Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [383]
“Puck, what is it?”
“A white bird just flew by!”
“A white bird?”
“Yep! He stopped right on my shoulder. And then when I looked, he was gone! But guess what, he left something!”
Puck held out his hand. There, in the middle of his palm rested a firewyrm band.
Wataru’s armband. Meena put a hand to her mouth.
“This belongs to your friend, didn’t it? It’s a Highlander band, isn’t it?”
“It’s Wataru’s,” Kee Keema said. “He is saying goodbye to us. He’s saying he made it to the Tower of Destiny, met the Goddess, and saved Vision for us. And then he left—back to his own world. That’s what it means.”
I know it, and it’s a great thing, so why do I feel so sad, Kee Keema’s eyes seemed to ask. He wiped his face with the back of one hand.
Meena took the armband in her fingers and held it to her cheek. She was crying.
“Meena, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Puck asked, flustered. Meena slowly knelt on the ground, hiding her face in her hands.
Wataru had left. He was gone from Vision.
His journey was over.
“We didn’t even say goodbye, did we?” Kee Keema mumbled, his eyes swimming in tears.
Meena gave him a great big hug.
“You don’t say goodbye!” Puck shouted, doing another flip. “Meena, weren’t you the one who told us not to say goodbye?”
Meena wiped away her tears and looked up. “Did I say that? What did I teach you to say, Puck?”
Puck beamed with pride, sticking out his chest. “Be well, you said! Be well!”
Meena looked at Kee Keema, and the two smiled. “Yes. Those are just the words, I think.”
The Blood Star had now completely disappeared from the darkening sky above Gasara. As night’s curtain was drawn, the stars began to shine. They began in the darkest point near the top then fell down to the horizon, painting the sky, leading Vision into gentle sleep.
Meena and Kee Keema hugged each other close and looked up. In their hearts they whispered to Wataru, knowing he would hear them.
Our Traveler, and our traveling companion: we wish for your happiness, as you wished for ours.
Be well.
Epilogue
The smell of gas.
He came running from somewhere far away, flying across incredible distances home. Wataru shot up from bed with the momentum of his arrival.
I’m in my room!
School notes and textbooks piled up on the desk. Mom’s hand-knit cushion on the seat of the chair. Dictionaries and an encyclopedia set on the bookshelf. Behind the encyclopedias: game strategy guides, a row of comic books, and a secret piggybank with money to buy Eldritch Stone Saga III.
My room. My home. But why does it smell like gas?
The air conditioner was turned off. An unpleasant, dangerous stench hung in the air.
Wataru threw off the covers and jumped out of bed. “Mom!” He shouted, running out into the living room. The door to his mother’s bedroom was open. A strong smell of gas came drifting from the kitchen.
She left the door open so the gas could fill her room.
Holding his breath, Wataru dashed into the kitchen and almost turned on the light, his hand stopping just before the switch.
Stop, stupid! If the switch lets off a spark this whole place will blow.
Wataru withdrew his hand, then, groping behind the oven, found the main gas valve and turned it off.
Returning to the living room, he opened all of the windows. Nervously, he tiptoed into his mother’s room. She was lying there on her side, her face as pale as the moon. Her head was on her pillow and she was facing the ceiling. The summer coverlet on her bed was thin, but even so Wataru could barely see her form beneath it—that’s how much weight she lost in the short time since Dad left.
But you don’t have to die. Please don’t die.
The curtains in the bedroom were heavy and thick, and easily slid out of Wataru’s hands. He jumped up and grabbed them, but ended up in a heap on the floor when the whole curtain rod detached from the wall. Still, he let his heart give a cheer of victory. Wataru scrambled to his feet and opened the window.
I made it in