing the side of her face as if her cheek was hurt¬ing, Adachi used her other eye to stare at me. 

There was something about her stare that I found a bit, how to put this... naughty. All sorts of thoughts began flying through my mind, and with them, I found myself unable to look at her straight. No, no. Adachi wasn’t that sort of a girl. Well, I say that, but it was true that she had been the one to invite me here. Plus, if you took her previous behaviour into consideration, then... The more I thought about it, the more I could feel my eyes starting to spin. 

“Err... I think I’ll go try out the bath.” 

My body was starting to grow sweaty just looking at her. 

“I’ll come too!” 

Adachi attempted to pull herself up, but I quickly stopped her. “No, no. I think it’d be better if you tried calming down a little first.” I didn’t even dare to imagine what might happen  were we to enter the bath together the way we were  right now. 

Having seemingly come to terms with the limits of her body herself, Adachi made no further attempts at getting up. 

“Mmh...” she mumbled softly with her eyes closed. Watching her do so, I placed my hand on her forehead. 

“I going to go cool down my head a bit, too.” 

Not that I felt like I was running hot enough where that was necessary. Plus, how exactly did one cool one¬self down by bathing? Mysterious, mysterious. 

Holding in my breath, I exited the room and made my way over to the hot spring area through the lobby. Whereas all the other hallways in the inn were carpeted, the one leading to the baths did not have as much as a rug. I had to say, I quite enjoyed the sound my slippers made against the wooden planks. 

“Hmm...” I couldn’t help but wonder; what kind of a mood did you want to be in for these sorts of occasions? 

Maybe we should both just get naked and get it with over with? That would surely save us a lot of trouble. Actually, on a second thought, let’s scrap that; regardless of what it was that we were doing here, it would most assuredly not be helped by us acting like two elementary school students about to go for a swim in the pool. 

What a difficult dilemma this was. 

With my mind running wild with those sorts of thoughts, I made my way towards the baths when all of a sudden, I noticed something strange; the lone sound of my footsteps had at some point been joined by another, much softer sound. 

Without even turning around, I already knew exactly who the person walking behind me was. 

“Hmph.” 

Our eyes met, and she instantly froze in place with her right leg still in the air, like we were playing green light red light or something. 

“Good day!” 

At this point, I probably didn’t even need to clarify that it was in fact my little elusive alien friend that I was staring down at. Who else would have greeted me all casually while doing such a pose? 

Today, she was wearing a bird—or at least what I thought was a bird—pyjama. While the sizeable crest did bring to mind a chicken, the tips of her wings did  also have a hint of blue to them, so take that as you will. 

“And when did you get here?” “I was bored, so I tele—” Yashiro quickly stopped herself before she could  finish the sentence. “So I ran. I ran all the way.” “Were you just about to say that you teleported?” Hohoho, the girl laughed. Clearly, I wasn’t going to  be getting a straight answer from her. 

My mind wandered back to the trip we’d gone on in high school. That was yet another occasion where she had been inexplicably present. 

“I was kinda wondering whether or not you would  sneak inside my bag again.” “I was not able to as I did not visit your house today.” “Hmph. My sister must be feeling pretty lonely right  about now.” “Very well then. I shall go visit her later on.” “Right...” Not exactly what I’d had in mind, but whatever. Still, she really could just appear wherever she  wanted, huh? It was almost as if she was viewing the world not from the same level as us, but from somewhere high above. 

“What is this place, by the way?” the girl asked me while looking around. 

“You ran here, but you can’t tell?” 

“I did it on a whim, so no.” 

“It’s a hot spring.” 

“A hot spring? I see, I see.” 

She clearly didn’t get what I was talking about. Given how common it was for me to find her lying on the floor watching TV, you would’ve thought that she’d seen one be mentioned in a news special or something, but I guess not. On another topic, this was a hotel, meaning that you had to pay to get in here. Had Yashiro done that? I highly doubted it. No way could I bring her along with me in good conscience. 

“Well, whatever.” 

I retraced my steps back to the front desk and paid for her entry. There were two different prices, one for adults and one for children, and the latter was what I went with. Not because it was cheaper, mind you, but because I couldn’t imagine anyone believing me were I to tell them how old Yashiro actually was—or at least claimed to be. 

“Oh? You need to pay to come here?” 

“Well, they might let you specifically bathe for free like those monkeys at the mountains, but yeah, it’s bet¬ter to do it like this just in case.” 

I handed the appropriate amount of money to the person standing behind the counter, got the key, and turned back around again. While clearly weirded out by Yashiro’s curious getup, the woman didn’t go as far as to comment on it, choosing instead to simply laugh and move on. 

