I’m not sure.
Such a question ...
“You are going to be a pilot again, aren’t you?” She asked. “You fly an aircraft again, aren’t you?”
“Probably.” I nodded.
I can understand that question.
“Yes, you might want to do that.”
“There is no other choice.”
“You may cease to be you. And yet, that is the path you have chosen.”
“I am always what I am.”
“Yes, you are correct. It is the right thing to do. You are fundamentally different from us.”
“I don’t think so.” I shook my head horizontally.
“I think I can write a thesis now.” She smiled. “It’s too late, though.”
“You will get out of here alive.”
“No, say no more.”
“You can escape through this sewer. Don’t give up.”
“Will you run away with me?”
“I’m afraid I cannot do so.”
She looked at me and remained silent.
I waited.
She blinked once, stared at me, and spoke.
“I want to ask you for doing me just one favor.”
“What is it?”
“Shoot me.” She advanced forward crawling. “Do you have a gun?”
“I don’t.”
“If so, use this gun.”
“I won’t shoot you. I promised them that I would get you out.”
“It goes against my religion to shoot myself. That’s why I’ve never been able to kill myself. Please. Take this gun and shoot me in the head. Then, let me hold that gun in my hand. It will prevent you from going through further trouble.”
She handed the gun to me.
She turned her head to the side. Then she crossed herself modestly and clasped the fingers of both hands together.
“With my Lord in Heaven ...”
I put my finger on the trigger.
Then, I applied the force on it.
Fire.
Blasting sound.
Gun powder and smoke.
The eternal instantaneity.
Her body was flung to the back of the space.
Ah, how pitiful, I thought.
And then, I thought again. No, that’s not it.
I entered the pipe, and fabricated the scene by letting her right hand hold the gun.
I did not see her face.
Where is her Lord?
Is this her Heaven?
It was a noble spirit.
I made a salute.
This place is not the sky.
The surrounding is dirt.
Her body is lying there, not falling anywhere.
Blood flows out.
How beautiful.
“Hey, where are you?” I heard a voice from the upper hole.
I went out to the watercourse and climbed up to the upper opening.
“I’m here.”
I illuminated the vicinity with the lamp.
I heard some noise.
A blinding light flashed.
“What was that gunfire?”
“Sounds like it’s down there.”
The lights were getting closer.
I stepped back.
The men exited from the hole, and peered into the tunnel just below them.
I went back alone through the upper hole.
As I went out of the tunnel, I passed by one of the men.
“She’s over there,” I told the one where she was.
When I walked out to the hangar, I finally saw the natural light.
I stepped over the rubble and got outside. Blinding. I put out the flame of the lamp. The tall woman spotted me and came over to me.
“I could not save her,” I reported it.
“Well ...” She made a short sigh.
“Ma’am, may I smoke here?”
“Go ahead. Do you have it?”
“Yes.”
I took a pack out of my pocket and picked up a cigarette. There were not many left. It was the cigarette I had bought with Fuko’s money.
I lit it with the lighter.
I inhaled the smoke deeply.
I remembered the color of the blood that flowed out from her head.
I looked up at the sky and neutralized the image of the blood in my mind.
“Why did you shoot down a friendly plane?” The woman in front of me asked.
“I did not know they were on my side.”
“Why couldn’t you tell?”
“Maybe it’s the effect of the drugs. I’m feeling much better now.”
“Yeah, that reply is good enough.” She nodded. Then, she relaxed her lips just slightly. “I am glad you are alive.”
“Are you glad because not only I’m alive but also I have the functionality to fight?”
She too picked up a cigarette and lit it.
“To the car.” She exhaled the first smoke, and started walking.
“What about that Sanka?” I was following her.
“Don’t worry. We’ll carry that out.”
“I can easily convey it by flying it. Do you want me to pilot it?”
“No, this area is designated as a no-fly zone. We can deal with the previous flights as an unavoidable emergency. But flying from now on is a bad idea. The press is going to find out about this, and they are going to come and get us.”
“Sorry, I don’t understand well what you are talking about.”
“Me, neither.” She stopped and smiled at me. She was showing the happiest face that I had ever seen out of her.
She put one hand on my back and pushed it. We made our way through the bushes and went up the slope.
The sky was blue and bright.
The smoke was almost gone.
Everything is purified.
When I looked back, I could see the runway clearly. There was just the Sanka. I saw three men standing near it. How are they going to carry it? Are they going to bring in a large trailer up here?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bank, there were two men. They were carrying something out of a shack with a leaning roof and collapsed walls. That’s what I came out from to smoke this morning.
I inhaled the smoke into my chest and exhaled it again.
My physical condition was gradually returning to normal.
I feel fine now.
My head is clear.
Like the sky, am I purified?
The path of the embankment looked like a beautiful curve. It was as if it was part of a huge ring.
At the end of the arc, a bird flapped its wings and soared. It was grasping something. My eyes followed it as it flew low into the forest.
“By the way, how did you manage to recover so well?” She asked me. She was still holding the cigarette in one hand. The fingers of her glove were clasping it. I remembered seeing several times the figure that her gloved fingers were assuming.
Then, as I stared at her face, I was reminded.
“Kai ...” I uttered. Yes, it is her name.
Kai tilted her head.
“Perhaps ...” I was able to recover thanks to Aoi Sagara’s treatment, yes, the secret injection.
“What?”
“No ..., nothing.”
Kai let out a breath through her nose and seemed to chuckle a little. Yes, she smiled with such a gentle face.
“Now ..., I’m going to have a hard time writing a report.” She uttered. “Four of our planes were shot down. Who on earth shot them down? Within just 20 minutes of time.”
“It was Sanka,” I answered.
She laughed, threw the cigarette away, and opened the rear door of the car.
I put out the cigarette, too.
Then, I got into the car.
Kai sat next to me and closed the door. The engine was ignited, and the car started running immediately.
I closed my eyes.
I wanted to immerse myself into a reverie.
A dream in which I am flying in the beautiful sky.
But, it did not work well. I could not see anything.
It is darkness.
The only thing I could hear was the erratic shaking of the car.
And then.
The poor sound of the engine.
“Boomerang, are you still flying?”
In the inner part of my ear, I heard a faint, familiar voice.
I listened carefully and waited for the voice.
Once again ...