Missing Children (2 page)

Even when I tried to get away, my body was stiff with fear, and as if denying movement, it would not respond.

“It’s hot. It hurts. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die!”

My head was filled with those things.

Trembling from all this fear, I came to realize that this was the end for me; it was at that moment that something about the continuing cries of the creatures made me unable to believe my ears.

“We’ll kill you! Monster!”

The thunderous shouting had not changed from before.

However, in my mind, the cries of those creatures seemed to indicate that kind of intention.

Before I could try and comprehend this new sensation, my unsympathetic “consciousness” was already slowly slipping away.

My vision blurred, and gradually darkened. And at the same time, I felt both the pain and fear of my burning body lessen bit by bit.

Without any way to resist, and unable to see anything, in my conscious that finally seemed to be fading away, only the cries of the creatures echoed throughout my head.

“……What is it!? What happened!?”

“Snakes! Dammit, that hurts…… They’re crawling! Watch out!”

What were they clamoring about?

What was a “snake”?

I didn’t know the meaning of the word but it was clear that they felt fear at its presence.

Somehow, I was able to grasp at least that much.

“We’ll pulling out!”

Soon after, one of the creatures that was farther away shouted this, and I heard the sound of feet kicking against the ground.

It would seem that they had started running.

But, why were they suddenly running away?

Were they so afraid of this being called snake?

I was still unable to see anything, but from the sounds of their running, I was able to clearly understand what it meant.

The remaining creatures followed after, the sound of their pounding feet echoing. It seemed that they were heading towards the opening of the cave.

Please, just leave me alone, I prayed.

Although their panicked, retreating footsteps had ceased, the remaining sound reverberations reflected off the rock walls and still echoed.

In any case, they seemed to have left for some reason, and I had managed to hang onto my life.

No, perhaps not.

I was still unable to see my surroundings, and I no longer felt any pain.

Perhaps I had already died from the pain.

As those thoughts crossed my mind, I heard some kind of pulsing noise in the midst of the silence.

I hadn’t heard it from outside. Rather, it seemed to be coming from inside……

“……ah!?”

Suddenly, pain surged through the areas that had been burned. It was a sharp sensation that seemed to pierce my mind, causing me to cry out.

At the same time, my vision returned, and my head, which had felt light and hollow, began to spin.

Panicked, I looked around. The creatures that had been on the banks of the lake were already nowhere to be seen.

As I thought, I hadn’t been mistaken about the fact that they had run off.

Although I could finally feel relieved, sharp pain continued to flow through my body along with the pulsing sound that resonated from inside.

Pain….. Together with fear; both were sensations that were hard to bear.

Judging by their behavior earlier, it seemed that they also experienced these things.

“Pain” gives birth to “fear.”

It was ironic, but at the least, I could understand pain.

By the look of things, it did not seem like these feelings of pain that came and went would be disappearing anytime soon. However, although this pain remained, compared to death, it didn’t feel like much.

Even I was surprised at how much I valued my own body.

Gradually, my mind returned to normal, and I began to recollect what had just happened.

They…… The fire-bearing creatures, just what were they?

Without a doubt, they had clearly come at me with a murderous intent, and tried to kill me.

Thinking back on it, they were frightening creatures.

To me, were they the “stronger ones”?

Pathetic as it was, my body began trembling again.

I had never wanted to learn of this feeing called “fear.”

I wanted to forget about it as soon as possible, but this sensation had embedded itself so deeply in my roots that it didn’t seem like it would be so easily forgotten.

……I see. So the expressions that I had seen on other creatures in their moments of death—was it because of this?

What I had experienced earlier was a sensation that was like having everything taken from me, forever. A sensation like falling into a bottomless darkness.

In this world, that kind of hopeless thing happened too many times a day to keep count of.

Thinking of it that way, I suddenly found this world to be very frightening.

It wasn’t just my own existence that I didn’t understand, but also much about this world; up until now, I had only barely seen the surface of it.

After going through a change, I was able to see the world now in a very different way.

The moment I realized my ignorance, that was when I felt like I was somehow finally a part of this world.

I had never even considered the thought of being afraid of something. For now, I would surrender to this tremendous change that I had undergone.

……Come to think of it, they had been afraid of something they called “snake,” but what exactly was it?

Curious, I looked over to where they had been standing and saw something wriggling menacingly.

A copious amount of what looked like black, elongated tentacles were intertwined and crawling on the ground.

“Ah……!”

The moment I saw them, my mind was filled with confusion once more.

It seemed that fear was something that you would feel again after experiencing it once. It was deeply troubling.

Was that the “snake” that the fire-bearing creatures had been shuddering in fear of? It seemed that there were several of them. Was it possible they would also……?

My body felt the danger and had begun trembling again, but one of the beings known as a “snake” came slithering towards me regardless of that.

It would seem that I had changed into a form that other living things were able to notice.

I understood this, but I had no way of combating against other living things.

If I were to be attacked again, I would not be able to do anything.

I tried to put strength into my body to get away from the fear.

However, just as before, I wasn’t able to move my body very well.

It was as if I no longer understood how to control my body to move, and all the strength that I gathered disappeared somewhere.

Even so, I desperately tried to make my body run, but the snake had already come close enough to kill me if it did indeed intend to attack.

“I…… Ah, d-don’t kill me!”

Panicked, I cried out without thinking.

Those words reflected off the cavity of the stone words and echoed endlessly.

It was, obviously, the first time that I had ever shouted, and I was so shocked at my own outburst that my body stiffened.