“I am in your debt.” 

“I feel like that’s a pretty common occurrence.” 

At the same time, I would be lying if I said that I  didn’t feel slightly jealous of her. It was quite the thing to be able to live without having to think about money. I was barely an adult myself, yet already, I too had begun feeling its weight. 

A lot of time had passed since I first met Yashiro. Years, in fact. And yet, she still looked exactly like she had back then. Nothing about her appearance had changed. Not one little thing. Whereas my sister had grown considerably taller, she alone remained the size of a small child. I honestly found it a bit strange seeing the two still frolic about like they had done back in the day. Then again, maybe that was actually a good thing. Perhaps. 

“I very much look forward to this hot spring thing.” 

“Oh? You figured out what it means?” 

“I wonder what it is going to taste like.” 

Seemed like she hadn’t. 

Passing by a handful of windows, we made our way over to the dividers leading to the dressing room. We stepped through, and there, what greeted us was a series of wooden walls—pleasantly warm in their colour—as well a slightly wet floor. 

I could hear Yashiro mutter the following to herself as she had a few quick looks around: 

“Is this perhaps—” 

“Yes. Now, take your clothes off.” 

Knowing just how slippery the girl could be in these sorts of situations, I decided to take justice into my own hands by pulling of her pyjamas before she could react. Much to my surprise, however, that turned out to be all that she was wearing; underneath the chicken costume, Yashiro was completely naked. Looking as she tottered deeper in, I took off my own clothes as well, put them away—alongside the girl’s—and quickly chased after her. There didn’t seem to be anyone else here, which, given Yashiro’s presence, was likely for the best. 

The very first thing I felt as I pushed the door leading to the bathing area open was a wave of warm air coming in direct contact with my face. The baths were located to the right of the entrance, and on the wall past them, I saw a line of showers. As for the floor, it was tiled and gave off a very unique glimmer. There were no people anywhere to be seen, and the only sound I could hear was that of running water. 

I made my way a bit further in and soon came across Yashiro observing her surroundings in awe. 

“This is a giant bath, is it not?” 

“But what does it taste like, I wonder.” 

As if pushed forth by my words, the girl ran over to the nearest hot spring, crouched down, and placed her hand in it. 

“It is the same temperature as bath water.” 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” 

Yashiro’s hair—still tied up with a knot reminiscent of the wings of a butterfly—continued flowing like the waves on the water’s surface as she slowly shook her  head from side to side. This lasted for a few moments,  when all of a sudden... 

“Jump!” 

“Not before you wash up.” 

...the girl attempted to jump in. Thankfully, I was able to catch her in time, and quickly dragged her over to the showers. 

There was a giant wall mirror located opposite the shower heads, on the polished surface of which an im¬age of Yashiro was reflected. Why did I feel like that was worth pointing out? Well, that’d be because from time to time, she didn’t show up in mirrors. Yeah. Not sure what that was about. 

“You know how to adjust the temperature?” 

“There is nothing that I cannot do.” 

Seemingly brimming with confidence, Yashiro grabbed the shower head and sprayed her body with water, from head to toe. 

While she didn’t actually adjust any of the settings, this did little in the way of holding back the bright and cheerful smile that soon formed on her face. 

“I’m done.” 

“No you’re not. Make sure you give your hair a good  rinsing.” 

Not hesitating even slightly, the girl did as she was told. She really was going at it quite hard. Seeing her do so brought to my mind something that had been bothering me for quite some time now. 

“That thing. Does it come off?” 

“Hmm?” 

I went ahead and pointed at the butterfly knot she’d used to tie up her hair. 

“Ah, yes. Just a moment”, the girl replied before placing her tiny hands on said knot and pulling it loose. “Eek!” 

“What are you even doing?” 

Her high-pitched scream left me a bit worried, but sure enough, the knot did come off. There, like a piece of cloth that had been let loose, Yashiro’s hair quickly fell to cover the most of her back. Seeing her like that honestly made her feel like a whole different person. 

A good little girl, a symbol of fleeting beauty. That was what I saw before me. 

“What is the matter, Shimamura?” she asked me, seemingly unfazed by the stream of water splashing against her face. While that would already have been  strange enough, upon closer inspection, I noticed that her hair didn’t appear to have gotten wet in the slightest. It was as if she was a statue and the liquid was simply flowing off her. 

“Nothing. Never mind.” 

I grabbed a plastic bucket from the pile and handed it to her. Not that I knew if she was going to be using it for anything, but still, better safe than sorry. 

“Shou often drags me to the bath with her.” 

“Yeah, because otherwise you don’t do it, right?” 

