Kino no Tabi:Volume3 Chapter4

“A Tale of a Mechanical Doll” —One-way Mission—

“Oh my, how surprising… to meet someone in a place like this.”

So said a lone old woman who revealed herself from behind a thicket inside a deciduous forest. The old woman’s thin body was wrapped with an apron. She was carrying a basket with heaps of edible wild plants and mushrooms inside.

She was speaking to a young person. It was someone around mid-teens, with short, black hair, big eyes, and an intrepid expression on her face. She wore a black jacket fastened with a wide belt on her waist. Suspended from her right thigh was a holster for a hand persuader (Note: A persuader is a gun. In this case a pistol). Inside it was a high-caliber revolver. Attached behind her waist was another automatic-type.

Parked right beside this person was a motorrad (Note: A two-wheeled vehicle. Only to note that it cannot fly).

“Hello,” the person greeted.

“Hi there. You’re a traveler, aren’t you?” The old woman returned the greeting with a smile.

“Yes. I’m Kino, and this here is my partner, Hermes.”

The traveler whose name was Kino introduced the motorrad. The motorrad called Hermes returned a short ‘hello’, and proceeded to ask a question.

“Do you live near here, grandma?”

“Yes, that’s right. What about you two?”

Kino hesitated for a bit, and then asked the old woman,

“Is there a country around this area? We were aiming for that place, but we couldn’t find it. Are you a resident of that country, by any chance?”

The old woman shook her head. “A country, you say…? No, there’s none nearby. I’m sure you’ve lost your way somewhere. As for me, I live in a house inside this forest.”

“I see. There was a road up until here, though…,” Kino sighed.

“Yeah, but it seemed like an abandoned route. Why don’t we just give up?” Hermes suggested.

The old woman realized their circumstances, and asked Kino and Hermes with a lively voice, “Say, Miss Kino. Are you going to camp out here for today? It will be dark soon. If you like, I can let you stay in the house where I work for.”

“Work for?”

The old woman replied to Kino’s question. “Yes. I work as a maid in the house where I live in. I was gathering ingredients for dinner just now. The house is right there. What do you think?”

Kino asked Hermes’ opinion. As always, he just answered with ‘why not?’

“Okay. We’ll take you up on your offer,” Kino said.

“Oh, I’m glad. It’s the first time that we’ll be having guests,” she said happily.

—

They went inside the forest under the guidance of the old woman. After a while, a field in a forest clearing appeared. Beside it was a long and narrow livestock pen with chickens freely roaming about.

Beyond the fields, there was a single house.

Kino couldn’t help but knit her eyebrows upon seeing the house. It was a three-storey building sturdily made out of stone and bricks. It was much longer than it was wide, and doesn’t have a single window at the sides. It looked more like a downtown apartment, except that it stood alone in the middle of the forest. This house certainly didn’t belong to its surroundings.

“That’s the place?” Kino asked with a hint of doubt in her tone.

“Yes. Isn’t it wonderful?” the old woman answered.

Soon they made their way in front of the entrance, and the old woman turned to Kino and Hermes.

“Oh, right. First, I’ll have to inform you about something in advance.”

The old woman slowly placed her right hand on her chest, and spoke with a gentle smile, “I am a mechanical doll.”

“A mechanical doll?” Kino asked in surprise.

“That’s right. Even though I look exactly like a human, I am actually very different from you. This body was entirely made from wood, iron, and other things I don’t really know about. I am a mechanical doll created by humans for the sake of humans. My work is to do household chores for the humans residing in this house.”

“……. U-umm…” Kino faltered, while the old woman continued.

“Because this body is already old, I am already getting rickety in places, but I can still work.”

Hermes asked, “Ooh, you sure are well-made. Who created you, grandma?”

The old woman shook her head. “I was not given that kind of information. All I know is how to clean the house, do the laundry, cook meals, read stories to my young master before he goes to bed…”

“……”

“I see.”

Kino remained silent while Hermes voiced his admiration.

“Well, I’ll have to ask my master about you. I’m sure he would be fine with it, but for the meantime, please wait here.”

Kino spoke up at last when the woman vanished into the house.

“Impossible.”

“You bet. What are we going to do?”

