Kino no Tabi:Volume4 Chapter7

“Grapes” —On Duty—

“Hey, you.”

A man spoke all of a sudden.

The one he was talking to was a teenager drinking tea in the street’s open café. This person had short black hair, big eyes, and an intrepid expression on her face. Her black jacket was fastened with a wide belt on her waist, and suspended on her right thigh was a holster for a hand persuader (Note: A persuader is a gun. In this case, a pistol).

The man who spoke was about thirty years old. He was a normal-looking man wearing neat clothes.

“Me?”

The man nodded in reply to this question. Parked in one corner of the walkway was a motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle. Only to note that it cannot fly) with two boxes attached on the sides of its rear wheel. He pointed towards the motorrad.

“That’s yours? Are you a traveler?”

“Yes. We’ve been in this country since yesterday,” the young traveler said, and proceeded to introduce herself.

“I am Kino. This here is my partner, Hermes.”

“Kino, eh? Well, until when are you planning to continue doing this?” The man still stood, asking the traveler called in a sharp tone.

Kino asked the man with her usual expression. “Doing what?”

“Traveling on a motorrad. You seem very young, but why don’t you go to school? Well, I suppose that’s fine in the country you were born in, but if that’s the case, why don’t you get a job?”

“…It’s hard to explain everything, you see,” Kino answered with a shrug.

“Excuse me,” the man said shortly, and sat in front of Kino.

The man looked at Kino, almost glaringly, “Is traveling fun?”

“Yes”

“Didn’t you ever realize that you were wasting your life?”

“……”

The man had a tone as if scolding a bad student,

“You probably find what you are doing now as fun. Now, that is. However, your actions are without consideration for the future. You go from place to place, looking around, wandering aimlessly. But that’s all. At a glance, you’re free to do as you please. But with that, you are just playing, neglecting the duties that come with being a human. You are nothing but a rootless wanderer.”

“……”

Kino silently brought the cup of tea to her lips. The man continued.

“Humans have many duties they have to fulfill. First is work. To have a regular job, and to serve other people in the country. In short, you have a duty to become a full-fledged member of society by working. Another is to get married and to have a family. To make your spouse happy, to have children, to bring them up well, and to send them out as new members of society. These are duties which humans had from the very start. Traveling, wandering, the you right now couldn’t possibly accomplish these duties. Do you have any objections?”

“Nope,” Kino replied with a light smile.

The man became slightly more garrulous.

“That’s why traveling is a waste of your life. I told you before, right? You probably think I’m forcing this on you. Not to brag, but right now, I have those qualifications. You see, I have a job and a family to protect. That’s why, I want you to think a little about the sort of life you have. That’s why I talked to you.”

“I see. I’ll use that as a reference.”

“And one more thing,” said the man.

“Yes?”

“It would be better for you to stop riding a motorrad.”

“Really?” Kino asked with a light tone.

“Yeah. Motorrads are dangerous. Besides, only two people can ride on it. It’s an extremely uncivilized and primitive method of transportation. It’s improper for an adult, worrying and inconveniencing your family with an egotistical plaything. A car on the other hand, is an important and a must-have because it offers a reliable means of transportation. Traveling and motorrads, that’s the worst combination, ever.”

Kino glanced over Hermes,

“Thank you for your concern. But I would like to continue doing this.”

Upon hearing this, the man’s face slightly stiffened. He pointed at Kino, and spoke with a tone stronger than before.

“You did not understand what I told you at all. What do you take the opinion of the elderly for? Just because you’re young, you think you can go on wasting your time——”

Suddenly the man was taken aback and his face changed color as he looked at his wristwatch. He stood up.

“Someday you’ll regret what you did with your life!” He left these angry words and hurried away.

When the man was out of sight, Hermes spoke. “What an interesting person. I wonder what moved him to talk to you?” said.

“Oh, you were awake. Who knows? Maybe he bears a grudge against travelers and motorrads,” Kino said. She picked up the cup of tea and spread the map with her other hand.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Hermes. Let’s go see the temple in the southern district after I finish my tea. The person who was here earlier promised me that it’s worth seeing.”

“Roger. We’ll be very busy in this country, huh?”

“Yeah. I wonder if three days is enough. There’s this fellow in the north which has skills of ‘ancient giant creatures’ that I want to see. But it seems that near some stone highway, there’s some awesome scenery. I also like to try their pan-baked deep-sea fish, but I also want to go to this open-air concert. And then——”

—

The man hurriedly ran to the entrance of a street where several stores were lined up.

An aging woman, a woman around thirty, and two small children were standing by the entrance. They all glared at the man who came running.

“You’re late! You left the car, and made us wait for hours!” The woman who seemed to be the wife, spoke to the man with a harsh tone.

‘Sorry, I’m really sorry,’ the man said, bowing several times.

“You should really get a hold of yourself,” the wife clicked her tongue.

At this moment, they heard the noisy sound of a motorrad’s engine, and eventually, the traveler passed in front of them riding her motorrad. The traveler saw the man, raised her left hand in a greeting, and rode away.

“Who was that?” the wife asked the man.

The man said that it was just a traveler he had a little conversation with earlier. The wife suddenly raised her eyes.

“Traveler? Wait, dear! Don’t tell me you still have that stupid idea of yours to go on a journey by yourself?” the wife cross-examined him. ‘No, not at all,’ said the man, and shook his head and hands.

“Is that true?”

‘It’s true,’ said the man as his wife glared at him. ‘That’s not a simple thing to do since I have a family, and a job as well,’ he added.

“Fine then,” the wife turned around and then stopped.

“Ah—! Don’t tell me you want to ride a motorrad? You vowed never to do that, but if I find out you’re secretly riding one, I’ll divorce you!”

‘D-don’t worry. Didn’t I sell it? A motorrad is dangerous. I’m thinking about our family’s welfare, so I can’t possibly be thinking of riding one,’ the man said.

“Hmph. Don’t you dare break your promise. It will be a problem if you die. …More than that, you should work harder to have a salary raise. Aren’t you supposed to buy the children nice clothes?” the woman said disinterestedly, and the aging woman chimed in.

“That’s right. You promised to make my daughter happy when you married her, didn’t you? If there’s no hope of getting ahead, then get ahead on your own. Work two, no, three times as much to make your own wife and children happy. That’s the meaning of being a full-fledged member of society, the duty of a human being. Do you understand?”

‘Yes,’ the man said shortly to his mother-in-law.

The wife pushed her hand luggage to the man.

“Then, let’s go! And get these quickly! You should serve your family once in a while! Quick, quick!”

They entered the shopping district with the children.

‘But I’m tired from work,’ the man muttered and sighed.

“Did you say something?” the wife asked without turning around, and the man immediately replied, ‘Nothing.’

The man turned his gaze towards the road. He looked at the unseen back of the traveler, and listened to the inaudible sound of the motorrad’s engine.

And then chased after his family in a flurry.

Translator’s Notes

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