Chapter 10

CHAPTER FIVE When she woke, the first thing she saw was an old stone ceiling. Then she realized that Mimi was sitting on her chest, and she sat up, petting her back. She took another look around. She was in an open space that looked like an ancient building, eroded by green trees. Oh right. I dived deep into that…what was it called, the strange water— “You’re awake?” When she turned around, Morisaki was standing there. He jerked his chin at Mimi. “It came out of your backpack. Did you bring it?” “…No. Hey, Kitty, when did you…?” Asuna’s voice was reproachful, and Mimi nuzzled her face cheekily. “We may not be able to take her all the way to the end with us,” Morisaki told her. “All the way to the end—?” Asuna repeated, and then, “—! Mr. Morisaki, is this…?!” Is this Agartha? She hadn’t quite finished her question, and Morisaki didn’t answer. Instead, he said, “I think that stairway over there might take us through. Come on.” He started walking immediately, and she followed him up a set of stairs that could have come from an old European castle, until finally the corridor ended in a green, indoor garden. “Mr. Morisaki…” “Yeah.” He responded even before she finished speaking. There were only two doors in the dome-shaped garden, so the only way to move on was through the corridor at the far end. There was just one problem. A deerlike animal sitting in front of that corridor. There was a reason she identified it as only deerlike. Its upright horns were longer and twistier than any deer Asuna had ever heard of, and it had the same sort of geometric patterns on its back as that bearlike monster. “It’s probably a gatekeeper. A Quetzal Coatl.” So that’s one, too, Asuna thought. Strangely, unlike the bear, she wasn’t frightened of it… Although she didn’t know whether that was simply because it was shaped like an herbivore instead of a carnivore. “It’s looking this way…,” she murmured. “We’ll have to deal with it head-on,” Morisaki replied, taking aim with his gun. Is he going to kill it? Asuna wasn’t sure whether to stop him or not, but before she could do either, Mimi abruptly jumped down from her shoulder and ran right up to the Quetzal Coatl. “Mimi!” Asuna started to go after her, but Morisaki stopped her with a hand. The Quetzal Coatl didn’t attack Mimi. Instead, the creature bowed its head so that it and Mimi were facing each other, nose to nose. And then— Casually, Mimi jumped up onto the Quetzal Coatl’s head. Even then, the gatekeeper didn’t buck or rampage. It only moved away from the corridor’s entrance, as if telling them, “You may pass.” As Asuna and Morisaki carefully made their way to the corridor… “Come on, Mimi.” “—Asuna.” Morisaki warned her, but Asuna wasn’t afraid of the Quetzal Coatl. It was strange; normally, she’d even get scared of cows or horses sometimes. Asuna walked right up to it, then held out a hand to Mimi. “Mimi.” “Mrowr,” Mimi answered, jumping down onto Asuna’s shoulder. The Quetzal Coatl held perfectly still, and its eyes were somehow kind as it gazed at Asuna. “Asuna, let’s go.” Morisaki was already in the corridor. Asuna trotted to catch up with him, and he broke into a smile. “That cat may actually end up being useful.” Then, when they emerged from the other end of the ruined corridor— A vast landscape spread out before them. A grassy plain rolled on all the way to the distant horizon, broken up here and there by forests and rivers, and the sky was blue. It was impossible to believe this view was underground. “Wow…” Asuna breathed in admiration. It’s so pretty, she thought. She was captivated; she’d never seen anything this magnificent before, and when she raised her eyes from the far horizon— “Mr. Morisaki, look!” she cried. There was something between the clouds in that blue sky. Put briefly—it was a ship. An enormous, elaborately decorated vessel, propelled by oars like the ships of antiquity, was gliding slowly through the sky. “Shakuna Vimana!” Morisaki said, but Asuna didn’t recognize the words. “? What’s that?” As he responded, Morisaki wasn’t able to hide his excitement completely. “It’s a ship that’s said to carry the gods. It’s just as the literature said… This really is Agartha!” “Agartha…,” Asuna murmured. And then… Inside her pocket, her crystal, the memento of her father, began radiating blue light. Huh? Huh? What? Quickly, Asuna took out the stone. The light was so dazzling she couldn’t look directly at it, but there was no heat. When Morisaki saw it, he sounded astonished. “That’s a clavis!” A clavis? This? Shun had a clavis, and Shin had come to the surface to take it back. But hers was a clavis, too? “A fragment, hmm? Why do you have that?” That’s what I’d like to know. Bewildered, Asuna told him, “I was using it as a radio crystal. It was a memento from my dad.” “…A memento?” Morisaki examined it pensively, but it wasn’t clear what he was thinking. Then he turned around, looking up. The Shakuna Vimana was just disappearing between the clouds. “Clavis means ‘key’ in Latin,” he said. “That may help us later on. Take good care of it.” “…I