The next morning, I was at my usual meeting with
Hinami.
"I heard what happened from Mimimi. So she told you
she likes you?"
"Yes. Sorry I kept it from you."
Everything was in the open now.
I placed my hands on my knees and straightened my back,
ready to receive my lesson.
"Well, I guess you were hiding it for her sake…"
"Uh, yeah."
She pressed a hand to her head like she was sick of me. "I
wish you'd told me. It affects the assignments I give you…
and I was going to find out at some point anyway."
"Y-yeah, I know. Sorry."
Unaware of what was happening, she'd told me to talk to
both girls about their types—if I'd done that with Mimimi, it
would've been a disaster. And now Hinami knew anyway.
"So Mimimi said she has feelings for you… Hmm."
"S-surprising, I know."
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"Yes," she said, like that was obvious. "It is. It happened
sooner than I'd expected."
That was confusing.
"Y-you kinda sound like you're not surprised about the
confession, though?"
She widened her eyes in mock bewilderment. "I don't just
sound that way; I feel that way… You and Mimimi have
spent quite a bit of time together, and you've got good
chemistry. It was definitely in the cards."
"C-chemistry?"
Hinami nodded. "She falls for your type easily."
"Wh-what's that mean…?"
I didn't get it. Mimimi, the bright and cheerful girl who
could do anything, was a good match for a bottom-tier
character like me?
"…I'd like you to think about that on your own. You
should be able to figure it out with a little reflection, and the
process will help you think like a guy who'd be attractive."
"O-okay…"
If Hinami said so, I probably had all the information I
needed to come up with an answer…but I had no idea what it
might be.
"But anyway, if she already said she likes you, then all the
tasks I just gave you are pointless for her."
"Th-they are…?"
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Hinami nodded. "Which reminds me, I never fully
explained the point of the assignment, did I? Although, I
think you can probably guess. Any ideas?"
I reflected on what she'd given me—a dating-sim event
map with three goals.
Yeah, I think I know.
"…To get closer to them, right?"
Our current conversation indicated as much, too.
"Generally speaking, you're correct. More specifically, the
point is to make these two girls aware of you and increase
your likelihood of success if you do ask them out."
"Ah, okay."
I kind of knew that instinctively. This assignment was
more obviously focused on romance than any she'd given me
in the past.
For some reason, she sighed before continuing:
"Okay, next question… In a dating sim, if your affection
for a certain character reaches the required level, then all
you need to do in order to enter that character's route is
complete the key event, right?"
"…Uh-huh." My response was a bit timid; there was
something hostile about her tone.
"Do you think there's any point in completing the rest of
the event map, then?"
Ah, right.
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Hinami was in her quietly angry mode.
"Um…w-well, as long as you've got enough affection, you
don't need to, really…unless you're doing a speedrun or a
hundred percent or something…"
"You see?" She glared at me silently. "So you made me
give you an extremely inefficient assignment."
"I-I'm very sorry…"
All I could do was throw myself on her mercy. I did
honestly feel bad. I'd kept the confession secret so I wouldn't
upset Mimimi, but ruining Hinami's carefully thought-out
assignments wasn't good, either.
She sighed. "Well, as long as you understand."
The tension suddenly drained from her shoulders, and she
smiled slightly. Her expression was a huge relief to me, and
my spirits lifted. I swear she did this kind of thing on
purpose…
"All right then, I'm going to give you a new assignment
based on this information…or at least, I'd like to."
"So you're not going to?"
Knowing Hinami and her hard-ass approach, I'd been
assuming she would give me a much harder task and then
tell me I could go to hell because it was my own fault.
"Yes, you can just continue on the same course. But you'll
need to focus on Kikuchi-san."
"That makes sense." I nodded.
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Since the point of the assignment was to help a girl know
me better and like me more, doing that with Mimimi
definitely felt wrong, even if I couldn't fully explain why.
"Of course, it's fine if you complete the map for Mimimi,
too."
"Huh?" I said, confused.
Hinami smiled boldly. "After all, the goal is to make her
more aware of you."
"Which is why it's pointless, right?"
Helping her know me better hardly seemed necessary.
She'd already told me how she felt, so we were a bit past that
stage.
"You don't get it, do you? The reason you make them
more aware of you…"
She poked me in the middle of my forehead with her
pointer finger.
"…is that you'll become more aware of them, too."
I was in a state of semishock, thanks also to the sensation
on my forehead. "…Oh."
"Is that good enough for you?"
"Yes, more than enough."
Now that she'd said it, it made sense—I mean, her
assignments were usually designed to affect me, so the idea
that this was meant to affect how I saw Mimimi and
Kikuchi-san made even more sense than the reverse. But
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was it right to go forward knowing that?
