Kino no Tabi:Volume16 Chapter4

「Land of Blood Types」 —Blood Typo—

"Thanks for waiting, Kino! Your entry is approved!"

The border control officer's voice echoed out to Kino, who was sitting in a big, empty waiting room, playing a word chain game with Hermes.

Kino stood up and turned to look at the officer that had walked into the room.

"Great."

"Kino, you're supposed to start with "e," not "g"!

"That wasn't for the game. I meant entering."

"Entering. 'G,' hmm? G... G..."

Kino ignored Hermes's puzzlement and received the documents from the officer. Among them was a card made of plastic.

"This card is verification for foreigners. Everyone that's here on a temporary stay, whether for business or pleasure, must always have this with them. Information on Hermes and the persuaders you brought (Note: a persuader is a gun) are also printed on there. Please have a look over it to ensure all of the information is correct.

"Understood."

Kino glanced over the card.

First was a picture they'd just taken. There on the card was an unsmiling Kino.

The name field simply read, "Kino." The fields for middle and family names were blank.

Birthdate: "Unknown."

Hair color: "Black."

Eye color: "Dark Brown."

Possessions: "One motorrad and two hand-persuaders."

And —,

"Everything's correct. What does the 'Type 1' at the very bottom mean?" Kino asked.

"Ahh, well now that," the border officer's nostrils flared, "is your blood type! You weren't aware, Kino?"

Kino looked at the border officer, who seemed eager to explain, and answered truthfully. "I've heard that living things have blood types, and that there are a few differing classification systems. I know you have to be careful with the blood type when doing a blood transfusion, but that's about it."

"You seem pretty knowledgeable..." The border officer seemed quite disappointed, but he continued the explanation. "There are differing classification systems, but the most popular is the '1-2-3 Method.' There's Type 1 and Type 2. If you're in between, you have Type 3, and if you're neither, you're Type 0."

"I see. So you examined the blood you drew from me earlier and determined that I'm 'Type 1.'"

"Exactly. The citizens' ID always have their blood type printed as well."

From below them, Hermes said, "That's handy for quick blood transfusions after an accident, huh? That way you won't make a mistake."

"By the way, Kino —" the border officer said, trying to hide a smile, "Do people often tell you, 'you're kind of weird'?"

—

The country wasn't that large, but Kino and Hermes were stopped several times by citizens to talk.

"Hey traveler. What's your blood type? — Ooh, I'm Type 1 too. That means you've got a kind of laid-back personality, right?"

"Traveler, you have refined tastes, but more than anything, you enjoy eating a lot, right? It's satisfying to watch! You must be a Type 3 or a Type 1, am I right? — I am? See?!"

"Ah, traveler, thank you so much for keeping your room clean! You're a Type 2, aren't you? Oh, you're not? — Then you're Type 0! Oh? I know! Type 1! Just as I expected!"

"You have quite a good sense for this, seeing as how you picked this type of bullet. Your shooting instructor was probably a Type 3. Judging from where you put your holster, you must be a Type 1 or 2."

"Traveler, you're a Type 1?! Today's a bit unlucky for you, so be careful on the road! You should carry a brown handkerchief to protect you!"

"Ohh mann, I just got rejected. Shee's a Type 1, and she told me, 'I just can't date a serious Type 0 prude like you.' But there's nothing I can say to that, right? This sucksss!"

Each time, Kino said, "Oh, I see."

Hermes said, "I wish motorrads had a blood type too!"

—

The afternoon of their second day in the country.

As they rode through the town, Hermes said to Kino, "Look over there, on the right. What do you think made this country so crazy about blood types?"

Ahead of them, there was a banner hanging from a department store on the right side of the road that read, "Special Type 3 Promotion! We've picked out all kinds of clothing that fit Type 3s."

Kino redirected her attention from the banner back to the road and saw a bookstore.

"Who knows. — For now, I'm going to stop by that bookstore."

"You're going to go read books again without buying anything, aren't you?"

"'Type 1s' are thrifty. Maybe."

