Editing Clannad Another Story:Another Story16

'''Chapter 16'''
'''Author: Jun Maeda'''
'''The Memories of a Town'''
-----
<br />
The light of the summer sun seemed familiar, but the warmth of it was somehow different.  I had been walking for nearly an hour since I got off the bus.  I had the parasol I borrowed from Mama out under this cloudless sky.<br />
[[Image:Anotherstory-16-01.jpg|thumb|right]]
"Ou seul allez-vous la fille? (Where're you headed to by yourself, miss?)"<br />
A old man on a large tractor started talking to me.<br />
To his side was an old women, holding onto a parasol just as I was.  I was a little flustered, but I was able to speak the words I had memorized.<br />
"Il va au gisement de lavande. (I'm headed for the lavender fields)"<br />
The old man laughed and offered to give me a ride on the tractor.<br />
<br />
In front of my eyes was a carpet of purple stretching all the way to the horizon.<br />
At the foot of the mountain behind me was a village of white houses, like the kind you would expect to have seen hundreds of years ago.<br />
It was a sight that you could only see here.<br />
But the kindness of the people, and how they lived each day to the fullest, could be found in any town.<br />
<br />
It all started as a conversation between Nagisa and Ushio.<br />
"Shio, it's almost summer vacation."<br />
"Yeah."<br />
They were in the kitchen talking.  Ushio seemed to like cooking, so she was happily helping her mother.<br />
"Would you like to go anywhere?"<br /><br />
"Well... I do..."<br />
"Then try asking Papa."<br />
I don't remember when she started calling me Papa.<br />
"But will he let me?"<br />
"I'm sure he won't mind, right?"<br />
She came in from the kitchen holding a plate to ask me that.<br />
"Probably not.  Where would you like to go, Ushio?"<br />
"You see, Papa..."<br />
Ushio sat down in front of me with her back straight and a serious look in her eyes.  It must be a pretty serious request, but her eyes were filled with determination.<br />
"What, you want to go overseas?"<br />
I spoke first.<br />
Bull's-eye; Ushio nodded to my question.<br />
"That's amazing, Tomoya.  You sure know our Shio well."<br />
Nagisa turned around in the kitchen and said that with a smile.<br />
"She's our daughter, so of course I would.  And we have the resources to do so, as well.  Where would you like to go?"<br />
I continued asking Ushio questions.<br />
"Do you want to go swimming in Hawaii?  See the koalas in Australia?  Or perhaps the Arch of Triumph in Paris?<br />
Ushio nodded again... three times.<br />
"Greedy, aren't you?  Pick one."<br />
"But, I want to go to all of them."<br />
"Seriously?"<br />
"I want to go to all of them... Hawaii, Australia, Paris.  I want to travel across the world."<br />
"Across the world!?"<br />
I nearly dropped my cup.<br />
"Yeah, I want to travel across the world by myself and see all the different villages."<br />
She stared at me with her large eyes, and her hands were clutched in determination.<br />
"But, you're still in grade school..."<br />
"Age has nothing to do with this.  I want to go."<br />
She said this with force in her voice.  She must have gotten this stubornness from her mother.<br />
Neither of us spoke, and the room fell into silence.<br />
Even so, if neither of us speaks, I can't understand her reasons.<br />
"... Why across the world?  What made you want to do that?"<br />
"I've always wanted to visit all the different towns and meet the people that live there."<br />
"But you've already been to a lot of different towns, and seen a lot of places."<br />
"Yeah, but I want to go all over the world.  I saw some towns on TV.  There was one on a small town in Europe.  Everyone living there looked so happy."<br />
Ushio's eyes were tinged with excitement.<br />
<br />
-----
"When I learned about the world outside of our town in class, I was so excited.  I wanted to know more, so I read some books at the library.  And after that, I wanted to go out and see these villages and meet and talk to these people myself."<br />
Ushio looked lost in thought, as though she was remembering the scenes from the TV or the lines from the books she read.<br />
Now that I think about it, Ushio was always bothering me to teach her difficult words that even I didn't know.  It must have been for the books she was reading about the towns and their cultures.<br />
I didn't like the idea, but at the same time, I was surprised.<br />
I had thought that Ushio was still a child who didn't know about the world, but she had gone this far to further her own knowledge.<br />
But...<br />
"Still, this is a bit too sudden..."<br />
Way too sudden, in my opinion.<br />
"I'm used to travelling alone."<br />
"Going overseas is a lot different."<br />
"Even so, I have faith in my ability to adapt."<br />
I believe we brought up Ushio well.<br />
As though to be able to do the things Nagisa was never able to do, we raised her to be a strong girl.<br />
