Kino no Tabi:Volume2 Chapter1

“A Tale of Feeding Off Others” —I Want to Live.—

It was inside a forest of snow.

The snow accumulated in one winter crushed all of the grass underneath. Only the tall trees with long and narrow leaves grew out of the white surface.

Even now, snow was still falling from the sky that was visible from the gaps in the branches. The dull low clouds were spread out and the light of the sun was weak.

It was a quiet place. Nothing could be heard other than the sound of the occasional snow pattering from the branches. The wind was not blowing either.

In such a place, there was a wild rabbit. Its fur was pure white except for the tips of its ears.

The rabbit advanced a little, leaving shallow footprints on the snow. It stopped and moved its ears and head bit by bit. And then it leaped forward again.

The rabbit repeated this for a while, then stopped. Its ears moved. A red dot appeared on its white head — a red light.

—

Inside the same forest was a human.

This person was clad in a hooded snowsuit and overpants that covered up to the tip of her shoes. She was wearing a furred hat and yellow single-lens goggles. A face warmer extended from her neck up, covering her face.

She was leaning against the trunk of a tree, sitting with legs bent and knees forward. With both hands, she was balancing a hand persuader (Note: A gun. In this case, a pistol) placed between her knees. The persuader was a slender automatic fitted with a harmonica-shaped silencer. A red light extended from the tiny hole under the barrel — a laser sight for alignment with the target. This light was aiming towards the head of the rabbit.

She breathed out a wisp of white air. She slowly pressed the trigger. A clink was heard from inside the persuader.

The next instant, blood spurted out of the place where the red point of light marked the rabbit’s head.

The rabbit trembled for a moment, and soon fell down and stopped moving. The blood from its head slightly stained its white fur, and the snow underneath it melted a little.

—

Inside the forest was one road. The road was perfectly straight, cutting its way through the trees. It was covered with hardened, pure white snow.

On top of this road was a parked motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle. Only to note that it cannot fly). Its back seat was converted into a sturdy carrier. However, there was no luggage on top; only a bag was tied to it.

The motorrad was customized to be able to run on snow. Around both tires, there were studs to pierce through the frozen road. On the frame in front of the engine, arms resembling a bicycle’s training wheels were sticking out on both sides. On the tips of these arms were planks for the feet to be placed in, at the bottom of which were tiny skis. This was to prevent the motorrad from falling down in case the tires slid.

“I caught one, Hermes.” The human greeted the motorrad as she appeared from inside the forest. The rabbit, with its legs tied together, was dangling upside down from her hands. A covered holster was attached obliquely in front of her stomach.

The motorrad called Hermes replied cheerfully, “Good job! With this, you don’t have to lessen your supply of portable rations, Kino.”

The human called Kino nodded, put the rabbit inside the bag, and secured it onto Hermes’ carrier.

Kino took off her goggles and bandanna and lowered down her face warmer. It was a person around mid-teens, with short black hair, big eyes, and a face carrying an intrepid expression. She lightly wiped off the sweat on her face and fixed her hat. Then she spoke,

“Now, let’s hurry back. If those guys die, I’ll be in a bind.”

“In a bind?” Hermes asked.

“What I mean is, I would lose face.”

“To whom?” Hermes asked once more.

“The rabbit,” Kino answered.

Kino turned on Hermes’ engine. The sound of the engine broke the stillness of the forest. Kino fixed her goggles and face warmer on, placed both of her feet on the support skis, and launched Hermes off.

—

In one corner of the white road was a relatively new kind of truck. The tires and lower half of its body was completely buried in the snow, rendering it immobile. Snow has accumulated heavily on its roof.

And a bit ways off the truck, on the border between the forest and the road, there was a big tent. Only the place where the dome-shaped tent stood was below the surface, as if the snow there caved in.

Eventually, the sound of an engine was heard, followed right after with the arrival of Kino and Hermes.