"I want you to focus on filling in the map for Kikuchi-san,
but if the timing feels right or you want to give it a shot, you
can try to work on Mimimi's map, too. Please move forward
along those lines."
"…It's half up to me, then?" I asked, nodding.
Hinami smirked. "You seem to prefer taking on challenges
when it's something you 'want to do,' after all."
"Y-yeah…"
She raised one eyebrow and laughed. Why did I feel like
she was pulling my strings? Even when I was allowed to
choose my own challenges, she was ultimately the puppet
master.
"I understand," I said.
"Okay. Keep up the hard work."
And so, still a bit off-balance, I started toward the second
goal on my event map.
* * *
I was in the classroom, pulling various junk out of my bag
to get ready for the day, when I heard a voice I didn't usually
hear in class say my name.
"…Tomozaki-kun."
When I turned around, there was Kikuchi-san. She was
looking up at me shyly.
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"What's up?"
Was something wrong? It wasn't unusual for us to talk
one-on-one, but she almost never approached me in class
first thing in the morning.
"Um…good morning."
"Oh, uh, morning."
Even our usual hello had turned into a less familiar
greeting.
"Uh, what's wrong?" I asked.
She pulled a stack of papers out of the paper bag in her
left hand.
"Huh?"
Oh…
"You already finished it?"
"Y-yes…"
It was the revised version of the script we'd talked about
the day before. She was going to emphasize rawness and
realism over simplicity and ease of understanding, leaving
Alucia as real as she already was and bringing Libra and Kris
to life a little more—and she was already done.
"Wow. Didn't you have to change a lot of the dialogue?"
"Oh, um, yes. A lot of the changes were minor, but I think
I redid all the dialogue…"
"A-all of it?" I asked, louder than I intended.
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"Was that bad?"
"Oh, no, definitely not. But you were so quick. We only
talked about it yesterday!"
Even though the play was only twenty minutes long, there
was a lot of text. Probably twenty or thirty times more than
any of the short compositions I'd ever written. And she did it
all in one night?
She smiled shyly.
"…It was just so much fun. When I'm focused, the time
flies."
Her tone was quiet but full of passion. I hadn't heard her
talk like that much in the past.
She stared down at the papers in her hand.
"The characters are moving around in my head, and I
need to find the words to capture them before it's too late.
Once I start, I can't really stop…"
"Wow…"
Her face was shining as brightly as a ray of morning
sunlight. I couldn't help getting all warm and fuzzy just
watching her.
But then her expression turned uncertain.
"It's…a little weird."
Her eyes were slightly moist. She made me think of a fairy
who was afraid she would be banished from the human
world.
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I could never call her weird.
"No, it's not! I think it's amazing. You really have a gift."
"…A g-gift?" She stared at her hands, then laughed, like
she was hesitant to accept the compliment. "N-no way!"
She flapped her hands with a mixture of embarrassment
and happiness. The gesture struck me as so adorable that I
had to say more.
"No, I seriously think you do! I'm not an expert on this
stuff, but as your average everyday reader, I really liked it."
"Y-you did…?"
"Oh yeah, definitely."
"O-oh…"
When I pressed the point a little, she gradually began to
accept my compliments. Why not take it further? She was
always so modest; it would be good if she could at least be
confident about this one thing.
"You not only wrote something this good, but you also
edited the whole thing in one night. It's amazing. Most
people couldn't do that."
"Th-thank you…"
I could practically hear the smoke of embarrassment
puffing from her ears, so I let up on the compliments. Her
face was a little red, too, which was making me embarrassed
myself. It wasn't like I'd lied, but I still felt guilty.
"Okay then. I'll read this today," I said, and she lit up.
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"Great!" she answered cheerfully.
To me, those five letters were like the twang of a koto
heralding the arrival of all the good fortune in world.
"…Huh?"
Suddenly feeling someone's eyes on me, I looked around
and realized that several people were staring at us in
surprise. Well, Kikuchi-san hadn't spoken that loudly, but it
was unusual for her to sound so cheerful. Even I hardly ever
saw her this excited, so to someone who'd never seen this
side of her, it must have been a shock.
The curiosity had spread to a considerable radius around
us; everyone wanted to know what had happened.
Since I was the one who suggested we perform Kikuchisan's play, people must have guessed we were friends…but
the current scene was probably still a surprise.
I glanced behind me, and that's when it happened.
"…Ah!"
"…Ah!"
How many times had we done this? My eyes awkwardly
met Mimimi's, and I reflexively looked away. But this time, I
also felt like she'd caught me embarrassing myself.