“I do enjoy swimming in the pool, though.” 

“In that case, why don’t you just think of this as a giant pool?” “Ooh. That is a great idea.” A wide grin formed on the girl’s face as she glanced at the baths. 

She was planning to jump in and start swimming, wasn’t she? 

Maybe I shouldn’t have told her that. Maybe. 

Done washing myself, I began tying my hair in a  bun. Meanwhile, Yashiro took this opportunity to run up ahead. “Hey, no running. The floor’s slippery.” 

The girl was gone before my words could reach her. 


Good grief. Mumbling something to that effect to myself, I made my way over to the baths as well. Once there, I submerged my foot in the water like I was stepping down a staircase, and immediately, a stinging sensation of warmth shot through my frozen toes as if piercing them. It almost kinda hurt. In contrast, Yashiro had already immersed herself head-deep. Head... deep? 

With only the top part of her hair visible above the surface, the girl frantically made her way around the pool. 

“Shoosh!” 

It was as if I was watching a blue jellyfish swim about. 

“Hey.” 

I grabbed Yashiro and lifted her up. She put up no resistance whatsoever, choosing instead to simply dan¬gle there while droplets of blue water dripped off her body. 

“The water is so deep that when I sat down, my head went under it.” “Right. More importantly, your hair... Wait, that is hair, yeah?” I couldn’t help but ask her that. There was some¬ thing very strange about the way the droplets seemed to roll right off her hair instead of sticking to it. The phenomenon was so strange, in fact, that I didn’t even know how to describe it properly. I often found my¬self feeling that way when dealing with this weird little creature. 

I placed the girl down, and right away, she leapt for¬ward as if about to start swimming again. Thankfully, I was able to grab her wrist in time. 

“Anyway, just keep your hair away from the water, okay? Those are the rules here.” 

“Really?” 

“Really.” 

“Very well then.” 

Having said that, the girl’s hair slowly stood up with¬out her as much as touching it. How? “Will this do?” “Err... Yeah, sure. I guess. Oh, and also. No swim¬ming, okay?” 

“Why?” 

“It’s very inconsiderate of other people.” 

“What other people?” 

I had a quick look around. Huh. I guess there really  wasn’t anyone here. 

“Well, regardless. Let’s pretend like there are.” 

I grabbed the girl and had her sit down next to me. I made sure to place her on the step by the side of the pool, but even then, she was still short enough where her mouth ended up going underwater. 

This was soon followed by Yashiro frantically kicking her feet up and down. 

“Are you not feeling bored?” 

“No, not at all.” 

Quite the opposite, in fact; given everything that was going on, it was honestly pretty nice to be able to shut my mind off for a moment. 

To let the tempest of thoughts raging in my head to simply melt into the water alongside the droplets of sweat dripping down my skin. 

“Is there something bothering you, Shimamura?” 

“Me? Hmm... I guess you could say that.” 

I scooped up some water and let it drip off my palm while thinking about the girl’s question. 

“It’s just so weird. I’m sitting here, wasting away, yet were you to travel to somewhere else on this planet, you could find so much more. Things like giant whales just swimming around, as well as strange creatures at the bottom of the sea where no man has ever been, completely oblivious to my existence. When you really think about it, it makes you feel so... small.” 

In a way, it was like squinting at a light shimmering at a distance. The world I knew was but a tiny fraction of what existed out there. And yet, at the same time, there was no denying the fact that I was part of it. 

How mysterious. How truly mysterious. The strange sensation brought about by these questions combined with the warmth of the bath and caused my conscious¬ness to begin drifting away. 

Meanwhile, Yashiro continued chirping like a bird while nodding her head seemingly at random. 

“I am not quite sure if I understand.” 

“I bet you don’t.” 

I often had a hard time understanding the girl, and so I guess it only made sense that the feeling was mutual. 

“Still, I do very much like these sorts of moments, when I’m able to just take my time and think about stuff.” 

Distancing yourself from the tedium of daily life,  letting your mind wander freely, and reflecting upon yourself as a person. That was more or less what I was talking about. 

I doubt most people could see the appeal, but I quite liked it myself. 

“Very well then. I too shall think about things.” 

Having said that, the girl froze in place with her eyes facing straight forward and her mouth hanging half-open. I found it highly unlikely that there was actually anything at all going through her mind. 

“For you specifically, I get the feeling like you’d find it much more enjoyable thinking about, say, what’s for dinner.” 

“Ah, yes. That sounds very good indeed.” 

This seemed to work wonders, and for the next few moments, Yashiro actually shut up. 

For a brief moment, I too ended up getting caught in the mood and found myself wondering what the folks back home were cooking. 