One man crawled out and peeked from inside the tent. The face of the man, who seemed to be about thirty, looked like it couldn’t be any thinner. His beard and hair had grown as much as it could, and the winter clothes he was wearing was dirty all over.

Kino took out the rabbit from the bag and showed it to the man. The man looked up at it with a delighted face, and put his head back inside the tent. Then two other men stuck their heads out — a man wearing eyeglasses who seemed to be in his twenties and a man in his forties who had greying hair. Both looked pitifully thin, but smiled from ear to ear when they saw the rabbit.

“I’ll cook it for you. Let me borrow a pot,” Kino said.

“It’s good enough! We’ll eat it raw!” The man in his thirties said, his face wrought with impatience.

The other men pleaded to let them eat it right away, but Kino shook her head.

“That won’t do. It would be terrible if you get infected with Tularemia or something.”

A look of disappointment loomed over the men, but they obediently took out two pots of different sizes from the tent. Kino took the pots and told them,

“I’ll call you when it’s done, so please rest until then.”

“Yes, we understand…. Miss Kino…” The man in his thirties called out to Kino who had already turned around.

“What is it?”

The man gazed straight into Kino’s eyes.

“Thanks.”

Kino smiled lightly. “It’s still too early for that, but… you’re welcome.”

—

The morning before.

Kino and Hermes were riding on the frozen road, thick clouds overhead.

Thanks to the studded tires and support skis, they were able to ride at a considerable speed.

Other than the bag, Hermes’ rear carrier was loaded with a winter tent, a sleeping bag, and lots of traveling luggage.

Then Hermes spoke all of a sudden, “There’s a truck up ahead.”

Kino slowly loosened the accelerator. She rode using the momentum, and without using the brakes, she slowly stopped in front of the truck buried in the snow. She cut the engine, climbed off Hermes, and let down her goggles and face warmer.

Kino opened the cover of the holster in front of her stomach and took out the persuader inside with her right hand. It was the revolver-type she called ‘Canon’.

As Kino approached the truck, she soon noticed the tent near it. Then she met the gaze of a man who hurriedly poked his head out of the tent’s opening.

The bearded man in his thirties looked at Kino with a surprised face. Kino returned Canon in its holster, but did not let go of its grip as she greeted the man with a ‘hello’.

Without answering Kino, the man crawled out of the tent and stood up feebly. From the tent, two other men peeked out with equally surprised expressions.

The man looked at Kino and Hermes, and asked with a weak voice, “Y-you travel with that motorrad, don’t you…? C-can you spare us some food…?”

While looking at their pitiful state, Hermes spoke nonchalantly. “I see. I think I understand what your circumstances are.”

“I’m sorry, but I have none. Since when were you here?” Kino said.

“Don’t be surprised…. We’ve been here since the beginning of winter.”

Kino’s face faintly gave away a look of surprise, while Hermes spoke. “I am very surprised.”

“Yeah. Snow fell earlier than we expected. Soon it turned into a furious snowstorm, and we were passed up here ever since…”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t pass away,” Hermes said, but nobody laughed.

“And I suppose there’s no food in that truck, either,” Kino asked to confirm, and the men replied in anguish,

“There was food, but we have eaten everything already… that was a long time ago. Of course, we had plenty, but we didn’t expect that we will be held up like this. We were careless. Since then, we’ve been waiting for someone to pass here. We beg you! Please share us something, anything we could eat…. There’re three of us…”

The man pointed to the tent, and the two men looked at Kino with a clinging expression.

“We beg you…”

The man curled his fists together and appealed to Kino. Kino breathed lightly before she replied. “I do have portable rations. But I have to leave enough for myself. The reserves I have would be barely enough for three.”

The men gulped as they listened to Kino.

“However,” Kino continued. The men raised their faces.

“I can hunt something for you. I’m sure there are animals around this area, and since it’s starting to get warmer, I would be able catch one somehow. If you regain enough strength, you might be able to move your truck. You still have fuel, don’t you?”

