When is this memory even from? It must have been when I was still young.
It had been a summer day when Ayaka’s grandmother had taken her to the place of her birth. Ayaka remembered that the summer hadn’t been hot that year. They had been visiting their family grave plot for the first time in quite a while. Ayaka’s parents were set to arrive a day later, as they had work to do.
The house where Ayaka’s grandmother had been born was very old but still lovely. It was clean and well-maintained, and the refrigerator in the kitchen was brand new. Ayaka was told that someone from the local area was hired to keep the house clean throughout the year.
“Guess this is what they mean when they say y’should marry someone rich, eh?” said Ayaka’s grandmother, lighting up a cigarette as she stared out across the rice fields.
“I’m heading out for a while,” she said after the two of them had eaten lunch together. “I’ll be close, though, don’t you worry. I don’t figure anyone’s comin’ by…but you holler nice and loud if anythin’ happens okay? Your grandma’ll come runnin’.”
With that, she turned down the hall and disappeared in the direction of the front door. Ayaka sat alone on the porch and looked up at the cloudless sky above. She threw her legs out over the side and took off her shoes, lining them up neatly on the ground outside.
It was so quiet. She had thought there might be cicadas out in the countryside. But not only were there no insects, Ayaka couldn’t even hear the birds singing. The only neighbor in sight had rice fields of their own and was quite a way down the road. Theirs was the only house in the area.
…Ding…
All she could hear were the wind chimes, ringing cooly as they hung above her. A light breeze gently flapped at the hem of the white dress that Ayaka’s mother had bought her. For a while she just stared up absent-mindedly into the sky. Suddenly…
…Ding…
The wind chimes rung out once, and then…
All sound disappeared from the world.
The sound of the wind chimes vanished.
“…”
It was such a strange sensation. Ayaka felt as if she had become one with the sky and the earth, as if they were all mingled together as one being…
She felt something else, too. Felt that she was…just existing. She felt as if everything had dissolved into sheer clarity. Clear and pure…and somewhat comforting.
“—Ayaka!”
She snapped back to reality.
…Ding…
“Ah… Grandma?”
“Are you okay? I was callin’ for you for a while, you seemed spaced out… You sleepy?”
“Eh?”
That’s strange, Ayaka thought. I can remember her approaching me, calling my name… I wasn’t asleep or unconscious. I remember recognizing her. I knew she was calling my name. I knew that I knew what was happening.
…Huh? What am I thinking?
There must be something wrong with me. I don’t understand.
“I knew that I knew?”
What am I saying, I sound like an eccentric fortune teller.
“C’mon now, you’ve even got drool on your chin!”
Ayaka thanked her grandmother for wiping her face with her handkerchief, then looked back up at the wind chimes.
…Ding…
The wind chimes…
The wind chimes are ringing.
✦ ✦ ✦
Wormgandr charged at her, sweeping away her silver knights as he moved in for the finishing blow. Ayaka swung her unique skill sword.
—Whoosh—
Her blade made contact—gouging deep into Wormgandr’s side.
“Huh?”
The wound sprang wide open, blood pouring from the disciple’s side. Ayaka had known what would happen before she struck. She had imagined it, and it had happened just as she thought it would. It was there right in front of her, a reality, just existing.
“…Hyu—hyahyahyahyahyahyahyah! Are you freakin’ serious?! Is this how far you’ve got?! Human?! Vicius—that damned idiot! She was totally right to try and break you—to try and bend ya to her will!”
Ayaka’s second attack cut deep into the disciple’s right shoulder, sending blood spurting out from the injury. Wormgandr leaped back in retreat.
“I get it. You’ve completely put yourself in a trance, free of all impurities… Then, from that state of complete and total concentration, you’re sending out unconscious attacks, are ya?” Wormgandr cackled gleefully. “That’s why I can’t read your strikes, huh… Hyah hyah… Couldn’t even hope ta.”
Wormgandr scratched his chin.
“Right now… I reckon…you’re sorta seein’ the future in a way, eh? I gotta take that into account, huh?”
Ayaka noticed that all of the shallow cuts that she had made into her enemy’s body had now faded completely.
“Oh, those?” Wormgandr laughed. “Hyah hyah… I’ve got the ability to regenerate, y’see? Don’t worry, it ain’t unlimited or nothin’. You’re definitely wearin’ me down.”
Ayaka saw that the wounds in his side and on his shoulder had already begun to regenerate.
“Why did you tell me that?”
“Well…a reward, I s’pose? You did show me all this, after all. Didn’t think I’d get to see such a bloom of potential before I went back up t’ the heavens… I’m grateful.”
There’s a limit to his regeneration? Is he bluffing? No—it’s slight, but I can sense that his movements have slowed. This is working.
“Hyeh… Anyway, I guess we’ve got a little change of plans here. You show me somethin’ like this, then heck…I think I’m gettin’ in the mood for a fight.”
✦ ✦ ✦
