Zazaza, Zazazaza

“Uncle Hark!”

Where I headed after running from the shrine was Uncle Hark's field.

Because I thought I had to tell Uncle, her son, what had become of Granny Grute's remains.

“Oh? What's the matter, Emi?”

Uncle stops weeding, stands up, and asks me in his usual easygoing tone.

“Granny, turned into bread......!”

“Hmm?”

“Granny, she glowed, and turned into bread!!”

Aah! I hate how poor my communication skills are!

I can't explain what happened properly!

But, in contrast to my panic, Uncle Hark's reaction was very calm.

He looked blank for a moment, but he quickly regained his smile and patted my head.

“Calm down, Emi.”

“............”

I take a deep breath.

Right, it's like Uncle says, I should calm down a little.

I steady my ragged breathing.

I breathe in the green scent of the wheat fields carried by the wind, filling my chest.

“You saw it, didn't you?”

“!!!”

My heart thumps.

In spite of myself, my breath stops.

When I look up, there's Uncle's face.

That gentle, same-as-ever smile.

......In it, now, I can't sense even a shred of the grief over his own flesh and blood's death, the grief that was surely there when I met him this morning.

In spite of myself, I back away.

“You, saw the ‘Rite of Meat Offering and Bread Bestowal’ for the first time. That's why you're confused, right? I understand how you feel.”

“Meat offering, bread bestowal......!?”

What is this guy saying......!?

“But there's no need to panic, Emi. Nor is there any need to grieve. Through that ritual, my mother's flesh was offered to our god, Harvest God Muwidgi-sama, and became his nourishment. And in exchange, Harvest God-sama has granted us the nourishment to live. Thanks to that, we can plant more wheat without ever going hungry. We can spread the wheat fields wider and wider. Isn't that wonderful? ......Look, Emi.”

Saying so, Uncle turns his face aside and gazes at the horizon.

Entranced, he gazes at the wheat fields stretching all the way to the horizon.

“Beautiful, these wheat fields, aren't they? Before scenery this beautiful, whether a person lives or dies is just a trivial, tiny thing...... that's, what you think too, isn't it?”

........................

Uncle Hark smiles brightly.

He's serious.

This uncle is, in all seriousness, spouting these lines.

He's seriously dismissing his own flesh and blood's death as ‘trivial’ and losing himself in the beauty of the wheat fields.

Something, is wrong.

Isn't this wrong?

It's wrong.

Peeking through, an abnormality I mustn't just file away under “this village's own, view of life and death.”

That's right, it's abnormal.

This uncle, who forgot the grief of losing his own flesh and blood in the blink of an eye.

And my own thinking too, which, if I let my guard down...... almost accepts what Uncle says, without a single doubt.

Something inside my head is screaming desperately.

Run, it says.

Don't listen to any more of this, it says.

That's, how it feels.

“............”

“Ah, wait, Emi! Where are you going!?”

Turning my back on Uncle's voice calling after me, I started running again.

◇ ◇ ◇

I run.

Frantically, I run.

The villagers I pass wave to me with smiles, but I ignore them and run past.

To begin with.

To begin with, it's wrong, this village.

Everyone is too kind.

They're too kind to me.

I'm a cursed child.

For the sole reason of being black-haired and black-eyed, I've lived my life being despised, hated, and persecuted wherever I went.

And yet, look at the people of this village.

Without discriminating against me, without bullying me, they accept me as a comrade of the village and help me.

That's just wrong.

......Sure, there were some people who were kind to me in the past.

But every single villager is kind.

This is...... no matter how you look at it, it's too perfect.

This village, something about it is wrong.

And my own thinking, which never noticed any of this at all...... has gone a little, wrong too, I think.

<Zaza...... zazaza......>

Once again, I hear a strange noise.

I stop and stay alert to my surroundings, but as expected, I can't tell where this sound is coming from.

“Oh, there you are. Morning, missy!”

Then, a villager called out to me.

It's Ronte-san.

Behind him stand his wife, Itakk-san, and one more...... a man with long, shaggy, reddish-brown hair, Seejin.