“Yes, there’s still some left! Then that means…?” The man happily asked Kino in return. Kino felt the men’s warm, expectant gazes, and lightly nodded.

“Yes. I’ll accompany you for a few days.”

Broad smiles appeared on their faces upon hearing Kino’s words. They thanked her in chorus.

“Your name is?” the man in his thirties asked.

“Kino. This here is Hermes.”

“Miss Kino, eh? Here, take a look at this.”

While saying so, the man took out a small box from his pocket. He opened it and showed it to Kino. Inside was a ring. It was a silver ring set with several small green gems.

“I believe this has a bit of value. It’s our appreciation for your help. Please take it.”

“It’s still too early to thank me.”

“That’s fine. Take it. I wanted to take this back home for my wife, but it would be pointless if I die here.”

“……”

Kino took the box in her hands and looked at it. She gazed at it for a while without any discernable change in her expression.

“I understand. I’ll take this as a reward after everything is over. Until that time, I’ll hold on to it.”

Kino put the box in her pocket and instructed the men. “Please wait here for a while. I’ll catch some game. I’ll leave my luggage here, so please watch it for me until I return. Just so you know, meat is more delicious than my portable rations.”

Kino removed all of her luggage from Hermes and tied up just one bag on the carrier.

And then she went out to hunt.

—

Kino started to cook.

She dug up the snow beside a tree until the ground became visible. Here she put together solid fuel, old newspapers and some twigs, and set it on fire. She suspended the pot to the tree with a rope and adjusted it so that it would be on top of the flame. Then she put some clean snow inside.

Kino placed the rabbit on top of the iron plate she normally used for her shooting practice. She looked at the motionless rabbit for a moment, and then closed her eyes for a few seconds more.

After a simple silent prayer, she began to cut it apart.

Kino removed the gloves she wore in favor of thin rubber gloves, which she used to cover up to the sleeves of her winter suit.

Then she took out a folding hunting knife and made cuts around the fur near the center of the rabbit’s abdomen using it.

After this, she pulled the fur sideways with both hands. She continued to pull until the neck and the tips of the feet were bare, then cut off the rabbit’s hide from the rest of its body.

The rabbit, a size smaller than before, has turned into a pink mass of flesh.

Kino cut open the abdomen of the rabbit from the throat down to the anal area and took out its internal organs. She wiped the hollow interior of the wide-open belly using some snow and paper, and lightly drained the water.

To remove the limbs, Kino made cuts around the region where they were connected with the body, broke the hip joints, and severed the hind legs with the knees. Then she chopped the torso into appropriate sizes.

After she finished cutting it up, the rabbit has become ‘meat’ that could normally be sold in shops.

Kino adjusted the bonfire and scooped out the scraps from the water in the pot.

Then she put the meat into the pot. Using snow, she wiped the iron plate she used in place of a chopping board, and hoisted it above the fire to sterilize it. For the first time, Kino removed her rubber gloves.

The meat was ready after a while.

—

The men were called out by Kino, and with their plates and cups in hand, they wobbled out of the tent towards the fire. Their eyes that looked big in their gaunt faces had a bizarre glint in them.

Kino sprinkled the meat with salt and pepper and divided it among the men. The men gazed at the food in front of them in silence for a while. Soon, tears trickled down their dirty cheeks.

“Damn. This better not be a dream…”

“You’ll find out once you eat it. It’s not supposed to disappear… maybe,” Kino said.

The men broke the meat into small pieces with their fingers and slowly carried it to their mouths. They chewed several times before gulping it down, then closed their eyes and inhaled deeply.

“It’s so good…” The man in his forties muttered in between his broken sobs.

“Delicious…” The man in his twenties said as his tears trickled down silently, his hands working on the food slowly but incessantly.

The last man’s eyes remained closed as he chewed on the meat for a while longer, as if confirming that it was real, and swallowed. “Yeah. It’s really delicious. It has been such a long time since we last tasted something this good…. It’s a bit salty though.”