Were we going to spend the rest of the day awkwardly
crossing paths like this?
"B-Braaaaain!!" she called, more nervously than usual.
She walked to us, waving her hand, and stood in front of
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Kikuchi-san and me. Okay. She'd been moving steadily back
toward normal interactions since the previous day, but why
was she was coming over right now?
Both the girls I'd said I was interested in were standing in
front of me at once. What a crazy situation. I didn't know
which one to look at, but while the rest of me froze, my heart
was racing.
Mimimi glanced back and forth between the two of us,
then raised her hand energetically. Kikuchi-san was
obviously floundering at the unexpected situation.
"Brain! You and I better have some meetings soon, too, or
else we won't be ready in time!"
"Meetings…?" I asked, before realizing what she meant.
"Oh right! The comedy routine!"
I'd almost forgotten we were supposed to do that. From
Hinami's assignment to the script meetings with Kikuchisan and the awkward situation with Mimimi, there was just
so much going on, I hadn't had time to think about it. And
now that I was thinking about it, I was getting worried. We
only had a little over two weeks left.
"Yes, the comedy routine! Did you forget? Huh? Huh?"
She poked her finger into my shoulder hard. Hey, stop
that! Even if she was acting normal, given how focused on
her I was right now, her attack hit me extra hard. It was like
every nerve in my body had suddenly gathered in my
shoulder. I couldn't think about anything else.
"I didn't forget; I was just busy."
"I know, you've got a lot going on! Huh? Huh?"
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"Hey, stop…"
What do I do now? In my current mental state, there was
no way I could get my mind off the reality that Mimimi was
touching me. I mean, she had told me she liked me, and
yesterday—heck, even a few minutes ago—we couldn't even
make eye contact. And now she wouldn't stop poking my
shoulder. My data-processing center was overloaded, all my
blood was in my shoulder, and it was about to explode. How
did she shift gears so fast? Normie adaptivity?
"Um, so when do you want to meet?" I asked, making a
strong effort to ignore the sensation in my shoulder and
move the conversation along in a natural manner. But I was
still burning with awareness. My shoulder. Her finger.
"Well…," she said, taking another step toward me.
And now she was poking me again while standing super
close. Honestly, what was with the sudden change? Her big
round eyes were right in front of me, right above the straight
line of her nose. The line from her neck to her chin was as
pretty as a doll's, and even from this close, all I could say
was that she was extremely cute. Well, I could also say my
heart was beating extremely hard.
"Oh, but, Brain, aren't you also the director?"
"You mean the script assistant?"
"Yeah, that!"
Mimimi seemed to have the idea in her head that I was
the director, but should we go with that? As far as I knew, I
was just support.
"Well, to tell the truth, I do have a lot to do… We're still
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not done with the script."
"Hmm, sounds rough. Well, don't worry! I'll find someone
else if I need to!" She grinned and pointed in the air.
"…Okay, yeah."
I think it's human nature to want to help out when
someone says something like that…but realistically, it'd be
hard for me to put much time into it. I was okay at the
moment, but soon, rehearsals would be starting, and I'd
probably have more festival-committee work to do, too. Uh,
wait a second, am I going to be able to handle all this?
All the same, I tried to think of a compromise.
"For now, let's just assume I'll do it and get together
anyway. If it turns out to be too much, we shoulder…I mean,
should just hand over whatever we've figured out to
someone else."
"Okay, good idea. I'm on board!"
Despite my fixation, I managed to move the conversation
along smoothly. It was odd—I was so nervous before we
started talking, but once I started riding the conversational
wave, maybe I could stay afloat.
"Okay, so I have a script meeting today after school…"
"…Oh, okay."
"Should we meet up tomorrow then?"
"Yeah, sounds good!"
The conversation between Mimimi and me bounced along
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at a rapid clip while Kikuchi-san watched and made little
flustered noises.
Oops, I guess she got left behind a bit. I was used to this
speed, but when Mimimi and I talked, the pace was fast even
for normies. Kikuchi-san would be drowning in it.
Or so I thought—but Mimimi suddenly turned to Kikuchisan and smiled.
"Do you mind, Kikuchi-san? I know you need him for the
play, too."
"Oh! Um, y-yes, it's fine!" she sputtered, obviously
startled by the sudden question.
"Ah-ha-ha. Don't be so surprised!"
"Oh, s-sorry, thank you…"
She looked back and forth between the two of us, blinking
in embarrassment. Her small-forest-animal aura
transcended the world we lived in, and if I'd had a handful of
sunflower seeds at that moment, I'm sure I would have given
her every last one.
