“Then, I’m off.”
Sousuke gave a wry smile to Satori, who had come all the way to the front door to see him off on his way to work.
(He probably tried to hide it, but it’s so obvious that he looks lonely.)
“I’ve said it many times already, you don’t have to wake up so early in the morning to keep up with me. Even if you’re a freeloader, you don’t have to go out of your way to see me off.”
(Maybe he forced himself to do all this? It’s true that I said I’d kick him out if he didn’t follow the rules, but he should just take it easy. I don’t think he would do anything bad at this point anyway.)
Every time Sousuke’s thoughts reached him, Satori’s chest became warm and fuzzy.
“I-I didn’t force myself to do this. Not at all.”
Seeing Satori shake his head, Sousuke’s eyes softened.
(He’s so cute…)
Satori widened his eyes in surprise. Seeing that, Sousuke looked slightly confused.
(…What’s wrong?)
“Ta-take care. Good luck at your work.”
Hearing Satori’s words, Sousuke chuckled. He stretched his hands out and ruffled Satori’s head. Satori widened his eyes, he could feel the warmth in Sousuke’s eyes as he stared at him. Satori’s face turned bright red.
“I’m off.”
“Ta-take care!”
Even after sending Sousuke off, Satori remained in the same place for a while in a daze. Then a white fluffy spirit jumped around at his feet, demanding water.
“Ah, sorry. I’ll give it to you now.”
Satori gave some water to the white fluffy spirit, then cleaned up the dishes that had been used for breakfast. Sousuke had told him not to do things that would make a loud noise when it was still dark outside because it could bother the neighbors. That was why Satori waited for dawn to break while dozing off on the living room sofa, or looking at the scenery on the balcony.
“Separate colored clothes and white ones. Check if there’s something left in the pocket or not. For detergent, use only the one for clothes, not the one for hair…”
Satori mumbled the instructions that Sousuke had taught him. While still looking a little bit nervous, he carefully pressed the button. When he saw the washing machine start working normally without making any weird sounds, Satori was relieved. There were also no bubbles pouring out like the first time he had failed in using it. Satori thought that he wanted to clean the house while waiting for the laundry to finish, so he headed to the living room.
Several white fluffy spirits followed Satori’s footsteps. It caused him to almost step on them.
“I might step on you.”
When gently talked to, the white fluffy spirits got more excited and jumped around Satori.
“Ah!”
Satori had said it as a joke earlier, but now he really felt like he might accidentally step on one of them. As he tried to avoid them in a hurry, he slipped his foot on the wooden floor. He couldn’t catch himself in time and hit his right knee hard.
“Oww…”
The pain was so intense that Satori had to stay crouched there for a while. As he stayed still, the pain eased up a little. He pulled up the hem of his pants to check his kneecap that was bleeding internally. It would turn into a bruise if it was left like this. But the kneecaps were usually hidden under clothes. So, as long as he was careful not to be seen when changing clothes for a few days until the bruise disappeared, Sousuke wouldn’t find out about it.
The pants he wore were the ones he bought together on Sousuke’s day off at the large retail store. Actually, they had planned to go to the ‘planetarium’ too, but unfortunately it was too crowded and they couldn’t enter. Satori was disappointed, but Sousuke told him that they could go there again next time.
After that, they bought some groceries at the supermarket. Then Sousuke bought Satori an ice cream at a place called “food court” on the way home. The ice cream that Satori ate for the first time was so sweet and delicious that he thought his cheeks would fall off. When Satori stared at Sousuke who was in surprise, Sousuke laughed and looked as if he had expected Satori would react that way. Satori’s heart skipped a beat.
Sousuke was kind. Satori had already known this fact, but Sousuke was much gentler than he had imagined. Sousuke never looked at him with disgust or malice, unlike the other spirits or humans he had known up until now. Sousuke treated him just as ‘Sato’, a normal person. When this happened, Satori was so happy that his heart beat faster than usual. But at the same time, he also felt a little sting in his chest, and an indescribable feeling as if he were about to cry. He didn’t know where all these feelings came from. And he also didn’t know that there was a name for these kinds of feelings.