The men laughed as they wept. They rubbed their teary faces with their hands, and the dirt on their faces was washed off, if only a little.

Kino made some tea with the hot water in the other pot, and filled the men’s cups. She handed the men some tablets.

“Those are vitamin tablets. They’re my spares.”

“Thanks. It’s a full course meal.”

“Kino, are you fine with us eating all the meat?” the man in his twenties asked.

“I thought there would be more than enough for everybody, but in your condition, it seems like you could finish everything. I’m fine with the usual stuff I have,” Kino said, showing them the square, clay-like portable rations.

“Thank you.” “Thanks.” The men meekly expressed their gratitude.

“If you can, please thank that guy over there too.” Kino pointed to the tree.

On the branch of the tree were the fur and pieces of the upper and lower body of the rabbit. The four looked at the dark, round eyes that has lost its light.

Then, the men put down their plates and cups on top of the snow, clasped their hands together in front of their faces, and closed their eyes.

Kino, and Hermes who was parked behind her, looked at the men as they softly expressed their gratitude to their God.

“God, thank you. For us, the blood of another being was sacrificed…. And God, please forgive us for having to kill others to survive…”

The prayer of the men continued for a while, and Kino looked at them while eating the unappetizing portable rations.

Afterwards the men took their time in finishing all of the meat.

—

As the day came to a close, the sky, which was not too bright in the first place, became even darker. The scenery changed into a gray hue that quietly grew thicker.

Kino spread out her one-person tent on the opposite side of the men’s tent, interposed with the truck.

She made some tea for the men by the end of the day. They thanked her once more, and returned to their own tent.

Kino covered Hermes’ engine and tank, and slipped into her own tent.

—

The next morning.

The surroundings were still dark when Kino woke up. As usual, the sky was covered with clouds, and powdery snow fluttered about.

Kino exercised on top of the snow and practiced drawing out Canon several times.

After eating her portable rations alone, she tapped Hermes awake, turned on his engine, and strapped her bag on his carrier.

She asked the men who were stirred awake with the engine’s roar to bring their cups. She put some snow in the cups and placed them on Hermes’ engine and exhaust pipe. The snow soon melted.

“My engine was not made to make hot water, you know.”

“Then that means you can be useful to me in many ways, Hermes.”

—

That day.

Once again, Kino and Hermes went out to hunt. She brought down two big rabbits in a row.

Upon returning, she cut them apart like she did the day before. She cooked the first one in the afternoon in the same manner.

The men came out of the tent, and once again, gave thanks after their meal. And then, they returned to their tents and rested.

Kino cut down a branch of the tree for kindling, and cooked the other piece of meat as evening neared.

The men ate everything. The neatly gnawed bones piled up beside the bonfire.

While eating, the men told Kino about their country, and with smiles on their faces,

“In case you come to visit, we’ll treat you to anything, you’d get twice as heavy!” they promised Kino.

As they regained their body strength, they were eventually able to walk normally without staggering.

—

By nightfall, the snow has completely stopped falling and rifts manifested on the clouds little by little. The stars became visible in the sky one by one.

Kino was inside her sleeping bag in her tent. Hermes, who was parked right in front of the tent, spoke. “Kino, are you awake?”

“Yeah.”

“Is it really okay for you to go out of your way like this?”

“It’s not. Even though it’s getting somewhat warmer, I want to get out of this forest as soon as possible.”

“Then why?”

“Because there’s the reward. I accepted the ring.”

“What’s so great about that thing?” Hermes said.

For a while, there was a rummaging sound from inside the tent. And then, Kino gently slipped her left hand under the hem. The ring was inserted on her middle finger.

“What do you think?” Kino asked, turning her hand over.

“It doesn’t suit you,” Hermes replied immediately. She slowly drew back her hand.

“…I think so too. It would be on the way when I grip your clutch. But it must be worth something if I sell it. Besides, it’s not a bad thing to do an act of mercy from time to time,” she answered back.