“Well, it seems like we have no choice but to ask this ‘master’,” Kino muttered as the entrance opened.

Out came a man in his thirties, a woman of the same age who seemed to be his wife, and a five-year old boy shyly hiding behind the woman. They were all wearing elegant clothes.

After a while, the old woman made an introduction.

“Master, this is the traveler, Miss Kino and the motorrad, Mister Hermes. Miss Kino, these are my master, his wife, and their son.”

“Good afternoon,” Kino greeted. The ‘master’ slowly smiled and spoke.

“Good day, traveler and motorrad. We heard about your circumstances from granny. It seems like you’ve lost your way. We have plenty of vacant rooms, so please feel at home.”

The old woman seemed very happy. “Oh, I’m glad. That’s great, isn’t it? Now that it’s decided, I’ll be preparing the room for Miss Kino, so for the meantime, won’t you keep them company for a while, Master?”

“Yes, of course. Leave it to us. Please prepare dinner for one more person,” the man said.

“Now, please come in.”

Kino and Hermes were guided by the old woman and passed through a spacious living room.

The man read a newspaper while sitting on the sofa, while his wife and child played with an unfamiliar toy. They carried on happily with these activities.

The old woman bowed and left.

“Um, will you answer a question for me?” Kino asked, and the man looked at her.

“Of course. What is it?”

“It’s about that old lady…,” Kino spoke hesitantly, “Is what she’s saying the truth? That she’s a mechanical doll?”

The man nodded lightly. “Yes, that’s correct. That doll’s a hard worker and is a great help in the house. Thanks to that, my wife and I could work, and have more time for our family.”

“I see…. I have one more question.”

“What is it?”

“Is there a country around here?”

The man’s face became slightly troubled upon hearing this question. “No, there’s no country nearby. Miss traveler, it seems like you’ve lost your way…. This is a heavily wooded area, so that is not possible,” the man answered.

Kino asked in return, “Then, why are you living in this kind of place?”

“……”

The man did not say anything for a while. And then he spoke with a smile, “No, there’s no country nearby. Miss traveler, it seems like you’ve lost your way…. This is a heavily wooded area, so that is not possible.”

“Is that so…”

After this, Kino said nothing more and waited quietly beside Hermes.

Eventually, they heard the return of the lively footsteps. The old woman announced with a smile, “Your room is ready. Please come this way.”

“Thank you very much… if you’ll excuse us.”

“Have a good time.”

Kino bowed lightly and pushed Hermes out of the reception room.

The man read the newspaper until the end.

Then started to read it from the beginning once more.

—

The room they were taken to was in the inner part of the first floor. It was rather spacious, with a painstakingly-made bed and other furniture which seemed to have history. Everything was wiped with a damp cloth so there was not a single speck of dust.

“You can stay here together with Mister Hermes. There’s a toilet and a shower inside. If you need anything, just ring the bell anytime. My room is right beside the entrance.”

Kino expressed her thanks. The old woman then left the room to prepare dinner.

Kino sat on the bed and removed her holstered persuader. Then she took off her jacket.

“Kino, what are we going to do?” Hermes asked.

“What to do…. To be frank, that family doesn’t seem like they want to associate with us.”

“That’s only natural.”

“Moreover, there are a lot of things they don’t want to tell us.”

“That’s also understandable.”

“Well, since grandma took pains to shelter us, let’s just accept her kindness and stay until tomorrow.”

“Understood.”

—

After taking a shower, Kino was called for dinner.

The family was sitting in silence in front of a splendid table in the dining room.

The woman moved nimbly on her own, lining up all of the dishes on the table from a food cart. There was fresh vegetable salad, consommé with mushrooms, a portion of steaming chicken served with finely chopped vegetables in olive oil sauce, and well-baked bread fresh from the oven with butter in a bowl.

“I hope you enjoy this old junk’s cooking. It’s a great honor for me,” the old woman bowed and went out of the room.

The man spoke to Kino, “Traveler, please help yourself.”

The family didn’t start eating the food, and just sat expressionlessly.

While observing the family, Kino slowly began to eat. After taking a bite, Kino’s meek expression became firm. Her pace quickened, and her face was full of satisfaction as she tasted all of the dishes.

