Kino no Tabi:Volume4 Chapter4

“Tradition” —Tricksters—

Kino and Hermes arrived in a small country.

At the bottom of a mountain covered with a dense forest was the expanse of a town with a modest castle in its center. One can go full-circle around the ivy-covered walls in one afternoon walk.

Kino knocked on the gates and asked the gatekeeper for permission to enter the country.

The guard, who was wearing a helmet which seemed like a traditional costume, beamed upon learning that it was Kino and Hermes’ first time to visit this country.

The guard talked to someone on the phone. From within the gates, the clanging of bells was heard.

“I alerted the whole country because it is very rare for us to have guests. It’s so that they can prepare for the welcoming party,” the guard said with a smile.

Soon the gate opened, and Kino pushed Hermes inside. Upon passing through the gates, a great number of the citizens came to receive them.

“……” “……”

Both Kino and Hermes fell silent.

The citizens were wearing ‘ears’ on their heads. A pair of ears was sticking out of their hair, symmetrically positioned on both sides. The neatly triangular-shaped ears were exactly like a cat’s.

“Welcome! Traveler and motorrad, welcome to our country!”

A representative of the citizens said this and shook hands with Kino. It was a man in the prime of his life who seemed to be the leader. Above his smiling face and firmly hardened hair, dark brown ‘cat ears’ were attached.

—

Kino and Hermes introduced themselves, and the man with the dark brown cat ears, who was the country’s ruler, guided them to the castle which was being used as his office.

As soon as a female secretary with purple cat ears left after serving tea, the man gave a simple explanation about the country.

A long, long time ago, a town was built around a castle which a certain royal family used as a summer vacation house. After that royal family perished, the citizens continued to thrive on the land.

The population was small but they lived in utter peace. And—— it was a tradition from those times for the citizens to wear cat ears on their heads.

“The sweet nature of a person is drawn out by using these. No matter how furiously angry someone is, once we flick these ears, his anger would dissipate as if by magic, and a smile would cross his face. People long ago must have thought of this as a means of making harmonious human relations. It’s a wonderful tradition,” the man said warmly while shaking his ears.

With very few and rare exceptions, such as changing one’s hairstyle or replacing them as one grows older, the citizens were always required to wear the cat ears on their heads.

There was an ancient-looking oil painting decorating the wall, featuring a gracefully smiling naked woman wearing cat ears.

The man asked, “Miss Kino, as you are our long-awaited guest, why don’t you try and experience our country’s tradition?”

“What do you mean?” Kino replied.

The man took out a box the size of a dictionary from under the table. He opened it and showed its contents to Kino. Inside was a set of chic black ears.

“I’ll lend these to you, Miss Kino. We thought you’d feel ill at ease if everyone except for you were wearing cat ears. Won’t you wear them while you’re here? It has the same color as your hair, Miss Kino. I’m sure they would suit you well. Of course, you are not obliged to, but…”

—

“You should have agreed to wear the ears if it’s just for today. That man yesterday really looked dejected you know,” said Hermes.

It was early in the afternoon of the second day. Kino was pushing along Hermes as they slowly toured the narrow townscape. All of their luggage was left in the room which they received for free. But for the time being, Kino was holding the cat ears she was given the previous day.

Children waved their hands when they saw Kino and Hermes. All of them were wearing cat ears of various colors. The ears swayed cutely as they shook their heads.

“Aren’t you going to wear the ears, miss traveler?” they asked innocently.

In the shop where they had their meal and tea,

“Oh my—, you have a pretty face. But everyone becomes prettier when they have the ears on, you know,” a nice-figured waitress wearing wide ears said rather regretfully.

When they visited the castle, a small child pointed his finger.

“Mommy. That person is not wearing ears. She’s so weird—”

The mother spoke to the child. ‘That person is a traveler. She was born in a different country, so she is a bit different from us. She doesn’t have to wear ears,’ she gently scolded.

Along the road, a middle-aged woman spoke to Kino. ‘If you wear the cat ears, I’m sure you will be popular with boys,’ she said.

“For some reason, the ears suit anyone, and the charm of the person wearing them changes. When I was young, there was a research saying that in order for you to look your best, you should look at the mirror everyday,” and she furtively informed her to try this secret.

—

That night.

They opened the welcoming festival for the traveler. Soon they announced the start of the traditional cat-ear dance for the citizens. The people made a circle, bent their hands like cat paws, and hopped with the rhythmical music.

Kino who was looking on comfortably, was also invited to wear ears and to participate in the dance.

“People often say that I don’t have any talent for dancing. I would just end up stepping on everybody’s feet,” Kino politely refused. And then she added,

“Even so, it’s a wonderful dance. I was deeply moved. I’m glad I came here.”

—

The next morning.

Kino and Hermes set off after the cat-eared citizens bid them farewell.

When the traveler was already out of sight, the leader removed the dark brown cat ears from his head with a somewhat regretful look on his face. The other citizens removed their own cat ears as well while the crowd dissolved.

The female secretary beside the man came and took his ears and removed her own. She put them in a basket with the words ‘Collection Box’ written on it.

The woman spoke to the man who still looked disappointed. “It’s no good, huh? She didn’t join in.”

“Yeah, it’s no good…. Ring the bell to announce that it’s over.”

“I’ve arranged for it.”

“With this, we already have 549 wins and 233 losses. In my tenure, we had 3 wins and 8 losses…. The travelers we had for several years must have circulated rumors about this country to several others.”

“Indeed.”

“Well, that’s that. Now, what do we do next time? We should decide quickly, or else we won’t be able to prepare and practice. We have to change the painting too——”

—

A motorrad was running along a road in the forest.

“Cat ears…, I didn’t see that coming. Everyone was cute to some extent. I cannot count the number of times I had to stop myself from laughing, you know. That dance was really amusing too,” Kino said with a smile.

“It would be amusing if you wore them too, Kino. I’m sure they would suit you very well.”

“Well, whatever. Riding with lies is something I’m not good at, after all.”

And then, with an extremely serious tone,

“They did not show the slightest bit of a character’s element of surprise, even if it’s for the spirit of service, don’t you think Kino?”

“What’s that about…? But they sure don’t run out of ideas. I only heard this but…, it was said that they also wore turtle shells on their backs, attached lion tails on their bottoms, imitated how crows walk, used an intense dance as a greeting, cry suddenly while greeting, ate while they sang…. What will they do next?”

“Decorate their heads with crow feathers, enter a room hopping with their right leg, eat while their left hand is pointing at the sky, put on white make-up around their eyes, greet with thumbs up and say ‘Yay!’, maybe?”

“Yeah, that’s it. I too won’t give any spoilers to the travelers we meet. Everyone will be happy if they get to drag someone to their tradition.”

“Jeez…, there’s one over here too,” Hermes said with an upset expression to the very relaxed Kino.

—

“——Now that I think about it, that traveler which came half a year ago was a nice one,” the leader suddenly muttered in his office.

“Hmm? Oh yeah. That time, it was the ‘putting an apple on your head’ tradition. Really, he did it right away. He also joined in on the apple dance,” the secretary replied, and the man, while looking at the ceiling,

“There were no others who were as polite and as earnest. He even said, ‘This tradition is great’. He must have been raised very well…. Ah, I wish more people like that would come,” he said with profound emotion.

The secretary slightly smiled as she remembered that time.

And spoke.

“Indeed, it was a guy wearing a green sweater who came riding a buggy, wasn’t it?”

Translator’s Notes

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