The first scene.

Everyone said that year there was too much snow.

If things continued like this, in the spring the river would overflow its banks, and there would be flooding.

“Then, as usual?”
“That’s right, we’ll give a child to the mountain god. So that there won’t be too much snow.”

The mood of the crowd didn’t darken. No one asked whose child it would be.

“We’re lucky this year. There’s no need to draw lots. There’s a child from outside the village here.”

Aaah. That was so. The child who was always looking at something far away. Then, the village meeting ended without any incident.

In the middle of the winter, the child was brought to the mountain, tied to the sacred tree so that he would not run away, then left there.

“Be good. Tomorrow we’ll come for you.”

Even though he could tell from the coaxing note in the voice that this was clearly a lie, the child obediently nodded. He did not resist either.

If he was not useful, he would be thrown away. He knew that no one would treat him kindly without some reason for it. While freezing in the cold, he vaguely lifted his head, gazing somewhere far off in the distance. For as long as he could remember, it had been his habit to do so, but the child himself wondered from time to time why he did it, and where he was looking.

Night fell, and because of the cold, he no longer had any feeling in his hands or legs, and his consciousness began to become hazy. That night, mysteriously, it was not snowing. Is it because I’m being offered to the mountain god? I was slightly useful? Will the villagers be pleased with me? … If so, that’s good. He closed his eyes.

He realized somewhere near his ears was the sound of the beating of the wings of small birds. Returning to consciousness, he raised his head. Once again he stared far off into the night sky.

Then, from the darkness came a voice.

“Are you waiting for something?”

He was terribly surprised. He hadn’t thought there was anyone there. When he looked at the person illuminated by the moonlight, he thought he was the god of the mountain.

Even in the life he had led, being sold and thrown away here and there, he had not once seen such a magnificently dressed person. What a cross face this mountain god is making, thought the child.

“I asked you if you were waiting for something.”

The young mountain god asked him this once again. He was very haughty. Such are the gods. The child slowly blinked his eyes. The strange thing the god asked him made him turn his head. He was not really waiting for anything. He knew no one would come to help him, and even tomorrow no one would come either.

Come to think of it, he had lived being sold over and over again by the slavers, and he did not know where he was from. What he had was only a name, so there was no one waiting for him.

So he was about to answer that he wasn’t really waiting for anyone—but in that moment, he realized that was a lie, not in his head, but in his heart.

–What am I waiting for?

The child realized this was the first time someone had asked him that. Yes—he was waiting for someone. He had always been waiting. For what? For whom? He had forgotten. Even though he had been shifted around while being sold off again and again, come to think of it, he had always been looking somewhere. Since he was living from one day to the next with all of his might, he had forgotten everything. In the end, he had even forgotten that he had forgotten. But, certainly he strongly believed he was waiting for something, for someone.

These people, somewhere far off, ended up buried within his memory.

I don’t know, he answered. He himself did not know what he was waiting for. For the first time, the child wept. That was, for himself, an irreplaceable thing, he realized. Even though he, who had nothing, had had something important, he had even forgotten its existence. How foolish could he get? Now, he was going to die. That was terribly sad.

“What is your name?”

The crying boy vaguely answered with his name, his sole possession.

“Kou.”

From somewhere, he again heard the wings of the small birds.

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