A heartwarming story by Keiichi Sigsawa (Kino, Allison, etc)

[Doraneko]

The following is a short story by Keiichi Sigsawa, famous for Kino's Journey and Allison among the English-speaking otaku, in commemoration for having over 40,000 twitter followers. I am not even sure if it is long enough for the translation wiki so I post it here. Anyway enjoy.


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I went to my girlfriend's apartment to tell her a very delightful piece of news - but I found the 25-year-old girl having become an old lady that could have easily passed 90. Holding a small bag with her wrinkled hands, she said, "Thank you. Thank you very much. I love you." Whispering those words, she passed away as if she fell asleep.

I had no idea of what exactly happened. When my mind returned to me, I found myself moving her body away from the apartment in secret. Deep inside the mountains where there was no sign of any person, I carefully buried her with the bag she had been holding tightly. After that, I thought if I returned to her home, she would come back. But no, what I saw in the apartment was a devil.

"Cheer~s! I'm the Dev~il! I've come to fufil your wish at a price! Man, you've got a very desperate wish, haven't you. Ahh you are literally in a huff!" Anyway I just beat him up. "Beating up a devil? You're a real devil!" I asked, "Wish? do you mean you can make anything come true?"

"Of course! The price is determined by the scale of your wish." Upon asking whether he could send me to the previous day, he promptly replied, "Certainly. The price is that you will 'no longer be able to play music.' How's it? Mr Newbie-musician-who-is-about-to-debut?" Oh, this dude was truly a devil. I gave my reply.

I returned to the previous day. I waked my girlfriend up and took her away with me. I could not say anything, but she believed in me and followed me. After two days, as if nothing happened, she returned to her apartment. It was almost like a dream - but I could no longer play any musical instrument since then.

I told her that I had given up my dream. I lied to the production company. Since then I had many difficult times, but at least I managed to have an ordinary life and married her. Time passed. Finally we had children, and then grandchildren. Ever since that day, I had never seen the devil.

I had a happy life. Very soon I would be leaving this world, but I had nothing to worry. However, that particular incident was the only thing I could not tell anyone. That was why I left these words in my testament. It was because I had something I would like to tell my girlfriend in the past, my loving wife in the present.


My Dear,

This is my last selfish request, but can you bury my ashes in that place inside that mountain? I want to make the other you, a person that I don't really know, to feel less lonely.

I would like to thank you from the deepest of my heart - for following me at that time with no complaint, and for making my life so wonderful.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I love you.


Ever since my husband left with me this strange letter, over ten years have had passed. After seeing my grandchildren growing up, I made a wish. I wished - desperately and desperately. Finally, that guy came. "Cheer~s! I'm the Dev~il!" I had only one wish. The price would be my life. I held, tightly, a bag with the ashes of my husband.

[Mystes]

...very...touching...

[kuroi_shinigami]

Oh, heartwarming and philosophical at the same time. Which one come first? The egg or the chicken? The girl's wish or the boy's wish?

[Cosmic Eagle]

Sweet.....

I think...Kyuubey's new job huh...?

[Mystes]

Oh, heartwarming and philosophical at the same time. Which one come first? The egg or the chicken? The girl's wish or the boy's wish?

What is it in your opinion, then?

[ainsoph9]

Does it have to be that one came first?

[kuroi_shinigami]

It should be, if not, how would the story comes to happen? There should be a source right? One of the character has to start the wish first, which in turn set to motion the recurrence of wish to the devil. Well, I guess some people could say that it doesn't matter which come first, since that's not the point of the story, and I could understand that point of view too. Just like the question of which come first, egg or chicken. It doesn't matter which one, since we already have an egg and chicken right now, all that matter is how to use the egg and the chicken to keep it from getting extinct. But the curious heart in me can't help but wonder, what set this recurrence of wish in the first place, and I guess we'll never found out.

[Mystes]

Does it have to be that one came first?

Maybe it happened aaround the same time? That is a possibility.

[kuroi_shinigami]

That should not be possible. In the story, the girl's wish is supposed to happen some time after the the boy's because the boy do manage to live together with the girl until he grows old, albeit without his music skill, while the boy's wish is supposed to happen right after the girl's wish(to return to the past by switching place with her old self) is granted.

[ainsoph9]

Well, what is being assumed here is that the boy made his actions based on the fact that he saw his girlfriend die. While things may not have worked out the exact same in detail, one might be able to assume that he would have done the same actions regardless, as in proposing and marrying her. We are also assuming that her elderly form took the place of her younger form, which does not have to hold true. If her younger form still existed in the timeline when the story began, we can assume that the protagonist just jumped to a conclusion that she truly was dead when she was not. If that is true, then the importance of one of the wishes coming first fades away because she was still alive no matter what. In this case, we can view the wife coming back to the past either as a fulfillment of how things were supposed to be or as a way of changing the past or having no impact on the larger outcome of the past. In essence, any way we view it, much of the apparent paradox disappears because of the way that our assumptions have been reconstructed.

[kuroi_shinigami]

Good theory. Still, one point remains though. If the girl's wish was the start, than we're missing a variable here, the reason the girl make her wish. The girl make the wish to the devil because she read the letter from the boy. Assuming the one that happens first is the girl's wish and nothing change regarding the boy and the girl's fate, then during her very first wish, there's no reason for the boy to write the letter that ask his body to be buried in the cave because at that time he hasn't seen her dying form during his younger boy, and that leaves no reason for the girl to make a contract with the devil which start the recurrence.

I agree with your point that her wish isn't necessarily taking her younger form's place though.

[Mystes]

At the end, the one who has won is the devil. That's my honest opinion.

[ainsoph9]

Good theory. Still, one point remains though. If the girl's wish was the start, than we're missing a variable here, the reason the girl make her wish. The girl make the wish to the devil because she read the letter from the boy. Assuming the one that happens first is the girl's wish and nothing change regarding the boy and the girl's fate, then during her very first wish, there's no reason for the boy to write the letter that ask his body to be buried in the cave because at that time he hasn't seen her dying form during his younger boy, and that leaves no reason for the girl to make a contract with the devil which start the recurrence.

I agree with your point that her wish isn't necessarily taking her younger form's place though.

If you are familiar with Faust, you will find that people do crazy things when someone dies. Although it is not written specifically, we can safely assume that his death greatly impacted her ability to reason, which made her want to make the contract. As for the boy, we can also think that the cave held special importance to him before the story began, which is why he wanted to be buried there. We do not have to restrict ourselves to the canon of the story per se, especially within the time limits given in the story.

[Mystes]

If you are familiar with Faust, you will find that people do crazy things when someone dies.

FAust? Is it the opera or theater play in which there was a mad man who made a contract with Mephisto?

[kuroi_shinigami]

If you are familiar with Faust, you will find that people do crazy things when someone dies. Although it is not written specifically, we can safely assume that his death greatly impacted her ability to reason, which made her want to make the contract. As for the boy, we can also think that the cave held special importance to him before the story began, which is why he wanted to be buried there. We do not have to restrict ourselves to the canon of the story per se, especially within the time limits given in the story.

Good point. Well, I guess that's the closest theory we'll get to explain the truth about this paradox.