The Missing Children

by Jin (Shizen no Teki-P)

  Maybe it’d be easier for me if I could be like that.

  Not having to think about anything. Just being there.

  I realized that tears were coming out of both my eyes.

  Trying to stop them did nothing. It was even getting hard to breathe.

  “Ngh…ahhh, ahhhhhh…!”

  If there’s something out there that created me, hurry up and show yourself to me.

  Show up, and put an end to this.

  The tears kept welling out until sundown as I prayed for that release.

  The summer breeze rustled through the trees, the birdsong echoing among the leaves.

  Last night’s rain made the road rough going.

  The thick forest growth prevented the sun’s powerful rays from exacting their full force upon me, but the heat that lapped at my body drained my strength at an astonishing rate.

  Something I noticed after obtaining a body like this and running into assorted creatures is that I was overwhelmingly deficient in a number of bodily functions.

  Just walking a little caused me to break out in a sweat. And attempting to climb a hill made all the joints in my body want to scream.

  I was sweating from head to toe now, in fact, and my legs felt like they were going to break off.

  I tried to keep going. I had made it this far, after all. But the punishing effort had started to make my eyes tear up again.

  Well, if it’s tough, it’s tough. Pain causes tears, and there’s nothing I can do about that.

  “It shouldn’t be far now…”

  The “captivate” ability I had been using for a while now might be one reason I was as exhausted as I was.

  But if this was meant to be some kind of guidepost for me, I had trouble understanding it.

  I was, at least, making forward progress, and I could feel the presence of creatures around me fade away before my eyes.

  “Captivate” was proving to be useful.

  I could clearly feel who was looking where—what they were focused on—and I could force them to turn toward me instead.

  Using this, in other words, allowed me to track down the least noticeable spot in the world. I thought that was a pretty clever trick.

  On that day, the last time I was betrayed by the humans, I resolved that I would live by myself, somewhere that no one would notice.

  I considered a cave at first, but to be frank, I couldn’t take the dark any longer.

  I pondered over other potential decent locales as well, but it made me realize that most of the very quietest parts of the world are also the darkest. It enraged me.

  After all, the darkness sickened me at this point. I could never coop myself up in there again.

  But as the humans began to trample their way across this world, it soon dawned on me that it was almost impossible to find a perfectly isolated yet well-lit spot to call home.

  And as I thought and thought about it, I came up with this idea:

  I used “focus” to find the spot in the world people paid the least attention to.

  It was here, in this forest. Remarkably bright, too.

  I was fairly dubious at first, but I could tell. I could feel fewer and fewer creatures around me as I proceeded along.

  It was strange. Like a great hole opened up in a single spot. Nobody’s mind focused upon it.

  I had yet to arrive at the exact locale, but realizing this filled me with a sense of gloating joy.

  And who could blame me? I boarded a ship to cross the ocean, was thrown overboard after I caused some trouble, and finally swam all the way here, tears in my eyes.

  I couldn’t say how many times I drowned en route. That was the pain I endured on my way here. If it turned out to be teeming with humans, I probably would have set the entire forest aflame.

  Continuing on, long past when the road ended and right when I noticed the birdsong could no longer be heard, I found an open patch in front of me a little ways.

  What kind of place was this?

  My pace quickened as I pushed myself forward. When I set foot into the clearing, I sighed.

  It was as if the area had been completely forgotten by everyone that lived on this planet. Yet it continued to exist.

  Any creatures with free will shunned this place. Nobody even deigned to notice it.

  “This is perfect…!”

  I could feel my spirits rally, an all too unfamiliar feeling as of late. It was far, far quieter than I imagined. Brighter. Comfortable.

  There was just enough clear land to build a house. That inherent coziness made me fall in love with it all the more.

  Parting the low-growing grass with my feet, I gave standing in the middle of the clearing a shot. A warm, inviting silence, not the cold and inorganic one I once knew, filled my ears.

  “Settled, then. From this day forward, this is where I belong.”

  Come to think of it, ever since I took on this form, I had never lived in a permanent residence.

  I was tirelessly wandering the world over, no particular destination in mind, so it could only be expected.

  But now that I was here, I would need someplace to live. While I was hardly picky, if I was staying here, I would still need a roof over my head.

  After all, when the rain falls on me, my body grows cold and shivers. I was terrible at dealing with that.

  “A roof…? I doubt I could build an entire home by myself, but a roof and nothing else seems…lacking.”

  Sitting down on an opportune rock I spotted in the clearing, I pondered over the next pressing question.

  If I was living alone, I would hardly need a large residence. Just something that would keep the wind, the rain, and the sunlight away.

  And defending myself against the sunlight came first. Heat was the only thing I couldn’t conquer, no matter how much I tried. I didn’t stand a chance.

  Which means I would need to find some materials. Could I bring them here? No. No way. That was far too difficult a task. But I hated the heat, and I hated the cold.

  I thought this over, running through all the possible scenarios in my mind, when I suddenly noticed that the temperature dropped a fair amount while I was distracted.

  Night must have fallen at some point.

