Kino no Tabi:Volume2 Chapter6

"Return" -"She" is Waiting For You.-

I’m home.

The gray building that can be seen beyond the thick forest is the one where I was born in, the walls of the country where I spent fifteen years of my life. Thanks to the stream of trees cleared out of the way, I can see very well the shape of the top of the watchtower. There’s no mistaking it.

Seeing it for the first time in five years, the wall is exactly as I remember it. For a while, I was looking dazedly at the scenery as if I was in a dream.

I heaved my heavy luggage once again, began to walk slowly along the river, and headed to my hometown.

Just a little bit more. Probably, I’ll arrive at the gate before it gets dark.

I don’t have a father. He died before I was born. My mother makes jam at home for her to sell. Her jam has a good reputation, so, fortunately, we don’t have to worry becoming poor.

Even back when I was a child, this country has always been at peace, and at the same time, boring. To produce our crops, we do the same thing every year. The sight of my mother’s form overlaps with the same fruits we boil everyday.

When I turned eleven or twelve, I started to seriously think about being an adventurer. I’ll get out of this country, go to many different places, and live every day of my life in excitement and discovery.

These feelings grew stronger and stronger, and at last on my fifteenth birthday, I decided to leave the country.

Of course, my mother was strongly against it.

‘A human is best suited to live in the place where he was born. Why can’t you understand that?’ so my mother said. But of course these things did not matter to me. She raised me alone on her own, and I felt a little bad about leaving her, but I was too busy chasing my dreams.

Other than my mother, there was one other person who held me back. It’s Toto.

Toto is a girl younger than me by five years, who my mother adopted when I was only ten. It was because her dead parents were close friends of my mother.

Toto was a quiet and shy girl. She was poor at speaking with people and avoided other people all the time, so she opted not to go to school.

Eventually, Toto learned how to make jam from mother and became good at it in no time. From then on, she always helped mother.

'Unlike the clumsy you, this girl is really useful. After I die, she’ll inherit my recipes and the shop, and you’ll be good enough as a bodyguard, right Schwarz?'

Thanks to Toto, things became much easier for mother, and she can even joke around like this.

Before long, Toto and I became close to each other. We often played together when we have no work to do. The game we like best is pretending to have a gunfight. With a water gun, I hide to ambush Toto and suddenly jump out and surprise her.

'If you don’t dodge, you’ll get hit! If you dodge, I’ll hit you!'

If I hit her I win, but when Toto realizes my ambush and dodge, she wins.

At first, I would always win and Toto comes up all drenched. But eventually, Toto would find me no matter where I hide, and would quickly dodge even before I get to say my little speech. And then I wouldn’t win at all. Toto would always laugh heartily, seeing how frustrated I was.

--

‘Do you really have to leave no matter what? I don’t want Schwarz-sama to go. I want us to live together right here, always.’

These words, which Toto says while staring intently at me, are much stronger than my mother’s pleadings, and would always sway my decision to leave.

Maybe the one I love more than anybody else at that time is this little girl who adored me.

Even so, I have already made my decision, and on the morning of my fifteenth birthday, I took off. Those that I left, my country, my mother, and most especially, Toto – I tried my best not to think of them.

The last thing Toto said to me was, ‘Be sure to come home. Schwarz-sama will definitely come home. Until that time, I will be right here, always waiting……’

I abandoned my country for a journey. After all, there was nothing I wished for the most back then. My vague dreams of living every day of my life in excitement and adventure, was not there. It was nowhere.

There was a severe drought in the first country I arrived in, and only harsh farm work awaits anyone who comes looking for a job. But in order to earn my future travel expenses, I had to live there for a year.

In the next country, I was recruited as an armed mercenary for a war. I volunteered to try to become a distinguished war hero, but when I talked about it, I was only made to carry luggage. In addition, the war did not push through. They said I was no longer necessary, and after giving me a decent payment, I was kicked out of the country.

In the country I lived in next, people excavated jewels for a living. I gladly joined in, but having no knowledge or experience, I only became a dog for a fraudulent organization. I worked every day in a dangerous hole, digging for ore that will never be my own. I quit and waited for spring.

In the last country, I became a prison guard. By chance, there was a vacancy, and at least here I was somewhat free. The prisoners are docile, and don’t have any thoughts of escaping. I got tired of it, and escaped immediately the moment I found an opportunity. You may think it’s preposterous – the guards run away instead of the prisoners.

It was not a bad idea, but I ended up wandering aimlessly here and there. I was not able to stay long in any one country, and there was no job I was interested enough to take. Day by day, my effort all goes to searching for food inside the forest, the seas, and rivers.

I continued living this way for half a year, before I finally decided to go back to my hometown.

--

I walked for some time since I first saw the walls, and its height seemed twice as much as before. I can clearly hear the sound of animals splashing in the water.

I can’t see through the thick vegetation, but I can hear the splashing sounds coming from the direction of my country, just ahead of me. I pulled out the revolver from the holster on my waist. I slowly distanced myself from the river and took a little detour. And from afar, I looked at the river.

Over there was a human. On the backwater of the opposite bank, a girl wearing only her underwear was taking a bath. About fifteen years old. She was skinny, with short black hair. I soon realized that it must be Toto.

