Chapter 20: Nao, Vacation, and Fulfillment

A conclusion had been reached.

Time, which had stopped, slowly began to move again. The waves slapped against the shore once more, and the bonfire crackled, scattering sparks.

The sound of a child kicking sand resumed, and laughter burst forth a beat late—but louder than before.

No one knew. Neither that time had stopped, nor of the conversation and conclusion reached in that interval.

I stood beside the bonfire. The feel of the pocket watch, warmed by the heat of my palm.

Its second hand was already moving as it normally did. I returned the watch to Eigo.

The welcoming festival for the outsiders came back to life. Pork dug out from the ground was laid out on leaf plates, and someone began beating a drum.

Enonoka held meat in one hand and a cup of liquor in the other.

"Makima! This is really... really delicious!"

She must have liked the food on this island immensely. The scent of dopamine, endorphins... hormones that brought pleasure was thick around her.

"Drink slowly."

...And the smell of alcohol, too.

"Oooeeng... The world is spinning, spiiinning~~"

Eigo laughed at the sight, then turned his gaze toward me.

"You look incredibly refreshed somehow."

"Do I?"

"Yeah. Totally."

"Doing what I want... feels pretty good, doesn’t it?"

"Doesn’t it?"

Eigo gave me a wonderfully refreshed smile as well.

*

The next day.

Eigo was sprawled out in the shade in front of our lodging, while Makima sat beside him, looking out at the sea. Enonoka had been captured by the village children since the morning.

"Makima...! These kids keep trying to drag me away..."

"Go with them."

"Huh, y-yes...?! Newbie, help me...!"

Enonoka was dragged away with tears in her eyes, and Eigo laughed.

"You’re popular with them, Senior."

I pressed my palm against the sand. It was warm.

Just sitting here without thinking about anything... feels incredibly nice, too.

It was a little frightening, as though I were doing something bad, but an even stranger pleasure sent tingles through my entire body.

On the second day, we went out to sea. The Angel Devil... no, Nao, gave us a ride in his canoe.

Bareia saw us off with a worried expression.

"Ko na bon n tei n rikirake. Aroko aei taian, ko a tia riki n te aomata n te wa."

(Don’t go too far out. You’ve got guests aboard today, too.)

"I ai nako, ko na kanganga."

(I know, so quit worrying.)

Standing atop the canoe, Eigo asked,

"Have you ever done anything like this, Maki?"

"I’ve ridden boats plenty of times. But... it’s my first time riding a log boat I’ve only ever seen in museums. And simply drifting around without any destination, too."

"That’s the real joy of traveling."

The waves were calm, and the sky was clear. I sat on the edge of the boat and dipped my feet into the ocean.

Enonoka watched Nao leisurely fishing for a while, then said, "Oh, this is so frustrating! How are you supposed to feed your family if you wait for them to get caught one by one like that?!" She grabbed Nao’s net and dove into the sea. Exactly ten minutes later, Enonoka emerged from the water.

The net stuffed with fish was practically on the verge of bursting. Nao’s expression, looking as if his jaw were about to drop, was quite a sight.

"Eek...! I-I just did it out of habit..."

So was Enonoka’s expression as she bowed her flushed face.

On the third day, a child took my hand and asked me this.

"Nei, ko na riki n reke?"

I could only stand there frozen with a smile on my face, until Eigo laughed and translated for me.

"She’s asking, ‘Will you come again?’"

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

"...I don’t know."

The child’s hand was small and warm. It felt as though I should not let it go, so I held it a little longer before releasing it.

"I’ll come again. I promise..."

On the fourth night, Enonoka had completely melted into one with her bed.

"Makima... I want to stay here.... Can’t I stay, while only the two of you go back...?"

"No. If you stay behind, who will be my secretary?"

"I was only temporary to begin with...."

"But once we return, I was thinking of hiring you as my official secretary. My original secretary will probably quit because ‘something came up.’ So you absolutely have to come with us, too."

"Hooeee..."

Perhaps he found our back-and-forth amusing, because Eigo snickered as he draped a blanket over my shoulders.

"The night wind is cold."

"Thank you."

"Don’t you need one, Senior?"

"Nn...? Nn... I’m fine. My hometown is around Hokkaido, so this temperature feels more like it’s hot enough to kill me..."

I quietly rose from my seat.

"Where are you going?"

"I want to take a little walk."

"Want me to come with you?"

"It’s okay. I just want to... sort out my thoughts for a bit."

I started toward the beach, then turned back and threw my arms around Eigo.

"Hug me instead."

"You’re already hugging me."

"Then pet me."

Eigo gently stroked my hair. His hand was rough from calluses, yet softer than anything in the world.

"That’s nice..."

"You’re such a baby, my friend."

"...I’m not."

