Kino no Tabi:Volume12 Chapter1

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Between the sky and the prairie raced a motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle, meaning that it doesn’t fly/ German for motorbike).

There was not a cloud in the sky. Underneath the brilliant sunlight that streamed down from the heavens, a clear, blue sea that stretched to the horizon lay on one side and an expanse of green lay on the other, sandwiching a white strip of sandy beach in between.

The white line, as if it were measuring, stretched straight from north to south, and the motorrad likewise went straight south.

The motorrad had black boxes attached to the sides of its back wheel, and it carried a bag on top of that. It also held fuel and water cans, tied together by a rope along with the sleeping bag.

On the narrow road bordered by the beach and the plains, the motorrad moved forward.

The rider is young and wore a white shirt and a black vest. She also had a hat that has a brim and ear covers, and a pair of goggles with silver frame that has been worn off here and there.

The rider wore a large belt, and, over her right leg, a revolver-type hand Persuader (Note: a Persuader is a gun. In this case, it is a pistol) hung in its holster. Behind the waist was an automatic Persuader, fastened horizontally.

“..........” The rider raised her gaze which had been set on the road.

Between the land and the sea that stretched towards the south was a mass of black clouds.

“Ah, it’s cloudy over there. How rare,” the motorrad said, and the rider replied,

“I wonder if it’ll get cooler?”

The next morning.

Underneath the grey sky raced a motorrad.

The sky that had been completely blue yesterday had turned into a complete grey. It was almost impossible to see the position of the sun that floated in the eastern sky. The prairie and the beach were both a gloomy grey, the sea loyally reflected the color of the sky, it seemed like everything had been dissolved in diluted ink.

The rider wore a black jacket that was yesterday’s vest with sleeves attached.

“Isn’t it nice, Kino. It’s cooler now,” the motorrad said to the rider.

“Ahhh. It’s almost too cold,” the rider called Kino absent-mindedly replied, then, “Why is it so dark out even though it’s noon? The clouds are sort of strange... You know what I mean, Hermes?” She asked the motorrad.

The motorrad named Hermes replied, “This is just a guess, but could a volcano have erupted somewhere far away?”

“Volcano? So is this volcanic ash?”

“No really. Since volcanic ash is heavy, it falls relatively quickly and gathers on the ground. But this isn’t what we’re seeing now. It should be that the lighter material became floating dust and stayed at extremely high places in the sky. Riding on the wind, it covered the sky really far away. Something like that.”

“Really...? Then, is this going to continue for a while?”

“Probably. Depending on the severity of the eruption, it might continue for one or two years.”

After hearing the reply, Kino’s small face scowled.

“Even though I went to great lengths to go to a warm place...”

“Maybe you should modify your course.”

Underneath the grey sky, a motorrad raced.

The next day.

Kino, who was wearing a coat, moved forward.

She wore a brown coat on top of the black jacket, the leftover long fringe was coiled on her legs. A bandana was wrapped around her face and the ear flaps on the hat were firmly held down, with the string in the front tied under her chin.

The sky had turned darker and darker; already, it was nearly impossible to tell the position of the sun. Even though it was midday, the world of the sea and prairie was dim to the extent that one cannot read a word in this darkness. The broken white line of the waves stood out from the black sea.

Kino turned on Hermes’s headlight and illuminated the path ahead. They moved at a speed considerably slower than yesterday’s.

“Kino, this is useless. The more we move forward, the darker it’s getting.”

“Useless, huh... The more we move forward, the darker it gets...” Kino repeated Hermes’s remark with a discouraged look on her face. “To make matters worse, it’s getting colder. It’s like winter. Even though I was trying to go to a country of eternal summer in the south, where it’s warm...”

“Now what? There’s still time to turn back and retrace our steps.”

“Yes there is. —Well, let’s just give up! We’ll return to the previous country and go west.”

After she said that, Kino slowed down the acceleration. After Hermes rolled forward due to inertia, they slowly came to a stop.

