Novel 13 Translation - Prologue
Title: Reimei ni Kohaku wa Kirameku (Book 13)
Chapter: Prologue
Reimei ni Kohaku wa Kirameku
~ Prologue ~
Don’t know who it was that said it was snowing it too much this year.
If this continues, the river will overflow in the spring, and perhaps that will incur a flood.
“So, it is necessary to…?”
“That’s right. To insure there isn’t going to be a snow storm, we have to offer a child to the mountain god.”
The atmosphere did not darken, and no one suggested whose child to offer.
“This year is a good one, there isn’t even a need to draw, because there is a child that’s not from here.”
Ah yes, it was indeed so. That one was a strange child that always looked off to the distance.
Thus, the village meeting ended peacefully.
The child was brought to the mountain in the winter. To prevent him from escaping, he was bound by a rope to the sacred tree. The people left him in that condition and went away.
“Stay here, we will bring you back tomorrow.”
Even though he listened to this obviously false but warm utterance, the child nodded obediently and did not struggle.
If he was useless he will be thrown away, there was no one who would treat him well unconditionally-of that he was aware.
Trembling in the wintry cold, he looked up confoundedly and gazed toward somewhere in the distance. This was something that had become a habit before he was old enough to be conscious of it; even he himself did not know why he had such a habit. Neither did he know to where he was looking. He had often thought that it was very strange.
When night fell, the wintry cold gradually whisked away the feelings in his hands and feet, and his consciousness was beginning to become haze. The surprising thing was that it did not snow. Is it because I’m being offered to the mountain god? Is it that I have finally become a little useful? Would the people in the village be happy about this…if yes, then that’s good. As he lightly closed his eyes-
He felt the sound of flapping bird wings in his ear.
His consciousness recovered. He looked up, silently staring at the scene in the distance in the darkness.
Then, a voice came through the darkness.
“…what are you waiting for?”
He was surprised-he never thought there would be people in this place.
Looking at that person in the moonlight, he even thought it was a the mountain god. Even during his pathetic life of being constantly sold and abandoned, he has never seen such lavish clothes.
The child thought, it would seem that this mountain god was a very irritated one.
“I’m asking you, what are you waiting for?”
That youthful mountain god asked again. his tone was quite arrogant, no wonder he was the mountain god.
The child blinked slowly, feeling helpless at the strange question the mountain god asked. He was waiting for anything. He knew all along that no one would come to save him, and he knew that no one would come tomorrow. Without being aware of it, he lived a life of being continuously bought and sold, so that even he himself did not know who he was. The thing he had was only a name; he never had anyone he could wait for.
Thus, he was going to answer “I’m not waiting for anything”, but at that instant, he realized, not in his head but from somewhere deep in his heart, that it was a lie.
-what am I waiting for?
Having been asked thus, the child realized, yes-he was waiting for some one, he had always been waiting.
As to exactly who or what he was waiting for, he had long since forgotten. No matter where he had wandered, no matter to where he was sold, he would always unconsciously look toward somewhere in the distance. All of his mental resources were entirely spent on his daily life, everything else was wholly forgotten. Even the fact that he had forgotten these things was buried in the abyss of forgotten things. But, he felt strongly that he was waiting for something or someone.
His memories were buried in a distant place.
He answered with “I don’t know”. For what he was waiting, even he himself did not know.
The child cried out loud for the first time, and then he realized that this was something irreplaceably important to him.
To someone who didn’t have anything, like himself, it was marvelous that he had something so important, yet he had forgotten this. Oh, such stupidity…people walked toward death like this. This realization made him very sad.
“What is your name?”
The youth cried as he gave an answer in a daze, uttering that unique name.
“Kou.”
Somewhere, there was the sound of flapping bird wings again.
~ * ~ * ~
A/N: I randomly decided a couple of days ago that I’m going to try to translate book 13, because I’m utterly in love with Kouyuu (and god knows, book 13 is all about Kouyuu :D) This is translated from the Chinese version of the novel, so I’m sure there will be some minor discrepancies between this and the Japanese original. Also, I kind of finished season two in a rush, so I’m very bad at the romaji version of names of people and places, so I’ll probably be asking a lot of questions like “what is the name of the guy that did [fill in blank]” in the near future, so please bear with me :D
With all that said, the tentative release date for the next chapter is September 2nd.