Buried in Eigo’s arms, I took a deep breath. Setting aside my lingering reluctance for the moment, I slipped out of his embrace.

After taking a few steps onto the beach, I saw two silhouettes in the darkness.

Nao and Bareia.

Nao was looking toward the sea, with Bareia sitting beside him. They said nothing to each other, but their hands rested naturally together.

I hesitated for a moment.

I shouldn’t interrupt them for no reason.

As I was about to turn away, Nao spotted me first. He smiled faintly and waved.

"Makima."

He patted an empty spot on the sand, inviting me over. He also said something to Bareia.

Whatever he said, Bareia wore a mischievous smile and ruffled Nao’s hair. Satisfied by the sight of his thoroughly disheveled hair, she left.

He must have asked her to give us some privacy. I sat in the spot he had patted.

The sand was warm, still holding the heat of the day. Neither of us said anything.

Only the sound of waves breaking embroidered the night sky. The silence did not feel burdensome.

"Is it... livable here?"

Nao spoke first. His voice was low and careful.

I nodded.

"Your Japanese... has improved a lot."

"I’m an angel. I have a strong capacity for learning."

He looked down at his hand. As though Bareia’s warmth still remained in the hand she had released before leaving, his fingers slowly curled inward.

"You..."

He looked at me.

"You came to take me away... no, you’re a Devil, aren’t you?"

I drew in a breath. A wave rolled in, then retreated again.

"You knew. I knew it..."

"I’m a Devil too, after all.... So, what is your answer?"

"That was what I intended to do. I intended to see your power for myself and take you to Japan."

"I would have refused. My power brings death."

"Yes. I thought you’d say that."

My gaze, which had rested on the sea, followed the Milky Way painted across the sky. It lingered on Nao for a moment, then drifted back to the ocean.

"...I am the [Control Devil]. If you had refused, I was going to [control] you and slaughter everyone in the village. I did know about your power, but there is a huge difference between knowing it in your head and seeing it firsthand."

"Then what about now?"

"Now..."

My words trailed off. An emotion I could not identify came over me, making it difficult to meet Nao’s eyes.

My wandering gaze went to Eigo, resting far away.

"Now, I have no intention of doing that. None at all. If anything, I hope you can live peacefully in this village for a long, long time."

Nao looked at me for a moment, then lowered his head.

"Thank you."

Those words made my chest ache strangely. Even when I turned my gaze away, Nao stubbornly kept looking into my eyes as he spoke to me in a quiet voice.

"...You’re just like me."

"That’s right. You and I... are the same kind of Devil."

"No. That’s not what I mean."

"Then what did you mean?"

"You like that human, don’t you?"

At the end of Nao’s pointing finger... was Eigo. The sound of the waves crashed loudly once.

The hand I had placed on the sand tightened, then slowly relaxed. I exhaled very slowly to calm my quickening breath.

"...D-do I... look like I do...?"

"Yeah."

Nao did not hesitate. His voice was almost certain.

"B-but... wh-why are you saying something so out of nowhere?!"

"Bareia told me. She said your eyes change whenever you’re beside him."

"My eyes...?"

Nao nodded.

"Bareia taught me that the eyes are windows through which the soul comes and goes. That makes them the most honest part of a human. I know that look in your eyes when you look at him. It’s the same look Bareia has when she looks at me."

No matter what Nao said beside me, all I could do was fan my burning face with my hands. In other words, none of his words reached my ears at all.

"Apparently, I look at Bareia with the same eyes. Do your best. You’re different from me, after all. That man won’t die just because your hands touch. I’ll root for you, too. Because you protected my life."

I hurriedly stood up. I fled the beach as though running away.

Nao’s words made my chest feel all ticklish, and I had no idea what to do. My face was burning.

"What on earth was that guy talking about...?"

On the morning of the last day, no one hurried, even as we prepared to leave.

Enonoka sniffled. All the village children had come out together, and they sniffled too.

Eigo spoke beside me.

"It was a good vacation, right?"

"Yeah."

I nodded. The villagers saw us off with smiles on their faces, waving their hands.

Today, for the first time, I had defied an order from the state. I had let go of a resource that, if secured, could have helped strengthen the nation’s power.

Had I been influenced by the carefree nature of this man, who held my hand as he walked leisurely toward the pier? I had missed out on a national ‘strategic resource,’ but an unfamiliar pleasure welled up inside me from protecting Nao’s life.

When I asked Eigo, he told me this pleasure was called [fulfillment]. I intertwined my fingers more deeply with his.

I did not want to let go. Everything I did not know, everything I could not do... I wanted to learn it all from this man.

I even felt that, if I could, nothing else would matter. I still did not truly understand what it meant to like someone, but if I was with this man, I believed I would understand someday.

I will never... let you go, Eigo...

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