A lad of about twelve or thirteen walked along the precarious mountain path, sweat pouring from his brow and hair clinging stubbornly to his forehead. He wiped at the perspiration, and when his hand came away, it left his hair stuck out to the side.
“It’s hot...” he murmured. The seasons had changed, and they were well into summer.
The boy, Kyle, diligently walked on, the large basket on his back jostling his body with each step. It had become his job to gather edible plants out in the wild. He still wasn’t entrusted with more heavy-duty work, but of late, he had been permitted to go into the mountains by himself.
Complaining about the heat wasn’t any help, but he was just that parched. Without a proper supply of fluids, he would collapse. “Water...”
Kyle held his canteen upside down and shook it, but he had drunk it dry moments before, so only a small droplet trickled out. His face turned grim, and he glanced off to the left. If he remembered correctly, there was a river a little ways down the mountain. If he could descend that far, he’d find some cold, delicious water.
Past the tall, soaring cliffs on his right side shone the sun, ever higher. Jeez, the day was frighteningly hot. He considered that fact, turning his face to the sky and squinting at the sun.
“Hmm?” He spotted a black dot whooshing down from the top of the cliffs. “A falling rock?” But before the words had even left his mouth, he realized that the black dot was steadily growing larger until, gradually, he could make it out as a humanlike shape.
It was a person!
“Wh-What?! Is someone—?!”
A terrible inkling crossed his mind—that this was a suicide attempt. This wasn’t the time to think about that, however. He had to do something to save them.
He floundered left and right, wondering what he could do, but nothing useful came to mind. Meanwhile, the person was still in free fall and plummeting toward the ground, not slowing down at all. And then—
“Watch ouuut! Outta the waaay!”
“Wha—?! Ahhh!”
With a loud, dull thud, the person slammed into the earth. A cloud of dust rose and danced in the air, and beyond it, the stranger ricocheted off the ground, bouncing along toward the river.
Kyle was so surprised that, like an old man whose back had given out, he fell, hard, on his bottom.
“D-Did they just...warn me?” he thought aloud. He couldn’t fathom a person in the midst of a fall crying out in concern for someone else below. Perhaps he had just been hearing things that weren’t there.
The immense dust cloud cleared, and when he saw the bloodstain left behind where the person had first made impact, his face paled. They really fell, he realized.
After a few moments of bewilderment, he remembered what he ought to have been doing. “I-I need to help them!” Nobody would be okay after a fall from such a height, but he had to do something.
He sprinted toward the river, where the person had probably ended up. Perhaps it was futile, but if there was the slightest possibility that he could help them, he had the responsibility to try. He panted, out of breath, as he slipped down to the riverbank, wiping at his pouring sweat and running with all his might. The water ran below him, and the area felt cool, as if the temperature was lower by the river.
“I-I think they landed around here,” he gasped. He looked around wildly, searching for even the smallest thing that seemed out of place, and spotted someone collapsed just ahead. “That might be them!”
He dashed over to find that the person was a blonde girl, and she was lying on her side. She wore something black that looked like a coat, torn and revealing fleeting glimpses of her white skin. A large satchel lay nearby, its contents strewn around the scene. The devastation was a testament to the impact of the fall, and Kyle was left both speechless and breathless.
This was not what he had expected. No matter how sturdy they were, nobody who fell from such a height and then bounced like a ball across the ground could come out intact. Blood pooled over the ground, and the girl was completely still. She couldn’t be alive after losing so much blood—it was preposterous.
But sometimes, preposterous things do happen.
White, slender legs extended from beneath the shorts she wore, but Kyle didn’t see any obvious wounds. She was dusty from rolling across the ground, but he couldn’t figure out where she was bleeding. Perhaps the coat had protected her lower body from harm? But no—it didn’t matter where he looked; he couldn’t find the source of the blood.
Thinking it strange, he moved to stand in front of her body and stared intently at her. Though her legs, arms, and chest were all filthy, he saw not a single scratch. What in the world?
He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Uncertain of what to do, his expression turned sober as he stared at the girl’s face—and her sparkling, jade green eyes snapped open. And then—
“Aargh, really?!” she yelled, jumping to her feet with breathtaking vigor.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kyle let out an unintelligent scream and flopped harshly onto his backside. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The girl had surely been dead just a moment before. Well, it wasn’t like he had done the correct thing and checked her pulse, but she’d at least been in no condition to move about so energetically. The huge pool of blood spilled on the ground was a testament to that. And yet...
Equal parts dumbfounded and horrified, Kyle looked up at the girl and finally caught a clear look at her face. He gasped in wonder; he’d never seen such a beautiful girl back in his village. She had medium-length blonde hair and lovely, jade green eyes set against snow-white skin and pink lips. He stared at her with his mouth agape, taken aback for a whole new reason.
“Ugh, another failure...” Not seeming to notice Kyle and his astonishment, she scratched her head irritably and puffed out her cheeks. “Did that old guy lie to me? Those were just ordinary cliffs.” She sulked and kicked a pebble, then brushed the dust off her behind. “Well, I guess their height didn’t give me any great expectations anyway.”
She planted her hands on her hips and released a disappointed sigh as she shook her head vigorously. Her voice and actions suggested perfect health.
“Excuse me,” Kyle began, his voice threaded with bewilderment.
“Hmm? What?” The girl finally noticed Kyle in his spot on the ground. She tipped her head. “Who are you?”
“Well, um...” He was about to point out that he should be the one asking her that, but then the girl squatted and examined his face.
“Hmm... Oh, did I fall on you?” She patted him all over—face, arms, and stomach. It kind of tickled, so he squeezed his eyes shut, only for her to pull them open with her fingers and stare at him. “Looks like you’re fine. I guess you came to save me, huh? Thanks.”
“Well, uh... Yeah, sorta.”
She laughed and tousled his hair. “Well, aren’t you brave?”
“Wh-Why did you fall from so high up?” he asked hesitantly.
“Oh, did I scare ya? Sorry. I was just a little curious, really.”
“C-Curious?” he repeated, flabbergasted.
The girl nodded. “I had my reasons. Oh, by the way, kid—are you from around here?”
Kyle hadn’t been expecting the question, and he nodded reflexively before he could consider how to reply. The girl’s face brightened with excitement, and she grasped both of Kyle’s hands firmly.
“Perfect! Thing is, I was looking for somewhere to spend the night,” she explained. “Can I stay at your place?”
“Huh...?”
Kyle stared dumbfounded at the girl, who was pressing her palms together as if to say please and looking at him with upturned eyes. Unable to comprehend a single thing about this situation, he found himself nodding his head.