chap 13+5

Just as Haruhiro thought, Oh, this one’s going to hit the bullseye, he woke up.
What a dream...
On the fourth day, they had a good time cutting across the fields, climbing gentle hills, and ambling through quiet forests. It really was peaceful.
They reached the climax of the first stage of the journey a little after noon that day. They got to the edge of the forest, and there was a river.
Kejiman jumped down from the coachman’s seat and ran forward. “Yahooooooo! We’re here! The Irotoooooo...!”
“This is...” Haruhiro rubbed his cheeks and chin. He had a bit of a beard going. It was pretty thin, though. He’d have to shave it.
“It’s big...” Shihoru murmured.
Maybe the sparkling surface of the water was too bright, because Shihoru was squinting. No, it was cloudy today, so it wasn’t sparkling at all. She must have been confused.
“I wonder how wide the river is...” Kuzaku cocked his head to the side.
Yume would have been able to eyeball it with a reasonable amount of accuracy, but Haruhiro could only tell vaguely.
“Two hundred... Three hundred... More, maybe,” he said at last. “It could be four or five hundred meters.”
Obviously, if they were traveling along the ground, there were going to be rivers. They had crossed a number on the way here, but none had been further than waist-deep for Haruhiro, and their currents hadn’t been fast.
Kejiman had warned them in advance they would be crossing a river today, but he hadn’t mentioned that this Iroto was such a major river.
Nipp went into the shallows, drinking the river water eagerly. Tied to the Vestargis-go a short distance from the riverbank, Zapp looked a little jealous.
Kejiman was playing around, skipping flat rocks across the surface of the water.
“What is with that man?” Setora muttered. “Is he an idiot? I suppose he is.”
Setora skillfully removed the yoke keeping Zapp fixed to the Vestargis-go. Now Zapp could move about freely.
Zapp gave Setora a short cry of, “Bumo!” before slowly walking toward the bank. She stuck her face in the water, and drank. She was gulping it down.
Beside her, Kiichi wet his hands and rubbed his face.
Seeing that made Merry smile. Well, when a nyaa washed its face like that, it was cute, after all. Yeah. It was the sort of thing that’d make you smile.
But moving on.
Shihoru made a gesture with her chin. “That guy...” she said, indicating Kejiman. “I don’t believe he said the river wasn’t crossable. How do you think we’re crossing it?”
“Thirty-five skips!” Kejiman threw his hands up in delight. It seemed the stone he’d thrown had skipped thirty-five times across the surface of the river.
“Dammit,” Kuzaku said, clicking his tongue. “Seeing that, it makes me want to try, too.”
“You can,” Haruhiro said. “If you really want to.”
“Stop it, Haruhiro! If you tell me that, I’ll seriously end up doing it.”
“Do it, man.”
“But if I do, you’ll look down on me. You’ll think I’m the same as that guy.”
“No, I won’t.”
“I’ll do it, I’m serious! This is no good. I’ll hold back. If you ended up looking down on me for something like this, man, I wouldn’t be able to go on living.”
“You really don’t need to worry about how I see you...”
“Well, I do!”
“Thirty-seven skips...!” Kejiman called.
Kejiman had kept throwing small stones, and it seemed he had a new record.
What’s he fooling around for? Haruhiro wondered. It looks super fun. I... don’t want to do it. I’d never do it.
“Umm...” he began, trying to get the man’s attention.
“Hold on!” Kejiman shouted as he pulled back his arm, then threw yet another stone. The stone skipped across the surface of the lake, almost as if it were sliding, and then sunk into the water.
“Yessssssssssssssssss!” Kejiman shouted and pumped his arm. Thirty nine skips! I win! Zeeeeeeeeeeed...!”
“Zed...?” Haruhiro repeated. He knew it was better not to say anything, but he did.
Kejiman turned back, using the middle finger of his right hand to push up his glasses. “Me! I won! In a competition against myself!”
“No, not that. What’s zed...?”
“Heheheheh...” Kejiman suddenly burst out laughing. “Wahahahahahahahahahaha!”
He laughed loudly. Like an idiot. There was something wrong with him. Haruhiro had thought he was weird from the beginning, but the man kept on being even more of a weirdo than anticipated.
He’d have to consider his options. Like abandoning Kejiman and running for it, maybe. Was it too early for that? He wondered.
Looking over to Zapp, Setora and Kiichi were riding on her back.
“Um... Er...” Haruhiro began.
“Hm? What is it?”
“No, don’t ask me...”
“Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy?! Zapp is not a vehicle!” Kejiman shouted, looking off to the side. His face was a mask of anger, but Setora seemed unaffected.
“She’s an animal, after all. I see no reason to think she would be a vehicle.”
“Then why are you riding her?! What for?!”
“I thought I could, so I did,” Setora said. “Is that wrong?”
“I should ask, how do you think it’s not, zeeeed! By the way, I feel like I can say it easily now, so I’m gonna announce it, but we can’t cross the river here! We should’ve been able to, though! We should have! But it looks like not! How regrettable!”
Shihoru’s jaw dropped, and she blinked repeatedly.
Merry’s face tensed for a moment, then she smiled for some reason afterward. It was a little scary.
“What’s that mean?” Kuzaku asked, then a few moments later, his eyes went wide. “Huh?! Wh... What do you mean? Whuh...?!” “You’re way too shocked...” Haruhiro sighed.
It was a surprise, though, sure. He was starting to get a headache.
“This is why you were goofing around,” Haruhiro said. “I knew something seemed off...”
“Well, sorry.” Kejiman bowed his head with a beaming smile.
If he was going to apologize, he could try to look more apologetic. Why did this man do things that brushed people the wrong way? It was hard to understand.
“So, what do we do?” Setora made no attempt to get down from Zapp. Well, in this situation, even if Kejiman was going to snap and demand she get down, Haruhiro didn’t think she had to.
Kejiman picked up a small stone, throwing it at the river. It was an upwards toss, so the stone fell into the water without skipping.
“Yeah, that there. That’s the problem...”



They only had Kejiman’s word to go on for this, but there was apparently a tribe known as the Kyuchapigyurya who had lived in the Iroto River basin since long ago, and Kejiman was coincidentally acquainted with a group of them.
Kichipigira. No. Was it Kyuchapigyurya? The name was hard to pronounce, and it sounded made up, but they made a living hunting and fishing. Fishing, in particular. They got on boats, using traps, nets, and harpoons to catch fish, crocodiles, and turtles.
This was all according to Kejiman, so he was sure it was a bunch of baloney, but the great Iroto River was home to vicious turtles that could be over two meters long and man-eating crocodiles, so even just fishing there meant putting your life at risk.
These Kyachupiginya—no, Kyuchipiryagya—no, wrong again, Kyuchapigyurya—lived in this area, and Kejiman claimed to have crossed the Iroto on their ships twice. He said they would carry Nipp, Zapp, and the Vestargis-go on their boats.
They were apparently fond of alcohol, but could only make simple moonshine themselves. So when he offered them distilled liquor, they were quite pleased, and they’d help him as if it were no big deal.
“That’s why, look, I went to the trouble of bringing alcohol! What do you think?!” Kejiman pulled a bottle of liquor out of the Vestargis-go, holding it up high for them to see.
He seemed so desperate that it only came off as more fishy, but it mattered little now whether Kejiman was lying.
These Kyu-whatevers he said had lived here before weren’t here now. There was no visible sign of them having lived here. Naturally, it would be impossible to enlist their aid in crossing the river.
And they couldn’t very well try to swim across a river infested with two-meter turtles and man-eating crocodiles. The Vestargis-go would probably just sink, anyway.
For now, sitting around here would do no good. When Haruhiro and the party started having a constructive discussion about whether to move on, Kejiman stopped sulking and throwing stones into the river, perked up, and came over to poke his head in.
“Upstream or downstream? Do you want to decide which way to go? Should we play rock, paper, scissors? Compete to knock over the opposing team’s pole? Do a stone-throwing contest? I’ll take you on at anything! Bring it!”
It would be rude to tell their employer he could shut right the hell up, so Haruhiro asked him more tactfully, “Could you please keep your mouth closed for just a little bit? I don’t want to make this any more complicated.”
“What, it’s my fault?! You’re saying this is my fault?!”
“Yes,” Setora shot back. “This is entirely your fault.”
Setora was still on Zapp’s back, and Kiichi was resting between her horns. It seemed Kiichi liked it there. Zapp wasn’t protesting, either.
Kejiman had tears in his eyes. “I have never felt so humiliated! More! Be harsher! I welcome the abuse! No, please abuse me! Please!”
“What is this vile piece of trash, and why does he continue to make an embarrassment of himself by continuing to draw breath?” Setora muttered.
“Gwogh?! I want to take that one down in the notebook of my heart! Memoryyyy!”
“Let’s go upstream,” Haruhiro suggested. “If we go downstream, we’re bound to hit the sea eventually.”