will.” You don’t have to tell me. It’s one of the few things I have to remember my dad by, she thought, but apparently this stone had a value above and beyond that. “We’ll follow that ship. There must be something in that direction,” Morisaki said, watching the gaps between the clouds. “We should find what we’re looking for there.” “……” Asuna nodded. And so their travels began. Morisaki was a fast walker; it was all Asuna could do to keep up with him. He could wait just a little, she thought, but she was the one who’d insisted on coming with him in the first place, and she couldn’t bring herself to say anything that selfish. So whenever a little distance opened up between them, she trotted to catch up. After a few rounds of this, she realized she didn’t have to anymore. It didn’t take her long to figure out that Morisaki was matching his pace to hers. …Maybe he’s kinder than he seems, Asuna thought. “I’m sorry, I don’t walk very…,” she started, but Morisaki interrupted without even looking back at her. “No, I should have paid more attention earlier.” He never mentioned it again. He’d said he was an Arch Angel, but teachers were still teachers, Asuna thought. She’d believed they were good people, with good characters, and she hadn’t been wrong about that. As a matter of fact, Morisaki was very considerate. When they passed through rocky areas, he frequently helped Asuna. When they crossed lakes, if there was a dangerous patch on the lake basin, he told her about it right away. When they gathered edible wild grasses on the plain, he taught Asuna how to tell them apart. She found it all very curious. And yet— Even though Asuna hadn’t prepared properly for this journey, and she’d left without even telling her mother, she was enjoying it. This kind of satisfaction was completely new to her. Maybe that vague “somewhere” she’d always wanted to go was Agartha. When night came, they built a fire. Morisaki pored over documents while she sat quietly beside him. Morisaki usually had cigarettes and a lighter, so they never had any trouble starting their fire, while the abundant land of Agartha provided them with plenty of kindling. Asuna was oddly fond of these moments, too. She’d never hated spending time with people. She just wasn’t good at it. After all, she never knew what to talk about. However, Morisaki was always absorbed in his books and didn’t seem to need to talk, and since he didn’t actively try to make conversation, there was no need to be attentive. Their journey through Agartha was filled with thrills and excitement. What they were concerned about was their supply of provisions. Morisaki had only brought a few days’ worth of bland travel rations, and all Asuna had in her backpack were snacks. Guilty as she felt about it, she’d have to ask Morisaki to share his food with her. She’d been watching for an opportunity to ask him, but as it turned out, she never had to. Whenever Morisaki ate his rations, he offered some to her. “Here, have some,” he’d say. It made her really happy. In a modest attempt to thank him, she tried to give Morisaki her snacks, but he shared them with her as a matter of course. Asuna’s snacks were lacking in nutritional value, but Morisaki didn’t turn up his nose. Every day, they split both sources of food. To Asuna, at least, those mealtimes were as fun as anything else. She didn’t think anything was as tasteless as food you ate alone. Eating all her meals with Morisaki gave her a sense of peace. In addition, Morisaki had packed “sleeping gear”—just a simple rug—in preparation for a long journey, but instead of using it himself, he let Asuna sleep on it. With regard to both the meals and the bedding, Morisaki tried to make excuses. “Can’t have you holding me back,” he’d say. “You’re not exactly a hardened traveler.” He looked a little embarrassed every time he said it, though, and Asuna thought it was hilarious. “So…,” she said after several days—she didn’t know how many. Morisaki gestured lightly with his chin. Asuna was getting better and better at reading those small gestures. This one meant he was telling her to go on. She looked at the sky. “We’re underground, so why are there days and nights?” “…Hmm. You know, that’s a good question.” Morisaki looked up as well. “On that topic, we’d have to start with the question of why there’s a sky at all. But there isn’t exactly a sun or stars.” “Hey, you’re right.” In that case, why did this world have night and day at all? Asuna puzzled over the question in earnest. “Well, ships for the gods fly up there, too, you know.” Unusually for Morisaki, he almost sounded like he was joking. Naturally, she wasn’t entirely satisfied with that, but she decided there wasn’t any point in worrying about it. It was likely that Morisaki had reached the same conclusion. And so about a week passed in the blink of an eye. “Mr. Morisaki!” That day, when Asuna made her discovery, she couldn’t hide the delight in her voice. “Village ruins!” Up until that point, the only traces they’d found of human presence had been more like ancient sites than