When Kino has finished eating, the family silently stood up and moved to one side of the room carrying their plates. They moved aside a picture decorating the wall, revealing a small door. They opened it and threw away all of the food that they didn’t even touch inside the hole.

“……”

Kino was looking as they did this.

The old woman knocked and entered the dining room.

“How was it?”

“Yup. It was delicious. That chicken was the best.”

“It was great. Thank you, as always.”

“It was delicious——”

The family answered the old woman’s question without hesitation.

The old woman bowed with a smile, then turned to Kino. “Miss Kino, how was the food?”

“Eh? Yes, it was very delicious. I enjoyed it very much,” Kino said honestly.

“Oh, I’m glad,” the old woman said happily while laying down the plates with the desserts. And then she left.

Kino ate the dessert —raspberry sherbet— with delight.

The family remained silent and waited for Kino to finish eating, then tossed away the melted sherbet into the hole in the wall.

The man rang the bell and the old woman came.

“We’ll be excusing ourselves. Miss Kino, please have a relaxing stay,” the family said to Kino before they went out. The old woman happily removed the tableware and wiped the table clean.

Kino asked if there’s anything she could help with, but the old woman only shook her head and asked her instead, “Miss Kino, I’ll take something for you to drink before you sleep. Do you like hot chocolate?”

“Y-yes… thank you very much,” Kino said, and the old woman shook her head slowly once more.

“You don’t have to thank me,” and while narrowing her wrinkled eyes,

“It makes me feel great to be of use to somebody.”

—

“——so that’s how it is.”

“I see. But, they didn’t have to throw it away.”

“Yeah. I almost begged them to give it to me instead.”

“Where’s the family now?”

“It’s still seems a bit early in the evening. The old woman told me not to go to the second floor.”

“What do you think?”

“Well, it’s definitely not normal, but… without knowing the circumstances, I can’t really say anything.”

“Right. What about grandma?”

“She seemed busy so… I’ll just try to ask tomorrow. It’s been a long time since I have last slept on a bed.”

“Okay, good night——”

—

The next morning.

Kino woke up at dawn as usual. The weather was good. She moved her body lightly, then performed the maintenance of her persuaders.

When she went out to the corridor, she heard a sound from the kitchen. Kino peeked inside the slightly opened door and saw the old woman happily preparing breakfast. She rolled up fresh dough, and then molded it into shape. Then she coated it with melted butter and put it in the oven. She turned over a big hourglass.

Kino lightly knocked on the door.

“Good morning.”

“Oh my, Miss Kino. Good morning. It’s still too early. Did I wake you up, by any chance?”

“No, I always wake up this early. By the way, do you bake bread every morning?” Kino asked. The old woman answered as her hands continued to move.

“Yes. My most important job in the morning is to bake bread. Everyone eats lots of it, you see.”

—

The family woke up and sat at the dining table. The man and his wife were wearing business suits, while the son was carrying a small bag.

“Good morning. Miss Kino, were you able to rest well last night?” the man asked.

“Yes. It was all thanks to you,” Kino answered.

Baked bread, different kinds of jam, honey, soft-boiled eggs, salads, and crisply grilled bacon were lined up on the table.

“Traveler, please help yourself,” the man said. Without hesitation, Kino took as much as she could eat in her plate, and ate with much pleasure.

Just as the night before, the family only sat in silence. After some time, they threw away everything.

The man called for the old woman, who handed them two bags. And then, the three left the house.

The old woman returned to the dining room. When asked how the food was, Kino once again replied honestly.

“Without a doubt, this one is the best among the recent breakfasts that I had. It was much more delicious than any hotel’s or restaurant’s.”

“Why, thank you.”

“By the way, I have a question…,” Kino said, and the woman stopped and turned around.

“Yes?”

“Where is everybody going?”

—

“——My master and his wife goes to work. Their son goes to a nursery school. Every day, for five days a week.”

“Okay—. Grandma really said that?”

“Yeah. In any case, the couple works in different places, and since the husband is closer, he drops off and picks up the son from school. Well, it seems like they won’t be home until evening.”

“Ooh—. That’s something. Maybe you should have tried to ask where exactly they’re going.”

“… Oh well, what are we going to do?”