  Whenever I start thinking like this, I lose all track of time.

  It was the one habit I always had that I just couldn’t shake.

  Oftentimes, several days would pass before I snapped out of my reverie.

  Having the time pass like this, outside of my senses, made me feel like I, alone, was unhooked from the rest of the world. It wasn’t a very reassuring feeling.

  At least the days of me plunging into thought and the entire world getting redrawn around me were a thing of the past.

  But just sitting here and thinking about a new residence would get me nowhere.

  It was something I’d prefer to avoid on the whole, but unless I started moving, nothing was going to happen.

  “Guess I gotta do it…”

  “Do it? Do what?”

  Well, build a house, of course.

  Not that it has to be anything luxurious. As long as I can sit back and relax a…

  My thoughts reached that point before I tumbled off the rock in a heap.

  I looked up in a panic, only to find a white-haired guy standing right next to the rock I was sitting on. By human standards, he would be around sixteen or so.

  He looked grubby, less than clean, but I doubted his outfit was his normal everyday wear. It looked like a soldier’s uniform or something.

  But that didn’t matter.

  What concerned me most of all was that this idyllic place of residence I found was violated, cruelly barged into by this man, surprising me into taking a fall off my sitting post. The anger I felt at it all made me feel like my insides were going to explode.

  I stood up, carefully cracked my knuckles, and stared this interloper down.

  “You…I hope you’re ready to pay.”

  I had no intention of usi
ng my hands, of course. Physically speaking, I was fragile, hardly even a match for a young human child.

  “Oh, uh, did I scare you? Sorry, sorry. You were so deep in thought over there, and then you spoke up out of nowhere. I just thought it was kind of funny, so…”

  The slack-jawed man’s attitude made my fists shake with fury. Not that I had any intention of using those fists, either.

  “What’s so funny to you, damn it?! Get out of my face! I’m trying my best to build my home in here! Just go away already!”

  Even in the face of this violent tirade, the man’s blank expression remained firm.

  “Oh, okay! Building a home, huh? Well, did you need any help? ’Cause if you need anything, I’d be glad to lend a hand!”

  What kind of stupid nonsense is this man babbling?

  I just told him to go away, didn’t I?

  No, I definitely did. I tried to sound as hostile as I could, too.

  So why is this frivolous fool acting like this? I struggled to understand.

  “Are you insane? Even now, as we speak, you’re plotting something against me, aren’t you? Leave, now, before you regret it.”

  This was far from the first person offering me feigned support. None of the offers were ever sincere. All of them tried to use me somehow.

  And he was probably one of them, too. Who could ever trust this lunkhead?

  “Huh?! Wait, no! No, nothing like that! I mean, I was kind of thinking it’d be nice if I could get a closer look at you, but…Oh, no, nothing as mean as that…”

  The man scratched his head bashfully.

  Who is this guy? He’s touched in the head, isn’t he?

  Something about his behavior seemed out of whack. Maybe he was trying to throw me off guard.

  And what did he mean by “get a closer look at you”?

  No matter what he meant, I had no doubt he would soon have another one of those harebrained tall tales for me, just like every other human I’ve interacted with.

  “I can’t trust you. I’ve been tricked by people like you for ages. You’d have to be insane to trust anyone after what I’ve seen.”

  “Ooh…Well, what can I do to help you trust me? I’d love to help you out, any way I can. I don’t need you to repay me or anything. In fact, if it’ll help, I’d be willing to do anything you say, starting right now.”

  The man let a cautious exhale of breath out of his nose.

  I thought about firing back with “You will? In that case, go away!” but then I had a better idea. If that was what he wanted, that was what he’d get.

  It was a little mean of me, I supposed. But if it went as planned, it’d make him disappear, too. I lowered my voice to a whisper.

  “…Anything I say, right?”

  “Huh?! Of, of course! Are you willing to believe me now?!”

  Walking past the beaming young man, I went a little distance and pointed toward the ground.

  “Hmm? Why are you pointing down…?”

  “Build a house here.”

  The man froze for a moment, the smile still painted on his face. Then he began sweating profusely.

  “Didn’t you hear me? Build a house right here.”

  I repeated it, but there was no way he could’ve misheard me.

  “I’ll do it!”

  “And once you’re done, go away immediately. If you can’t, I won’t waste my time with you…”

  “I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

  Figures. There was no way he could do it all by himself, of course. And once he goes away, I can take my time and build exactly the…

  “…Huh?”

  “You heard me, right? I’d be happy to build a house for you! For you, that’d be nothing!”

  The man smiled warmly at me.

  The smile was still there, but given the beady sweat running down his head, it must have required a mighty effort.

  This man really is touched.

  Building a house by himself? Does he have any idea how much material, how much effort that would take?

  Does he even know anything about home building? Even if he did, there was no fathoming his behavior right now.

  …Maybe he’s just giving me a line. He might still be plotting something.

  Stoking my suspicions, I peered intently at the man. His cheeks reddened in sudden embarrassment as he scratched his head.

  He must like scratching his head with his right hand whenever he feels awkward. His body language was starting to sicken me.

