mesbooks Chapter 134: A certain boy’s tale 3
Chapter 134: A certain boy’s tale 3
Chapter 134: A certain boy’s tale 3
"Those are the memories I have of my birthdays."
I'd finally wrapped up my old story about a certain guy. About how, five years ago, death had separated Danny Bryant and me. And how, four years ago, I'd learned the truth behind his death.
Both of those things had happened on my birthday.
After they'd heard everything, Natsunagi, Saikawa, and Charlie were quiet. "Sorry. I know it's not a very interesting story."
I thought of those old memories every year, when that day came around, but I'd never told anyone about them. I hadn't needed to.
Even if I didn't, it wasn't as if I'd forget. I couldn't forget. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only
Danny's voice still lingered in my ears. The eyes of the dead were always watching me, a breath away. ...Not that it was scary or anything.
It was just that on May 5, I remembered Danny Bryant's words—the thoughts he left with me.
But that didn't mean this was a tragedy, far from it.
I got past his death, learned his last wish, and turned my focus toward the future.
As a result, this was really the story of how I—Kimihiko Kimizuka—came to be.
It wasn't a sad story. At least, I didn't think it was. Yet...
"Why... Why?" In the silence, Saikawa was the first one to speak. "Why don't you ever tell us these things, Kimizuka?!"
Maybe it's rude to say I wouldn't have expected it, but I wouldn't have: Saikawa was crying.
"That's not it! I'm angry!" She thumped the table and stood up, forcefully filing her complaint.
I'd heard of tears of joy, but apparently, it was possible to cry with anger, too. If I told the idol that and joked around a little, would she be nice and stop crying?
"Tell us more of these stories, please. Don't just banter all the time. Tell us more, more... And don't say we didn't ask you. That's no excuse." Saikawa gave me a resentful look.
Saikawa had lived worrying about family twice as much as the average person
—she might have sympathized, and maybe she'd wanted to share these memories with me as well.
"Sorry, Saikawa."
She was wiping away her tears with her hands. I winced a little with guilt. "But listen, Saikawa. From my perspective, that wasn't a special story."
A year after he'd died, I'd met the Fiend with Twenty Faces.
Soon after that, the white-haired Ace Detective had taken me along on her journey around the world.
A year after her death, in a classroom after school, a girl in my grade had woken me up.
I was sure all of it had been inevitable for me.
"But that's not just true of you, Kimizuka. It works that way for all of us." Natsunagi gazed at me, then Saikawa, then Charlie. "We keep meeting people, forming a chain of intentions, wishes, and names as we go through life. It's always been like that, and it always will be."
Siesta, Alicia, and Hel. Nagisa Natsunagi had accepted their last wishes, her pulse had raced, and now here she was. As she looked up at the sky, her eyes were filled with dauntless determination.
"Yeah, you've got that right." I looked up at the sky with her. That was where it had all started.
Long ago, my dazzling adventure had begun in that blue sky, at ten thousand meters.
If you wanted to fly, however, you had to have a runway. You needed enough
room to build speed. Someone had given me the push I needed, and her last smile rose to the surface of my mind.
Four and a half years ago, on the day I'd parted with Gekka Shirogane, there was one thing I'd forgotten to ask her.
Two days before that, over the phone, Gekka had said she had something important to tell me. She'd wanted to meet and discuss it in person. But right after that, I'd gotten kidnapped by Krone and ended up in mortal danger. That incident had distracted us, and Gekka and I had lost our chance to have that important conversation.
What had she been planning to tell me?
What had she meant to say, before she chose to leave instead?
The faceless, nameless Fiend. She'd never shown me her true face, and when I asked if we'd see each other again, she hadn't given me a clear answer.
I'd promised to break her mask, but I still hadn't done it. It had been more than four years, and I hadn't even managed to see her again.
...No, I doubt I would have recognized her even if we had met. Her face, her voice, her figure, and what she'd told me about herself had all been fake. We might have passed each other on the street, and I never would have known it was her.
We did have that password, though.
It might have been different before, but at this point... Now that I was able to use those words openly with Natsunagi, I might be able to use our password to find that other girl again. I didn't have any real grounds for thinking so. But still. "It's important to keep a promise," I murmured quietly. Natsunagi, Saikawa, and Charlie all gazed at me curiously. I shook my head. "It's nothing. ...The
weather's great today, huh?"
Until I meet her again, though, I'll keep traveling with this noisy group of friends. As I looked at the blue sky, no trace of the rainclouds from that day, I just had that feeling.