“Why don’t we leave? No one could answer your questions anyway.”

“Yup. I was thinking about that too, but let’s stay here a bit longer.”

“That’s fine, but why?”

“The reason’s a bit personal….”

“What?”

“Lunch——”

—

Kino took down the luggage from Hermes and pushed him outside. She was wearing her jacket.

Dried sheets were fluttering beside the entrance. The old woman was crouching by the field, doing something.

Kino stopped Hermes and approached the old woman.

“The potatoes are almost ready. During winter, everybody likes my gratin made from baking potatoes and bacon together in the oven. Maybe I could use some for this evening’s dinner.”

“That… also seems delicious,” Kino said.

“Good grief,” Hermes muttered with a small voice.

The old woman slowly stood up, looked at the sky, and searched for the sun. She looked at a particular point in the sky.

“Just perfect. Miss Kino, Mister Hermes, I want to show you something wonderful and rare. Please follow me,” she said to Kino whose face was a bit surprised.

And without waiting for Kino’s response, she walked briskly towards the forest. Kino pushed Hermes and followed in confusion.

—

Inside the forest, there was a path wide enough for one person to walk through. Kino followed the old woman while pushing Hermes along.

After a while, they arrived at a clearing and a scenery opened up before their eyes.

“Wow…”

“Amazing!”

Kino and Hermes exclaimed in wonder at the same time.

The place where the old woman finally stopped at was the cliff edge of an enormous valley. There was no ground right in front of them. The cliff has a steep angle, and was located at a tremendous height. The distance from the cliff to the other side of the valley was uniform.

When they carefully peeked at the bottom, they saw a lake. The long and narrow stretch of the lake had bright green water.

“This is amazing. It must be a valley formed by a glacier a long time ago,” Kino said.

“Who would have known there’s something like this nearby? It’s the end once you fall in. Be careful with your speed next time,” Hermes said.

Kino nodded in agreement and spoke to the old woman.

“So this beautiful view is what you wanted to show us.”

The old woman smiled and shook her head. “No. What I wanted to show you was something else.”

Kino made a dubious expression, while the old woman looked towards the sun once more.

“It’s about time. Please observe the bottom of the valley closely.”

Kino stopped Hermes by the cliff as much as she could, and then looked below.

The green of the lake slowly lightened up, as if it was being absorbed.

“?”

And then the lake became perfectly transparent, revealing the bottom of the valley.

“!”

“Kino! That’s!”

Kino gasped while Hermes exclaimed.

The bottom of the valley was illuminated by the bluish light passing through the water. It was a splendid city. There was a stretch of road networks lined up with a number of stone houses and apartments. More than half were crumbled remains of tall buildings and structures that looked like enormous factories, with holes opened on the roof. The city was enclosed with tall and thick walls built side by side.

“It’s a country…,” Kino muttered.

The woman spoke in a slow and gentle tone. “It’s a country from ancient times. It’s really sad; for some reason, this country was destroyed. Only during this time and season, the amount of light would make the water transparent and reveal this scenery.”

“……”

“……”

“I am sure there were a lot of people who lived here; people who lived supporting each other. But that was a long time ago.”

“……”

“……”

“What do you think? Isn’t it wonderful and rare to see an empty country appear like this?” the old woman asked the speechless Kino and Hermes.

Kino answered, her gaze still fixed at the bottom, “Yes…, I was totally surprised…. Thank you very much.”

“Oh, I’m glad. To think I can actually be a tour guide, too.”

—

When the old woman told them she has to return to work,

“I want to look at it a bit longer,” Kino said.

“I’ll go back and prepare lunch. Miss Kino, do you like wild rice soup?”

“Ah, yes. I’ve tried it in various countries before. I particularly like it with chicken.”

“That’s great. We’ll have that for lunch. Please come back when the sun is at its highest.”

And then the old woman left. Not long after, the water turned back to its original color.

“Kino, I thought you’ve noticed, but…”

Kino nodded. “Yeah. This country, or rather, its ruins, are relatively new….”

“Yup. No matter how you look at it, those buildings weren’t from ancient times.”

While Kino slowly drew Hermes away from the cliff,

“This may be the valley country that we were looking for…, no, it has to be.”