Sousuke was now working as an ‘announcer’, something that he had dreamed of since he was a child. He always left his house at a fixed time every day before dawn, when everyone was still asleep. When they went to the supermarket, the people around them knew about Sousuke, and women especially would try to talk to him. At such times, Sousuke would respond flawlessly. But Satori knew that Sousuke didn’t feel very comfortable about it on the inside.
Once, Satori asked Sousuke what kind of things he did at work. Sousuke then taught him how to tune into a TV program, which they had watched together for the first time a while ago. Satori waited nervously in front of the TV at the hour Sousuke had told him while sitting on the soles of his feet. He was surprised to see Sousuke appeared inside the box called “TV,” looking slightly different than usual. After that, it became Satori’s routine to watch the news program Sousuke was on after seeing him off every morning. He was happy that he could see Sousuke even though he wasn’t in the room with him right now. But what made him the happiest was still being around the real Sousuke.
As the music signaling for the washing machine that had finished could be heard, Satori went to the washroom. He put the clean clothes in a plastic basket and carried them to the balcony. As soon as he opened the glass window, he was greeted by hot and humid air. Satori carefully spread the wet clothes and hung them up. Under the blue sky, the clothes fluttered in the wind. After finishing his duty, Satori turned his gaze to the distance.
The city ‘Tokyo’ where Sousuke lived was so different from the mountains Satori had inhabited. Even if he were to view the city from a high place, it was such a jumbled mess of buildings, and the mountains were only faintly visible in the distance. The wind felt nice on his sweat dotted forehead. For a while, Satori stared at the scenery of the city in a daze.
Satori had made a certain deal with the Dragon God before he went to meet Sousuke. No matter how ignorant Satori was, he knew that the city ‘Tokyo’ where Sousuke lived had so many people living there that it couldn’t be compared to the place where he lived. This was because Satori sometimes got that kind of information from the faint thoughts of the people in the village where he lived.
I want to go to Sousuke, I want to see him.
Toward Satori who trembled as he begged, the Dragon God stared at him with his silent icy eyes.
Satori wondered how much time had passed in silence.
“Some children can see things that humans believe do not exist in this world. The human child that you talked about must be one of them. Even if that was the case, it is only possible when you are by his side. If you are separated from him, the connection between the two of you will weaken. Eventually, that thin thread will break as if it never existed in the first place. The human that you hoped to see so much may have long since forgotten about you.”
Sousuke forgetting about him….Just thinking about this made his heart hurt deep inside, so much that it made him want to cry. However, Satori looked straight at the Dragon God’s face, while still trembling a little.
“…That’s fine. I want to see Sousuke no matter what. I want to hear his voice, even if it’s just one word.”
“—There is a price to pay for your wish to come true.”
Satori nodded his head.
Suddenly, Satori thought he saw a flicker of emotion in the Dragon God’s clear eyes, which he hadn’t been able to read any emotion in until then. But then it disappeared almost immediately. Maybe it was just his imagination.
“If that human does not feel the need to abandon everything to be with you, then you will cease to exist.”
Satori was taken aback. He widened his eyes in surprise, but then they suddenly relaxed.
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Satori thought that it was something easy to do. There was no way Sousuke would think that he needed Satori so much that he would abandon everything else. Even so, if he could meet Sousuke just one more time, Satori wouldn’t have any regrets, even if he might lose his own life.
The Dragon God tied some kind of thread around Satori’s finger.
“What is this?”
“Follow this thread and you will find the one you wish to see.”
The thread that was as thin as a spider’s thread was so fragile that it seemed like it would break with a single touch. However, in the darkness, the thread let out a very faint light that looked like it came from a moonlight that had been ground into powder. More than anything, it gave Satori the most certain hope that Sousuke was on the other side of the thread.