“Hrmm... I don’t get it,” Manato said as he followed Haru.
“Yeah, that’s fair. I don’t completely understand it myself.”
“Well, never mind.”
“You’re fine with not knowing?”
“There’s tons of stuff I don’t know. Like, what am I even doing in Grimgar in the first place?”
“Well... You’re absolutely right about that.”
Haru opened a door on the left side somehow. Manato couldn’t figure out exactly how he’d done it, but he was sure that Haru had touched a part of the door.
There was a room on the other side. Haru’s room was big, but it had nothing on this one. However, it wasn’t as well lit as Haru’s. The round lighting fixtures on the ceiling had a green tint to them, and they lacked the strength to illuminate the entire space.
After Manato followed Haru into the room, the door slid shut on its own. It made a little whoosh as it did, but the room was awfully quiet other than that.
“What is this?”
Manato couldn’t help but be taken aback. Not by the size of the room but by the incredible number of things in it. There were round things, and there were square things. There were machines of all sorts. There were counters with lots of little things laid out on top of them. There were shelves, and they were lined with pots and bottles. Books too. There were human-shaped things. There were a variety of containers. And there were empty spaces here and there, which Haru was walking through. Manato hurriedly followed.
“What is this? Hey. Haru. What’s with this place?”
“This is all more or less scrap.”
“Scrap?”
“These were all relics at one point. But they’ve lost their power because their elixir was extracted.”
“Rrrelics? El-lick-sir?”
“This is a warehouse. Things that were no longer of use were brought here to be stored. Though some are still usable.”
Haru stopped in one corner of the warehouse. There was a blue sheet laid out on the floor. A pretty large one. On top of it lay knives, longer blades, spears, bows, and crossbows. There were a lot of them too. Not just ten or twenty. There had to be over a hundred.
Haru pulled back his cloak, apparently to show Manato the knife hanging at his hip.
“I’m armed. It’d be careless of you to go empty-handed. Do you see anything here you could use? If you don’t know, I’ll pick out something for you.”
“You mean I can use any of these that I want?”
“I don’t mind. I’ll go fetch some clothes that should fit you. Take your pick.”
“Right, I’ll get to choosing, then. Whoa, this is awesome. There’s so many of them. And I can pick any weapon I want, huh? I dunno what to do...”
Manato crouched down and grabbed the knife that had caught his eye first. He pulled it from its sheath and found that it had a double-edged blade.
“Oh. Come to think of it, I don’t have my knife with me. Huh. But I kept it on me most of the time, even when I was in the house. That’s weird. I was used to using that one. Well, whatever. Hmm... This one’s nice too. It’s pretty sharp and all. And since it’s double-edged, it’ll probably be good for stabbing. Oh, but this long one is cool too. Is it a katana? Maybe? Like the yakuza carried around? Maybe not. Think I’ll take this one too...”
Manato sheathed the double-edged knife and set it down on the blue sheet, then picked up the katana by the hilt. He stood up with it, and immediately noticed that it wasn’t as heavy as he’d thought it would be.
“Whoa! No way! It’s so light! Let’s try drawing it.”
When he pulled it from its scabbard, it turned out it wasn’t a single-edged blade like he’d expected. It was another double-edged one. But after pondering that for a moment, he remembered that the hand guard on the yakuza’s katanas had been round. This one’s hand guard was a cross.
He set the scabbard on the floor, then tried posing with the katana.
“I can totally manage it one-handed, but holding it two-handed would work as well.”
Holding the long hilt with both hands made it feel even lighter.
“I bet I could take down a bear with this. Maybe not a great bear, though.”
He gave it five or six test swings to get a feel for its balance and whatnot, tossed it from his right hand to his left, tossed it back again, went for another test swing from a different angle, and then tried swinging with both sides of the blade as he moved around.
“Oh man. Seriously? This is way too good. Wow. But there’s a bunch of other ones that look awesome too. What about the bows? Guess I won’t know without trying them first. There are quivers and arrows with them too. Huh. Well, it’d be good to have a bow. They’re all...well maintained? In good condition. What should I do? It’s so hard to choose.”
As he tested katanas and bows one after another and considered his options, Haru returned with his arms full of clothing.
“You’re about the same size as me, so this should fit you. Not sure how you’ll feel about the color, though.”
“The color?”
Manato set the katana he was currently trying out down on the sheet and accepted an article of clothing from Haru. It was heavy. Heavier than the katana. It wasn’t made of cloth, but some kind of tanned leather, and it had been dyed.