No one objected to Haruhiro’s proposal.
Kejiman was a total weirdo, and it was stressful not having the trip go as planned. That said, they weren’t facing any pressing crisis at the moment, so everyone was calm. That was reassuring.
It was decided Setora and Kiichi would sit in the coachman’s seat of the Vestargis-go, and Kejiman would walk. He was, technically, their employer, so Haruhiro questioned for a moment if it was okay, but Kejiman was now in Setora’s utter thrall.
Zapp had taken to Setora, too, making the pace of the Vestargis-go steady, so it looked like it was fine. Still, Setora could do just about anything, huh...
Setora’s caravan headed upstream along the Iroto. No, it was
Kejiman’s caravan, really. But seeing Kejiman walk cheerfully beside Zapp as she pulled the Vestargis-go, he was clearly her underling, her servant, or her slave.
If Setora were to tell him, “You are now my slave now. Submit,” Kejiman would instantly reply, with a flash of his glasses, “With pleasure!”
Is that okay? I dunno... Yeah. I guess it is.
Eventually, the riverbank took on the appearance of a dense forest.
The trees tried to impede the Vestargis-go’s advance, but it was fine.
“This way!” Kejiman called. “This way, Setora-san!”
Each time the Vestargis-go came to a stop, Kejiman found a route around and beckoned to them.
Each time Kejiman did something good, Setora never failed to, in an emotionless tone of voice, say, “Well done,” giving him that small bit of praise.
“Yes, Setora-san! I’d do anything for you, Setora-san!” Kejiman cried.
If Kejiman had a tail, it would be wagging constantly. He was totally her pet.
Was this the technique of a nyaa master at her finest? Setora was terrifying. To think that she could even tame humans. Either that, or this was just something Kejiman was into, a fetish. That might well be it.
On the fourth day, they made camp atop a small hill. For caution’s sake, Haruhiro and Kiichi looked around before it got dark out, but there didn’t seem to be any danger.
The party had handled all the cooking up until this point, but Kejiman now insisted he do it, so they opted to let him.
“Me, I want to let Setora-san eat my cooking,” Kejiman said. “No, I wish her to do me the honor of eating it. Do you understand, Setorasan? Will you do me the favor of understanding?”
“No, I do not understand at all.”
“You’re so cold, Setora-san! But still, that’s what I like! Are you the best?! You’re the best! Weeheeeeee!”
Incidentally, Kejiman’s cooking was surprisingly advanced, and it wasn’t totally disgusting. Actually, it tasted good.
“How is it, Setora-san?!” Kejiman asked, a sparkle in his eye.
“Not bad,” Setora replied curtly.
Kejiman rolled around in glee. He was thrilled. Never had Haruhiro seen a man so happy.
Honestly, it was creepy, but depending on how you looked at it, being able to express joy so wildly might be enviable.
No, Haruhiro wasn’t jealous of him, after all.
Under their contract, the night watch was to be performed by the five members of the party, and Kejiman was exempted. But now Kejiman very much regretted this, and he insisted on a change in contract.
It was blatantly obvious he wanted to be on watch duty together with Setora. Naturally, Setora was having none of that.
Kejiman looked as if every hope he had in life had been crushed, and immediately went to cry himself to sleep.
“Whew, today was something else,” Kuzaku yawned. “I’m exhausted...”
“Yeah,” Setora said curtly. “That was awfully exhausting.”
“I know, right?” Shihoru agreed. “It really was exhausting...”
Kuzaku, Setora, and Shihoru all requested their watch come after they had slept a little. As a result, Haruhiro and Merry ended up taking the first watch.
It was clear they were trying to be considerate. But if possible, he’d have preferred they stop this weird way of doing it. Still, maybe, in fact, it only came across to Haruhiro as them being considerate, and he was just misunderstanding. If so, that was pretty embarrassing.
For now, he’d have to pretend everything was normal and do his duty of keeping watch. Merry didn’t seem any different from usual, after all.
The two sat across the fire, facing one another. That was to prevent blind spots. This way, their field of vision covered 360 degrees.
If he was being honest, Haruhiro wanted to avoid facing Merry straight-on like this. When he was right in front of Merry, she was guaranteed to be in his field of vision. He couldn’t help but look at her.
It was hard for him to look at Merry’s face, now illuminated by the fire, directly. Once he looked, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. He was entranced.
It was weird, staring at a comrade’s face for a long time. In fact, it was abnormal. He shouldn’t look so much. But he couldn’t help it. It troubledoubled him.
