Kino no Tabi:Volume4 Chapter10

“Land with a Bridge” —Their Line—

A single motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle. Only to note that it cannot fly) was running on a sandy beach.

It was a motorrad loaded with traveling luggage on top and on both sides of its rear wheel. It was headed towards the north, leaving thin tire tracks on the relatively hard sand near the beach.

On the left side was the expanse of the clear blue and calm ocean. On the right was a large desert, with its thousands of rippling sand dunes. It was a world of water and sand.

The motorrad’s driver was wearing a black jacket with a wide belt fastened around the waist. Suspended on her right thigh was a holster for a hand persuader (Note: A persuader is a gun. In this case, a pistol). Placed inside was a high-caliber revolver.

The driver was wearing a brimmed hat with flaps covering the ears, and silver-framed goggles. It was a young person whose age was probably a little over mid-teens.

Suddenly, the driver tapped the tank of the motorrad, and pointed ahead.

At a considerable distance, a white line which looked like the shimmer of hot air can be seen floating on the blue surface. As they came closer, they realized what the line was. It was a bridge.

It was a large bridge.

A number of bridge piers rising from the ocean were systematically lined up. White stones were put together to form arches. The width has just enough allowance for a big car to pass through it. Its height from the water surface was around the height a person can jump.

The bridge rose abruptly from the desert, earnestly continuing straight towards the west, and vanished with the horizon.

—

The motorrad arrived at the edge of the bridge. The driver got off and looked up.

The driver made a little conversation with the motorrad about the place.

‘For sure, this is the bridge that we’re looking for. If we cross it, we can get to the neighboring continent without having to pay for a ferry,’ the driver said happily.

On the other hand, the motorrad found it odd. Why is it that such a splendid bridge was there in a place where no one lives in? And where did the large quantities of building material of white stone came from?

The traveler who told the driver about this bridge could not find anyone who could tell him the answer to these questions. Even so, it didn’t matter to the driver. She added that the important thing was that the bridge exists. The motorrad agreed.

The motorrad asked whether they will be able to cross by the end of the day. The driver answered frankly that it would not be possible because of the distance. She said that she was planning to camp out on top of the bridge and finish crossing it by the next day.

The driver launched the motorrad and began to run on the bridge.

The bridge’s stone paving was made of small stones put together systematically. Its surface was smoothed out and had a glassy appearance. On top of it, the motorrad continued to run comfortably. On both sides of the road, the neatly crafted stone handrails continued on.

After running for a while, nothing but the ocean can be seen all around. The shining blue surface of the water was perfectly divided by the white bridge. Just ahead, the land on the other side falls and disappears with the horizon.

As the motorrad headed west, the sound of its engine resounded noisily over the ocean.

Soon, the day quietly came to an end. When the setting sun began to shine golden on the bridge and water surface, the driver stopped the motorrad.

Night came, and the ocean became dark and quiet. It was as if everything in the earth was flattened, while the stars shone in the sky. The driver complained of the dazzling starlight.

And on top of the bridge, she spread out the blanket, wrapped herself in it and slept.

—

The next day.

The driver woke up at dawn. The sky had a weak purple color.

She performed some light exercises, and then trained with and maintained the persuader on her right thigh. She ate her breakfast of portable rations. From the cans tied on top of her bag, she took some water for herself and replenished the tank of the motorrad with fuel.

The sun rose. The cloudless sky and the wave-free ocean were stained blue. The driver slapped awake the motorrad and rode towards the west once more.

—

It was about noon.

‘Stop,’ the motorrad suddenly spoke in a loud voice.

The driver quickly hit the brakes. They came to a halt at the center of the ocean.

‘I saw something,’ the motorrad said. The driver turned the motorrad, and rode back a little as she was told.

The motorrad told the driver to look at a particular handrail they passed through earlier that day. This handrail had exactly the same shape as the rest. The driver was doubtful, and asked why.

The motorrad said that some characters were carved on it. The driver got off the motorrad and examined the handrail. She took off her gloves and touched the surface with her hand.

The driver confirmed that the characters were there, but it was weathered all over that the writings cannot be read anymore. The motorrad suggested that he would read instead. He would also read what the carved characters were in the previous handrails.

The driver thought for a while. And then, she answered that since they can’t waste much time, he had to read the gist of the writings. If there was nothing interesting, they’ll leave right away.

The motorrad agreed and read the writings on the first handrail.

—

‘We have to fulfill our duty. We have to build a bridge here. As to why, we will leave it in the handrails. It is for that someone who will cross this bridge someday.’

—

The driver cut the motorrad’s engine right away. In a moment, the sound vanished in the area.

The driver pushed the motorrad and went to the next handrail. She asked the motorrad to read all of the writings in succession.