“Why don’t I drink some tea. Something warm seems delicious.”

Kino turned off Hermes’s engine. In the same time that everything became silent, Hermes’s headlight shut off, and the world once again turned dark. Suddenly,

“Eh?” “Ah.”

Ahead, just above the horizon, a small light appeared for a brief instant.

After waiting for a while, the light appeared again. Then, in ten-second intervals, the light continued to flash.

“Your tea?”

“I’ll drink it later.”

Kino once again turned on Hermes’s engine.

At the country they finally arrived at, was a large lighthouse on top of a wall.

The wall, whose grey color surrounded the country on a grand scale, appeared almost black now; above it towered a lighthouse that had been painted white. The light house swept light over the black sea.1

The country faced the ocean, and the wall spread all the way into the middle of the sea.

Kino stopped Hermes in front of the massive gate that was made with logs joined together and walked towards the small wood-made station on the side. Her breath turned white as it drifted away outside of the bandana on her face.

Because nobody came out of the station, Kino knocked on the door. A while later, a sound could be heard coming from the inside.

Eventually, the figure of a man who seemed like an immigration officer appeared.

“........”

Seeing the figure through the glass window, Kino scrunched her eyebrows together.

The thirty-something-year-old man wore a shirt with short sleeves and a pair of shorts. His shirt collar was wide open, and the short pants were thin. On his feet, he wore no socks, but a pair of rubber sandals.

His body was a sun-burnt tan, but his did not wear clothing that was fit for dealing with this temperature.

“He, hello. A traveler, eh... I welcome you to this country...”

His said weakly with an obviously nasal voice.

Kino applied for a three-day stay without any trouble. While writing the official papers, the immigration officer shivered visibly from the cold and sneezed many times in the middle.

Turning back towards Hermes, Kino watched the castle gate open in front of her eyes.2

Kino and Hermes ran on in the heart of this country.

In the middle of this not particularly large country, after passing through the walls, was a wide expanse of fruit and produce farmland, and, beyond that, grew many tall trees that did not exist outside of the country.

There were no automobiles on the road, only what could have been horse-drawn wagons or ox carts, their empty shells placed on the road with no animals tied to them.

Then, in the central part, wooden houses of the residents sat in a row. The windows of the houses had no glass panels, but only balconies that let the wind cut though.

“Kino. About this country, what was it that we heard from that guy from the previous country?”

“ ‘A place where the mood of a southern country drifts about, and it’s very open.’ ”

“Well, if the sun starts shining brightly, it’d certainly be a ‘southern country’, wouldn’t it?” Hermes said. Now, the sky was black, and the blowing wind was thoroughly freezing.

Downtown, there were no pedestrians. Ever since they passed through the walls, they did not even see one person. Sometimes, a person would hear the sound of Hermes’s engine and sneak a peak from their window.

“Since it’s so cold here, it’s no unreasonable for nobody to be outside,” Kino said and turned Hermes towards the harbor that could be seen in front of the ocean.

The large harbor was made of a pile of stones that formed the breakwater and a wharf. Many wooden boats, with their masts stood up, were tied to the wharf.

There was the figure of a group of men.

About twenty burly men who seemed like fishermen gathered there, and they sat on the side of the breakwater. They all sat back to back on a car seat.

All of those people, without exceptions, wore the same half-sleeved shirt, shorts, and sandals as the immigration officer.

“Whoa, they look cold,” Hermes said. “For your information, their clothes aren’t fit for the temperature right now,” it quickly added.

The men looked at the incoming Kino hollowly, and, for a brief moment, they stared at the coat-wearing Kino with jealousy in their eyes.

However, when Kino and Hermes stopped, they all turned their sights away and stiffly moved towards the breakwater as if escaping. They were like a group of fleeing fish.

“Everybody hates you, Kino.”

“...........”

Kino gave up and once again started forward with Hermes.

