Oze
“So this is your room…”
The Rhone I had been looking for was sitting shallowly on the edge of his bed, head bowed. His room was completely different from the one our Harvester had.
It looked like a prison. I’d never been in a real one, so I couldn’t say for sure, but it was exactly what I imagined.
Surrounded by dark, unyielding walls—no decoration, no trace of life. Just cold.
“…You came to get me?”
His trembling voice, and the eyes glistening with tears, looked unbearably sorrowful.
I stepped forward without thinking and held his drooping shoulders.
“It’s not your fault. You’re all right.”
“Will you forgive me? For just standing by and watching?”
“You mean Kaori-san? That was my choice, not yours.”
I sat down beside a very timid-looking Rhone. Even the bed was hard and uncomfortable. Could he really carry out his role to the end like this?
“Even if you forgive me, he… your Harvester must be lamenting my uselessness. So, to make him look at me differently, I called to a bird. The same bird Aochi-kun saw—the familiar’s watch-bird.”
It seemed to me that Rhone’s lips regained a little color.
That was the bird that once saved Aochi in the winter mountains. I had seen it myself this morning. With wings black as the night sea, flowing boldly, and eyes rimmed in arterial red—it was said to be one of God’s familiars.
“Will the bird help me?”
“I asked it to help—so that even if he gives his heart to any one of you, he will not die.Silent-chan is like you—she’ll be going on to the new world. So this time I’ll gather my courage and save Ululu. Now then, before the bird comes, here’s your final trial.”
Damn it, one trial after another on this last day.
“From here on, the letters will come at you. But it’s the last time—endure it with your own strength.”
♢♢
I dragged the reluctant Rhone back to our ship.
When I saw everyone lying down in front of the outer storage, I was stunned.
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At a time like this, what were they doing, relaxing like that?
When we stepped down from the ladder onto the deck, only Oomi raised himself halfway up. The Harvester just waved while lying down.
The dark ladder beneath my feet had looked terrifying at first, but only that first step took courage. After that, the thought of falling disappeared, and I crossed as if dancing.
“Oze-san, Rhone-san—thank goodness. Come here, let’s watch the letters together. We held hands, and the mist couldn’t overcome us. This time, too, if we stay together, we’ll be fine.”
Oomi gave me a meaningful glance before continuing.
“Oze-san, please go to Aochi-san’s side, at the end. Rhone-san, you go in the middle, next to the Harvester.”
“What?”
Rhone reacted like a young girl, and I couldn’t help but find it amusing.
With that glance, I was convinced Oomi understood everything.
The only one who didn’t know anything was him. Thinking that, I sat down beside Aochi, who was lying on his back.
“Those letters… don’t tell me you mean that?”
Aochi muttered next to me as I was about to lie down, his eyes fixed on the dark sky above.
“Which one?”
I squinted in the same direction, but all I saw was the sky, deeper than the sea. Huh? Could it be that tiny star?
There hadn’t been a single star before, yet now, something tiny glowed faintly gold. So small I had overlooked it—like the bottom line of an eye chart, nothing but a dot to me.
“Is that a letter? What does it say? My eyes are bad, too.”
Unlike Oomi, I wore contacts, so at least the Harvester didn’t mock me with “glasses.”
“That’s God’s writing. Keep silent, and look with your usual heart.”
The Harvester answered calmly in Aochi’s place.
Everyone fell quiet. For the first time since boarding this ship, I heard the gentle sound of waves, lapping softly.
For a moment, I met Mamoru’s eyes as he sat on the Harvester’s lap. He was smiling, swaying his head in time with the waves. Good. He was safe there.
Looking back to the sky, I saw the dot of light growing larger, accompanied by the rhythm of the waves.
I see—so that light would write in the sky. Kanji? Or maybe even full sentences?
“It’s not that simple. You can’t read God’s writing.”
Just as the light had grown clear enough to recognize, it began to move swiftly. The trail of the shooting star did not vanish, but instead inscribed something vast in the sky with clear intent.
Glowing letters against the dark sky.
Like English cursive written vertically, five lines of them appeared.
As the Harvester had said, they were unfamiliar characters. Those bluish-white radiant words—how would they even be pronounced? Was this the true language the Harvesters spoke?
Maybe they always just matched the passengers’ tongues.
The second line shone much brighter than the others, enough to blur the rest.
“Hey, doesn’t the second line look way too bright?”
I asked Aochi beside me without thinking.
“Hm? Second line? The fourth from the right looks bright to me. The others are faint.”
What the hell? Did it change depending on who looked? How fitting for God to use such a nasty trick.
“For me, it’s the fifth line.”
I knew it. And the others? I glanced at the two Harvesters.
“The second line, huh? Same as me. …Hey, don’t stick so close. It’s disgusting.”
“S-sorry. Um… I see the fourth line.”
Rhone was clinging to the Harvester. Disgusting, indeed. Even when he had been strangled earlier, he must have been secretly delighted.
“They all look shiny to me.”
“Good job, Mamoru.”
I had no idea what was so praiseworthy, but it was my job to praise everything Mamoru did. After all, there was nothing in him that deserved scolding.
“I see the first line.”
“Urun.”
At Silent-chan’s reply, Ululu nodded vigorously. So he also had a line that looked clearer.
“Hey, what does it say? The emphasized parts must make up the message, right?”
I asked the two Harvesters.
“We can’t tell you. It’d shock you. Some things are better left unknown.”