“Right. So, it was destroyed. The information must be outdated because you heard of it from a senile old man.”

“Even so, it’s strange that the old woman doesn’t know about it. It doesn’t seem like she was lying either…. And even if we ask the family, I doubt they’re going to tell us anyway.”

“Hide it or go and ask somebody else?” Hermes asked jokingly.

“Neither. We’ll leave this place tomorrow.”

“Ro—ger… wait, tomorrow? Ah! You wanted to freeload for dinner again.” As Hermes figured out the reason on his own,

“Well, my three days isn’t over yet,” Kino answered resolutely.

—

Kino ate lunch together with the old woman in the kitchen.

Kino ate the wild rice soup together with baked crackers enthusiastically.

On the other hand, the old woman only ate bread baked simply from some leftover dough and soup boiled from scrap vegetables.

“I always have this, so it has become my favorite,” she said.

As they were drinking their after meal tea, the woman talked proudly about the family.

The master was a very important person in the food company he works for, while the wife works very hard in a machine manufacturing company and sometimes comes home later than the husband. The young master does well in his studies and was popular at school.

The old woman told Kino how happy she was to work as a mechanical doll for this kind of family.

After a short break,

“Now, to make sure everyone has a nice home to return to, I have to do the cleaning,” the old woman said and quickly stood up. Right after, she pressed on her head, as if it throbbed painfully.

“Are you okay? Maybe you should rest for a bit,” Kino said, and tried to get the old woman to sit down.

“Yes, I’m fine. Maybe I need a little bit more grease? ——Well, it’s time to clean,” the old woman said with a smile and slowly stood up. She put the tableware in the sink and went out of the kitchen.

—

“It’s a good opportunity to stay for one more night.”

“Oh dear. And then?”

Kino was in front of the entrance, doing Hermes’ maintenance. She was tightening up screws and bolts on various parts, and applying grease where it was needed. Afterwards, she polished his headlights and tank.

“There, it’s perfect,” Kino said as she finished wiping everything.

“It’s not ‘perfect’, Kino. My speedometer’s still broken,” Hermes complained.

“I know how you feel, but fixing a speedometer is beyond me. We’ll have to go to a watchmaker for that,” Kino said, and Hermes sighed.

“Sigh…. I’ll have to endure this for a while.”

—

Kino pushed Hermes and returned to the room. They were just in time to see the old woman cleaning and putting the bed in order.

“Oh, I see Mister Hermes has also become clean.”

“Thanks. But you see——” Hermes complained and explained his dilemma. Then the old woman spoke in a casual tone,

“Can I take a look at the problem?”

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

“I’m used to detailed work, you see. Besides I’m a mechanical doll, so… Anyway, wait here for a bit, my master should have tools here somewhere.”

Then the old woman went out of the room and came back holding tools.

“Um, well, for the time being… If it’s no good, then it’s fine, so…”

As Hermes said this, the old woman disassembled the speedometer and examined the numerous tiny gears inside. And then,

“Ah, a gear was out of place,” she said without a care. Hermes expressed his wonder,

“Amazing!”

“… Uh, can you fix it?” Kino asked. The old woman moved around a pair of tweezers like an expert watchmaker. And then,

“There. I think that should do it,” she said immediately and put together the disassembled parts.

“Let’s try it, Kino.” Kino pushed Hermes. The meter worked without a cinch.

“……”

Kino said nothing, and looked at the old woman.

“Wow! Amazing! Grandma, thank you so much!” Hermes said in high spirits.

“I somehow managed to do it. I’m really glad to be of help,” the old woman said in a very satisfied tone.

“Now then, I’ll have to make preparations for dinner.”

—

“——I still couldn’t believe what we have seen today.”

“But she fixed it perfectly. Ah, I feel so refreshed.”

“I wonder who she really is, that old woman.”

“Who knows? What if she really is a mechanical doll? Then things would make sense.”

“Impossible.”

“Impossible, it is. But,”

“But what?”

“It doesn’t sound like a good thing to say, but she really is one useful person.”

“Yeah——”

—

During dinner, Kino cleaned up her plate while the family threw everything away, as usual.

Kino asked about the country at the bottom of the lake. However,

“Too bad, but we don’t know anything about it because it’s so old,” was the only answer given to her.

