episode_0026

Tia was dazed with sleep and shook her head.

“Mmm…”

My voice grew loud without me realizing it.

“Snap out of it!”

“….Ah?!”

As I grabbed her shoulders and shook her roughly, Tia suddenly lifted her head.

“Everyone saw you. They said you’ve been holed up in this warehouse sleeping all day.”

“N-no! I did doze off, but it was only for a moment, and I definitely organized everything…”

“So everyone was lying?”

“That’s not it—”

“Don’t make excuses, just listen to me.”

A deep anger, accumulated over time, suppressed, so suppressed that I didn’t even realize it was wrong anymore, welled up.

I grabbed Tia’s slender shoulders and shouted.

“Tia. This is your last chance. Do you know people are speaking ill of you? I vouched for you, assuring them you’re not like that, and entrusted you with this job. But it hasn’t even been a day, and you’re just sleeping here? What are we supposed to do?”

“Ritsu…”

“I’m doing all this for you. What are you doing?!”

“…I…?!”

Tia sharply pulled her arm away from me.

And she cried out.

“I… for you… To save you… I did everything I could…!”

“…What?”

“Because it’s my fault! Because I made a mistake! It’s enough if you, Ritsu, just live…! It doesn’t matter what happens to someone like me…!”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s fine…”

Her sharp voice gradually turned into sobs.

“It’s okay if people curse me. I… I’m okay. So for me… I just need you, Ritsu…”

“…”

“It’s strange. I was fine… When people pointed fingers, cursed me behind my back, ignored me, I was fine… But when Ritsu… when Ritsu yelled at me… my heart feels like it’s tearing apart… It hurts so much… It hurts so much I can’t speak, I can’t speak…”

Tia’s tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

I gritted my teeth.

I felt like I was losing my mind too.

I’m here. I’m alive.

The problem is solved.

It’s not like I’m suddenly leaving somewhere.

Couldn’t I just try from now on to get along with the villagers again?

“…But why does she talk as if she’s staked everything on me?”

“Tia. This is Breezedawn. As long as you live here, you have to face people. If your reputation gets bad, it will be hard to live together.”

“That’s why I wanted to leave… Even right now.”

Tia’s eyes welled up.

“I… I’ve always lived cheerfully, laughing with everyone… even if I’m a bit clumsy. But all that has lost its meaning. The gazes of the uncles and aunts who used to greet me warmly and gratefully now… feel so terrifying. Ritsu, do you understand this feeling of being unable to lift my head, this desire to hide forever?”

“…”

“You don’t need to know. It’s all my fault. Because I made Ritsu like that… If I had listened to Ritsu back then and returned to the village… The village head, Grandma, Ritsu, Ruyef, and Marie. We would have all lived together, laughing, wouldn’t we…?”

“No. That’s wrong. That…”

“I’ve regretted it countless times. If I could go back to the past, I’d give up an arm just to go back. Back to that time, I want to kill the me who boasted I’d protect Ritsu when I couldn’t, the me who encouraged him to go deeper…!!”

Tia screamed as if spitting blood.

“Tia…”

I hadn’t known it was this bad.

Deep within Tia’s heart, she who was always smiling, relaxed, and cheerful.

I had never imagined such a dark and terrifying shadow lurking there.

Stagger, stagger.

Suddenly, Tia began to walk weakly outside.

“Tia! Don’t think like that. Let’s think positively, okay? Let’s think about what we need to do from now on. We can’t change what’s happened, can we?”

“…It’s precisely because we can’t change it that it’s more miserable.”

Whoosh—.

The winter wind blew.

Tia’s red hair fluttered with the wind.

“Ritsu, I… I know I’m being too self-centered and selfish, but… could you grant me a favor?”

“Of course. Anything you ask. Tell me.”

Tia turned around and looked back at me.

“Let’s go together. Just the two of us, far away… very far. To the land of flowers. Let’s travel together.”

“…”

The answer, ‘I will,’ rose to my throat.

But the words dissolved on my tongue.

I could do it. A journey with Tia. It was what I longed for.

We could travel anywhere together, see new things, and laugh while admiring wondrous scenery.

Escaping this small village of Breezedawn and wandering the vast world.

We would be together forever to find our great dream.

But.

I couldn’t.

I carried this village alone.

I was responsible for the lives of its people.

Because I had grown up that way, learned that way, and was destined to be that way.

My heart clearly told me I wanted to be with her.

But my reason was cruelly cold.

“I’m sorry, Tia. I… I can’t do that right now.”

“…Yeah. I know.”

Tia gave a desolate smile.

“I thought Ritsu would answer like that…”

Scuff. Scuff.

She was leaving.

Without a word, Tia slowly disappeared down the hill.

I couldn’t even ask where she was going.

Because her pathetic shoulders looked too heavy to hold.

Because they looked like they would break at any moment.

I turned my head and looked at the warehouse.

“…”

It was organized even more perfectly than Ruyef would have done.

* * *

Tia had gone down to the lower village.

The reason was clear.

She said that after organizing the warehouse, she found many items needed replenishment, so she would go get the missing supplies.

She said it wouldn’t take long and she would stay at Teacher Bin’s house for about two days.