After Kino found out where the central part of the country is, she headed there with Hermes.

Around the wide street paved with concrete, rectangular bungalows, built with white stone, lined up in rows. Of course, all of them had no windows and only had balconies.

Then, in one of the buildings in the middle,

“People! There’s people here, Kino.”

This country’s residents formed a line in front of a building.

Since there were no bulletin boards, it was impossible to tell what kind of building this was. The people who were overflowing from the front entrance sat in two winding lines that wrapped on and on. Regardless of age or sex, the people numbered over a hundred, and the weaving line curved over to the back of the house and disappeared.

Everybody there, without any exceptions, wore a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts. They glued their bodies together as close as possible, clearly shivering from the cold.

Of course, when the people saw Kino, a look of surprise appeared on their faces. For a short while, they stared at Kino’s winter clothes with jealousy—

Then the stares that were focused on Kino turned away as if fleeing.

“Everybody hates you, Kino.”

When Hermes said that, the lined up residents suddenly started stirring. The people who were sitting stood up all at once, exchanged glances with each other, and started chattering in a whisper.

Kino turned her sight toward her left, at where all the residents were staring at.

In the middle of the road, an ox cart moved forward. Pulled by four oxen, the carriage with the awfully large and extravagant roof moved down the road leisurely.

Kino moved Hermes to the corner of the road, nearer to the side of the building. The residents saw that Kino had moved closer, but their attention more focused on the ox cart.

“Oi, it’s the Prime Minister.” “The Prime Minister...” “It’s the Prime Minister’s ox cart!”

After hearing this chatter,

“I see.”

“It’s this country’s higher-ups.”

Kino and Hermes quietly chatted.

Soon, in front of the shivering, short-sleeved masses, the coat-wearing Kino, and Hermes’s gaze, the ox cart stopped at the front entrance of the building.

The door of the gorgeous car opened, and two brawny men who seemed like body guards came out. The two men were also wearing short sleeves and shorts.

Then, predictably wearing short sleeves and shorts, a forty-something-year-old woman with a sharp face walked out of the cart.

The woman, while protected by the bodyguards and receiving the silent gaze of the crowd of residents, quickly entered the building that people were lined up in front of.

Many of the people simultaneously let out a sigh. Then, while keeping close to each other whenever possible, the people sat down again.

Kino stood Hermes up with its sidestand and politely introduced herself to the people next to her.

“..............”

The residents again ignored Kino and looked away.

After talking to several people but only getting ignored, Kino and Hermes gave up. Then, when she was putting down the side stand, a voice came out from behind her back.

“You can ask the Prime Minister.”

It was a man’s voice, but when Kino looked over her shoulder towards that sound, the voice no longer spoke again. Seeing everybody turning their eyes away,

“Thank you very much. I will do that.”

Kino stopped trying to find the source of the voice, and also did not ask Hermes. After thanking the unknown voice, she pushed Hermes toward the ox carts and waited in front of the bodyguards, who flicked them a glance.

A short time passed, the bodyguards and the woman came out of the building.

Accompanying them to the entranceway were several men who wore white shirts and shorts, white hats on their heads, and white masks over their face.

“Ah, it’s a hospital, isn’t it, this place?” Hermes muttered.

The Prime Minister who came out noticed Kino and company. “Ah, a traveler,” she said pleasantly. Without the protection of bodyguards, she walked closer to Kino. “Good afternoon, and welcome to our country. I have received the report that a rare traveler was coming here. I am this country’s Prime Minister.”

“Good afternoon. I’m Kino, and this is my partner, Hermes.”

“Nice t’ meetcha!”

Then, the Prime Minister said, “Then, since I’m busy right now, please excuse my rudeness. Please do look around leisurely,” the Prime Minister said to end the conversation.

Before the woman could turn away, Kino quickly cut in, “I have one question I would like to ask—“ After hearing the “what?” in reply, “The weather’s pretty bad. It’s been like this even when I was on my way here. Can you tell me how long it’s been like this?”

