Editing Kino no Tabi:Volume1 Summary (section)

===Chapter 5: Land of Adults —Natural Rights—===

'''(Anime Reference: Episode 4)'''

'''(2017 Anime Reference: Episode 11)'''

[[File:KNT_V01_TOC_C05.jpg|x200px|thumb|left]]

The story begins with the narration of a little girl.

'''''“My encounter with a traveler named Kino happened while I was still living in my country of birth, when I was only eleven years old. The truth is I no longer remember what they called me back then. I could only faintly recall that it was the name of some flower, and that if you change its pronunciation a little, it turns into a nasty insult. That’s because I was often teased with it.”'''''

One day, a traveler called Kino arrived in this little girl’s country. The guards hesitated to let him in, so he spent some time standing at the gates, being made fun of. When he finally received permission, he approached the girl. She describes the traveler as very tall and thin. The man had to stoop to talk to her, even though she was the tallest among her peers. The man introduces himself as Kino, and asks her name. She tells him her name (xxxxx), at the same time thinking that ‘Kino’ is a good name. Kino inquires where he could find an inexpensive hotel with a shower. The little girl recommends their inn, and guides Kino to her place. The girl’s father attends to the traveler while she returns to her room, where a piece of paper with the words ‘Three days left’ is plastered on the wall.

The next day, the girl wakes up around noon. No one woke her up because it’s her ‘last week’. The paper on her wall now reads ‘Two days left.’ She goes out to the backyard upon hearing a noise from there, and finds Kino crouched beside a scrap heap while pounding on a tire—that of a motorrad. When asked what he is doing, Kino replies that he’s ‘curing’ the motorrad. The girl watches him for a while before getting hungry and fetching herself something to eat. When she returns, the motorrad is already half-cured. Kino tells her that it is exactly like a model he used to ride in, and that it won’t take long before it gets to move around. Intrigued, the girl asks what he meant. Kino explains that the motorrad cannot move by itself, and that someone has to form a contract with it: The motorrad shall provide speed and the rider shall provide balance, a promise to help each other. Kino says that he will ask the motorrad once he’s fully cured. After a while, the girl brings Kino a cup of tea. He asks her for a good name for the motorrad, and she suggests naming the motorrad after Kino’s old ‘friend’, Hermes.

While Kino busies himself with curing the motorrad, the girl asks him what he does for a living. Kino was a little confused, so the girl adds that since he’s an adult, he must have some sort of job. Kino answers that his job is to travel. The girl probes further, asking whether traveling involves unpleasant things. Kino answers that it does, but that he enjoys himself most of the time. With this, the girl concludes that traveling is not a job. She explains that a job is something one does to survive, and that it is not supposed to be fun. Finally, she tells him that she would be having an operation the day after tomorrow to turn into an adult. Seeing that Kino became more confused than ever, she explains how things worked in her country.

In this country, all people over twelve years of age are adults, and the rest, children. Adults are people who worked for a living. While children could do all they want, adults had to work to survive. Their jobs are of utmost importance, and they have to do them even if they did not want to or did not think it was the right thing to do. And so, when children turn twelve, they undergo an operation to turn into perfect adults—people that can do anything, even the things that they hated. And the week before a child’s operation is called the ‘last week’. During this time, for undisclosed reasons, no citizen is allowed to initiate any form of interaction with the child.

After the explanation, Kino comments that it is a horrible system. The girl asks why he thinks so. Kino questions whether being a ‘perfect adult’ only meant doing things that one hates, and if anyone gets to enjoy life that way. The little girl asks Kino if he’s an adult or a child. Kino says that by the country’s definition, he’s neither. He’s simply a man named Kino, doing what he likes—traveling. Kino asks the girl what she likes to do, and the girl answers that she loves to sing. Kino says that he too, likes to sing though he’s bad at it, and proceeds to give a demonstration. The girl then sings her favorite song, a slow yet lively melody. Kino praises her, saying that she is the best he has ever heard, and suggests that she becomes a singer. The little girl tells him that she can’t become a singer because her parents are not singers, and adds that it is only natural for parents to give birth to children in order to have someone take over their work. That night, the girl ponders over Kino’s words. She always thought that liking or hating something is a freedom only children had the right to have. She decides that she wanted to be an adult on her own, and get a work that she’s good at, or one that she liked, and if possible, both.