“Will Adachi not be joining us?” Yashiro asked me all of a sudden, catching me completely off-guard. How did she know Adachi was with me? At no point had I  brought her up, and as far as I was aware, the girl hadn’t  been to our room either. 

“Wow. You’re...” 

“Yes? I am what?” 

“...something else.” 

“Yay!” 

Yashiro’s tiny arms shot up into the air, creating waves which then splashed against my body. While not exactly how I’d meant it, I was glad that my statement made her happy regardless. 

“Anyway. Adachi is... She is waiting for me”, I stated softly. 

“If that is the case, should you not hurry?” 

“Right... I guess I should.” 

I had to say, Yashiro really was the last person who I’d expected would be giving me the push I needed. Then again, thinking about it some more, I guess she had kinda always been playing that role. Huh. Weird. Was she completely oblivious, or did she know more than she let on? 

“Hmm?” 

I placed my finger onto the butterfly sitting on the back of the girl’s head—which she had undone earlier  but had now mysteriously come back—and made it flap  its wings. 

Done bathing, I made a quick detour by the lobby and got both of us ice cream. Needless to say, the girl was quite delighted by this. 

“I have changed my mind. These hot springs are not nearly as bad as I initially thought.” 

“Kinda weird liking a hot spring because of ice cream.” 

“Hohoho.” 

We then ate our ice creams. I could feel a distinct tingle near my collar bone as I dug into mine. 

Standing there in the lobby, I took this opportunity to have a quick look around, only for my eyes to come across something quite strange. Specifically, a sign with a few very surprising words written on it. Huh. 

Then again, if there was a place where you might expect to find something of this sort, then I suppose this would be it. 

“Now then.” 

I really needed to hurry back. But, before that, there was one more matter that needed to be dealt with: What was I going to do with this little creature? 

“I will be back later when it is time for snacks.” 

“Didn’t you just finish eating an ice cream?” 

“The more snacks the merrier.” 

With that, the girl ran off. She made it all the way to the end of the hallway before turning around one last time to state the following: 

“Whatever you do, do not peek, alright?” 

“Or what? Will you turn into a crane and fly away?” 

I was of course referencing the famous fairy tale. Anyway, while I had no intention of going after the girl, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t find it slightly odd to see her heading towards the exact opposite direction of where the exit of the building was located. 

If I started running right now, would I be able to catch her? Or would she already be gone? If I had to bet, my money would be on the latter. 

All things considered, this was a pretty good out¬come, wasn’t it? It would certainly have been quite trou¬blesome had she followed me to our room. Perhaps the girl was more aware of what was going on around her than I gave her credit for? Perhaps. 

“Actually, no.” I kind hated the idea of that, now that I thought about it. There was something about Yashiro being this play¬ ful personification of freedom and lack of obligations which greatly appealed to me, and I preferred to keep it that way. Anyway, such profound topics being the last thing my poor old mind needed after a long bath, I gave my legs a quick shake before heading back to our room where Adachi was waiting for me. 

I repeated this action once more having reached the door, except this time using my shoulders. 

“Here we go.” 

It was almost as if I was firing myself up or something. 

“I’m back.” 

“I... won’t... run... Ah!” 

I returned to our room, only to find Adachi there with her hands held high above her head. It was like she was striking a pose or something. 

“Oh, sorry.” 

Maybe I should have spent just a bit more time stretching my shoulders. Then again, I guess this out¬come was better than overdoing it and having my arms fall off. 

Adachi was currently sitting in front of a futon laid out on the floor. From the looks of it, it appeared that she had been waiting for me. Was this really a situation calling for a such a formal style of sitting? I personally didn’t think so, though considering how common it was for Adachi to sit that way, I suppose she saw things differently. 

A futon, huh? I couldn’t help but laugh a bit while imagining the sight of Adachi trying to spread one out with her eyes spinning like crazy. 

Her cheeks growing ever-more red, Adachi slowly lowered her arms. 

“The bath felt very nice”, I stated while taking a seat next to her. As I did so, Adachi nodded her head in the stiffest of manners. You could practically hear the muscles in her neck creak. 

Stiff. That was the word I’d used to describe her appearance. On the contrary, I had gotten quite soft from the bath, making us complete opposites in that regard. 

“No, but seriously. Thank you.” 

For bringing me here, I meant. 

Well, I say that, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t pitched in a little myself. This was by no means a cheap trip. “So, have you stopped feeling dizzy yet?” Once again, Adachi nodded her head. Maybe I  should stop it with the questions; if this kept up, there was a high chance that we might find ourselves back at square one. 

“I highly suggest that you try out the bath yourself later on.” 