Kino and Hermes stopped in the wide parking lot and Kino entered the bookstore.

The large bookstore was bustling with a number of customers.

First, Kino looked over the shelves that were set up near the door.

This is where they'd line up the best-selling books and the ones they most wanted to sell.

"Your Blood Type Changes Your Destiny!"

"I Know! How to Handle Dating Type 3 People!"

"What If My Boss Is a Type 2?"

"Buying a House? Read Me: Type 2 Version"

"Don't Look Down on Type 0s!"

"Recipe Book Series: Easy Cooking For Type 2 Beginners"

"What If a Type 1 and a Type 2 Get Married? Blood Lab"

"Common Mistakes For Type 0s. New Employee Version"

"How to Date a Troubled Type 2: My Special Secrets, Just For Type 0s"

"Guide to Buying a Car Without Mistakes. Type 2 Version"

"Don't Look Down on Type 3s!"

"Having a Type 3 Baby? Read Me."

"Beginning Gardening: For Type 3s"

It was a mountain of books related to blood types, of various sizes and thicknesses.

There were several people crowded around the mountain, and many who found something to take to the checkout counter.

One woman noticed Kino and went over to start a conversation. "Oh! A traveler, are you? Welcome to our country!"

"Thank you very much. — Out of curiosity, are all of the books here related to blood types?"

"That's right! What type are you? Wait! Let me guess!"

When she said that, the other nearby customers got involved too, all guessing at Kino's blood type.

"Wait! Let me try too!"

"Me too. Traveler, don't tell us yet."

"I'm good at this!"

And who got it right, out of the seven people that tried?

"I knew it!" It was a middle-aged man with a wide grin on his face.

Kino asked them all, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind explaining how this country became so interested in blood types."

All of them wanted to reply to Kino's question, but in the end, the woman that had spoken to Kino first spoke for all of them.

"Because of this, traveler!"

The woman grabbed a book off the shelf and handed it to Kino.

The book was relatively plain-looking and pocket-sized. More than anything, it was very thin.

The title was, "Categorizing Blood Types."

It really did seem simple in comparison to the other books.

The woman held the book to her chest as she explained, "About 20 years ago, the original copies of this book came to us from a traveling merchant. Even now, the copies available for sale are exactly the same except for the copyright notes. There were only five original copies, and they auction for extremely high prices. The most well-preserved copy is owned by the national library."

The young woman flipped to a page and showed it to Kino. "This book describes how to use blood types to determine peoples' personality in very simple terms. It's divided into four different sections, each describing personality and behavior."

The woman read a passage, "This is for Type 1. 'Honest, with a strong sense of justice,' 'somewhat bad at reading the mood,' 'warmhearted,' 'often has dexterous fingers,' 'excels at math,' 'slight distaste for sweet things,' 'bad at sensing personal boundaries,' 'seen by others as sloppy' —"

After the woman had read quite a bit, she shut the book closed with a snap. Then, "First this book got featured in a magazine! 'Trending in Foreign Countries, the Blood Type Book.' Everyone was surprised by how big a hit it was! Of course, this was before I was born, so I heard about it from my parents."

Some of the middle-aged people listening on the sidelines chimed in nostalgically.

"Ahh, it was so crazy, like a big festival."

"Like, that's what people mean when they say they've seen the light."

Kino said, "I see."

The young woman hugged the book closer to her chest and said, "Isn't it romantic? The blood that flows through our bodies also makes up our hearts and minds?"

Kino plucked a copy of "Categorizing Blood Types" from the shelf.

"Traveler, are you going to buy it?" a middle-aged customer asked, but Kino replied that she'd didn't want to spend money on anything not necessary for traveling, and she was just going to read it for a bit in the store.

"What? In that case, I'll buy it for you as a present! You can keep it as a reminder of our country, and read it on your journey!"

The other customers agreed that this was a wonderful idea.

Several of the customers offered to help pay, and eventually, Kino buckled under the pressure and received "Categorizing Blood Types" as a present.