"Poke!"
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That's when Mimimi took her pointer finger and suddenly
jabbed Kikuchi-san's snow-white cheek.
"…Fyooii?"
A strange sound escaped Kikuchi-san's mouth, which had
taken an odd shape thanks to Mimimi's finger. She blushed,
realizing how she looked. What the hell was Mimimi doing?
"Wh-wh-wh-what…?"
I'm sure being touched like that was extremely unusual
for Kikuchi-san. No wonder she was surprised; normal
people don't do that. Mimimi's just weird.
But Mimimi completely ignored all sense of propriety and
kept poking her white finger around the crimson-tinted
expanse of snow.
"Nyeh-heh-heh-heh!"
"Fwa-ha-ha?!"
"Come on now."
Mimimi's laughter was so unpleasant that I had to stop
her. Kikuchi-san was bordering on terrified, and I was
already a little afraid myself.
"…Oh! What's wrong with me? Kikuchi-san is so cute, I
lost my mind…"
"I feel like you're always losing it…" I sighed.
I think I know what happened. Mimimi has a thing for
tiny, cute girls like Tama-chan, a category to which Kikuchisan definitely belongs. Quick! Run, Kikuchi-san!
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Kikuchi-san stood there at a loss for words, stroking her
cheek with her mouth half-open. She was blinking her eyes
very noticeably.
"A-are you okay?
"Oh, um, I think so, but I don't know what just
happened…"
"Don't worry. I don't, either."
"R-really? I thought it meant something…"
"Ah-ha-ha, no, I don't think so."
"I-it doesn't…?"
I tried to reassure her in a calmer, slightly slower tone
than I'd used with Mimimi. Why did the crappy character
have to be the one keeping this interaction going? Bridging
the gap between two polar opposite girls was kind of a hard
job for me.
Mimimi watched the two of us talking and tilted her head
curiously, as if this was somehow mysterious to her.
"…What?" I asked.
She widened her eyes like I'd caught her off guard. "…Oh,
um, nothing!"
"Huh?"
"Okay, I'd better get going! See ya later!"
"Huh? Oh, okay, bye…"
Before I could finish, she ran off to the back of the
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classroom. What the heck just happened…?
Kikuchi-san watched her disappear, completely
perplexed.
"I feel like a storm just blew through…," she murmured,
still rubbing her cheek.
"Mimimi's always like that…"
"I-is she?"
And thus ended the encounter between the angel tribe
and the Mimimi tribe, with the Mimimi tribe vanishing into
the mist. I, the translator, was exhausted.
* * *
That day at lunch break, I stayed in the classroom alone.
I was incredibly impressed.
"It's so much better…"
I was reading the manuscript that Kikuchi-san had
handed me this morning—the latest version of the play, with
the characters redrawn.
"Aha, I see what you did there!"
I was sitting at my desk, eating a sandwich and reading,
which was unusual for me these days. My years as a loner
had prepared me well for doing something I wanted to do
with or without other people around. Plus, I was a pro at
mumbling just quietly enough that no one could hear me.
Pretty impressive!
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"…It's not just the characters that she's changed…"
That was a surprise.
Based on our conversation the day before, I thought she
was mostly going to focus on reverting Libra and Kris to
their more realistic selves from before.
But as I read, I realized she'd drastically changed other
parts, too, so that the second half of the plot was now almost
completely different.
"Yeah…I can see Kris doing that."
Despite all the changes, nothing felt wrong.
A better way of viewing it was that when she adjusted the
personalities of the characters, their actions also changed,
and when their actions changed, so did the plot, like a line of
dominoes. It was like by changing the characters to fit the
actors, she'd breathed new life into them.
However she did it, the story had become even more
beautiful.
Libra, the locksmith's son, and Alucia, his childhood best
friend, were exploring the castle one day. There, they
stumbled on a hidden garden where a young girl named Kris
had been imprisoned to care for the flying dragons. Libra
was then condemned to death to cleanse the dragon they'd
met of his "impurity."
To prevent his execution, Libra and Alucia became
temporary siblings and were given the task of caring for and
educating Kris. The script was unchanged up to that point.
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But from there on out, it was different.
Kris was an orphan who had been taken in by the castle to
care for the dragons. Had she come from a farm family, a
knight's family, or a slave family? No one knew. For as long
as she could remember, she had lived in the gardens with
the flying dragons. She had never seen the outside world, let
alone left the castle. That was her tragic life.
In the gardens—was everything she needed.
A soft, fluffy bed. A clean fountain. A warm bath.
Beautiful, costly flowers chosen by the royal gardener.