The next morning, the paper on her room reads ‘Last day’. She asks her parents (who are not allowed to talk to her, but can reply to her) if there is any other way to turn into an adult without taking the operation. Her parents become enraged. Her father accuses her of making light of the country’s efforts, and her mother demands her to apologize to everyone. People gather around them in a while, and the father shamelessly exposes to them his daughter’s foolish actions. The people start to mock the girl, and blame her mother and father for raising their child irresponsibly. The father apologizes to them and turns to his daughter, accusing her of embarrassing her parents on purpose. Soon, he realizes that Kino must be the one to give the girl the idea. He searches for him and finds him at the entrance of the hotel preparing to leave on a motorrad.

He confronts Kino and demands him to apologize. The little girl notes that her father looked like a mad dog, no different from a child getting angry over a trivial matter. Right then, a person who holds an important position in the country intervenes. He speaks to Kino and tells him that each country has its own set of customs, and that a traveler has no say in it whatsoever. Kino agrees, and says that he should leave as it looks like he was about to get killed. The person assures him that he will be safe until he reaches the country’s gates. Kino says goodbye to the little girl. The girl asks if he could stay for three more days, hoping that she could talk with Kino after her operation. But Kino replies that he only stays in any country for three days, which is long enough to learn about any place, and short enough to be able to visit many countries. When he was about to leave, the girl’s father reappears holding a kitchen knife. Kino asks why, and the person he had talked to earlier tells him that it is to dispose of the girl. He adds that it was only right for parents to get rid of their products—their children—when they prove to be defective. 

The girl’s father charges forward with the knife, the glint of it mesmerizing the little girl. At the same time, she realizes that Kino jumps out in an attempt to stop her father. Only a little more and it would have reached her, but her father suddenly twists to the left, causing the knife to pierce into Kino’s chest, all the way to his back. Kino slumps onto the ground, dead. The father claims that the knife was meant for the girl, and that Kino put himself in between. All adults around agrees with him, and declares that it was nothing but an unfortunate accident. The girl’s father then proceeds to pull out the knife from Kino’s corpse. The task proved onerous, so the girl’s mother begins to help. Meanwhile the girl hears a voice from behind, asking her if she knows how to ride a bicycle. She says yes, and the voice further tells her that she would die if she stays. The girl says that it didn’t matter, as she would rather die than turn into a ‘proper adult’ like them. But if given a chance, she wanted to live. The voice gives her a third choice: to run away. At the same time, her parents successfully pull out the knife. As her father makes a dash for her, she straddles the motorrad and launches off, following the voice’s instructions.

She rides past the gates and sees the outside of the country for the first time in her life. She continues to ride, only being careful not to fall down. She rode in tears for some time until the voice calls out to her to stop. With the voice’s instructions, she tries to stop the motorrad and finds it different from a bicycle. She topples over along with it. The voice angrily demands for her name (that is, the name of the one who let him fall over). The girl did not hear, distracted by her surroundings—a field of crimson flowers. She recalls the events that have just transpired, and unconsciously calls out Kino’s name. The voice asks her to raise him up, and only then did she realize that the voice belongs to the motorrad. She did as the motorrad requested, and once upright, the motorrad thanks her, especially for riding him out of the country. She thanks the motorrad as well, and realizes that he called her ‘Kino’.

She considers telling him her name, but realizes that the name belonged to someone who used to live without worries in her home country, believing that an operation is needed to become a ‘proper adult’. But as that girl no longer exists, she reaffirms that her name is Kino. The motorrad then asks for his name. Recalling the conversation the previous day, she tells him that his name is Hermes.

After this, the girl’s narration goes on to say that upon trying to get to a nearby country, she and Hermes ends up getting lost in a forest. There she meets by accident an old person who will teach her many things, and to whom she will be sincerely indebted to.


----