I accepted it.

It was only two days, after all. And Teacher Bin was a trustworthy person, so there was no need to worry.

If I wanted to see Tia, I could just go down to the lower village myself.

And above all, because of what happened today, I decided to keep my distance for a while and clear my head.

When things calmed down a bit, we could have a better conversation.

Cough, cough.

Although I tried to think of it casually, Tia’s words still wouldn’t leave my head.

I couldn’t focus on my work.

While making medicine, I kept forgetting the steps, so the waste only increased.

“Ugh. I need to get a grip.”

I finally managed to prepare the medicine and gave it to the elders.

After finishing my work, I looked up at the sky and it was already dark.

In winter, the sun sets quickly, which somehow makes people rush more.

I was returning to Aunt Sherry’s house when Aunt Merid spoke to me.

“Ritsu. Your expression is dark? Is something wrong?”

“No. Nothing’s wrong.”

“Tia also went down to the lower village with a similar expression. Did you two fight?”

I guess it was written all over my face.

There was no reason to deny it, and I nodded obediently.

“…Yes.”

“Why? Because of the warehouse organizing?”

“It’s all my fault, Auntie. Please don’t worry too much.”

“How can I not worry? You’re the village head now.”

“Haha, yes. That’s right…”

“Go in and get some good rest. You look so down, it makes me feel that way too.”

“Understood.”

Village head.

Chewing on that word, I suddenly felt like visiting the village head’s house.

I took a slightly longer route and headed towards the old hut.

Returning here brought a sense of nostalgia.

If the village head had been alive, what would he have said to me? Would he have told me to leave with Tia? Or would he have told me to stay?

I wondered.

In front of the hut, I called out the name that would never return.

“Father.”

Creak.

I opened the door and entered the dark interior.

It had been empty for a long time, but the village head’s presence still lingered.

The chair and table he used in his lifetime were still there.

Truly… if I called for the village head here right now, it felt like he would walk out of the bedroom as if nothing had happened.

I slowly approached the bedroom.

Any slight hope I had harbored was made futile. The bedroom was empty.

The village head wasn’t there. Nowhere.

I had heard the news of his death two weeks ago. But I only visited the hut now.

Thinking about why I did that, it was probably because I didn’t want to accept my father’s death.

I tried not to think about it, telling myself he had just gone out for a short trip.

But seeing the empty hut, I realized I could no longer avert my gaze.

Father had passed away. Forever.

He would never return to Breezedawn again.

Now, I had to accept that fact.

Missing him so much, I lay face down on the bed.

I wanted to feel the touch of his bony hand again, like when I held it.

If only I had said gentler words then, if only I had told my father thank you for raising me….

My heart wouldn’t hurt so much now.

“I miss you…”

I kept speaking, thinking my father would hear me.

“What should I do? I want to know. I want to gain wisdom like you, Father.”

But no matter how much I grew, no matter how many things I experienced.

I knew I could never become a great person like my father.

Because I was the one who couldn’t say anything in front of Tia just now.

In sorrow, I clenched my fists and buried my face deeper.

At that moment.

Snap.

I heard something breaking.

I sharply lifted my head.

I didn’t know what it was, but the sound definitely came from inside the bed.

I placed my hand on the bed and pressed down hard once.

Snap, snap, snap.

The bed sank deeply, and I felt the sensation of thin planks breaking one by one beneath my fingertips.

There was something there.

“…Hah!”

Immediately, I used all my strength to move the bed aside.

Then, a square door on the floor, which had been hidden by the bed until now, became visible.

It was something I had never seen before.

The door had a round handle.

I grabbed it and pulled with all my might.

Thud!

A cloud of old dust rose up, revealing a staircase leading downwards.

I sat down with a thud and stared at the absurd sight.

“What is this…?”

A shiver ran down my spine.

It was as if the village head had answered my question.

Come in here, and you will know everything.

As if possessed, I stepped onto the basement stairs.

I descended into the complete darkness.

After squeezing through a narrow passage just wide enough for one person, something brushed against my shoulder.

It was a lantern.

Using only the feel of my fingers, I opened the cover, then struck the edge vigorously with a flint.

Hiss.

The lantern lit up, illuminating the interior.

The hidden basement… surprisingly, held nothing special.

I had expected treasures like in legends, or piles of ancient books filled with secrets.

But there was only a single sealed bottle placed on a rotting table.

Slosh.

As I picked up the bottle, a sticky liquid inside churned.

It was an opaque, dark reddish-black color.

I opened the lid and sniffed.

It smelled metallic, like blood.

Next to the table was a piece of letter paper. It was the village head’s handwriting.

[Spray on wounds.]

It was a concise instruction.

I immediately took off my upper garment.

A grotesque scar, like the track of a crawling worm, was revealed.

I poured the liquid from the bottle onto it without hesitation.

“…Guh?!”

A searing pain spread rapidly.

From my chest to my toes.

Startled by the heat spreading through my entire body, I stumbled back and fell.

What is this? Wasn’t it just an ointment for wounds?

At that moment.

Woosh—!

The colors around me changed.

“!”

Standing before me was the village head.