Peculiar trees, one of each variety collected from around the
world. She could read any book she liked, as long as it was a
myth or a fairy tale, and of course, the food she was served
every day was the same as what the nobles ate.
But there was nothing else.
No family. No friends. No school. No ocean. No forest. No
horizon. No animals other than the dragons.
And no happiness or sadness, not in the true sense of the
words.
She was constantly lonely, but she'd never felt anything
else. She had no way of knowing if it was even truly
loneliness.
The force that transformed her safe, distorted, enclosed
world—was the arrival of Libra and Alucia.
The first major change in the script was Kris's reaction
when Libra and Alucia arrived in the garden.
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In the initial script Kikuchi-san gave me, Kris welcomed
the two of them happily, maybe because she guessed they
would free her from her solitude.
"There are humans in the world…other than me? Tell me,
strangers, what are your names? I am Kris."
She might have learned from books the custom of
introductions, and she had clumsily copied it: asking their
names, then telling her own.
It was a sign of her curiosity toward the outer world, as
well as her honest nature.
But the new version was different.
The first thing Kris said when Libra and Alucia came to
the garden was this:
"Wh-who are you? Why are you here…?"
Kikuchi-san had brought Kris's wariness and fear to the
forefront.
Of course, Kris probably did feel a twinge of the happy
expectation of freedom that Kikuchi-san had depicted in the
first version.
But more than that, she feared change and the unknown.
Kikuchi-san had created a true-to-life portrait of the
emotions of a young girl who had spent her whole life alone.
She possessed both fear and curiosity, creating a very real
contradiction within her character.
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Her depiction of Libra had changed dramatically, too.
He was still an insatiably inquisitive boy who found it easy
to get close to people. The big change was in how she
revealed those characteristics.
In the first version, he was more of a hero type, and his
ability to get close to people was depicted simply through his
friendliness and good communication skills.
He stuck his nose in everything, made friends easily, and
never let a situation stagnate. You could call him one version
of the standard main character.
But that wasn't true of the new Libra.
He still had enough inquisitiveness to poke around the
castle without permission and the ability to get close to
people—but the way she depicted these qualities was a little
different.
Instead of smoothly making friends at every turn, he was
awkward and failed a lot. But because he didn't give up and
kept on confidently trying again, he naturally made friends
over time. He'd become a relatable character that you loved,
faults and all.
If I were to name one similarity in the way she'd changed
both these characters, it was that she'd emphasized their
weakness and clumsiness. Kris feared change, and Libra was
awkward.
That was human nature as Kikuchi-san saw it, I was sure.
But when it came to Alucia, Kikuchi-san had taken her
strength to a further extreme.
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In the first version, when Alucia and Libra got to the
garden, Alucia immediately connected the alleged "impurity"
of Libra's presence with the fact that flying dragons naturally
detested impurities, and she guessed that Libra would be
executed. That was why she suggested they run away and
pretend nothing happened, but the guards showed up and
caught them.
The new version, however, took a different turn.
Alucia still made the same connection. But the action she
chose in the moment—was now to break the wings of the
dragon.
If the dragon lost its ability to fly because of an impurity,
the palace would cleanse this impurity by executing the
person who'd caused it. Libra would be killed.
But if the dragon lost its ability to fly by another method,
there would be no reason to execute him.
Her logic was both correct and wrong.
It went without saying that harming one of these dragons
was still a serious crime. But what if Alucia, the king's
daughter, did it "accidentally"? Chances were low that she
would suffer the death penalty.
Alucia weighed the options almost instantly, and in order
to save Libra, she began running toward the dragon to break
its wing.
Just then—either because he'd guessed her whole plan or
because he'd simply sensed something unsettling in her
expression, he grabbed her arm and blocked her from
moving forward.
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"What are you doing?"
"Let me go. I don't think you'll understand, but if I don't
do this, they'll kill you. Please. Let me do it."
Libra refused to budge.
"No."
"Just let me go. I have to break its wing."
"I knew it. I won't let you. You'll die otherwise!"
"Don't worry; I'll be fine. I'll say it was an accident. And
I'd have to do much worse for them to execute a member of
the royal family."
"I still won't let you."
"Why not?"
"Because even if they don't kill you, Alucia will die!"
As he said that last line, the guards arrived and dragged
away the two trespassers.
After that, the plot was generally the same as in the first
version.
Alucia rescued Libra from execution through a nearthreatening negotiation with the adults, the two of them
became "brother and sister" and were charged with caring
for Kris, and their unique relationship began…
My mouth stuffed with a bite of my breaded hamburger
sandwich, I lost myself in the story.
