Chapter 13

CHAPTER EIGHT By the time Asuna had gotten out of the bath and rested for a few moments, dinner was ready. When she saw all the bowls and plates that had been set out, her heart gave a twinge. For the past little while, the best meals they’d been able to manage had been around a campfire, using leaves for plates. Food that had been properly cooked seemed like a feast. Asuna’s self-control was gone then. “Thank you for the food!” she said, then immediately tossed a meatball into her mouth and shoveled in rice from her bowl. It was delicious. She couldn’t imagine anything in the whole world tasting better. Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. “…Don’t cry while you eat.” Morisaki sounded tired, but she couldn’t help it; it was just too good. Asuna took a bite of vegetables next. “Well, I mean, it’s yummy,” she said, continuing to eat. Everything was really and truly wonderful. Ignoring Asuna, Morisaki swallowed his food calmly. For a while, they ate in silence. “Elder,” he said, and for a moment, even the eating stopped. “……” “Would you answer the question I asked you earlier?” What question? Asuna wondered. The man responded. “In Agartha, it is forbidden to resurrect the dead.” Resurrect the dead. Right, it had almost slipped my mind, but—that’s why we’re on this difficult journey in the first place. She felt stupid for nearly forgetting about it. “If it’s forbidden, that means it can be done,” Morisaki pointed out. I see. That’s true, Asuna thought. If it were impossible, there wouldn’t be any reason to forbid it. But they did forbid it, so it followed that it wasn’t impossible. Resurrect the dead. So I could bring Shun back to life? Both hopeful and anxious, Asuna waited for the old man’s next words. “Life and death are only part of a much greater flow,” the man answered as he poured tea into cups. “It is not given to humans to interrupt that flow. Doing so will bring happiness to no one.” However, Morisaki didn’t back down. Well, of course not, Asuna thought, looking back later. They’d come all the way here, and he finally had a solid lead on the moment when his decade of hard work would pay off. “Do you want me to beg for permission?! What do you want me to say?! The surface world is littered with those proverbs! What I want to know is where and how we can be reunited with people we’ve lost. That’s all!” The man closed his eyes for a moment, and the silence was heavy and grave, even to Asuna. Finally, he raised his head. “Mourning the dead is proper, but it is a mistake to hold on to your pity for them and yourself. You’ve even dragged a young girl into your delusion.” “Asuna’s here of her own free will!” “U-um!” Asuna tried to break into their argument. “I’m—” However, her efforts were in vain as Morisaki went on. “You people have shut yourselves underground and done nothing but ‘revere’ things for a full two thousand years! That’s why you’re falling into ruin!” “……” The old man seemed to think for a little while. “Young lady,” he said, turning to Asuna. “I’m sorry to ask, but would you go check on the boy?” Asuna knew she was being subtly told to leave the room. She wanted to hear this conversation, too, but asking would probably have been selfish. “Go on.” Morisaki said it, too, so Asuna stood up. Obediently, she made her way to the room where Shin was sleeping. In front of the door, she stopped, took her compact mirror out of her pocket, and fixed her bangs. Even she wasn’t quite sure why she’d done that. Opening the door softly, she went in. Shin had been asleep, but he opened his eyes as soon as Asuna came into the room. “Those clothes,” he said. Her heart skipped a beat. He’d noticed she was dressed differently right away, and it gave her a little burst of happiness. Morisaki had said they didn’t suit her, but he probably just wasn’t used to seeing Agarthan clothes. What would Shin say? “Those look terrible on you.” The fact that she’d gotten her hopes up made her subsequent frustration even worse. “Oh, come on! Did you have to say it like that?” Shin seemed to find her pouting amusing, but then his expression turned serious. “Why did you save me?” “Huh…?” “Why…did you save me?” Why had she saved him? Because he’d been wounded, right in front of her, and that’s what you do when someone’s hurt— “You saved me, too, Shin. Remember?” When Asuna reminded him of that, anger abruptly entered his voice. “I’m just being forced to clean up the mess my brother left!” “Shun’s…” She didn’t know the full context of all this. Still, Shin had said he had a duty to retrieve the clavis that Shun had taken aboveground with him. That was probably what he was talking about. Straining, Shin tried to sit up—but he couldn’t, as if an invisible force was pinning him to the bed. “Shin!” Beginning to worry, Asuna tried to support him, but he shook her off. On his own, though, he couldn’t do it. “—!” With a little scream, he collapsed back onto the bed. “Don’t push yourself.” Asuna was genuinely concerned about him, but Shin was stubborn. “You people shouldn’t be here.” His rumpled hair fell over his eyes, hiding his expression. “I should have let the Izoku kill you, then taken the clavis… No, I should have killed you on the surface along with the Arch Angels!” Asuna couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t place what about this was such a shock to her, but—she really hated that Shin was saying these things. “…Just get out, all right?” “Shin…” “Get out!” he shouted. Asuna meekly left the room. She was discouraged now, and something dark and murky was churning in the depths of her chest. When she returned to the living room, Morisaki seemed to have been waiting for her. “We’ll leave early tomorrow. Get to bed soon.” That was all he said before he disappeared into the bedroom he was staying in. “……” Her emotions were rough and raw, and she wanted to talk to someone. So she went to the old man’s room. He was cleaning up after dinner, and he didn’t turn around. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t shelter Topsiders for long.” Asuna got into bed, but she was unable to sleep. After a while of lying there, she saw Mimi come into the room, her eyes glinting green in the light from the dimmed lamp. Gently, she licked away the quiet tears that ran down Asuna’s cheeks. Shin lay in bed, all by himself, with his uninjured arm over his eyes. A single tear trickled down his face. “Shun…” The old man was smoking his pipe alone, in front of the fire. Someone knocked three times, then spoke. “Elder. I’m sorry to disturb you so late.” As if he’d been expecting the visit, the old man responded, “Come in.” Morisaki opened the door and entered. “What do you need?” “There were two things I wanted you to confirm,” Morisaki said, but before he could continue— “Well, go on and sit down.” Morisaki accepted the invitation and lowered himself into a chair. “Would you like some tea?” “No, don’t trouble yourself.” Morisaki’s tone was carefully polite. “Earlier, you said the Izoku hated admixtures,” he began. From that alone, the old man seemed to know what Morisaki was trying to say, but he didn’t interject. “You said that girl is of mixed blood, with parents from Agartha and the surface, and that’s why she was attacked.” “I know what you’re getting at, but…” Extinguishing his pipe, the old man stood up. “…that knowledge won’t help anyone.” “……” Morisaki was silent for a while, but at length he nodded. “That may well be.” Then he took his cigarettes out of his breast pocket. “Oh. Mind if I smoke?” “Go right ahead.” Morisaki lit his cigarette, took a long drag, and breathed out blue smoke. “There’s one other thing that’s been nagging at me for a while now.” “…What might that be?” “Our conversation during dinner. You said that resurrecting the dead wouldn’t bring anyone happiness. Back then, I was too angry to notice. Once I calmed down and thought about it, though, I realized something felt off.” Morisaki paused. “There’s someone who broke that taboo, isn’t there? I want to meet them.”