She was always the leading part in the culture festivals, and would be the one to act out the fights and scuffles.<br />
I remembered what the old man, Nagisa's dad, once said.<br />
Our dream is the same as our daughter's.<br />
I wonder if this is how it is for Nagisa now.<br />
If Ushio can fulfil her own wish, will she be happy from that?<br />
It seemed so Nagisa-like; so modest, yet brave.<br />
"I can go, right, Papa?"<br />
That small, full-of-energy version of Nagisa was clinging to my legs.<br />
"What do you think, Nagisa?"<br />
I turned towards the kitchen and asked her that.<br />
"I want to let her do whatever makes her happy."<br />
It was a foolish question.<br />
<br />
The train shook as it climbed the mountain trail.<br />
This place was famous, so a lot of people seemed to be visiting now.<br />
The people there were still as friendly as ever, and I had many people talk to me.<br />
I couldn't understand much of what they said.  And before I knew it, I had a can of coconut juice in my hands.<br />
I took a sip.  It was sweet, but very tasty.<br />
"E tasty muito! (It's very good!)"<br />
I don't know if I said that correctly, but everyone looked liked they were pleased.<br />
<br />
We arrived after about 30 minutes.  There were clouds below us.<br />
I could see the ocean in the distance, and the skyscraper that had seemed so large earlier now looked so very small.<br />
Behind me was a tall stone statue with its arms spead out.  It looked as if it was encouraging me.<br />
<br />
When we visited the Furukawa household during the weekend, I took the chance to ask Nagisa's parents about Ushio's trip.<br />
"As expected of my grandchild.  The scale is on a different level altogether."<br />
He didn't seem to be trying to stop her at all.<br />
"Don't be so irresponsible!"<br />
We were in the living room.  Ushio was sitting on Akio's lap while he was brushing her hair.<br />
The fact that every time we come here they happen to take these particular positions was quite vexing.<br />
"Come on, Akki, keep at it!"<br />
"A grade schooler that's travelled all across the world?  That's a great thing right there.  I don't have the kind of courage to do that.  That's amazing, Ushio.  You'll make it big-time when you grow up!  Compared to that, you dad is just a measly worm!"<br />
Now that's just mean.<br />
"You don't want this poor excuse of a father as your dad.  So, you can be our child, okay?  Alright, from today on, you're Ushio Furukawa!"<br />
"That's right, if you don't let me go, I'll be Akki's daughter instead."<br />
"Dammit.  Double-teaming me..."<br />
"Please forgive him, Tomoya."<br />
To the side was Sanae, apologizing for the old man's evil tricks.<br />
"And there's a good side to it for you guys, as well.  You two haven't been alone together in quite a while, have you?"<br />
"Huh?  What do you mean...?"<br />
Next to me, Nagisa had her head down in embarassment.<br />
"... You don't need to know."<br />
I didn't really get what they were talking about.<br />
"What, has your husband already gone dry?"<br />
"Ah, well, no..."<br />
This is where I should have stopped her.  I would regret letting her continue.<br />
"We make time for that kind of stuff... you know... perverted things..."<br />
[[Image:Anotherstory-16-02.jpg|thumb|right]]
Nagisa's bombshell announcement part... er, what part were we on, anyway?  I don't remember...<br />
It was then that I noticed.  I was being sucked into the Furukawa household's pace (it used to be the triangle of fools, but it's been upgraded to a square of fools now).<br />
"I'm just worried about her."<br />
I quickly diverted the conversation back to the problem at hand.<br />
"I've heard that a lot of Japanese people get their stuff stolen while on trips.  It's too dangerous, I say."<br />
"You bastard, don't look down on my granddaughter...  We've trained her well."<br />
Well, she was brought up by the old man from a young age.  Since then, she's always been more fit than other kids of her age.  She's never lost a track match in the sports competitions.  She's been placed as the anchor for a 5 man team and managed to come from behind and win it for them.  The memory was still fresh in our minds.<br />
I fully understood how strong she was.<br />
But, on the other hand, curled up on the old man's lap like that, she was just as cute as any of the other girls her age...<br />
I have no idea where I was going with this.<br />
I had no other option than to ask for more time to think about it.<br />
<br />
"So, did you come up with an answer, Tomoya?"<br />
On the dining table was some shredded squid and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tsukudani tsukudani].  In his hand was some sake.<br />
It was just about to become midnight.<br />
<br />
-----
<br />
Nagisa, Ushio, and Sanae were sleeping together in the other room.<br />
When we were up for it, me and the old man would sit together and have a drink like this.<br />
"For what?"<br />
"About Ushio's trip.  Don't tell me you already forgot."<br />