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It was like a fairy tale, but the depiction of human
weakness gave it a slight edge. Andi did the same thing
sometimes—his fans called those moments "dark Andi."
Maybe it came more naturally for Kikuchi-san to create
dark, Andi–style characters than it did to copy his usual soft
atmosphere. This version wasn't just better than the first—
its depictions of people were even sharper than in the story
version, and I couldn't put it down.
Eventually, the focus shifted to the relationship between
the three young people in the garden.
Libra was in charge of bringing Kris her food and the
books she requested.
Alucia was in charge of tutoring her, because Kris couldn't
attend school.
Of course, the two of them didn't stick to their assigned
roles. Libra sometimes talked about the books with Kris, and
Alucia sometimes taught her things that weren't in the
schoolbooks, like how to make flower garlands. They were
like friends, like family. Or perhaps like the caretaker and
teacher they were officially supposed to be.
Their relationships couldn't be easily described with a
single word.
Kris liked to read.
Well, accurately speaking, she had no other way to pass
the time in the garden. Her only other pleasure was to make
crowns from the many flowers there, like Alucia had taught
her. Aside from that, all she could do was read the books
Libra brought from the castle library.
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But because she could easily read a few books in a day,
she burned through most of the fairy tales and myths in the
library within a few months.
So the next stories she tried—were Libra's tales of the
outside world.
"Actually, the fastest dragons are the giants. People tend
to think they move slowly because they're so big and dumb,
but each step they take is huge. They're like…boom, boom!
And they're incredibly fast."
"Wow! Tell me more!"
"I hear some institutes have been using their kinetic
energy to make magical energy. The magicians say it's a
huge development."
"Amazing! Hey, do you know how to use magic?"
"No way! I'm a locksmith's son… The most I can do is
unlock stuff."
"Ah-ha-ha! You mean…by using one of those mechanical
things?"
"Exactly! You're sharp!"
"Don't make fun of me! Of course I know that."
"But seriously…with one of those, I can go lots of places
and see lots of things. It's all I need."
"Huh…"
"You don't believe me?"
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"Of course I do! So your ability to unlock things is a
very…"
"Very what?"
"A very wonderful kind of magic!"
Libra told her things she could never read in fairy tales or
myths—things about real humans.
About how they lived and fought and loved. And
sometimes died.
Kris lived in the same world as them, but Libra's stories
were the most familiar and unfamiliar she had ever heard.
"Kris! Alucia won the grand prize at the Magic Arts
Tournament!"
"Really? Is it true, Libra?"
"I wouldn't lie about that! She really is amazing…"
"She certainly is! Let's have a surprise celebration at my
next class!"
"That's a great idea! Let's do it!"
"Of course! I'll make the most beautiful garland I've ever
made!"
"Okay, I'm counting on you! And I'll… Well, I can't do
anything, so I'll just celebrate!"
"Ah-ha-ha! …Actually, that might be what she wants most
of all."
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"Huh? You think so? I'm betting she asks me for a magic
carbuncle or something."
"Hee-hee. She might, but…"
"What do you mean?"
"…You don't know?"
"No."
"…Oh."
The way Libra talked about her, Alucia seemed like a very
serious, incredibly hardworking person.
But Kris got a slightly different impression from their
classes together…
"Okay, Kris, did you do your homework?"
"Yeah. But there was so much! You're the worst!"
"I am not. This is all for you, you know."
"Is it?"
"What? …Is there something you'd like to say?"
"I mean, if this were truly for me, I think you'd teach me
about the outside world instead."
"Hmm… Okay then. Kris."
"Yes?"
"In the outside world, there's a kind of butterfly called a
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swallowtail. Do you know what a butterfly is?"
"Uh, I think it's a kind of bug, right? Like this?"
"That's a roly-poly! Don't pick it up."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Listen, you can have two bugs, but if they're different
species, they'll be completely different."
"But all we have in here are these."
"I know. That's why you need to study."
"Do I?"
"If you want to hear about the outside world, you need
some basic knowledge first."
"Maybe you're right…"
"So first, we study. Understand?"
"Yes, ma'am. I think you're just buttering me up… At least
I know what a butterfly is now!"
"Now, please open up scroll number forty-one."
"Hey, are you listening? Uh-oh, I think I really bugged her
this time…"
"Scroll forty-one!"
"Oh! Yes, of course…"
Alucia was rational and intellectual, never leaving herself
vulnerable to attack. But Kris knew that beneath it all, she
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was kind.
As Alucia served as a teacher and Libra as a caretaker, the
three of them grew closer and closer together.