“Oh, it’s orange.”
Manato unfurled the piece of clothing. It was a jumpsuit with the top and bottom connected. Some parts were orange. Other parts were black. Haru set the rest of the clothes he was carrying down on the floor. Boots and gloves. They looked no less durable than the jumpsuit.
“Is it perhaps a bit too showy?” Haru asked.
All of the clothes Haru was wearing were black, or close to it. That would make him hard to see at night, and would blend into the forest well, which Manato thought was good. Manato had never worn clothing or used tools with vibrant colors. It was impossible to not stand out that way.
“Hmm, well... Can I try it on?”
“That is what I brought it here for.”
Haru turned his back to Manato. Why had he done that? Manato didn’t know, but he quickly stripped down and put on the jumpsuit.
“Ooh! It feels so light now that I’m wearing it! Awesome! It’s easy to move in too. Ah! There’s something hard in the knees and elbows. And the shoes...fit perfectly! Whoa! They’re light! Even though the soles are so thick! And these gloves are nice too. I can even move my fingers properly in them. Wow. Mind if I try using the katana like this?”
“Katana? Ohhh. That is not a katana. It’s a longsword. It used to be a relic called a Punisher, but now that the elixir’s been removed, it’s just a sword.”
“A longsword? So that’s what they’re called. Huh. Got it. It’s a good sword. Its balance’s perfect, isn’t it? Easy to use too. Yeah. I’m going with this. Oh, and the double-edged knife too.”
“The dagger, huh? That’s a Fatalsis. Like the Punisher, it’s lost its effect, though.”
“Can I borrow a bow and a quiver too?”
“Use whatever you like. I don’t need any of this stuff.”
“Nice! My mom and dad were hunters, y’know. I used to hunt with them. With these, I should be able to take down some prey pretty easily.”
“Hunters... So that’s what your parents were, huh?”
“Do you have hunters here in Grimgar too?”
“We did.”
Manato noticed Haru’s deliberate use of the past tense. That meant there had been hunters a long time ago, but there weren’t any now.
“One of my closest friends was a hunter. She was stronger than anyone, and kind. She was like the sun.”
“Wow. So is she...”
Dead?
Manato was about to ask Haru, but he thought better of it.
It was natural for people to die, and anyone who was alive was eventually going to. Whether they were children or adults, when they died, they died. Adults always got weaker over time until they died. That was how Manato saw it, because that was how things had been in Japan.
But Haru seemed to have been alive for a long time. And from the way he’d been talking earlier, people in Japan might have been short-lived compared to people in Grimgar. Death might not be as commonplace for Haru as it had been for Manato.
“That was a long time ago.” Haru let out a small laugh behind his mask. “For me, everything...is in the distant past. I’m remembering her for the first time in ages. Because I tried so hard not to think about her. It’s...kind of a nostalgic feeling.”
“Nostalgic, huh?”
Manato spun his new sword around. He wasn’t just twisting his wrists but putting the hilt of the sword between the fingers of both his hands and twirling it around. As he got used to it, the blade started to feel like an extension of his own body. It really was a wonderful sword.
“Well, even if she did die, all that means is that she’s dead, right?”
“Um, care to explain what you mean by that?”
“Uhhh, you know... Even when a person dies, they’re not gone. My mom and dad died, but they didn’t disappear. A bunch of my comrades died too, and they’re still with me. Ahhh. It’s hard to explain. Your friend? The hunter? She died a long time ago, right? Should I avoid that word? Died?”
“Nah. No need to worry about my feelings. It’s just... I never confirmed it myself. I couldn’t. She was far away... And when I did go looking for her afterward, I couldn’t find her. But given the situation, I have a hard time imagining how she could’ve survived.”
“Oh, I see. You don’t want to think that she died?”
“No... I suppose I don’t. But even if, against all odds, she did manage to make it out in one piece, she’ll have died of natural causes by now.”
“Natural causes?”
“So there’s no chance she’s still alive. She’s dead. Just like all of the others. But...”
Haru gripped his mask with his right hand. For a moment, Manato thought he might be trying to take it off. He wasn’t. Haru was simply pressing on the mask as he let out a sigh.
“She still...exists. Inside of me. It’s like you were saying, Manato. I haven’t lost her...or my comrades. My friends. Not completely. I was trying to forget that. Even though I shouldn’t...”