TNZKMA 115

１１５

 

I can’t breathe. My whole body hurts. I feel like the slightest movement would cause excruciating pain, so I slowly let out the breath I was holding.

I open my eyes slightly. But it’s pitch black. I move my eyes to look around, but everything is pitch black, and I instantly fall into panic.

[……!!]

I forget the pain in my body and stand up. I stretch my arms as far as I can, but I can’t touch anything. As I try to stand up, I trip over something and fall. I hit my face hard and screamed.

[Waaaaaahhh!!!]

What is this!? What is this!? What is this!? Why is it so dark!? Is it night!?

But the cool part of my mind knew that it wasn’t night.

I was in the east section’s square, surrounded by the priest’s mansion. The lights coming from the mansion and the streetlights that were on all night made the square bright even at night. And yet, no matter where I looked, it was pitch black.

I could feel the roughness of the ground beneath my feet as I sat down, and the palms of my hands on the ground. It seemed to be made of rough stones or rubble.

The square was the only paved part of this town. The other roads were just compacted earth. And yet, they were smooth, as if paved.

There was no way there could be such a rough place to walk in this town.

Where am I? Where am I?

It felt like the air was still. There was no wind. The wind always blows in town. It’s not strong, but just enough that it would probably put out a candle if I lit it outside. But now, I couldn’t feel any wind at all.

Am I trapped? As I thought this, a strong panic hit me again. I made a voiceless sound and crawled. I desperately tried to dig out the ground, but the ground was hard and I couldn’t do anything. Without even thinking about how my fingers hurt or how my nails were getting damaged, I continued digging, yelling.

[Kyui!]

Kyui’s voice echoed in the darkness. The moment I heard that voice, I came to my senses.

“Kyui?! Where are you?!”

I reach out in the darkness, searching for Kyui. That’s right, I can’t panic with Kyui around. I need to protect Kyui and get out of here.

I couldn’t see and the footing was bad, so I crawled around looking for Kyui. I crawled a little, stopped and reached out, and after repeating that several times, my hand touched Kyui’s fur with a puff.

“Kyui! Thank goodness! Are you hurt? By the way, why are you getting so big?”

Kyui had grown huge. I reached my hand upwards, following Kyui’s soft fur, and stood up. Where was I? Here. I hugged tightly to what looked like a big log and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was still pitch black, but I felt relieved that there was someone other than me there.

“Kyui?”

Kyui kept moving forward, with me clinging onto it. It seemed I was holding onto Kyui’s leg. It was probably in bear form.

The leg I was clinging to lifted off the ground, and with a soft “pof,” his foot touched down again. He pressed firmly into the ground, waiting for his other leg to move. As we advanced a couple of steps in this soft, deliberate way, there was a loud thud behind us.

“…!”

Startled, I instinctively shut my eyes. I couldn’t see anything, but it was pure instinct to close them. Suddenly, a hazy, smoky air surrounded me. I inhaled the earthy, dusty smell, and coughed.

Kyui kept moving forward, taking two or three steps before another object fell with a thud. Eventually, we reached a place where faint light filtered through.

Light streamed down from far overhead, falling like a thin shower in a single spot. The place where the light touched was softly illuminated. The glow was faint and unreliable, but it was enough for me to let out a sigh of relief, as though saved by it.

“…Where is this?”

Still clinging onto Kyui, I looked up and gasped. The brown bear now looked as if he were covered in pure white snow.

“Kyui! Kyui! What’s wrong!?”

While I was still in shock, Kyui, as if nothing had happened, performed its usual little dance and shrank back to its regular size. Gently, I scooped up the palm-sized Kyui and carefully brushed the dust off it. I meticulously checked its tiny hands, feet, back, and belly to make sure it wasn’t injured. Once I confirmed Kyui was okay, I let out another relieved sigh.

“Kyui, thank you. You saved me, didn’t you?”

When I thanked it, it let out a soft “kyuru” sound and tilted its head.

I hadn’t seen what happened, but I figured the ceiling must have collapsed. I wasn’t entirely sure where we were, but it didn’t seem like we were trapped under rubble.

The place felt very open. The light filtering through seemed distant, which meant there was quite a bit of space between where I stood and the source of the light above. While the room wasn’t particularly wide, it was tall—like a high, narrow space.

I remembered a huge explosion. The blast had thrown me through the air. There had been an incredible noise too. Maybe I had fallen beneath the square. Could that sound have been the square collapsing?

I surveyed the area in the faint light. Was this some kind of facility? Several thick pillars had toppled over. Three remained standing, supporting the ceiling. The others had fallen and broken apart. This room had likely been larger before.

The floor was embedded with large square stones, each about the length of my height. They were neatly laid out—well, they had been. Some stones were now pushed up from below, and others were cracked.

I looked back toward the spot where we had emerged. It was dark since the light didn’t reach that far, but I could faintly make out the entrance. It, too, seemed to have been paved with stones like tiles.

The floor, ceiling, and walls had likely all been covered in white stone. However, just a meter beyond the entrance, everything had collapsed, making it impossible to return. If Kyui hadn’t held up the falling ceiling, I would’ve been crushed under those stones.

Gently, I cradled Kyui in both hands and thanked it once more. Its soft fur brushed against my palms as if comforting me.