Which is to say—
A chuckle escaped me as I read. I knew Kikuchi-san had
added jokes because Tama-chan would be playing Kris. She
knew how to give people what they wanted.
Something else was cracking me up, too.
It was pure coincidence, but Libra's childhood friend,
Alucia, was exactly like the real Hinami.
She was aggressive, arrogant, confident, and efficient in
everything she did. And she got results.
In her lessons, she was merciless with her logic—exactly
like the Hinami I knew. The hints of playfulness and
occasional glimpses of her exhaustion and humanity were
different, but that was unavoidable. Hinami's level of
strength felt more like fiction than reality. Why was the real
person less real than the fictional one?
My guess was that Kikuchi-san had imagined what
Hinami was really like and based her character on that. On
the surface, Hinami was the delicate, perfect heroine, but
Kikuchi-san must have figured out that something different
was hidden underneath. I was chalking the pinpoint
accuracy up to coincidence, though.
The next plot twist in the play hinged on the flying
dragon.
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These dragons grew up faster than humans and lived
longer, becoming mature at around ten years of age. Of
course, there was some variation, but it was said that almost
all dragons could fly by the time they were thirteen. On the
flip side, if they couldn't fly by then, it was assumed there
must be something wrong with them.
For example, an exposure to impurity.
The dragon that Kris was raising—turned thirteen that
year.
"Why won't you fly, my dear?" Kris murmured as she
stroked the dragon's wings. "Your wings have turned
beautiful colors, and you've grown so big. You really ought to
be flying by now."
Her voice quivered with anxiety—with fear that it was her
fault.
Three conditions were believed to be necessary for a
dragon to fly.
One: The dragon had grown rainbow-colored scales with
antigravitational properties.
Two: It had developed muscular strength that was
adequate to support these wings despite their
antigravitational force.
Three: It did not have any impurities.
When a dragon had achieved the first two conditions but
still could not fly, everyone at the castle assumed that
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impurity must be causing the problem.
In other words—there was no choice but to cleanse the
impurity. And so a movement emerged, pushing for the
execution of Libra. The conflict around Libra escalated, and
the drama unfolded.
But these were relatively minor. What really stayed with
me was what happened after this drama was resolved.
Kris and Libra were talking.
"Kris, I might have figured out what the impurity is."
"Really?! What do you mean, Libra? That's a major
discovery!"
"Yeah…"
"…Why do you look so sad?"
"…Kris. Flying dragons are very intelligent. You know
that, right?"
"Yes. Even ordinary dragons are smarter than humans,
and the flying ones are especially magnificent, aren't they?"
"Yeah. Ultimately, humans are dependent on dragons, but
we aren't the only ones getting something out of the
relationship. You could even say they're playing with us."
"Is that connected to the reason this dragon can't fly?"
Libra looked over to the dragon, which was napping by the
water's edge.
"Dragons—can see into the hearts of humans."
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"…They can?"
"And they are kind. They never forget the person who
raised them, and they do everything they can to make that
person's wishes come true."
"…All right."
"Are you starting to understand now?"
"I'm not sure…"
"Kris."
"Yes?"
"It thinks—that you don't want to fly."
He had revealed the weakness in Kris's heart.
The garden had everything.
But—it also had nothing.
That's why she was so bored, lonely, and curious. She'd
wished she could leave.
But then she met Libra and Alucia.
They'd talked about all kinds of things, brought out all
kinds of feelings in one another.
Now she had something more than the garden.
And her fear of entering the unknown world outside had
taken over, more than her desire to leave the garden and
soar across the open sky.
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Everyone shared that same fear of taking a step toward
something new.
She was more or less satisfied with her present reality; if
she changed it, she might find something even more
wonderful—but she also might find something more painful
and trying. And once she took that step, she might never be
able to come back. She was terrified of taking flight toward
somewhere new.
Only one thing could be tying down the dragon's wings:
Kris's own heart.
As I read Kikuchi-san's script, I was hooked. There's no
other way to put it.
She had used a fairy-tale fantasy to reveal the weakness of
a girl who knew nothing of the world. It really did bring to
mind dark Andi, with its keen observations of human nature
set in a dreamy world. But only Kikuchi-san could have
written this particular theme in this way.
"…Yeah."
That was why I wanted so badly for this play she'd poured
her soul into to be a success.
Now everything in me was hoping for it.
* * *
After school that day, I went to the cafeteria with Kikuchisan.
"So these are just my personal impressions, but…"
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Kikuchi-san hunched her shoulders.
"…I thought it was fantastic. Even better than the shortstory version."
"R-really?!"
I nodded. "Yeah. When Alucia tried to break the dragon's
wings? I did not see that coming. It was so awful, I had to
laugh!"