At last, Adachi spoke. It was good to hear that she hadn’t lost her voice. That said, she was still acting so very stiff. Stiff and formal. Watching her awkwardly shift her hands about almost made it look like her en¬tire body had been covered in a thick layer of glue or something. Her eyes alone were able to move freely, which they did in the form of spinning around wildly. 

“Let’s go there together.” 

“I already went, though? Well, whatever. Why not.” 

Call it an instinct, but I got the feeling that this time, Yashiro wasn’t going to be making an appearance. 

“More importantly, you’re thinking about going to bed already? We’ve not even had dinner yet, you know?” I stated while winking at the futon, causing Adachi to— figuratively speaking—blow up. 

Her face was already bright red, and at this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if soon enough, her hair would be as well. 

I could practically feel the energy coming off her  brushing against my skin. 

“Shimamura!” 

“Yes?” 

“I—!” 

“You’re yelling.” 

It was highly impolite towards the other customers to make this much noise. “It’s not like I—! I want to do what you’re thinking...” Whereas she practically yelled out the first part, the  second half of her sentence shared none of that same enthusiasm. Like a sponge you’d forgotten to water, Adachi was quickly starting to shrivel up, yet she still somehow managed to hold out and continued staring at me with upturned eyes. 

Similarly, I too found myself feeling a bit lost; I really had no idea how I was meant to respond to her sudden, loud proclamation. 

“You don’t?” “Well... no. I mean, yes. Err... Technically... Yes? No?” Unable to come up with an answer, Adachi turned to me for help. How was I supposed to know that? 

Having seemingly realised that this wasn’t going so  well herself, Adachi shifted her gaze away, placed her hands on her knees, and slouched forward. 

“I’m no expert, but I feel like when it comes to things like these, you’re not supposed to jump straight to the point.” 

“Right.” 

With that, I switched to the role of the listener. I wanted to hear the words coming from Adachi’s mouth. No matter how long it took, I was ready to wait. 

“I love you, Shimamura.” 

“Well, thanks.” 

Rarely did a day go by without Adachi confessing her feelings to me. Or at least, that was how I felt. 

“When I touch you, I feel so... warm. That warmth fills me, and makes me want to touch you more. I want to bring my face next to yours. I want to feel you. I want to be close to you. I want to squeeze you. Those feelings keep growing stronger and stronger, and make me want to keep touching you more. I want to touch you all over. The sides of your hips, the backs of your elbows, your—” 

That was as far as Adachi got before stopping all of a sudden. It was as if she had only now realised that she  was speaking out loud. 

“No, no. That wasn’t what I wanted to say...” 

Looking defeated, Adachi hung her head. From her point of view, it probably seemed like she’d spouted out some incomprehensible nonsense, and, well, she kinda had. 

And yet, to me, it made perfect sense. She loved me. She really did. That was the message her words carried. 

It was... how to put it. Normally, people struggled conveying their feelings, yet when it came to Adachi, she had no such trouble. Without hesitation, she laid out her heart in open, exposing her truest thoughts for me to see. 

If I was forced to choose, I might even go as far as to say that this was what I most liked about her. 

“Now, I already know I said this once, but just to repeat myself”, I stated while softly brushing my hand against Adachi’s neck. Her skin felt just as warm as the bath had. “I very much like warm things.” 

That was to say, were she going to be touching me, were I going to be touching her, I’d be able to enjoy it. 

I’d be able to meet her expectations. That was what 

I wanted to believe. 

So, yeah. Expectations met. 

“Actually, I saw something earlier that I want to do with you.” 

“Huh?” 

My comment was enough to cause Adachi to freeze in place. 

“Shall we go?” 

I took her hand and pulled her up. Adachi, spacing out, and me, dragging her along. All things considered, this was a pretty strange arrangement, wasn’t it? Passing by a painting portraying a group of fishermen from the olden days, we made our way towards the direction indicated by the very same sign I’d pointed out earlier. Sure enough, it turned out that it had been for real. 

Between the windows and the mustard-coloured drapes stood a pair of light blue ping-pong tables. “Huh. I guess it’s more than just a TV thing that you can play table tennis at these places.” 

Hot spring ping-pong. That was what it said on the sign. The hand-written letters had already begun to fade, indicating that this thing had been here for quite  some time. 

Two rackets had been placed on top of the table. I grabbed the blue one and pointed it at Adachi. She had yet to say anything—probably because she was too confused to even comprehend what was going on—but after a short delay, she finally nodded her head. 

“I see.” 