“Whatever,” was Hermes’ only reply.

—

The next day, that is, the morning of the third day since Kino met the men.

The sky was tinged a light blue when she woke up. It was absolutely clear, and devoid of clouds.

The orange lump of light began to rise behind Kino as she performed her morning exercises. Her shadow became longer and extended on top of the snow.

Soon, the men woke up. They tried to walk steadily and prepared hot water on their own.

“I see you’re doing much better now,” Kino said, and the men nodded.

“Yeah, thanks.”

For breakfast, Kino divided her portable rations among themselves. The four ate their meal rather uncomfortably.

During their after-meal tea, the men talked merrily about their home country.

“Those folks will surely be surprised once we get home. None of them would think that we would get stranded like this. I’m sure they believed that we were shot dead.”

“They probably made graves for us already.”

“Isn’t that funny? We could visit our own graves.”

When the man in his thirties asked Kino about her home country, Kino only answered with a shake of her head.

“I see… sorry about that,” the man said, and brought the discussion to a close.

—

As the sun went up, the air slowly but steadily became warmer.

The men talked to Kino about moving their truck. If they divide work and dig up the snow around the truck to create a slope, they could possibly get out the truck from its current condition of being buried. As long as the truck was still in running condition, they could get to the nearest country.

The man in his thirties asked Kino, “First, we want to remove our luggage from the vehicle. It would be nice if you can help.”

Kino and the men turned to the back of the truck.

The truck’s loading platform had three locks. The man in his thirties asked for the keys of the other two, opened the door and went inside. After a while, they heard some clicking sounds, and the man in his forties separated Kino a bit and talked to her.

“Miss Kino, will that motorrad be fine?”

Kino, who did not understand what he meant, turned around. At the same time, the man in his thirties quickly got out of the truck’s platform. He was holding a long persuader with both hands and aiming it towards Kino.

The moment Kino saw the man’s persuader, she reached for her holster with her right hand, but stopped herself from pulling Canon out. She calmly faced the persuader pointed at her.

“Good decision. If you pulled out that persuader, I would have shot you without a moment’s delay,” the man said as he climbed down the platform. There was no opening in his stance.

“Well, thanks for that,” Kino said with her usual tone without any hint of surprise. The other two men backed off from Kino a few steps, their faces now stern.

The man in his thirties spoke. “The truth is I wouldn’t have fired at you. We take pride in delivering our important goods without a single scratch, you see.”

“Goods?” Kino asked, and the man in his forties answered.

“Yeah. We work for an employment agency. What we refer to as ‘goods’ are people.”

Hermes, who was parked a bit ways off behind Kino, spoke in a tone not different from usual. “Oh, so you guys are kidnappers. Or to be more specific, slave traders.”

“You don’t have to put it so bluntly… but well, that’s correct. Now that we are strong enough to move, we have to do our real job. So Miss Kino, we will take you with us to a place where someone would buy you. Don’t put up any resistance now.”

“Well that’s that, but I’m a little concerned,” Hermes said.

“Don’t worry, Hermes. Your partner is quite a beauty. She’ll shine with a bit of polishing, and because she’s young, she’ll definitely be sold for a high price. We always adorn our goods with jewels and pretty clothes; it’s a complete package. We’re not going to give her any injuries,” the man in his forties assured.

“Anyway, you sure make it sound easy,” Kino replied indifferently, her body not moving an inch.

While gazing into Kino’s eyes, the man in his thirties spoke with his persuader still aimed at her. “Please don’t think badly of us. We are truly grateful to you for saving us. It was great… really great. However, you can say that we are wolves. And wolves have no choice but to live like wolves. This is in order for us to survive, you see.”

“I see.” Kino slowly raised her hands.

“Okay. Now, remove that revolver in front of your stomach. Slowly, with your left hand.”

Kino slowly removed Canon’s holster from her belt with her left hand.