—

"Well it's not too big we can't carry it anyway, so I thanked them and took it," Kino explained to Hermes, as they rode.

"Ohh? I see. Good thing it wasn't an encyclopedia!"

—

The next day.

Kino rose at dawn and left the country.

They ran carefully on the untamed offroad.

The beat-up, run-down path was set on either side by dense foliage. There was no fear of getting lost, but their field of vision was restricted.

In the afternoon, Kino ran into a traveling party.

They were several men and two trucks, making camp for the day in a forest clearing.

Kino brought Hermes to a stop and went to talk to the men. They were a group of businessmen and bodyguards that had come from a faraway land. They talked about the road they'd come on and asked about the road conditions on the way to the country Kino just left.

—

"It's pretty rare for travelers to be businessmen, isn't it? What do you do?" Hermes asked a young man, who looked to be in his twenties. He'd been assigned to escort Kino.

He made an uncomfortable face and replied, "I guess. We might be the only people in this line of work..."

"Which is?"

"We recover sold goods and swap them out... That is, 'defective products.' Orders from the president are that our company's pride can't allow for those to circulate."

"Aha."

Kino asked, "So what is it? If you don't mind me asking."

The man debated whether he should say before responding, "You can't tell anyone I told you. It's this."

Then, he took a book out from his pocket and showed it.

It had the same binding as the one in Kino's bag. "Categorizing Blood Types" was the title on the front.

"Hm?"

Kino and Hermes were both a bit surprised, although it wasn't visible in Hermes's case. The man put the book back in his pocket, without paying them any mind.

"We work for a publishing company, and we published this book. It was like 20 years ago. Back then, our president had just created the company, and this book was part of the publishing lineup at launch. It was written based on some doctor's research into using blood types to determine peoples' personalities, but well, it was nonsense and it didn't sell well. It didn't get reprinted after the first edition."

"I see. So... Why is that book a 'defective product'?" Kino asked.

"You see, there's a typo in the book."

"A typo... so one of the words is wrong?" Kino asked for confirmation.

"Yeah! The book lists four types, starting with Type 1 and ending with Type 0, and those different types list personality traits to go along with them, but —"

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Hermes muttered.

"Somehow, the order of the four types were in the wrong order!"

"What?" "Oh dear." Kino and Hermes responded at the same time.

Kino asked, hesitantly, "So you're saying 'Type 1' got turned into a different type in the book?"

"Yeah! Originally, the book was supposed to start from 'Type 0.' That's what the author put down. But I guess someone got it mixed up, and the printed book starts from 'Type 1' instead! So the entire book is shifted by one, and all of the entries are wrong! What's even worse is that it wasn't caught until after the release date!"

"…"

"My bad feeling came true."

"It didn't get a reprint, so all we could do was explain the error on advertisements and put leaflets into the books at stores. Well, like I said, they didn't sell well anyway, so there weren't really any complaints."

Kino concluded, "But the book ended up getting exported."

"Yes. Right after the book came out, a merchant bought 20 copies and took them out of the country. Back then, the company was new and busy, so they gave up on trying to correct those 20 copies. But one day, suddenly the president said, 'That was the greatest disgrace of my life! I can't die in peace until they're all recovered and replaced!' — That was about 50 days ago."

"And that's why you're traveling to all these different countries."

"Right. The merchant kept a ledger, so we have a record of where he sold them and how many. Our job is following the ledger and replacing the copies we find with corrected versions. Honestly, I think the president's crazy. But hey, I get to travel and visit countries we haven't been in contact with, so it's kind of fun. Also, this next country is the last one. The records say there were five copies sold there. I wonder if they're still around...?"

"…" Kino gave Hermes a look, without saying anything.

"Why not?" Hermes began, "Type 1s are 'honest, with a strong sense of justice.' Remember? "

"Hah..." Kino gave a loud sigh, and made eye contact with the man. "There's something I want you to hear. Not just you personally, but everyone, if possible."

The man gave her a smile, "Hm? You're looking serious — what is it?"

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