Kikuchi-san giggled. "I know. I couldn't help smiling to
myself when I thought of it. I was thinking, Would she really
go that far?"
"Ha-ha-ha, yeah."
We looked at each other, still smiling.
"Oh, and the part that stuck with me most was when we
find out why the dragon can't fly. Kris's fear was, like, so
real… I was thinking, yeah, this is how people feel."
Kikuchi-san smiled meaningfully. "I thought you might."
"…You did?"
She paused for a moment before answering. "I can't say
any more… It's a secret."
She brought her finger to her lips.
"Wh-what?"
"Hee-hee."
This mysterious side of her was oddly attractive, and I
didn't want to ruin the effect by asking any more questions.
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"Oh, also—what happens after we find out why the dragon
can't fly! I really liked that part, too."
Kikuchi-san clapped her hands together. "Oh, I love that
scene, too!" she exclaimed happily.
After Kris realizes that she doesn't want to fly, Libra
makes the following proposal.
"Let's ride the dragon together and go see the outside
world."
It's not that Kris doesn't want to see the world—she's just
scared and lonely. Afraid to do it by herself and fly off into
the unknown all alone. That's why she wishes she could stay
on the ground.
But…
"Kris is just afraid to see the world by herself, isn't she?" I
asked very directly.
Kikuchi-san took a quick breath in, then smiled warmly.
"Yes. She was curious about the glittering world outside…but
her fear outweighed her curiosity."
"But if Libra was with her—she felt she could do it," I said.
Kikuchi-san was happy to answer. "She wanted to take
flight, but her fear held her back. She wanted to see the
world with her own eyes, but the sights were just too scary to
see alone. Libra is the one who leads her out of the garden.
It's a comfortable prison, but it's so lonely, too."
She was looking straight at me the whole time she spoke,
her voice full of emotion.
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"Yeah, that scene hit me really hard. It was like I could see
it."
Kris mounts the dragon with Libra, and they see the world
from high above.
The sun feels warmer up there, and the scenes below are
livelier than anything she's ever seen.
Kris is so affected by the colors of this unknown world
that she becomes dizzy.
"Kris would have felt so grateful to Libra for bringing her
out of the garden," Kikuchi-san said.
"Yeah?"
She nodded slowly.
"That world she'd been seeing all her life—that gray world
—she would never want it back after she saw everything
else."
Her voice was so full of emotion, it was like she'd been the
one on dragonback.
"…Huh?"
Something she'd said grabbed my attention—and a second
later, I connected the dots.
Of course. That phrase she'd used just now.
It was the same phrase she'd used once before when we
were having a deep conversation.
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The gray world.
I realized something—or maybe I'd already started to
realize it while I was reading the script.
A young girl withdraws into her own world; a young boy
suddenly bursts into that world. The boy tells the girl about
the outside, and she becomes curious about it. But she's too
scared to take the first big step.
I didn't know if she did it on purpose or by chance.
But the story of Kris…seemed to trace exactly the same arc
as Kikuchi-san's own story.
Kikuchi-san's experiences, her past thoughts, her present
thoughts—they were all a part of Kris herself. I couldn't
avoid that conclusion.
When I thought back on the story from that perspective,
the pieces fell into place one by one.
Kris had spent her days reading books in the garden.
Kikuchi-san had spent hers reading Andi books in the
library.
Of course, there were lots of other things in Kikuchi-san's
life, which was why I hadn't spotted the link earlier.
But there was no question about it—Kikuchi-san existed
vividly within the character of Kris.
In that case…
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The boy who suddenly burst into the garden where Kris
had spent so many years reading alone.
The boy who told her all about the outside world.
The boy who finally led her into that world—the character
of Libra was…
"Oh…" I gulped at the sudden realization.
"What's the matter?" Kikuchi-san peered worriedly into
my face.
"Uh, n-nothing…"
I didn't know what to say. I didn't think my instinct was
wrong, but saying it to her directly did not seem like a good
idea.
"…About Libra…," I asked, to make sure.
"Yes?" Kikuchi-san tilted her head.
"What's he…best at?"
She thought for a second, then said, "He's good at lots of
things, like opening locks, but if I had to say what he's best
at…"
Then she finally said it plainly.
"…it would be saying exactly what he's thinking."
Well, there you had it.
"…Oh."
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If what I suspected was true…
…then this script wasn't made up from scratch.
She'd poured her whole self into the characters, distilling
each of her own experiences until they crystallized into this
incredibly special story.
In other words…
…"On the Wings of the Unknown"…
…was the tale of Kikuchi-san herself.