“This will be the finished picture book. Go ahead, read it.”
Miss Lan looks really happy as I take the picture book. Sitting next to me are Gaius, Shinomi, and Lilyd. They’re interested in it too.
The drawing on the cover shows me riding Scifo.
Scifo’s body is too big, so he can’t come inside. I’ll be sure to go show him the book when I go outside.
It still feels weird to be the main character of a picture book.
The title is ‘The girl, Lerunda, meets Mister horse~’. Even my name is here, and it’s very obvious that the illustrations are drawings of me, so it’s a little embarrassing.
I turn the page, and see the title page. The illustration on this page isn’t much different from the cover.
Gaius, Shinomi, and Lilyd look very curious as I turn the page. Miss Lan and other adults are watching us reading the picture book with kind looks on their face,
The next page is blank, and after that it really starts.
‘In a certain village, there were two sisters.’
It’s all it says on the first page, and the illustration shows two girls. My sister looks a little like me, probably because the elf that did the illustrations doesn’t know what she looks like, and had to imagine.
We’re twins, but my sister and I actually look completely different.
The next page is a double page, and it says ‘the oldest was beautiful and adored’ on one side, and ‘and the youngest lived in her shadow’ on the other. We were drawn facing each other, and my sister has a lot of people around her, while I’m alone. This double page shows the contrast.
I turn the page.
‘The girl’s quiet life changed when priests arrived’ the next page says, with an illustration showing the priests visiting the house where I lived.
It doesn’t show my mother yelling at me like it was in reality. This page and the next simply show the arrival of the priests, which would change the girl’s life.
‘The miko is someone loved by god.
This person loved by god, is blessed by the world.
The land where the miko lives will always be prosperous, as god would never allow it to fall into ruin.’
‘The person loved by god, is you!!’
The illustration shows someone in a priest’s outfit saying this to my sister.
On the lower left corner it says ‘And the priests say the older sister is this miko’.”
I turn the page.
‘The parents were overjoyed to hear the older sister being called the miko.’
There’s an illustration of my parents and my sister looking happy, and I’m nowhere to be found.
The next page says ‘And the girl who lived in the shadow of the older sister was abandoned’. The illustration on this page shows me being thrown into the forest. My expression looks dark, like I’m about to cry.
I turn the page, and see another illustration where I look like I’m about to cry.
‘The lonely girl wandered through the forest.’
The illustration on this page shows me trudging through the forest, and the next page shows me aimlessly walking around, without any text.
I turn the page and see an illustration of me crying.
‘Some sort of animal sound reached the ears of the crying girl.’
Next to my crying face, is text saying ‘Hihihin, hihin’.
‘The girl looked towards where the sound was coming from.’
This page shows me looking back, and Scifo enters the story, even if it’s just his shadow.
The next page is another double page, and it’s a big drawing of Scifo, with me looking back at him and looking startled.
‘It was a monster, a pure white horse.’
I turn the page.
‘The girl was too surprised, and could not say anything.’
In the illustration, it looks like I’m paralyzed.
The next page says ‘the pure white horse approached the girl with its head’, and the next page is another double page, showing Scifo letting me climb on his back. My expression looks a little more cheerful too.
‘This horse was a very kind-hearted monster. ‘Thank you, Mister, horse’, said the girl with a smile.’
The picture book ends here. The last page says things like who worked on the book.
From the cover to the last page, the picture book has twenty pages. The sentences are short and there are a lot of illustrations, so it’s very easy to read.
“Amazing.”
“Lerunda is cute in the picture book too.”
“Am I going to appear in it too!?”
Gaius, Shinomi, and Lilyd say with excitement. I’m kind of embarrassed, but I can’t help but be excited too.
“The picture book, is great Miss Lan.”
“Fufufu, I really did my best! I have plans to spread it to many more people!”
Miss Lan smiles like she’s plotting something. She’s already thinking about what to do next.
Apparently she wants to make a lot of copies so everyone can read it.
—Girl and picture book – Part four
(The miko receives the picture book about herself, and sees part of her life depicted in its story.)
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I cried while reading the picture book, so sad that she walked in the forest alone and abandoned.