Did she? For how cool she was trying to play it, she sure was squirming about an awful lot. I took this op¬portunity to check if there was anyone else here. There wasn’t. Furthermore, while it didn’t seem like the ta¬bles had seen a lot of use over the years, they were still squeaky-clean. Someone had clearly been taking good care of them. 

“Oh? You don’t wanna?” 

I’d figured it might be fun to give it another shot after all these years. As for the things that Adachi wanted to do... We could get back to those later. Yeah. Later. 

In this very moment, what I sensed she was after was something emotional. 

Speaking of Adachi, she proceeded to shake her head from side to side. Her hair being as long as it was caused it to shake as well, and like usual, kind made her look like a dog. 

“L-Let’s do it!” 

“Who’s this new Adachi?” 

Acting like she was still a little girl, Adachi ran over to the other side of the table. 

“Doesn’t it feel like it’s been forever?” I asked her, causing Adachi to look away. 

“Not... really.” 

Huh. Her swift reply caused me to reconsider my initial stance. Thinking about it some more, I suppose it hadn’t been that long since our days on the second floor of the gym. 

The things we had experienced back then, all those feelings we had felt together, they were most likely going to be staying with us for the remainder of our lives. 

Why? Because that was where “we” had gotten our start. 

“You mind if I serve first?” 

Although I phrased it in the form of a question, I didn’t actually wait for her to reply, and instead simply grabbed the ball and got ready. Adachi quickly did the same. 

There was something about seeing Adachi standing there opposite to me while holding the racket in her left hand that made me feel as if the temperature in the room had gone up a few degrees. 

Now then. I lightly tossed the ball into the air and swung at it. I made sure to hit it from the right-hand side, and doing so, even managed to give it some spin. Dare I say, nicely done. 

The ball soared through the air, and after crossing the net just inches away, bounced off the corner of Adachi’s side of the table. There, it continued its flight all the way to the far end of the room before hitting the wall and landing on the floor. Adachi had no chance to respond. All she could do was stare in awe. 

“A curve ball.” 

“Well, only a third of them curve, but yeah.” 

And even then, a good portion of the ones that did curve ended up missing the table. 

“Hehehe.” 

Laughing like getting lucky once somehow made me a good player, I walked across the room to retrieve the ball. I was stepping on carpet, yet I could almost hear the sound of wooden planks crunching below my feet. Would I still pass as a student if I were to change from the yukata to my old school uniform? Probably yes. 

Having picked up the ball, I made my way back over to the table. 

The room was small, yet I didn’t smell any dust. 

No longer were we on the second floor of the gym. 

The years that had led us from that point to here had been full of laughs, and in all likelihood, so too would be the years that had still yet to come. 

“Not bad.” 

After a short delay, Adachi returned my smile. It ap¬peared that she too had made the connection between this moment and the past. 

That smile of hers. Truly, how I adored it. 

I could feel my body growing warm as I thought that to myself. 

“Oh, there you are.” 

I felt like I’d heard those exact same words not all that long ago. With careful steps, the girl made her way over to us. 

“I saw something glimmering in the distance, and decided to come check what it was.” 

“Ah, yes. That would be me”, Yashiro stated while pointing at her hair. It wasn’t glowing as much at the moment, though that would soon change as she stuck her finger right in the middle of the butterfly knot, gave it a quick shake, and—followed by most fake-sounding scream I’d ever heard in my life—caused a whole cloud of those same particles from earlier to puff out. 

I know it was a bit late to be asking this now, but seriously, what were those things? 

The girl’s worn-out shoes made a splashing sound as she stepped on the wet rock while making her way over. Once there, she then squatted down just like I had, leaving Yashiro sitting in between us. This was followed by her immediately starting to play with the tiny creature’s fluffy hair and soft cheeks. She clearly had never seen anything like her. 

Well, I say that, but if her situation was anything like mine, she might well have reacted the exact same way just seeing another human being. 

“Hohoho. What is the matter?” Yashiro laughed. She didn’t appear to at all mind having her face squeezed. 

“If I travelled to the lands far away, would I be able to find other creatures like you?” 

“Naturally. There are creatures like me all around.” 

No. There absolutely were not. If it was just the blue  hair, that might have been one thing, but the girl had straight-up fallen from the sky. Even with my knowl¬edge of foreign species being limited to what I’d seen in books and such, I was still quite confident in saying that she was truly one-of-a-kind. 

“Oh, really? I’d love to meet them”, the girl stated innocently. Did she really believe her? “Still, with the world being the way it is, I can’t see that happening any time soon.” 

“I am sure that you will be able to one day.” 

“Huh? Err, no. I don’t think so.” 

“Once the circle becomes whole again, it is very likely that the world too will stabilize.” 