All 3 of them are smiling brightly.

Even that Seejin is smiling a kind, beaming smile.

“Emi-chan, right? Actually, I was looking for you. ......I wanted to apologize.”

Seejin looks apologetic and, scratching his head, gives me a good-natured smile.

“The other day, calling you a cursed child and whatnot...... I'm sorry I said such awful things. Looking back, why I ever said that...... honestly, I'm ashamed of myself!”

Different.

His tone, his manner, his personality, every last one of them is completely different from the Seejin I met the other day.

As I remain silent, Ronte-san bends his knees to meet my eyes and asks gently.

“Actually, Seejin's going to be staying here in Grounoddka Village from now on too! He'll be a comrade growing wheat with us! So, hey, won't you forgive Seejin and make up with him?”

<Zazaza!! ...... zazazazaza!!>

The noise, gets worse.

But Ronte-san and the others show no sign of noticing this sound.

This, I realize, isn't a sound coming from anywhere around me.

This is a sound echoing only inside my head.

“Once ag<zaza>I'm sor<zazaza!>from n<zazazazazazazaza!!>on!”

Seejin, too, met my eyes and held out his hand for a handshake.

But the noise is terrible.

The noise is so terrible that I can't hear what Seejin is saying at all.

It makes, no sense.

What is happening to me right now?

What on earth is this village?

I'm confused.

The 3 of them stare at me worriedly as I stand there stiff as a post, not responding.

It's creepy.

<Zazaza! Zazazaza!!>

Intense noise.

I feel dizzy.

<Zazazazaza...... ooooozazaza!>

“............Eh?”

It was then.

<Zazaoooooooozazaozaooooozazazaooooooo!>

Another sound clearly began to mix into the noise.

It's a desperate scream.

The voice of a woman, screaming with all her might!

<OOOOOOOzazazazaza...... UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!>

The noise gradually decreases, and the woman's voice grows louder.

A terribly, nostalgic voice.

That's right.

I, know this voice.

......Know it?

What am I saying!

This goes way beyond, just knowing it!

Why did I forget!?

This voice belongs to someone important!

The voice of my precious, precious partner who has been with me since the day I was born!!

This person is...... this person is......!!

<OOOOOOOOOO, YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! WE'RE FINALLY CONNECTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!>

IT'S OMAKE-SAMAAAAAAAAAA!!!

<Aaah! Emi! ......Sniff! Emiiiii!! At last! At last I've been able to get my voice through to youuuu!!! Uwaaaan!!!>

Wait a minute!

Wait a minute, Omake-sama!

Stop sobbing and tell me!

What on earth happened to me, and to you......!?

Hm!?

The instant after I hear Omake-sama's voice, something goes wrong with my body.

In spite of myself, I clutch my stomach and crouch down on the spot.

“H, hey!? What's wrong!? You've been acting strange for a while now!? Are you okay, missy!?”

Ronte-san is saying something, but none of it reaches my ears.

Because!

Because, right now, my body is!!

......because I'm being hit by a tremendous starvation, a hunger!!!

GUGYUUUUUURURURURURURURURURURURU!!!

A stomach sound like the roar of a ferocious, large monster echoes through the quiet wheat fields!!

“Y, you're hungry!?”

With a worried face, Ronte-san approaches me.

Stop.

Stop, don't come here.

Don't come near me right now.

No.

No, no.

Right now, to me, you......

You look like nothing, but meat!!!

<You mustn't!!>

My hand stops at Omake-sama's scream.

I'd been just about to obey my instincts, crush Ronte-san's throat, and gorge on his flesh and blood.

Th, that was close.

<Emi, let's escape! To the forest...... escape to the forest!!>

I take my hand away, from Ronte-san's throat.

It was, in the nick of time, but a red mark got left on his throat.

I think it'll probably heal soon, so please forgive me for that much.

“A...... a......!?”

Leaving behind Ronte-san, trembling with his legs given out, and the two rushing over to him, I started running for the forest.