“Well, I must admit, you’re right. It’s been about ten days.”

“I think the temperature’s fallen quite a lot, but seeing everyone’s appearance, it seems very cold like this.”

Hearing Kino’s comment, the aggressive bodyguards flinched, and their eyebrows twitched.

The Prime Minister, while keeping her calm posture, spoke with a slightly sharper tone than before. “That’s right. It sure seems that way from a traveler who wears a considerable amount of extra clothes. At a first glance, it might seem too formal and impolite. However, this is this country’s official clothing.”

“I see, so it’s the official clothing. That’s why everybody was wearing the same thing,” Kino said as if she understood and was admiring it.

The Prime Minister had an expression like she was showing off and smiled. “That’s right. Ever since this country was founded, everyone in this country wore short sleeved shirts and shorts. Since, at this humid and hot country, that’s the most comfortable. According to what someone said a long time ago, there’s a country that has long-sleeved shirt, a necktie, and a suit jacket on top of that as their official clothe, and they have to keep that appearance even in the summer. I’m very glad that I wasn’t born in a country as illogical and idiotic as that.”

“This is the last one, but can you answer one more question?”

“That is...?”

“At this country, what happens when you wear something else?”

“Of course it’s against the law! It’s a serious offence! To begin with, since this country has no other clothes, it’s impossible to do that in the first place.”

The ox cart left from the front of the hospital with the winding lines, and, following straight behind the cart, the motorrad ran.

The motorrad headed straight towards the northern gate.

“Huh? But the staying time you booked hasn’t passed yet...”

“It’s because xxxxx is xxxxx,” hearing the nasal-voiced immigration officer, Kino replied with a made-up a reason and left the country.

A bandanna was wrapped around her face, her hat was pressed to her face, and her coat—

“How rare. I think you made a new record, leaving the country in half a day like that, Kino.”

“Just looking at this place makes me feel cold. Also, this country—“

In the road between the inky black sea and the prairie, they ran on.

This happened about two hundred days later.

On the road Kino and Hermes had gone north on, a buggy headed south.

Under the sky that was as dark as night, the buggy with loads of baggage lumped in the back rack, moved forward carefully with the headlights on.

To the left of the road was a black ocean, and, to the right side, what once had been a prairie was now a wide expanse of ground scattered with withered grass.

“What a horrible sight... The plants there had been completely annihilated,” muttered the man who was holding the steering wheel and sitting in the driver’s seat on the left.

The man was wearing a parka with the hood on, and his face peeped out through the muffler wrapped around his face and the goggles on his eyes.

Riding shotgun was a small girl wearing a thick, two-piece jacket. She also had on a wool hat and a muffler. Since she was not wearing goggles, her green eyes and white hair were visible.

In front of the girl was a long-haired, large, white dog, who sat between the girl’s legs.

That dog replied to the driver’s comment. “As long as the eruption doesn’t stop, the place nearby is always going to be dark because of the west wind. Even if the eruption stops—“

“It still won’t recover instantly,” the man took over the dog’s comment. Then, suddenly,

“................”

The girl raised her head without a word.

In front of her gaze, a small white dot danced. It flew above the buggy’s engine cover, landed on the girl’s cheek, and melted.

“It finally started snowing....” the man muttered unhappily.

The snow dancing down from the sky slowly increased, and the space lit up by the headlights became a flurry of white.

The man lowered the buggy’s speed a little bit, and, turning to face the girl riding shotgun, “Are you cold, Tei?”

“...........” Hearing this question, the girl hugged the dog from behind its fuzzy head without a word, then, pressing her cheeks against it, made a sound, “No.”

The man squinted underneath the goggles. “Is that so? Tell me if you get cold.”

The buggy ran on the snow-covered, dark grey ground.

Chains had been wrapped around the back wheels, and they scratched into the snow piled on the road.