Kino then told them that she’ll definitely be leaving by tomorrow, and thanked them for everything.

“I see. Tomorrow huh…,” the man mumbled.

—

The next day, that is, the morning of the third day since Kino arrived in this house.

Kino woke up at dawn. She did her light exercises and went outside. The sky was so clear it was almost transparent.

Kino went to the kitchen, but the old woman was not there. She was not in the dining or the living room either.

She went to the old woman’s room and opened the door slightly. Kino peeked inside.

The old woman was collapsed on the floor right before the door.

“!”

Kino rushed to her and slowly raised her up. The old woman’s eyes were closed, and she was letting out long and thin gasps of air.

Kino raised the old woman and laid her on the bed.

“Grandma, can you hear me?”

The old woman opened her eyes slightly. “Oh…, Miss Kino.”

“I found you collapsed in front of your door. Are you aware of your body’s condition?” Kino asked, and the woman answered.

“Yes…, I know it all so well…. It seems like it’s time for this machine to break down…. Please, Miss Kino. I have to say goodbye to them. Will you take me to where everybody is…?”

“No, I’ll call them. You are in no condition to be moved around. I’ll come back right away!” Kino said, turned on her heels and opened the door of the room. There were three people standing in the corridor.

“!”

The family entered the room without saying anything.

Kino gaped at them for a while and then ran back to her own room and tapped Hermes awake.

She came back to the room pushing Hermes along. The three where standing beside the bed, looking down at the old woman quietly. Kino set Hermes on his center stand behind them.

The old woman spoke in a small voice. “Everyone… everyone…”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The three replied one after the other.

The old woman slowly opened her eyes. And while looking at the vacant space between the husband and the wife, she asked,

“Have I… been of use… to all of you…?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Yup.”

The man, his wife, and their son said as they nodded.

The old woman smiled very slowly.

“Oh, that’s good… to know…,” she muttered weakly.

Slowly, she exhaled quietly and lengthily, and closed her eyes.

And stopped moving.

—

Kino placed her fingers on the old woman’s throat. The three only stood quietly.

“She has passed away,” Kino said.

“Yes,” the man replied.

“She was a human after all?” Kino asked in confirmation, and the man turned to Kino.

“Yes,” was all he said, with a sad expression on his face.

“Well, I don’t believe mechanical dolls could really exist anyway,” Hermes said.

“What are you planning to do now?”

The man answered Kino’s question,

“We’ll bury her. You can help if you like.”

—

Kino and the others wrapped the old woman’s body in sheets.

Afterwards, the man took the hourglass from the kitchen and laid it side by side with the hands of the old woman folded on top of her chest.

—

“Please follow me,” the man said. Together with his wife, they got the body out of the house on a stretcher. The son had a big rucksack on his back, and carried four shovels in his hand with ease.

Inside the deciduous forest, there was a path wide enough for one person to walk through. Kino followed the old woman while pushing Hermes along.

After a while, they arrived at a clearing and a scenery opened up before their eyes. The morning sun shined on the magnificent valley. The light shined diagonally on the green water of the lake.

They laid the body down and started to dig a hole near the cliff, in a place where the lake could be seen very well. Kino followed suit.

When the grave was ready, the man took the corpse in his arms, entered the hole, and gently laid it down. The son opened the rucksack and took out a human skull from inside.

It was a slightly yellowed skull of an adult. Its left side was violently broken. The man placed it carefully beside the old woman’s head. Then the son took out another, smaller skull. This time, it was a child’s. The man put it beside the old woman’s head as well.

The man turned to Kino and spoke, “Her husband and son.”

The man went out of the hole, handed out the shovels, and started to dump soil on the grave. The wife and the son proceeded silently.

Kino also began to work on the other side.

For a while, only the cries of birds, the leaves rustling from the wind, and the sound of earth filling up a hole, could be heard.

—

Kino stood in front of the fresh grave, opening her eyes from a long, silent prayer. Her mouth moved a little, but no voice came out.

Kino turned to the family. “We’ll have to excuse ourselves now. Thank you for letting us stay.”

The man smiled lightly and opened his mouth to speak.

“Miss Kino, don’t you want to know?”

“Know what?”