The motorrad agreed, and read the fading characters——

—

‘We lived by the beach on the eastern side of the bridge. Over there were the walls of our country. As to why we started to live in a world of sand, a barren land, we haven’t known for a long time. It didn’t really matter to us, and we lived our lives in pleasure; eating fish, singing, and dancing.’

‘Near the country, there were a number of enormous structures we call pyramids. White stones were neatly piled up to build these structures, but as to who, when, or for what purpose they were built, we can only guess. But more than that, the structures were convenient to us. We take the stones and use them to build houses, build roads and repair the walls.’

‘One day, our comrades discovered something from the bottom of the ocean, and salvaged it. It was something like a big vault. After some difficulty in opening it, we found a lot of documents inside. We felt very disappointed because we thought there was something valuable in it.’

‘But through these documents, we came to know the answer to our questions. Why are we here? What are we supposed to do? What have we been doing until now? What are we supposed to do from now on?’

‘One of the documents was a blueprint for a bridge. From the beach right before us, a beautiful arch bridge with a number of bridge piers made up of stone will be built beyond the horizon, crossing into the neighboring continent. It was a magnificent plan. The huge amount of blueprints was for the sake of this plan.’

‘In another document, two facts were specified clearly. One, enough quantities of the stone material that will be used for building the bridge shall be piled up on the beach. Another, the imprisoned criminals shall be allowed to inhabit an area nearby, and shall be made as workers for the construction of the bridge. When the bridge is completed, the sentence of all the prisoners will be erased, and they will be allowed entry to the original country.’

‘The answers to the four questions above are these: We were entrusted with a mission. We were to build a bridge. This fact was ignored and concealed, and we lived our lives in pleasure; eating fish, singing and dancing. And lastly——’

‘There is only one thing we were asked to do. “Build the bridge as instructed.” All of the citizens held one opinion. The detailed blueprints are there. The necessary materials are also there. There are also a lot of people who have seen the olden days. There was no reason for us not to do it, or not to be able to do it.’

‘If the bridge is completed, the decision of returning to the original country, or staying in this land is left to a person’s own judgment. Hope budded in our hearts, that we will be able to find the place where we belong. Since we already achieved the reason why we are here, we started to build the bridge.’

‘The construction of the bridge progressed slowly but steadily. As indicated in the blueprints, the bridge piers should be able to rise from the water, and stones that can be submerged should be used. Such stone can be found inside the pyramids. The stones will be floated to their designated location, and then holes will be opened to put them together while they are submerged. Then sand will be poured on the finished foundation to make a sturdy bridge pier. We were very happy each time we finished one pier, and we continued to gather the stones and extend the bridge’

‘People who are good at diving built the bridge piers in the sea. Some carried the stones from the beach. Those who have strength put together the stones. Those who are skilled polished the surface beautifully. When we have come this far, some caught fish from the top of the bridge. And others cooked them. We shared the work, shifted roles, and our everyday life continued this way. Each day we completed something, and find it wonderful.’

—

The motorrad read up to this point, and the driver said, ‘I see,’ with a look of admiration. She stroked the stone paving by her feet, tapped the handrail before her, and looked down at a bridge pier nearby.

The motorrad asked whether to continue reading, or to leave now that the mystery was solved.

The driver wondered as to why the country vanished and as to why the people who built the bridge were nowhere to be found. Was it because they all came back to the original country? She said that she wanted to know these things.

The motorrad agreed to go on reading the next one——

—

‘When our children, who were born around the same time as the bridge, have started to contribute to the work on the bridge, we noticed something. As indicated in the plans, there should be enough stone material for use in the bridge. But there were only a few left. We soon understand the reason. It was because we used them in building our houses and repairing the walls. We were deeply embarrassed by our foolishness, and started to fear that the bridge will not be completed.’

‘There was only one way to solve our problem. We demolished our houses and started to use those stones instead. We wasted so much time in processing the stones that the progress of the construction slowed down. The people who lost their homes had to live with other people, and that became another problem. However regrettable it may be, it is for the completion of the bridge.’

‘Other than demolishing the houses, we also started to use the walls. Though it appears unnecessary, we carved away the stone just in case. There were no offensive countries nearby, but without the walls, the country became covered with sand. Without the walls, we decided to build the houses on top of the bridge. And while we were living there, the bridge continued to stretch out.’

‘Before we know it, the walls and the houses in the country were all gone, and the land turned back into a desert. We did not care about this, and we continued to slowly, but steadily accomplish our mission. The bridge extended. However, we were worried that someday, there will not be enough stone material to use. We worried about it constantly.’

‘And at last, after all our progress, we saw something other than the horizon. In our field of view, we could see a desert in the opposite shore. Our happiness during that time is impossible to leave in these writings.’