For some reason, I felt ashamed, and even more confusion filled my head.

Don’t kill me.

I had intended to shout with that meaning, but would the snake be able to understand it?

The snake stopped moving, darted out its tongue, and suddenly began to speak.

“Earlier, we attacked those humans because they were very terrible creatures that destroyed our dwelling. We have no reason to kill you.”

I was able to grasp the snake’s intentions very well.

It had clearly stated that it would not kill me.

As if they had heard this snake’s intentions, or perhaps had not even the need to, the other wriggling snakes dispersed and vanished somewhere.

It would seem that they dwelled here in this cave.

While I had been deep in thought, had enough time passed for them to be born and breed?

All of a sudden, whether it was from the joy of mutual awareness from the snake, or from relief of the lack of hostility, I gradually felt my eyes grow hot.

“Are you crying?”

“…..Cry? What is that?”

“Ahh, you don’t know? ……I see, I see… So you don’t understand anything.”

Saying this, the snake curled up its body, and darted out its tongue out about twice.

“This is not so. I have watched this world much longer than you have. I know all the general things.”

Despite the fact that only a short while ago, there had been many things I didn’t understand, and many things I had only now come to learn about, I ended up saying such a thing.

Feelings of regret began to spiral inside my head. Honestly, I should have said that I was ignorant, so why had I exaggerated it?

“Then, what are you?”

As expected, I was startled by the snake’s words.

Whether or not it really knew or not, it had accurately pinpointed the thing that I thing I knew next to nothing about.

Even if thoughts such as, “Spiteful bastard,” swirled within me, there was no changing the situation, so I answered honestly.

“……Th-that, I do not know. I had just intended to find out.”

It definitely would not go well with suddenly saying I didn’t know, but there was no other way to answer.

To say that I barely knew would come to no good. I would refrain from saying careless things from now on.

At my answer, the snake answered briefly, “I see.”

It seemed to be that it was looking down on me, and I felt another twinge of annoyance, but as the snake began to speak again, I kept silent.

“Ah, I apologize. It’s simply that, you speak in our tongue, so I was curious. And still, to want to know about yourself—what a strange creature you are.”

I heard what the snake said, but I could not understand the meaning of its words.

It was “strange” to want to learn about myself?

It made little sense to me what that meant.

“What are you even saying? Do you know what I could possibly be?”

When I asked this, the snake replied, “I wonder. I haven’t the faintest idea either,” and as usual, as if mocking me, quickly flicked out its tongue. And, as if remembering something, the snake continued.

“Ah, you may be able to find some kind of lead with the humans. They are also living things that aim to understand themselves, so perhaps they will serve as something like a ‘mirror’ for you.”

What were humans? As I thought about it for a while, I realized that the “humans” the snake spoke of referred to the creatures that had attacked me earlier, and I was overcome by outrage.

“Am I to meet with such beings again!? They tried to kill me a while ago! And regardless, what could I possibly learn about myself from them……”

I suddenly remembered one thing that they had said to me, and I stopped speaking.

“……Monster.”

Yes, they had called me “monster.”

They, who had called me such without hesitation—those humans may actually know something about me.

However……

“……It is true that they seemed to know what I was, but I was close to being killed by them. If they attack me again the next time we meet, then they are the enemy.”

Yes, being attacked was scary.

It is such a fearsome thing that all living things will desperately and blindly try to avoid it at all costs.

“I see. You should decide for yourself what to do, because you are the only one that can find out.”

“Ohh……What am I do?”

If I did not meet the humans again, I would not be able to find out what I was.

However, the problem was that they might attack me upon sight, just as before.

As if tired of watching me worrying with no end, the snake spoke up slowly.

“Hm. Then, think about why those humans attacked you.”

“……Is it not because we are of different species? I have noticed that to be the same with other creatures.”

“Then, how can you avoid being attacked?”

“How? How…… If I were to have the same appearance as them, would that not keep them from attacking?”

Saying this after some thought, the snake swung its neck, and seemed to be instructing, “Look at the lake.”

“……Hm? Are you telling me to see myself? And what point is there in doing such a thing?”

The snake did not answer my question, and instead, continued to gesture as if saying, “Just do it.”

“What could I possibly……”

As I said this, I tried to move my body, but as before, it was difficult.

“Ugh…… What is the meaning of this……”

However, through abrupt, jerky movements, I was able to manage to move, bit by bit, which was considerably better than before.

For what reason was I doing this?

My mind flooded with complaints over the snake’s instructions.

In the first place, would not the reflection in the lake only show a shadow, like what I had seen before? What would I gain from confirming that?

If I learned nothing from this, I would do something to that snake.

Ah, no, the snake was strong. It would be pointless.

Dragging my body, I finally made it to the banks of the lake.

Although it was such a short distance, I already felt great exhaustion.

It had never been like this before, so really, what had happened to me?

As I thought this, I stared into the lake, and what I saw was someone completely unexpected, leaving me speechless.

In the faintly lit, green surface of the water, there was a pale peach-colored creature.

Its appearance was unmistakably that of a human.

Shocked at this sudden sight, my body flinched and I let out a cry.

However, the human reflected in the lake showed no sign of attacking, and with an indescribable expression, jumped back just like I had.

Returning to my senses, I very slowly looked back.

Taking a moment to think, even I was able to grasp what this situation meant.

“This……is me!?”

I, who had previously looked like nothing more than a black shadow, was for some reason, now reflected on the water’s surface looking very similar to a “human.”