recent ruins. Aside from those, the world they’d been walking through had virtually no man-made structures at all. Now, at last, they’d found a true site of abandoned civilization. More than half the stone buildings were solidly in place, still habitable, but nobody was there. “Don’t get your hopes up too high.” Morisaki’s tone stayed as calm as ever, but Asuna was excited. “Maybe there’s still fields for a farm! I’ll go look! Come on, Mimi!” As a matter of fact, Morisaki was hoping to find the same. However, he’d decided it would be all right to leave the matter of food to Asuna. He went into each house in the village, looking for a library or anything similar, and finally succeeded in finding a few books. The books were written in the language of Agartha, and even Morisaki wasn’t able to decipher them completely. But they weren’t worthless, either. “Finis Terra…and the Gate of Life and Death, hmm?” These seemed to be important places to the people of Agartha, and it was a stroke of luck that he’d managed to find information on both of them. As Morisaki was poring over the books— “Mr. Morisaki!” Asuna called to him cheerfully. When he turned to see… “Look! We can really dig in tonight!” …Asuna’s arms were filled with what looked a lot like potatoes. “…They do seem edible,” he said. “Tubers can be poisonous, though. Just in case—” But before he could offer more of a warning, he found there hadn’t been any need to worry. “I’ll go get some water to take care of the toxins!” Asuna was used to cooking on a daily basis, since neither of her parents were around, and it was really helpful. Morisaki glanced at her; she’d gotten all muddy in the field. “After that, you should do something about those clothes…” “Yours are pretty dirty, too, Mr. Morisaki. I’ll wash them later, so go ahead and change!” Asuna ran off with the potatoes. As he watched her go, Morisaki exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke, thinking. Lisa had died ten years ago. If we’d had a child… “……” Roughly, Morisaki stubbed out his cigarette. What a stupid thought. That day, they wrapped potatoes in leaves and steamed them for dinner. Morisaki was still focused on his reading when he took the first bite, but he promptly set his book aside. Apparently, it tasted so good that it would be rude to read while he ate. That gave Asuna a thrill of joy. Just as she was thinking about it, Morisaki expressed his approval in words, too. “…This is good.” As usual, he sounded slightly embarrassed. She was really, really happy, and she couldn’t keep the elation out of her voice. “Oh, I’m glad. There was a little salt left in the kitchen!” After several days of nothing but travel rations, it really was a feast. And practically speaking, getting some salt into their systems was a stroke of luck, too. However, that wasn’t all it was. Meals she ate with Morisaki were fun, of course, but having someone eat food she’d cooked made her even happier. Morisaki gazed at her steadily, perhaps seeing the joy in her face. “I’m surprised.” “Huh?” “You seem to be enjoying this trip.” What surprised Asuna was Morisaki’s surprise. Was he not having a good time? So then why? Now she needed to explain it—but she had to be careful that it wouldn’t be misinterpreted. She couldn’t say something like “I’m having fun because I’m with you.” For just a moment, Asuna was worried, but then the words came out naturally. She realized they were completely honest only after she’d said them. “When I listened to my radio by myself, I always felt like there was somewhere I should go, somewhere far away. I wanted to get away from home and go see new sights.” He might think every teenager thinks that, Asuna thought. That wasn’t the case, though. Whenever she’d heard that song, a landscape she’d never seen before had surfaced in her mind. That was where she’d wanted to go. “Then I met that mysterious boy, and I followed him here—” Shun. Although he wasn’t anywhere anymore. “Ever since I came to Agartha, I’ve been excited for reasons I can’t explain. So I’m sure we’ll find something here—!” “……” She was sure, even though she couldn’t clearly state what she thought would be there. Without the words to continue, Asuna left it there. However, Morisaki didn’t comment. He just went on eating quietly. I’m sure we’ll find something here. Was she trying to say she’d been looking for something there? Morisaki reflected on what he’d been hoping to find, himself. He’d spent the past ten years thinking only of Lisa. It wouldn’t be long now. Before too long, he’d see her. Softly, Morisaki touched the music box in his pocket. “……” Morisaki looked at the sky, perhaps guessing that Asuna had picked up on the gesture. “Starless nights feel wrong somehow.” Agartha’s subterranean sky had no vast cosmos beyond it, of course, but— After the sunless day had ended, something resembling an aurora had created light above them instead. It was a mystical sight. “It makes you realize just how lonely humans are.” Lisa— Once more, Morisaki murmured the words, but only to himself. —I’ll see you soon.