‘We used up all of the stone material for the last part of the construction. Now, we no longer doubt the completion of our plans. There was only enough stone. One by one, we dismantled our houses, and used the stones from them. We slept on top of the bridge. The number of people whose bodies were broken down increased, but we paid no heed.’

‘When all of the stones are gone, we would know whether the bridge would be completed or not.’

‘We completed the bridge, except for some parts. It was around the center of the bridge, where the last house was located. We began to notice when we took some stones from there to put together the bridge. Just in that place, there was no stone paving; the rough stone was exposed in a long cavity. It was a foolish mistake.’

‘The bridge is totally useless because of this long and large cavity. To fill this cavity and complete the bridge as indicated in the plans, we need more stone. There can’t be any more in the desert. And we definitely cannot take some stones from other parts of the bridge.’

‘We tried a number of experiments. We hardened the sand and made them into bricks. It didn’t work. We tried to fill up the cavity with large quantities of sand. The people who stepped on it sank. We thought of going somewhere far to get some stones. It was useless talk.’

‘We ran out of ideas, and did nothing but regret our foolishness. There should have been enough materials from the beginning. There was no one to blame but us, for wasting them in making houses and walls. It was our fault. We could only beat ourselves, while looking at the cavity that can’t be filled up right before our eyes.’

‘It was after a while. The only thing left is to fill in this cavity. Only that and the bridge will be complete. We wanted something hard to use instead of the stone paving. We agonized and thought about it, and eventually, we found a wonderful solution to our dilemma. If you think about it, it’s pretty simple. We had the ingredients we needed right from the start.’

‘Among ourselves, we chose weak old people and women, and we killed them. We scraped the flesh from the corpses. We obtained large quantities of the white and hard bones. Surely this is the final ingredient needed to fill in the cavity. We readied large quantities, and lined them up without allowing gaps.’

‘The hole was filled in slowly. Next, we killed all of the children and obtained their bones. The bones of children are small and weak, and breaks once stepped on, so we made little progress. Even so, the flesh was very helpful in catching fish.’

‘Lastly, we decided to kill men in turn. The bones of men are large and hard. As the cavity became smaller, we became happy from the bottom of our hearts. We collected and lined up the bones from the legs and arms as well as the ribs, and filled in the gaps with smashed skulls. We were making favorable progress.’

‘And so all of the cavity was filled in. No one was left but me, but it’s no problem. I can do the rest on my own. I just have to line up the spines, and to polish the surface like what was done with the stone pavement…. Yes, we can complete the bridge, and that’s the reason why I was left here. In other words——’

—

The driver asked what’s next after ‘in other words’. The motorrad told her that this was the last of the characters. With a look of admiration in her face, she said that even though the last person’s whereabouts were unknown, he must have been here.

‘What’s that?’ the driver heard, as the motorrad urged her to look at her feet. It was subtly different from the other stone pavings. The driver crouched, and upon examining it well, raised a voice of surprise and admiration.

Over there, human spines were put together. The destroyed spines were lined up as if drawn in a pattern. The color was slightly different from the other parts, and thin bones were inlaid in the gaps. Furthermore, the surface had a glassy finish.

The driver raised her face. The bone portion continued for a while, and then returned to the same stone pavement.

On top of the white line amidst this blue world, the driver thought for a while. She thought about something while looking afar.

Then she turned to the motorrad. She said they’re going to stay here for today.

The motorrad was surprised, and asked for the reason. ‘My three-day rule,’ was the short reply of the driver.

The driver fixed the puzzled motorrad firmly on its center stand. She took down the luggage from the carrier on top of the rear wheel.

‘Right, I can relax and fish for today. I should eat fish from time to time.’ Upon saying this, the driver rummaged inside the boxes on both sides of the rear wheel. She took out a thread and a fish hook.

‘You don’t have a rod,’ said the motorrad.

The driver opened the big bag. A disassembly-type rifle persuader was strapped on the inside of the cover. The driver took it, connected the front and rear portions together and snapped them in place with a pin. She attached the thread with the fish hook and sinker on the tip of the barrel. As well as the bell.’

‘Master’s gonna cry if she sees this,’ said the motorrad.

Though slightly different from an appropriate bait, the driver used the portable rations, let down the thread, and sat in front of the handrails. She took off her hat and gazed leisurely at the sky. And then she slowly made a big stretch.

‘Hey, can you really fish with that?’ the motorrad asked.

‘Who knows,’ the driver answered.

—

In the blue ocean, there was a completely straight white bridge.

It was a magnificent bridge that crosses the ocean. Over there, one motorrad was parked. Beside was a lone human, fishing with a rifle.

Just a little bit away from there, there was a part where the stone pavement was slightly different from the rest.

The color was subtly different and it was patterned. Looking at it from above, there was something written in big letters.

Over there was the continuation of the writings:

‘We have fulfilled our duty.’

Translator’s Notes

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