  “…All right. If you think you can do it, go ahead. I’m gonna have my eye on you until you do, got it?”

  I tried to add some sarcasm to my threat. No matter what conspiracy he was trying to hatch, he couldn’t carry it out under my gaze.

  It could be fun, in fact, watching him either admit defeat midway or turn his tail and flee.

  “You, you’ll watch me…?”

  The man looked elated at this revelation.

  This continuous stream of incomprehensible behavior was really beginning to nauseate me.

  It made no sense at all. I thought about peering into his head, but trying to delve into the brain of someone this off-kilter was less than appealing to me.

  “Okay! Um, I’ll get to work tomorrow! …So, what’s your name?”

  “My name? I don’t have one.”

  Name.

  A kind of code used by humans to express their acknowledgment of each other.

  Humans give meaningful names to their children at birth. Their children, in turn, referred to themselves by their names for life.

  But that was a human custom. A foreign concept to me.

  “Oh…okay. Well, I’ll give you mine then, okay? I’m Tsukihiko. Good to meet you!”

  Tsukihiko, eh?

  He was an utter fool, down to his bones. Whether he gave his name or not, all humans remained on the same level in my eyes.

  Human. Nothing more, and nothing less. What would telling me that achieve?

  Thinking about it, the man before my eyes didn’t seem to be demanding anything from me.

  Such a creepy thing this is.

  But letting this end in such a creepy, incomprehensible way seemed a waste to me.

  Very well. Let’s try to understand him. What he means, inside of his heart.

  “Better not run away from me…human.”

  Tsukihiko’s bold, cloudless eyes beamed in response. “Of course not!” he replied.

  CHILDREN RECORD IV

  It was hell.

  Other people might have their own opinions, but to me, at least, the journey couldn’t be described any other way.

  “Come on, Shintaro, how long’re you gonna lie there?”

  Kido spat the words at me as I sprawled out on the ground, finishing off the sports drink she bought along the way.

  “Give me a break…I’m gonna die.”

  My nostrils were filled with the fresh smell of summer from the carpet of grass I’d just tumbled onto.

  It felt pleasant, sort of, thanks in part to the shade I was blessed with.

  “Man, I can’t get enough of this green grass…”

  “Yeah, and I couldn’t get enough of your barfing all over the ground, either. That’s what you get for guzzling all that soda as an ‘anti-heatstroke’ measure.”

  Kido’s sharp rebuke made the newly sustained wound in my heart sting in response.

  But I didn’t care. I like soda. To me, it’s the elixir of life. If I need to keep myself hydrated, that’s my first choice. It’s water, right?

  Water that I expelled violently all over a nameless meadow earlier.

  “H-hey, don’t say that! I’m fragile goods, okay? You need to be delicate with me!”

  “Hm. Sorry. Guess I kind of underestimated how much time this would take. I’ve been here before, so…”

  Reaching this clearing required a train ride of about an hour from our hideout’s neighborhood station.

  We had been walking for two and a half hours since then. It was a
cruel, merciless death march, one designed to kill off any shut-in who dared attempt it.

  I felt perfectly within my rights to vomit once or twice along the way.

  It’s not my fault. It’s certainly not the soda’s fault. It’s all summer’s fault.

  Though maybe not completely…

  “Hey, Kido…? I know I’m borrowing these and all, but was this really the best clothing you had for me?”

  I pointed at the mountain-climbing wear I was sporting.

  “Hey, you’re the one who started whining about getting your hoodie all dirty. Sad to say, I don’t know what kind of clothes would be more suitable for the mountains than that.”

  Kido sat down to my right as she spoke.

  Maybe she was right. But this heavy gear in the dead of the summer?

  At least get something lighter for me…

  The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized how pointless it was to protest. This outfit was picked by a girl who was still wearing her long-sleeved hoodie out in the sun, after all.

  “…What kind of crazy place did Marie even live in, though? There isn’t a single thing anywhere near us. What’d they do for food?”

  “Yeah, I tried asking her about that, but…No. It’s nuts.”

  Kido brought a hand to her forehead. Judging by that act, I could easily imagine what kind of off-the-wall reply Marie gave.

  “You saying she didn’t…?”

  “…Yeah. Apparently. They took in fluids, but otherwise, nothing. Y’know, I thought she acted weirdly shocked at whatever we brought out for dinner when she first showed up, but…”

  Marie, before our eyes, was turning into a complete enigma. They lived here, eating nothing, for over a hundred years? If that isn’t an enigma, what is?

  “I’m starting to wonder if Marie is some kinda mountain hermit or something.”

  “I was starting to think that myself. Though I doubt any hermit would last in this heat.”

  We were in the middle of a lush, flowering forest.

  Though it was hard to tell where the middle was any longer, what with the twisty maze of paths and trails Marie guided us through. It all ended at her house, which Kido and I were currently grumbling at each other in front of.

  “So now what? We gotta go in, right?”

  “Well, we can’t just barge in. Marie told us to stay outside until she got it cleaned up.”