It seems that Toto did not notice my presence. I gazed at her figure with mixed feelings――.

Admitting that I was wrong was quite painful.

I left the country, wandered about for some time, for the sake of a dream which can no longer be achieved. I did not want to admit the truth, that I was wrong, and that I realized it.

But, as I was looking at Toto’s form like this, a bitter smile came to my lips. I admitted it with utmost honesty; that I was such a big fool, and that mother and Toto were right.

In any country, people are born and raised, and persistently protect their way of life. They find happiness and purpose in their everyday lives. The old me thought that this way of living is very commonplace and boring.

Now the idea seemed very appealing to me. Together with Toto, we will make a living by making and selling jam. Of course, there’s no other way to live here. It took five years – for me to understand that, for me to realize how foolish I was. It didn’t go to waste.

Now, there are several things that I want to do.

First, I will apologize to my mother and Toto with all my heart, for causing them to worry about me.

Until now, I have never thought that making jam was such an important thing. Probably, Mother will now let Toto do the work everyday, to prevent the quality of the jam from dropping, as no other person can do it so well. If the house has become old, I’ll bake some bricks to repair it. Collecting, drying, and chopping firewood will also become my everyday job from now on.

But before everything else, I wanted to tell Toto that I have come back home safely.

I took out all the bullets from my revolver – the nine bullets in the cylinder, and the shotgun round from its center. So that Toto would not notice my presence, I waded through the grass silently, and approached.

Toto has finished bathing, and turned behind to reach her folded clothes. From the bushes on the opposite side of the river, I jumped out while aiming at Toto with the empty revolver. I’ve already decided what I would say to her first. ‘If you don’t dodge, you’ll get hit! If you dodge, I’ll hit you!’

“If you don’t dodge…”

As I began to speak, I suddenly felt as if someone smacked my chest hard. At the same time, Toto turned towards my direction, and I saw her right hand reaching straight towards me. That hand, for some reason, is wrapped in a white haze. It’s strange; I cannot hear a single sound.

In the next moment, my vision suddenly turned pitch black.

Why? I can’t see anything.

Am I dead?

No?

Toto

Hey?

From the holster hidden underneath the folded clothes, Kino pulled out a hand Persuader (Note: A Persuader is a gun, in this case, a pistol), turned around, and fired. Attached to the octagonal barrel is a large caliber revolver. Kino calls this ‘Cannon’.

The bullet did not miss its aim. It pierced the man’s chest, destroying his heart. Another bullet quickly followed and entered through the man’s mouth, penetrating the upper jaw and reaching the brain.

The first shot was almost inaudible while the second shot thundered in the forest. Some crows were disturbed and left their nests for a while. The dead man, still aiming at Kino, splashed up water ostentatiously as he fell in the river.

--

Kino wiped her body and dressed up. She put on her pants and boots and put on a long black vest on top of her white shirt. She then tightened the belt on her waist, and attached Cannon’s holster on her right thigh.

By the bushes near the backwater, a luggage-laden Motorrad (Note: A motorcycle. Only to mean that it cannot fly in the sky) is parked, and spoke to Kino with a loud voice.

“Are you alright?”

Kino also answered with a loud voice, “Yeah, I wasn’t shot.”

“More than that,” Kino walked to the Motorrad’s spot, “Sorry for making you wait, Hermes.”

The Motorrad called Hermes said suspiciously, “I wonder if he’s a highwayman. If that’s the case, don’t you find it strange that he’s alone?”

“I thought he was just a peeping tom but…… I was really surprised when he suddenly aimed his gun at me.”

Hermes asked, “Even so, Kino. Why would there be a person in a place like this? Well, except for you that is.”

“He’s probably headed over that place,” Kino said as she looked at the gray walls. Her eyes squinted a little.

Hermes asked once more, “What would he do there? That place is just full of skeletons.”

Kino gave a slight nod, “Who knows?”

“That country was another disappointment,” Hermes said in a matter-of-fact tone. While Kino fetched out a small wooden box from the box attached on Hermes’ rear wheel,

“Yeah……. An epidemic, I’m sure it’s something like that”

“Everyone’s annihilated?”

“Almost completely, there’s no doubt about it. From the state of bone decomposition, it happened more than two years ago.”

Hermes let out an impressed tone, and then suddenly, his voice became lively,

“Yes, that’s it! Kino, that guy was a grave robber. He was after the gold and silver treasures, and makes a living as a ‘yeager’ or a ‘hunter’. He must have assumed that Kino was a rival. So he suddenly tried to kill you.”

“That may, or may not be the case,” said Kino, while filling Cannon with liquid gunpowder and bullets from the wooden box she took out.

When she put away the wooden box, Kino took out a small mirror. She looked at her face and head. With her other hand, she pinched her bangs a little.

“Did I cut it a bit too much? What do you think? Hermes.”

“It's not bad,” said Hermes, less interested. Kino, who seemed indifferent, put away the mirror.

Kino put on her hat and strapped on her goggles. She started Hermes’ engine.

“Well, shall we go Hermes? I hope this time we end up in a country with living people. And safe, to boot.”

“Alright!”

The Motorrad sped into the forest.

The river flows, the man still prone on it.

Back to Chapter 5

Return to Main Page

Forward to Chapter 7