What? Troubledoubled? Was it double trouble? Was that it? No. Not at all.
Anyway, the point was that it troubled him.
He couldn’t afford to be troubled. If Haruhiro was troubled, Merry would feel even more troubled. He didn’t want to trouble Merry.
They were no different from usual, with aimless conversations that went nowhere and then suddenly trailed off, only for one of them to speak up again. As usual, they went back and forth, ran out of things to say, and fell silent.
It was awkward when the silence went on for too long. He was working to prevent that. Still, even the times when neither was talking weren’t bad in and of themselves.
Was that just an excuse, and was he only trying to justify himself? Well, at this point, he didn’t care.
“They say wellness starts in the mind, after all...”
He didn’t know what had led up to that line, and even thinking back, he really didn’t have any clue.
“That’s true...” Merry’s gaze hung in the air, as if she were staring off into the distance.
Had he just said the wrong thing? But why was it a bad thing to say? He had no idea.
Merry smiled just a little.
“But everyone is helping,” she said.
“Oh, yeah? ...Yeah. We’re comrades, after all.” Merry nodded wordlessly.
We’re comrades, after all. Haruhiro pondered that. We are comrades, right? We are. We’re comrades. Not just comrades, though, I think. I think that’s true with my other comrades, too, though. We’re not just comrades. We’re something more than that, you could say.
I mean, I think it’s weird that I’m still thinking things like this. If Kuzaku and the rest weren’t being needlessly considerate of us, I wouldn’t end up having to think like this. There are times when the best of intentions can backfire, and lead to the opposite result, okay? I know. I’m taking this out on the wrong people. But still, nothing’s going to happen here, okay? I mean, there’s no way to make it happen, all right?
“I think I may take a look around over there,” Haruhiro said, getting up.
“Alone?”
“...Huh? Uh, yeah... alone. We can’t leave this place empty, after all...”
Even as he said it, he questioned the need to go look around. Yeah, it was unnecessary. So why had he said that?
Being alone with Merry...
Is it painful? No, it isn’t, okay? I don’t know what to do, and my chest feel tight because of it. It’s not pain, though. I feel restless. That’s all.
“Well, I’ll be here,” Merry answered. “Take care.” For a moment he thought, Is she mad?
Looking at Merry, she was smiling. He didn’t seem to have hurt her feelings. Thank goodness.
Haruhiro stood up. He tried to walk off.
His feet wouldn’t move.
What was the matter?
He scratched his head. He sat back down again.
Then he stood back up.
“Is something wrong?” Merry asked.
“Yeah...” Haruhiro sat down. “I don’t think I’ll go, after all...”
“Okay.”
“...Yeah.” He let out a sigh.
Do I need to change something? he thought. That, or do I have to change? If so, how should I change? What should I change?
“What do you figure Yume’s up to now?” he ventured.
“Sleeping, I’d guess.”
“Oh, yeah... I suppose she would be, huh.”
“Are you worried?”
“Well, yeah, I guess I am worried. I’m sure she’ll be fine, though. I mean, it’s Yume.”
“Yeah. If anything, it’s us...” Merry started to say, then trailed off.
“It’s us...” what?
It bothered him. Should he ask? Why couldn’t he ask?
Haruhiro sniffled. He looked at the fire. There was some hint hidden there, and he was confident that if he squinted, he would discover it. That was a lie. He wasn’t confident at all. There was no way he’d find a hint. In the end, the fire was just a fire.
“Man, I’m always just waiting...” Haruhiro mumbled in an incredibly small voice.
It wasn’t like he was hoping Merry would hear it. Could he say that for certain? He might actually have been hoping. He was so gutless.
“Haru. Did you say something, just now?” “Oh... no...” he said hastily.
It’s pretty terrible of me to act like I never said anything, isn’t it? he reflected. I just have to not pretend, that’s all, but I can’t stop trembling in fear.
“I think... I’m not assertive enough...” His voice was, in fact, trembling.
“Because you’re a nice guy, Haru.”
“Do you really think that?” he asked, despite himself.
Merry was facing downwards. He’d asked her a question that was difficult to answer.
Haruhiro rubbed his left eyebrow. The inside of his mouth felt awfully dry.
Wow. It was amazing how parched he felt.
“I’m... not able to see myself as nice, or whatever...” he said finally. “It’s different. I’m not nice... I think. I dunno. I’m just trying to avoid problems, I guess? I feel like that’s where it comes from...”