This comment of hers was enough to leave the girl staring at Yashiro with a puzzled look on her face. My gut reaction was to do the same, but then I recalled conversation I’d had with her earlier. She’d mentioned that same broken circle back then as well. Was that supposed to be the world as it had existed before? And now that the two of us had met, the circle would be completed? 

The girl and I. Could we really be that significant? 

Could the simple act of the two of us meeting really  save this world? 

That seemed way too unrealistic for me to believe. 

Then again, for what it was worth, Yashiro was quite a reality-defining being herself. 

Appearing to have taken a liking towards her stretchy cheeks, the girl continued playing with Yashiro’s face. Never before had I seen a person so delighted by some¬thing so simple. 

This lasted for a few more moments before Yashiro eventually stood up—her cheeks still stretched out. 

“Your cheeks.” 

“Oopsie.” 

The girl quickly pulled her face back together. Hav¬ing done that, she then turned to look at me. “I had a lot of fun.” I got the feeling that this was her way of wishing me goodbye. 

“Right...” 

My days with Yashiro hadn’t honestly been all that different from what had come before. And yet, when I thought about that question, about what exactly was “fun”, only one thing came to mind. 

“I did too”, I stated after a short pause. We then shook  hands. Well, I say that, but given just how small Yashiro’s hand was, it would be more accurate to describe it as me simply wrapping mine around hers. 

“Now then, goodbye!” 

And with that, the girl ran off. 

“Hey, don’t run. You might slip and fall.” 

“I will be fine!” I could hear her yell from the other side of the waterfall. 

A brat till the very end, huh? I couldn’t help but laugh a little to myself. As I did so, the sound of rushing water around me gradually grew louder. 

The parts of my consciousness that had previously been entirely focused on my conversation with Yashiro were now being scattered about throughout the cave. 

Bit by bit, the sound of the water grew closer and closer to me, until eventually, it sounded like it was happening right next to my ear. 

All that which remained now were the girl and I. 

Assuming that Yashiro truly was gone, then there was a good chance that we were the last two people left in this world. 

“You look like you miss her already”, the girl stated, prompting me to wipe my face clean of water droplets. 

“Well, I guess. We did spend quite a long time to¬gether.” 

Her leaving as suddenly as she had almost made me feel like I’d lost a part of myself in the process. Not in a painful way, mind you. Rather, there was now this hole inside me that I didn’t quite know how to fill. Would we ever be able to see each other again? I found my gaze shifting up towards the ceiling of the cave as I pondered that. 

What was the word to describe this sensation? Lone¬liness? Desolation? Both of those felt a bit off. As usual, I really sucked at putting my feelings into words. 

A deep sigh left my mouth, causing me to feel as if my body was deflating. 

“Oh, look. She’s back.” 

“Huh?” 

I turned to look, and sure enough, what I saw was a tiny figure running into our direction. Why? What was going on? I ended up not having to wait for long to get an answer to those questions. 

“I noticed what time it was, and decided to delay my leave till after lunch.” 

“Good grief. What am I ever going to do with you?” 

The trail of glowy particles Yashiro left in her wake almost made her look like a falling star—a falling star that had turned around for the stupidest of reasons. 

“Here you go”, she stated cheerfully while offering a handful of red berries both to me as well as the girl. Where had she gotten those from? I had not the faintest clue. 

“Oh, thanks.” 

Without any hesitation, the girl took the berries and immediately began munching on them, which, if the wide grin that formed on her face was of any indication, appeared to please Yashiro greatly. 

This was of course followed by her quickly doing the same. 

“Delicious!” 

Whereas the girl was careful to eat around the cores which were contained within each berry, Yashiro cared very little about such things, choosing instead to toss the things into her tiny mouth whole. Believe me, I was just as shocked myself the first time I’d seen that. 

Done eating, Yashiro once more offered me her hand. 

“Well then, I wish you goodbye again.” 

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” 

I took her tiny hand and shook it. With a grin on her face, she then ran off. 

“And just like that, it’s like she never even existed.” 

I waited a few moments just to make sure, but sure enough, it appeared that this time, she was gone for good. Maybe a few more moments? She was quite the strange creature, after all. 

“...Nope. Doesn’t look like she’s coming back.” 

She really did come and go as she pleased, didn’t she? I glanced to the side, only to find the girl staring hard at the inedible cores which remained of her berries. 

“Munch!” 

“Ah!” 

Without warning, she bit into one. She then pro¬ceeded to chew on the thing for a few moments before ultimately spitting it out. 

“Nope, definitely not going to work.” 

“I highly suggest that you don’t try imitating her.” 