“Throw it away.”

Kino tossed it, and it fell between her and the men. There was a thud, and it was stuck halfway into the snow.

The man in his twenties went to pick it up, but the man in his forties beside him stopped him and spoke. “Remove your winter suit. Slowly. One hand at a time, and throw it up front.”

Kino removed her winter suit as she was told. Underneath, she was wearing a black jacket fastened with a wide belt on the waist. There were several pouches attached on the belt.

“Face to the back. Slowly now.”

Kino turned around. Lightly inserted on her belt was the holstered persuader she used to shoot down the rabbits. Kino called this one ‘Woodsman’.

“I knew it. Pull that persuader out slowly with your right hand. Then throw it. Slowly, remember.”

“I’m impressed you knew,” Kino said while looking at Hermes. With her right hand, she gripped Woodsman’s barrel, removed it from its holster and tossed it away.

“Face here, hands up. Slowly.”

Kino raised both hands and slowly faced the men.

Two of them tried to approach Kino, but this time, the man in his twenties stopped them.

“Wait. You have a knife, right? Where is it?”

Kino with a somewhat dejected look, replied bluntly. “I have them all over.”

“Throw them all away.”

Kino slowly put her right hand in the pocket at her jacket’s hem. She took out the folding knife she used for cooking and flung it away.

Kino slowly reached out for the pouches on her belt with her right hand. From there, she pulled out the grip of a knife, flicked open the folding blade, locking it automatically. She threw this away.

Kino slowly put her right hand inside the left cuff of her jacket and extracted a double-edged knife. She tossed it. And then, she put her left hand inside the right cuff and took out a similar knife, and threw it away.

“……”

The men silently looked on. Kino slowly began to take off her overpants. She zipped down the fastener on her side and removed it one leg at a time. The boots and pants she was wearing underneath could now be seen.

Kino slowly squatted down and took out a thin knife from a sheath tied up on the shin part of her boots. She threw it away. She removed a similar knife from her left leg with her left hand, and tossed it.

The knife fell down and hit the other knives on the ground, making a clinking sound.

“Are you… a knife merchant?” the man in his thirties muttered impulsively.

Kino slowly reached at the belt behind her right waist with her right hand, and pulled out a sheathed knife. It was a knife with a double-edged blade around fifteen centimeters in length, and a fat, cylindrical grip.

Kino gripped it with her right hand, and held the blade part with her left.

She spoke slowly, looking at the eyes of the man holding the persuader. “This one’s the last.”

“Throw it away,” said the man in his thirties. A red dot appeared on his forehead — a red light.

Bang bang bang!

There were three gunshots in succession. Between the blade and the grip of the knife were four small holes, from three of which, bullets flied out.

Blood spurted out of the place where the red point of light marked the man’s forehead.

At the same moment as the shots were heard, the man in his forties saw Kino advancing towards him, and flailed his left hand. Kino passed underneath and restrained the man’s left hand from behind with her left. She stabbed all of the knife’s length through the left side of his back.

“Guh—!”

At the same time as the man let out this sound, the man that had three holes opened in his forehead collapsed.

Kino then pushed forward the knife and the man towards the man in his twenties.

As the thin man fell over, Kino retrieved Canon from the snow.

Kino immediately raised the hammer and stood in front of the man, pinned on his back underneath the corpse.

“Aaaah—!”

The man shrieked. Kino took a short glance towards the other man whose face was stained red with blood. And then she pointed Canon towards the last man.

“Save m——”

There was a thunderous roar and a white smoke as Kino’s right hand bounded up. Several of the man’s teeth burst flying like popcorn.

The man’s head leaped as if it was hit by an electric shock, and then became still. Blood pooled from inside his mouth, and at once, the air pushed out of the lungs bubbled out. The blood overflowed, melting the snow beneath the man’s neck little by little.

Kino stood in front of the three men’s corpses. There was a faint steam rising up from the blood.