“As to ‘who’ she was, ‘what’ we are, and ‘where’ that place at the bottom of the lake belonged to.”

“……”

Kino fell silent for a moment.

“What do you say? We can answer all of your questions, Miss Kino,” the wife smiled a little, and spoke with a clear voice.

“… I would love to know,” Kino said.

“Me too!” Hermes chimed in happily.

The son’s eyes brightened up, and with a vivid expression,

“It’s going to be a rather long story. Is that all right with you, Miss Kino?” he said with the tone of an adult.

“Y-yes…, I don’t mind,” Kino said, slightly surprised.

The man, woman, and child, looked at each other and smiled.

“But first, look at this,” the man said as he placed both of his hands on the son’s head. He turned it twice to the left, and lifted it from the rest of the body.

“!”

Kino’s face convulsed for a moment. The son’s laughing head was connected to its body with a number of thin tubes.

“D-don’t tell me… everyone’s…”

“Yes,” the wife said. And then with her right hand, she removed her left, and let it dangle. The man replaced the son’s head, and removed his own.

“Mechanical dolls?”

The man answered Kino’s question by making his head nod with his hands.

Kino exhaled deeply, her eyes still wide open.

“Wow, I’m surprised! But you sure are well-made!” Hermes said happily.

—

Kino sat beside Hermes, who was set on his center stand.

“Now that I know ‘what’ you are, kindly tell me ‘who’ she was and ‘where’ that city belonged. And if you can, please tell me ‘why’, as well.”

“I understand. Let us explain first about that country,” said the male mechanical doll who remained standing.

“You must have heard rumors about a rare country in the middle of a long and narrow valley…, but you weren’t aware that it was an extinct country torn between two races which were in constant struggle against each other,” said the female mechanical doll who remained standing.

“At times, political confrontations would result in bloodshed. Even so, people lived in it, either from the illusion that things would stabilize someday, or from the reality that they have no other place they could go to,” said the child mechanical doll who remained standing.

“She was born and raised in such a country. Miss Kino, do you want to know her name?”

Kino shook her head in response to the three people who stiffly stood, lined up near the edge of the cliff.

“Fifty years ago, she was a doctor of mechanical engineering in that country. She was thirty years old at the time. In that world, she was known as ‘a genius that comes only once in several hundred years’,” said the male mechanical doll.

“So that’s why she was able to fix Hermes.”

“I see.”

Kino and Hermes muttered.

“Yes. If it’s her, she could probably make all of the parts of a motorrad by herself. Even the parts a hundred times smaller inside the engine; she can make them move perfectly,” said the female mechanical doll.

“……”

“Wow.”

“She became unsatisfied with the research sponsorship she received and decided to build her own research facility. Her aim was to create mechanical dolls. Machines which looked exactly like humans, that work for humans, are yet to be created——,” said the child mechanical doll.

“She thought, ‘Mechanical dolls will free humans from work. And as a result, everyone will have spare time to resolve their differences; then the quarrels thus far will all be a thing of the past,’” said the male mechanical doll.

“She immersed herself into her research. But even with her abilities, creating mechanical dolls of the quality she desired was no simple task. She spent days on end in her research facility, and had very little time to spend with her beloved husband and son. We witnessed this while we were inside our cases,” said the female mechanical doll.

“From time to time, she would look sadly at the picture of her family. Even so, she carried on with her research. And finally, her efforts bore fruit when she completed three mechanical dolls that function perfectly,” said the child mechanical doll.

“I see.”

“That’s the three of you.”

The male mechanical doll confirmed. After that, he continued hesitantly.

“She embraced us happily. She put us in her car in a hurry, and took us to her apartment, to the place where the people whom she wanted to share the success of her research before anyone else, waited. ‘They’ll be surprised. I managed to finish just in time,’ she said happily…. But when we arrived, the apartment was no longer there. In its place was a mountain of rubble, the traces of a big explosion. It was a terrorist bombing born from the feud of the two opposing races.”