“The way she ate hers made them look delicious, so I figured this might be a type of berry where even the centres are good to eat.” 

No such luck, unfortunately, she added while staring at  the saliva-covered object now lying on the stone floor. 

It appeared that I’d found myself yet another weirdo. 

“That girl, she’s not coming back?” 

“Probably not, no.” 

“How unfortunate”, she stated, this time with a slight smile. She then took one of her fingers and pointed it into the direction of the waterfall. 

“I come here quite often myself.” 

“Oh, really? So, all those steps and stuff—” 

“Yep. I built them. Stopped half-way though, as you  can see.” Some other things came up. Important things, she added  while scratching her neck. 

“I like it down here. It’s nice and cool.” 

“Maybe even a bit chilly.” 

That was certainly true—and not just because of the actual temperature of the air. 

The decay going on above the surface could not reach the depths of this cave. It was like its own separate universe, free to forever remain stuck in the past while the rest of the world around it continued dying. All that which surrounded us were layers of rock and endless  darkness. So, I ask you: Was it any wonder that it caused  us to shiver? 

Now, don’t get me wrong; I really did mean it when I said that I liked it down here. Having spent the majority of my life staring at the same sights for years and years, any change in scenery—even if it was technically a bit of a downgrade—came much appreciated. 

I suppose it just went to show that the world truly was filled with all sorts of interesting things for you to find if you just bothered to look. 

We spent the next few moments like that, silently staring at the waterfall. Its ceaseless roars almost sounded like those of a wild animal. 

“......” 

Actually, that was a lie. 

Whereas the girl’s eyes remained completely mo¬tionless, the same couldn’t be said of mine; every so often, I found myself sneaking a few quick peeks at her. I blamed Yashiro and her grandiose statements for this. Regardless, back to the girl. She seemed a bit tired. Sleepy, even. And also a bit lonely; there was something about her expression that made it seem like she was purposefully trying to avoid making eye contact with  me to stop things from getting awkward. 

Looking at her again, she truly was... Hmm... I tried my best to think of some poetic expression, but nothing really came to mind. Did it need to be complicated? Couldn’t it just be something simple? In the end, this is what I decided to go with: 

Pretty. She was very pretty. 

Quite a basic word to use, I grant you that. 

However, that was the paradox, wasn’t it? The situa¬tions where you were faced with something deservant of that extra bit of gravitas were exactly the same ones where you could only think of the words most basic. 

I went ahead and imagined the girl floating in a pool of water so deep that it appeared endless. Her arms were spread out wide, and there was a sat¬isfied yet slight smile on her face. As for her long hair, it too was completely dishev¬elled. 

This was merely my imagination, it wasn’t actually real, yet for some reason, it managed to make my heart ache so. 

If my thoughts alone were enough to cause me to feel this way, then what would happen were I to witness  such a sight for real? 

As if desiring just that, my heart continued beating faster and faster, until eventually... 

“Have you ever been to the bottom of the waterfall?” 

...those desires manifested themselves in the form of a question. 

“Nope”, the girl stated bluntly. As for me, I was quick to ask a follow-up question: 

“Wanna go check it out?” 

Apparently, this was shocking enough to cause her to spend the next few moments staring at me in awe. 

An awkward laugh soon left the girl’s mouth as she stated the following: 

“That’s a death sentence.” 

“You never know if you don’t try. With the two of us, I’m... I’m sure that we’ll manage somehow. Yeah.” 

Not very specific, but it was the best I could do given the circumstances. 

I wonder, how did the girl see my suggestions? 

Did she think that it was a waste of time? Probably so. 

Whatever the case, for me, this was the first time in my life I’d felt my heart beating this fast. 

It truly made me feel like I was alive. 

I wanted us to be together. I wanted to do things with her. 

Looking down from the surface, the cave truly did appear endless, like a pathway leading all the way to space. 

However, I wasn’t scared; if that’s what it turned out to be, if it could take us away from this planet, I would welcome that with open arms. 

All of a sudden, the girl laughed. It was as if a great amount of tension had left her body all at once. 

Perhaps she too had been a bit nervous. 

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” 

“Right. I don’t think so either.” 

There was no longer a need for me to travel past the horizon. Why? Because I had found that which I wanted to see the most right next to me. Never before had I felt quite like this. I wanted to live. I wanted to live with her by my side. 

Till that mutual desire of ours stopped being some¬thing we did just because, and became something much more. 

That was the path I saw waiting for us in the future. 

No matter where the world took us, whether it was up or down, backward or forward, or even into space, we would not stop walking. 

I took the girl’s hand and slowly laid my fingers over hers. Something about her touch felt so... familiar. 





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