Mister Athos was a kind person.
A very kind person that I liked a lot.
That person is now in front of me, as a silent corpse.
He’s in tatters and full of wounds. Did those people do this?
I’m never going to hear his voice or talk to him again.
I’m so sad. It hurts. Why did this have to happen to mister Athos? Why?
With my heart filled with grief, I watch as mister Athos’s corpse is burned.
I’m told it’s a ritual to send him to the skies.
I’m sad.
Mister Athos, why?
As I struggle to understand, myself, Gaius, and the other children are gathered and sit still as the adults move all over the place. They say we have to move away from this village I like so much.
The people that went looking for mister Athos were found by the gryphons and are safe.
When I returned with Gaius, miss Lan said she was very glad I was alright and hugged me.
She said I was lucky. Mister Athos died, and we can’t see him ever again, but it’s still lucky that only mister Athos died if the countries of humans are on the move.
Everyone says there could’ve been even more victims, but I can tell they’re sad. Even if their brains understand that it’s a good thing only one person died, losing someone so dear to them is tragic.
Everyone looks sad, but not in the same way as us children. Everyone is sad, but still moving around.
Miss Lan takes me by the hand, and we leave behind the beast people’s village where I lived for a short period.
I wasn’t here for long, but I’m still sad to go. In order to not let the people that are coming to attack do whatever they want with the village, houses are destroyed, and the fields we worked so hard on are burned.
It’s sad losing these things I like so much, but I’m sure it’s much sadder for Gaius and the others, who lived in this village a lot longer.
“…Miss, Lan.”
I grab her hand tightly.
Gaius, who seems like his mind is somewhere else, is taken by the hand by mister Dongu.
The gryphons and Scifo are guarding us carefully. We are going to the south of the forest, where there is an untouched plot of land. There are a lot of monsters, so it’s a dangerous place… But we can’t stay like this. If we don’t do anything, everyone might die.
I’m sad. It hurts.
“Why did… Mister Athos, have to, die?”
“…If you’re asking why the humans killed him, it’s probably because he was a beast person. They think it’s alright to kill him because he was a beast person… I think they probably hurt him to get him to tell them where the village was and attack it, but he wouldn’t tell them, and they killed him. That’s what I think…”
“Because he didn’t, tell?”
“…Mister Athos protected us with his life. And Lerunda, I think they didn’t find the village even though it’s in such an obvious place, because you are the miko…”
She said the last part quietly enough for no one else to hear.
Miko.
Miss Lan says they didn’t find the village because I’m the miko.
Am I really that kind of being? If I am, why did mister Athos have to die? If the village was protected because I’m the miko, that’s good, but mister Athos is gone.
Not everyone was protected… The more I think about it, the sadder it becomes.
Why can they do horrible things just because they’re doing it to beast people?
No, putting aside the idea that there are beast people and humans, I can’t believe they can do such horrible things to other people. How can they do something so sad? I don’t understand.
“…I’m, sad. I don’t like this.”
“Yes, me neither…”
“I want to, make it so, it’s not sad anymore.”
I’m sad. It hurts. It’s lonely without mister Athos. Before I know it, tears start pouring out. I feel like I’m always on the verge of crying.
Want to make it so it’s not sad anymore. I don’t like not being able to see people I like ever again. I don’t like it at all.
I don’t think I could take this if I was alone. I’m sad, and it hurts, but… I still want to do my best. Looking at the people guiding us, I think to myself that I can’t just stay sad and do nothing.
“…And for that… I want to do, what I can.”
If I really am the miko, I should be able to protect them if I try really hard. If I do my best, maybe I won’t have to lose someone again.
I think as I walk hand-in-hand with miss Lan.
—Girl and whereabouts part five
(The girl that is probably the miko faces the death of a close beast person, and has a lot of thoughts.)
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