Oze
I gasped, looking past Mamoru and out the window.
“It’s Nonno…”
That yellow-feathered parakeet Mamoru used to keep—Nonno.The very same bird that now lived on Ululu’s back, hand-drawn by Mamoru on his T-shirt, was flying freely across the sea.
Can parakeets even fly like that?It danced through the air, carefree, as if releasing the wings that had known only cages and bedrooms in life.
Beautiful.I’d been staring at all kinds of birds lately, more than ever before, and I was starting to think—maybe it was humans who were the design failure.But…
“...Why is it transparent?”
I asked no one in particular.
Through Nonno’s body, I could see the night sky. And for a parakeet, it was unusually big.
Still, I knew without a doubt—it was Nonno.Because I remembered the glow that blurred around its translucent body.
That was Nonno’s yellow.…Come to think of it, when did I become able to tell colors like that?
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“What a cute bird,” said Kaori-san, not answering my question, just murmuring softly.
“The color of the bird you keep in your heart can be seen directly inside your heart. That’s why it’s okay for it to be transparent.”
Rhone’s voice came suddenly from behind me, and I turned around.There was a food tray beside him, so he must’ve wheeled the wagon in—but I hadn’t heard a sound.
The silver lids covered the plates, hiding whatever was inside.
“A bird you keep in your heart?”
“Do you know the story of the blue bird?” Rhone asked, peering out the window himself.
“Kinda,” I replied.
Honestly, if someone asked me to explain the plot right now, I’d be stuck.
“It’s surprisingly accurate for a fantasy story.All of you—every one of you—keeps a bird in your heart that changes color depending on where it is.”
“…Sorry, I’ve got no idea what that means.”
So that’s what the Blue Bird was about?
Rhone looked so proud when he’d started talking, and now he seemed deflated. It felt awkward, so I changed the subject.
“Nonno was a parakeet, you know. If she’s flying out here in the middle of the ocean, she might die.I should grab some breadcrumbs and go outside, try to call her back onto the ship—”
I stopped mid-sentence, suddenly aware of how ridiculous I sounded.
“Oze-kun, that bird is already dead,” said Kaori-san with a wry smile.Mamoru also smiled, his round cheeks lifting.
Right.Calling a dead bird back onto a ship carrying the dead—people I had killed—what the hell was I thinking?
“Nonno landed on that tree,” Mamoru said, pointing.
I looked where he pointed—and gasped again.
A slender trunk rose from the sea, its delicate branches stretching toward the sky.It was a beautiful tree—elegant, even.A strange thought, I knew.But lately, everything—birds, trees—looked more like the main characters than I did.It was as if I’d faded into the background. That thought had been slowly creeping into my heart for a while now.
“If you’re that shaken already, I wonder if you’ll last until dawn…Anyway, come on, let’s eat before it gets cold. I worked hard on this meal, you know.”