“……”

“……”

The female mechanical doll narrowed her eyes and continued. “She jumped out of the car and ran to the mountain of debris. She looked at the corpses lined up beside it and found her husband, with part of his head crushed, and her son, whose lower body was missing. Then, she turned to us and laughed, ‘Now, everyone. My husband and son are waiting. Let’s celebrate!” ——She went inside the apartment without a moment’s delay. The rubble collapsed on her. We saved her and took her to the research facility to treat her injuries. Her life was out of danger, but it took several days for her consciousness to return. However, she was not the same person who created us….”

The child mechanical doll continued, his face having the expression of someone who was about to cry.

“When she regained consciousness, the first thing she told me was, ‘What time is it?’ I answered promptly, and she reacted with, ‘Oh, my. Master’s going to be home soon. I have to make dinner.’ She then tried to get up with her injured body. We immediately gave her a shot of tranquilizer. But when she opened her eyes for the second time, she asked us, ‘Are you the family that I serve?’ She asked a number of times, until finally, we responded, ‘Yes, that’s right. But right now, you are still in the middle of production. So you have to wait for a while.’ ——No matter how much we tried to fix her and examine every nook and cranny of her brain, we couldn’t find out how she became like this. If only she were a mechanical doll, we could pinpoint the exact place with the problem.”

“… And then, what happened?” Kino asked.

The male mechanical doll looked at the other two mechanical dolls, and spoke as their representative.

“And then, while we were waiting for her to recover physically, the fighting between the two sides escalated. Every day, there would be terrorist bombings, and the other side would retaliate in a similar fashion. We felt that her body would soon be in danger, so we hid her in the basement of her research laboratory. An ugly civil war soon broke out. Eventually, the deafening days which continued on end suddenly came to a halt. The population had decreased rapidly to the point that it could no longer continue as a country. After a while, groups emerged, living however they wanted and going around killing for food. In the end, everyone left the country. We have no idea about their whereabouts, but seeing that there were no rumors that the country was no longer in existence, probably…”

“I see,” Kino nodded.

“We took her with us above ground. She said with a smile, ‘My, how chaotic. It would be really worthwhile cleaning this place up.’ And so we told her, ‘No, we will be moving to a new house. Inside the forest above the valley, there’s a really inexpensive place we could live in. There, you will work for us.’ ——Since then, for 54 years and 341 days, we have been acting as an artificial family for her.”

“I see…,” Kino said.

“What about that lake?” Hermes asked.

“To prevent her from recollecting painful memories, we built a dam and submerged the country. The water becoming transparent was not part of our calculations.”

“Did you know that her body was getting weaker?”

The mechanical dolls answered Kino’s question.

“Yes. We performed a regular scan of her body’s condition…. But old age was the only thing we couldn’t do anything about.

—

When everything had been explained, Kino faced the mechanical dolls.

“I don’t have anything else I would like to ask. We’ll pack up and leave.”

At that moment, the three mechanical dolls spoke all at once.

“We were made by her. To work for the sake of humans, yes, to work for her. And so, our mission has come to an end…. But, that was not our only duty! Miss Kino, is there anything you want us to do for you? Just say it. If we don’t do anything for humans, then there is no reason for us to exist! Just continuing to exist will be very painful!”

Kino answered, “No, there’s nothing.”

“Please don’t say such things! There must be something! We can be of assistance to you. We can be someone you need. We can be your friends, parents, children, lovers, or enemies.”

“……. I am not interested. I’m sorry,” Kino answered expressionlessly, just as before.

“Don’t you have someone you truly need from the bottom of your heart?” asked a monotonous voice.

“Right now, there’s no one. Well, except for myself.”

“No way! Not having a person important to you, isn’t that sad? Isn’t that sort of life empty? Humans have to be together with someone. Humans have to live for somebody. If not, wouldn’t that be really painful?”

Kino shook her head. “It depends,” answered a monotonous voice.

“Please make use of us!”

Kino shook her head once more.

Then they asked, “We can’t be of any use to you? We are useless?”

Kino remained silent.

Eventually, they muttered, “Is that so…”

They turned on their heels and slowly walked. Soon the footsteps vanished, and they disappeared from Kino’s sight.

After some time, the sound of something hitting the water was heard.

Kino peeked below the cliff.

The three were floating face up on the green water.

The lake slowly cleared up. At the same time, the bodies began to sink.

They sank towards the blue city; their arms wide open as if they were about to fly.

Translator's Notes

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