New snow fell thinly from the black sky, and, slowly but surely, the amount of snow on the ground was rising.

Then,

“..............”

The girl riding shotgun and hugging the dog sometimes wordlessly pointed at the road to the left or the right, or sometimes ahead.

“..............”

The man, too, wordlessly gave it a sidelong glance, and, when it’s on the road, turned the steering wheel to avoid it.

Those things were small snow-covered bulges. On the flat ground laid several of these small bulges.

Inside of these small bulges were creatures that once existed as “humans”. They were the corpses of people who fell to the side of the road while holding a lot of luggage.

“Master Shizu, I think our hopes are very faint,” the dog being hugged by the girl said.

“Yeah. However, we haven’t even seen the country yet. I expect that we’ll get there very soon. Look at it carefully, since we’ll have to report it.”

While the man was saying this, the black castle walls started to show up in the dim world.

On top of the wall towered a lighthouse, but the light was not on.

At the gate, the door made of thick logs was placed in an open position.

Without anyone’s permission, the buggy slowly passed through the door.

When they entered the country, it was an expanse of a wide, grey, world, like the outside. All of the produce had withered, and the trees have been completely cut down. The cut logs lined the left and the right of the streets without sound.

“It all became firewood...” the man muttered.

After circling the country once, they headed towards the harbor; not a single boat was there. The wood piled haphazardly on top of each other had been blown all over the place, even though there were only a little of them.

Going towards the central part of the country, they started seeing corpses lying on to the left and right of the road.

They no longer had the figure of a human. The heads and arms that have turned to bone lay scattered about in the snow.

The man slowly drove the buggy and stopped it at the center of the town. He rang the horn very loudly. Turning off the engine, they listened very carefully, but there was no response.

“Yet another country has disappeared.” In the silent space of the falling snow, the man muttered sadly.

The girl hugging the dog turned her head at the same time as the dog to the left and looked at the man’s face.

The man took down his goggles, pulled down the muffler around his face, and gazed straight at the girl.

“Tei. This country... the people in this country, they thought that they could not change.”

“.............”

The girl said nothing and stared at the man, waiting for his next sentence.

“Using ‘It’s always been this way, so it’s better to stay this way now’ as a reason, they decided that wearing anything besides thin clothes is unrighteous. In the world surrounding them, even when the situations change, they can’t adapt... It’s hard to say this in one sentence, but they—“

“Were they were following through their own justice?” the girl suddenly said a lot.

“...............” “..............”

The man and the dog became wordless.

A few seconds later, in the middle of the darkness of the falling snow, the man looked into the girl’s green eyes.

“Yes... That works. They were following their own justice.”

The man turned on the engine of the buggy and once again moved forward. The passed through the empty country and came out of the northern gate they entered in.

There, the figure of something alive appeared.

“............”

The man stopped the buggy in front of them.

In the grey space were the figures of grey beasts. A group of about twenty wolves greedily feasted on the corpse of a human buried under the snow.

When the wolves noticed the buggy, they all raised their heads at once.

They stared at the strange glowing piece of metal, and the two humans and a dog riding in it.

“I see... The bodies in the country were all eaten by them,” the man said.

“Usually, wolves don’t live in warm places like this,” the dog said.

The man gave a small nod. “Since it turned cold, so they moved for the sake of finding food. —How strong. They, always and always, were this strong.”

The glaring wolves started to growl.

They stopped eating their food and slowly walked towards the buggy in an attempt to surround it.

“Like I said, we have no plans of becoming your food,” the man said jokingly, and the girl hugging the dog reached backward behind the seats. When she brought her hands back up front, she was gripping a hand grenade wrapped in anti-exploding tape.

“..............”

“Don’t worry, we don’t need that,” the man replied with a smile at the girl, who was looking at him wordlessly.

Then he shifted gears and started the buggy forward.

The car drove through the surprised and fleeing wolves, and soon they drove away from the place and slipped into the darkness.