I joined her in the middle of the grassland. I thought she was going back to her cabin. She kept on going down the path. Then, she passed by the blackish rock formation I had been sitting on, and started climbing from the forking trail. The sight, which I had not been able to see, was appearing.
I wanted to ask her about the fighter aircraft. However, because she continued to walk, I followed her without saying anything. She would speak first if she wanted to. As a side note, she was not carrying anything. Although I witnessed that something dropped from the aircraft, she did not seem to have picked it up.
We got on a rocky stretch. Relatively tall plants grew thick just around the area. They were not weeds, but the height was not tall enough to be classified as trees. Steep slopes rose sharply from the place, and the moss-like substances were attached to the blackish rocks. There was no road beyond that point. We could not go up without climbing the rocks that were like stairs for giants.
When we stepped on the first rock, she stopped.
I looked at the view that was opening up below me. It was too hazy for me to appreciate an unobstructed sight. Still, I could see the meadowland below, surrounded by the fan-shaped forest. It sloped to both left and right almost symmetrically. I could roughly estimate that this coordinate was the essential part of the landform.
“When I come here, I feel the urge for wanting to fly.” She said, and took a deep breath. “But I should do it in summer. It is too cold now.”
“I saw a fighter aircraft,” I told her. I reconsidered that it would be unnatural if I did not talk about it.
“Right. It seems to visit here occasionally.”
“For what purpose?”
“Who knows ...”
“To deliver mail?” I asked.
She looked at my face. Then, she relaxed her lips slowly.
“Correct.” It was her answer.
My mind became clearer again. In short, I thought it became clear several times, but it was still murky. So, I’m not sure if the current shape is my original condition.
She walked toward me, and climbed up to the rock as if she wanted to stop me. In other words, does she not want me to know anything about the object the aircraft dropped? I wonder if she is cheating on me. Indeed, it is nothing more than a mail delivery. Which means she somehow communicated with the aircraft.
But it was her freedom. Although it might be forbidden in this region, it had nothing to do with me, at least. It was a very natural thing. None of my business.
So, I had immediately decided to break away from this topic. I had an urge to push down the control stick to execute a half-roll maneuver.
“Do you actually think the pilot of the aircraft can see you during such a flight?” She inquired.
“No, that’s impossible,” I answered. I was sure about that. It was not a matter of eyesight. In terms of the angle of the flight orientation, it was impossible for the pilot to see me.
“I’m relieved.” She uttered. “So, do you have an opinion or a question about this view?”
“No, nothing in particular.”
“Well, then, shall we go back? Or do you want to take a walk a little more?”
“Well. You know, I have not walked all so much yet.”
“There is no path in the direction. If you want to walk, you may want to go that way.” She pointed toward the direction of her cabin. “A pond is there. A beautiful pond. You can launch a boat there.”
“Where is the boat?”
“We have to bring it by car. Shall we go there tomorrow?”
“If we have tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow will come.”
Her reply was filled with confidence. I was a bit relieved about the fact that there was actually tomorrow for her.
We got off the rock formation, and made the return trip along the trail in the grassland.
“What life do you want to live?” She asked while walking.
“What do you mean by what life?”
“If you cannot make a comeback as a pilot, how do you think you can live a life?”
“I think I cannot make a comeback anymore.”
“If you think so, I am a bit relieved.”
“I cannot imagine what life it will be. But, maybe, I can live whatever life I desire. I don’t dislike working. However, a working environment, in which I have to communicate with many people, will not probably suit me.”
“Why?”
“When communicating with someone, I have so many things to think about to the extent that I get exhausted.”
“Ah, I know how you feel. So do I.”
“By the way ...” I had decided to talk about the issue. “If you shelter me, will you not have to deal with troubles?”
She stopped suddenly and looked back.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m worried if my staying here will have you in danger.”
“Oh, of course, I cannot deny the notion of danger.”
“Really. If that is the case, then I cannot stay here for too long.”
“No, you are wrong about that.” She was staring fixedly at me. “If I don’t want the situation, I would not have invited you in the first place. By the time I visited your patient room, I had already made up my mind.”
“But.”
“Don’t worry.”
“I don’t want to give you trouble ...”
“That’s not trouble. As you pilots do, I fight, too. I once thought I had to give it up. I can say that everything is my fault. So, I just try to do my duty. Rather, I guess you are the one who is in trouble because of me. Be honest, and tell me.”
“No, honestly speaking, I have no place to go, even if I leave here.”
“If so, do not say such a thing anymore.”
“However, I cannot stay here forever.”
“Forever, you say ...” She looked down. Then, she started strolling again. “Right, I don’t have a prospect of such a distant future. To begin with, I don’t think my life will continue for so long. Probably, an assassin will come here and shoot me someday in the future. I can project only such a future.”
“Who will kill you?”
“I still have the data that no one else has. I kept it in a place where no one can easily find even if I am killed. But, it will be better if I am killed. Probably, they will force me to confess by injecting drugs or torturing me.”
“You can just disclose such dangerous data.”
“Right.” She nodded while looking forward. “I wonder what justice this is. What mission is it? Ethics? Or, it might be nothing more than the pride. I’m not sure. But that’s okay. I will kill myself before being caught by them. You know, I always carry a gun.”
“I do not know well the thing called science. Is it such a wonderful thing?”
“What?”
“I mean, is it attractive enough to make you so obstinate?”
“Ah, I see. You think so ... Yes, you might be right. But, if you say so, is your fighting in the sky such a wonderful thing?”
Her counter-inquiry made me understand it in an instant. Ah, that’s the same, I thought.
“We fight in the airspace of science against something.” She looked back and smiled. “It does not involve an aircraft piloted by a human.”
“Who pilots it?”
“No, it is not an aircraft in the first place. The opponent whom we have to shoot down is an angel.”
“Angel?”
“Right. It might be a demon, though. But they are both the same beings.”
“Same beings?”
Her mysterious talk ended at that point. The trail slope was getting gentler, and we were close to her cabin. She started running to the center of the vast grassland. I stopped and watched her.
At a point about 100 meters from me, she crouched down. She seemed to be picking up something. Probably, I guessed that it was the thing that the aircraft dropped.
It might be a bone of an angel, I thought.
-6-