"Don't worry, I've been thinking about it.  Isn't that why you wanted to talk to me?"<br />
"Well, props for not forgetting about it."<br />
"Of course.  It's an important matter."<br />
I took a sip from my cup.  The gradually spreading warmth felt good.<br />
"I understand that you're worried.  I've been a parent as well."<br />
The old man poured some more sake into my cup.<br />
"But... I get the feeling she's doing this because of something else."<br />
"Such as what?"<br />
"I wouldn't be asking you if I knew..."<br />
For a while, the old man quit talking and started eating some of the squid.<br />
"It's like... she's... inherited Nagisa's fate, maybe..."<br />
He said it quietly, as if just remembering it himself.<br />
"Nagisa's... fate?"<br />
"We've talked about this before, dumbass.  When she was young, she almost lost her life...  When she woke up in that field with nothing in it..."<br />
"Yeah..."<br />
"And them, the same kind of thing happened to Ushio.  As though she had been spirited away, she dissapeared... to the same place... though there was a hospital there now...  There she slept."<br />
That time was all a blur to me; I can't really remember what happened.  But, I know that I had thought I had lost Ushio for good.<br />
"......."<br />
My mouth became parched.  Perhaps it was because of the alcohol.<br />
"I get the feeling her trip now might have something to do with that."<br />
No, that can't be.<br />
<br />
-----
<br />
"Hey, old man... We've grown up in this town, and we love it... Even Nagisa has said so."<br />
"Yeah, that's true."<br />
"Then, why does she have to go and forsake this town?"<br />
"Forsake?"<br />
"Am I wrong?"<br />
"Yeah.  If you're trying to say that Ushio should have a close connection with this town, then this trip...."<br />
The old man stopped there for a moment, and downed his cup in one gulp.  After taking a breather, he continued on.<br />
"won't affect her love for this town.  You could say this is a journey into adulthood."<br />
<br />
The rays of the just-risen sun still felt pleasant.<br />
I tied her shoelaces and adjusted her hat.<br />
On her back was a fairly large backpack.<br />
Tied to the keyholder were 4 good-luck charms.<br />
"It is unfortunate that Tomoya can't come along with us to see you off."<br />
"I can't help it.  I have work."<br />
I still have work today, so I can't go and see her off at the airport.<br />
So Nagisa, Sanae, and the old man would see her off without me.<br />
"If you're all done, then let's get going."<br />
Standing next to the doorway smoking a cigerette, the old man tried hurrying us up.<br />
"No, first I have to warn her about a few things.  Make sure to look out for cars.  Don't go with strange people.  Also..."<br />
"You're being paranoid."<br />
The old man stopped me.<br />
"Man, you sure worry a lot."<br />
I know I worry too much, and yet, I can't stop myself.<br />
"She'll be alright.  She's your kid, after all."<br />
"... Is that so...  Well, I suppose..."<br />
I picked up Ushio and her luggage, and headed out to the entrance hall.<br />
"You've sure grown."<br />
"Yeah, I'm 4 centimeters taller than I was last year."<br />
She told me that with a smile on her face.<br />
<br />
And suddenly, I saw something wavering in the air.<br />
It was like a cloud... no, it was a light.<br />
It was dancing in the air.<br />
As though to give its blessing to the journey of this child.<br />
And at the same time, I remembered the old man's words.<br />
<br />
... this trip won't affect her love for this town.  You could say this is a journey into adulthood.<br />
<br />
Ah, so that's what he meant<br />
I was finally able to grasp that concept.<br />
The act of maturing is to meet many other people, and to part with them, as well.<br />
It's the same with towns.<br />
She'll be visiting many different towns, and will part with each one of them.<br />
That's how both she and the towns will mature during this journey.<br />
I could understand the light's feelings as well.<br />
It was looking forward to meeting all of these different people and towns as well.<br />
"What's the matter?"<br />
Nagisa asked me that, probably because she thought I was acting strange.<br />
"The light..."<br />
I said that and started to point towards it, but it had already disappeared.<br />
"No, it's nothing."<br />
"It's about time to go."<br />
Slapping me on the back, the old man left first.<br />
"Yeah."<br />
Seeing that she was about to fall, Ushio grabbing and held onto my neck.<br />
[[Image:Anotherstory-16-03.jpg|thumb|right]]
"Sorry, Papa."<br />
She whispered that into my ear.<br />
"No, it's fine."<br />
"I love you, Papa."<br />
"I love you too, Ushio."<br />
Ushio gave me a peck on the cheek.<br />
Finally letting go of me, she got down and stood up.<br />
"See you later, Papa."<br />
She said that looking over her shoulder.<br />
"Be careful out there."<br />
"Yeah.  I'll be off then!"<br />
Ushio headed off.<br />
Filled with the expectations, and the memories, of a town.<br />