“That was a close call,” Hermes said to Kino from behind. “Are you hurt?”

“Nope,” was Kino’s only reply. And then she added, “That was scary. I thought it was the end for me.”

Kino stood for a while, holding Canon in her right hand.

In the middle of the clear blue sky and the glittering snowscape, the sound of Kino’s molars grinding in fear resounded.

—

“Are you fine now?” Hermes asked.

“I’m okay now,” Kino nodded. Steam no longer came out from the corpses.

Kino stood in front of the truck’s loading platform.

While holding Canon cautiously, she slowly opened the door.

“I see,” Kino muttered, and looked for a while inside the truck. And then, she opened both doors. Light shined inside the truck.

A number of white bones rolled off from the narrow interior of the truck.

Human bones. Thin ribs. Small finger bones. Broken pelvic bones shaped like spatula. Broken thighbones — the marrow inside thoroughly slurped.

Several used up containers of solid fuel rolled off. An iron plate was torn off from one part of the truck. Above it, there were several charred pieces of a backbone.

In one corner of the truck was the head of the person who owned these bones.

Long blonde hair was tied on the truck’s pipe, from which the head was suspended, lightly facing downwards. It was a young girl, perhaps about the same age as Kino.

The eyes and the nose were gone. There were only the silently gaping black holes, the whittled skin and flesh of the cheeks and jaws, and the exposed part of the skull underneath the face. The lower jaw was barely connected to the rest of the head.

A hole as big as a person’s fist was gaping wide on the forehead. All of the brain was gone.

Hung neatly in one corner opposite the head was a bright yellow dress.

“…Hermes, can you see it?” Kino asked.

“Yup. Food scraps,” Hermes answered.

Kino looked at the corpses of the men by her feet.

“Before that, this was their important ‘goods’ eh…”

“And before that?” Hermes caught Kino’s mumbled words, and asked.

Kino spoke gently while looking at the glittering blonde hair.

“I don’t know.”

As Kino slowly closed the door, she spoke to the girl.

“It’s not right. But, they didn’t want to die.”

—

“We’ve been held up so much. Let’s leave as soon as possible,” Kino said, picking up all of the knives she tossed earlier.

Snow accumulated inside the barrel of Woodsman. Kino picked it up and without aiming at anything in particular, fired two shots. And then she closed the safety and returned it behind her waist.

She took the knife piercing the back of the man with one forceful pull. She thrust the bloodied blade in the snow back and forth until it was clean. And then she wiped it with the clothes of the dead man.

Kino opened the screwed lid at the bottom of the knife’s grip. She took out three small, empty cartridges from inside. Then she took out Woodsman’s spare bullets from her belt, and put them inside the knife’s grip.

And then she returned this persuader-knife to its sheath in her right waist.

Kino put on her overpants and winter suit. And then she returned Canon to its original place.

She quickly packed her tent and loaded all her luggage on Hermes. Then she started the engine.

Suddenly, Kino returned to the side of the truck. She squatted beside the corpse holding the persuader.

She removed the glove in her left hand. A ring was inserted in her middle finger. It was a silver ring, with several small green gems attached to it.

Kino looked at her left hand for a few seconds.

Kino removed the ring and took out the box from her pocket. She put it inside the man’s breast pocket. And then she spoke to him softly.

“I’m returning this to you… because I wasn’t able to save you in the end.”

Then Hermes spoke with a voice as soft as Kino’s,

“What? I thought you liked that thing?”

—

Kino straddled Hermes. She covered her face with her hat and goggles.

Kino lightly revved the accelerator, and the engine roared in excellent condition.

“Shall we go?” Hermes proposed.

“Yeah.”

Kino turned her head back lightly to check whether she left anything. And then she looked at the remains of the three rabbits lined up on the branch of the tree.

“Please don’t think badly of us. We’re only humans, after all.”

The motorrad ran off. It passed through the truck, the tent, and what remained of the four corpses, and soon disappeared.

Translator’s Notes

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