“Nobody wants to make waves, you know? If things are good, and you don’t want them to change, you’ll want them to stay as they are.”
I see, Haruhiro thought. To sum it up, Merry is satisfied with the status quo, and wants to maintain our current relationship. Is that it?
Yeah, that’s gotta be it. That’s the only way to take it. If I were to interpret her meaning, she’s saying, “Don’t come any closer.” In a “know your place” sort of way. There may have been times our bodies touched, but those were coincidences, so I shouldn’t read too deeply into it. “Let’s forget all that,” is that it? That’s what it means, right? Basically?
Yeah.
I thought so.
Whew.
Maybe this was for the best, actually? I caught myself before there were any weird misunderstandings. That sure was dangerous. Close call. I could have really badly embarrassed myself there. If I messed up, I could have made a fatal mistake there. I might have messed up badly. In fact, I can guarantee I would’ve.
Haruhiro stood up. His body felt strangely light. Or rather, his legs were weak, and everything seemed vague and blurry.
“I’m gonna go look around.”
“...Huh? You’re going, after all?”
Haruhiro gave her a vague smile. Why was he smiling? Even he didn’t know.
Hang in there, me. If I just start walking, it’ll be like a switch was flipped, and everything will become clear, like I’ve switched into a new mode, I’m pretty good like that, he thought. I can still keep going. I’m pretty young, after all. I’ve got a lot ahead of me. I’m sure I probably do...
Now, it’s time to stop thinking about things that don’t matter. I have things in front of me that need doing. Focus on them. But what are they? Looking around? Is that it? Is that something that I really need to do? Not really, right? But I will. That’s what living is all about. Most likely. Probably. I guess...
Haruhiro walked. His footsteps made no sound. No part of his body made any noise. Even his breathing was suppressed to the level it was imperceptible.
He melted into the darkness. Became one with it. It felt good. Really good. His Stealth was working. He felt like he’d become a Master of the Night.
What was a Master of the Night? There was no one like that, huh? They didn’t exist.
There’s something. A sound.
There was almost no wind tonight. The insects were chirping. The birds were occasionally making noise, too. As for the babbling of the river, they were camped pretty far from the Iroto, so he shouldn’t have been able to hear it.
Just what is this sound?
Haruhiro had long since descended the hill on which they’d made their camp. Even so, he was only two, three hundred meters away. The Iroto wasn’t this way; it was likely in the opposite direction.
Why had his feet led him this way? It was half unconscious, but he understood the reason why.
The sound. Haruhiro was drawn in by this mysterious sound.
It was so very difficult to describe. It was hard to compare it to anything. However, somewhere, at some time, he had a very similar sound to this.
Is it a musical instrument, maybe?
What kind of instrument could it be? An instrument?
In a place like this?
This could be kind of dangerous... couldn’t it?
Haruhiro felt like he had as good a sense for danger as anyone. Was it time to turn back?
If he were traveling alone, he’d have done so without hesitation. But though he hadn’t planned for this, he was a guard for a caravan, and he was on patrol right now.
Was it really dangerous? How so, and to what degree? He had to find out, and respond with a full grasp of the situation. He was the leader, even if he wasn’t much of one. Haruhiro had a responsibility.
With that sound as his guide, he swam through the darkness.
For a time, quite a while, actually, he hadn’t been able to get into Stealth, like he was in some sort of slump. But heartbreak...
Is it heartbreak? he wondered. Going through the shock from an experience that is similar to, incredibly close to heartbreak, may have gotten me over it. I’m making the best of a bad situation. Good and bad luck are closely interwoven. Where there’s bad, there’s good, and where there’s good, there’s bad. Things can’t always be good, but they won’t always be bad, either. Thinking of it that way, it gives me courage. Yeah. I think I can go on like this. Damn straight I can. I can do it. I am doing it.
It’s a little bright up ahead.
Is it opening up, with the moonlight shining down? The sound I hear is coming from there.
There’s no need to be extra cautious. I’m already cautious enough.
Haruhiro moved forward.
It’s not what I thought. It’s not opening up. There’s a depression. It’s getting lower.
At the edge of the depression, Haruhiro came to a stop. He was a little unnerved.
There’s a tent.
It was a big, round tent. He’d never seen one so big. There were multiple entrances, each covered by a curtain, but a little light was leaking out from inside.
There was a little spring in the depression. Those animals with their heads thrust into it, were they horses? They were horse-sized. But maybe they were different animals. There were several of them. He could see animals further away from the spring feeding on the grass, too.

Chapter end