TFOA Chapter 25

'Listen well, Gilbert.'

The middle-aged man with brown curly hair firmly gripped the boy's shoulder. Dropping to one knee to match the boy's eye level, the man slowly continued his words.

'I don't care what you did before, how you lived, or even if what the police officer says is true.'

'Just remember this one thing.'

'You are Gilbert Grace.'

The man said.

That brief statement. Strangely, the boy could never forget it for his entire life. In his blurred childhood years, it was the only thing he remembered vividly - those words, that voice, and the man's expression.

The boy who was once there had now become a young man, a span taller than that man from back then.

On a day when rain poured down enough to obscure his vision.

Gilbert raised the gun in his hand. Click - the sound of loading echoed. Getting drenched in the relentless downpour, he clenched his teeth. 

'You are Gilbert Grace.'

"It's all because of you. Because of you. If only you hadn't been there. If only you..."

His finger on the trigger bent with fury. Rainwater streamed down between his twisted eyes.

"If only you weren't there."

'You are Gilbert Grace.'

In front of him lay a man who had collapsed.

A man leaning collapsed against a wooden post. Blood pooled thick beneath his abdomen.

Rain falling steadily - the blood pooled beneath the man's torn clothing was so thick it surpassed even the puddles of rainwater.

Just as he bit his lip and was about to pull the trigger. The man who had been lying there with eyes closed as if dead slowly opened them.

It was a terrifyingly vivid violet.

Gilbert gasped and opened his eyes to the pain that struck his chest.

A room with brown brick walls and a bitter scent like herbs. It was his own room in the Grace house.

'A dream?'

He let out a pained sound and rolled over, burying his face in the pillow. Having such a terrible dream made his body feel heavy as a thousand pounds.

He stuck out only his hand, groping around the table. The desk clock caught in his hand, and he looked at the clock groggily.

12 o'clock. It was far past the time he should have gotten up.

"...I really slept a lot."

"That's what I'm saying. You really slept a lot."

Gilbert bolted upright at the bright voice coming from beside his bed. Only then could he see his yellow-haired neighbor sitting beside the bed, chin propped up looking bored.

"My goodness... Niksi, when did you come?"

"About an hour ago?"

"...You've been here since then?"

"Yeah. Since you were groaning from sleep paralysis."

"Oh no..."

'That must have looked terrible.'

Gilbert ran his hand through his disheveled hair and sat up in bed. As soon as the bed's owner vacated his spot, Niksi plopped down as if she'd been waiting for it.

"I'll go wash up."

"Okay!"

Gilbert yawned quietly as he shuffled toward the bathroom. Having just woken up, he looked uncommonly disheveled. Usually he would smile bright and good-naturedly, asking when did you come? Have you eaten?

Right now he was completely like a deflated retriever.

"What's with sleeping in so late? Usually you get up when the sun rises."

That's why Niksi often called Gilbert 'an elder who's only twenty on the outside.'

Gilbert squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush as he answered.

"That's true. Yesterday I just finished sowing summer crops, so maybe the tension was released."

"Whoa, you're already done? Then help me out a bit. 100 euros an hour! Payment in six months!"

"Scammer. Mm... I'll see about the time."

With the toothbrush still in his mouth, Gilbert skillfully began setting out snacks for his guest. A few cookies from the cupboard and a glass of milk.

Niksi didn't refuse the kindness and stuffed her mouth full of cookies.

"But Niksi, what brings you here at this hour?"

"You told me to come to your house today. To go dig up wild yam."

"Ah."

Right, that's true. Gilbert thought as he rinsed his mouth. Yesterday at Raul's bar, while eating cassoulet, he had suggested to Niksi that they go dig wild yam.

He couldn't let his neighbor go hungry when there was nothing to harvest yet. Rather than let her starve alone, he thought he should teach her how to at least dig up tree roots to eat.

"I'll be ready in no time. Want more cookies?"

"Can I?"

"Of course. I bought them for guests, and you're most of my guests anyway."

He set the cookie tin on the table and disappeared into the bathroom. Niksi bit into the cookies like a greedy hamster, filling her mouth.

"Hmm."

With the owner gone to the bathroom, the house was quiet. Part of it was because lunchtime in Auvers was peaceful.

But a bigger reason was that Gilbert lived in a house rather large for one person. Niksi held a cookie in one hand and looked around his room.

His room, which she'd been in and out of several times, so it wasn't unfamiliar. A quiet place that suited Gilbert's characteristically peaceful and easygoing appearance.

His house was moderately sized for one family. That is, it was a house fine for about four people to live in. When you entered the house there was a living room and kitchen, and going inside there was a door that looked like a large room, and next to it was a small room decorated with charming furniture that looked like a small child would use.

Gilbert's room was in the furthest corner inside the house. Troublesomely, it was located at the very back, passing through the corridor by the kitchen.

'If you lived alone, you'd use the large room or the small room closest to the living space. Why does he use such a tucked-away room?'

Well, that's the homeowner's heart. Since he goes around so energetically outside, he might want to live secretively at home.

Or perhaps he can't clear away the traces of his dead family.

Niksi put the last cookie in her mouth and also emptied the glass of milk cleanly. Just then, Gilbert seemed to have finished preparing as he opened the door with a click and came out.

Niksi and Gilbert each shouldered tools in one hand and woven straw baskets in the other. They crossed Gilbert's sweet potato field and reached the base of the mountain ridge.

"Where do we dig wild yam?"

"Over there, on the northwest mountainside."

"That's close to your sweet potato field."

Gilbert owned one of the largest fields in the village. But since he was also the village head, he used half his field for the village - as a community garden or as a parking lot for carts.

Anyway, like someone with a large house and large field, he was a man with tremendous generosity.

"What kind of food can you make with wild yam?"

"You can mix it with flour to make pancakes, or eat it raw - it's delicious. Roasting it is good too. It's a root vegetable so there's nothing special about the taste, but if you lightly roast it in olive oil it's crispy like a pear, and if you cook it more it becomes fluffy like steamed potato."

"Ooh... that sounds delicious."

Niksi let out a reflexive exclamation. The unknown plant she'd never even seen face-to-face felt delicious.

After that, Gilbert swung his sickle while reciting how to survive being stranded in the mountains. Most bitter greens that grow in Auvers can be eaten, among wild vegetables ones that look like this are fine if you put them in salt water and eat them, don't eat mushrooms. One hundred out of one hundred will die.

What if there's nothing but mushrooms to eat? Then it's better to just starve to death if you want to die nicely. And so on.

Niksi listened to Gilbert's lecture like a grandfather who'd lived 100 years while gazing at him.

A young man in his early twenties who's wearing a felt hat and is the village head with tremendous magnanimity. He also had the character of not being able to just pass by people who stood out in the village.

As evidence, doesn't he lead around that nasty-tempered painter like a mother duck?

'Today too, he's taking around a neighbor who has no food because she spent all her money, to teach her about plants you can dig and eat in the mountains.'

Suddenly Niksi became curious about where his kindness came from. Her own kindness came from being well-fed, but looking at Gilbert, that didn't seem to be the case.

Abundance? That didn't seem right either - he wasn't someone who reeked of money like her superiors or nouveau riche. Rather the opposite. He was a simple person who would smile at a complimentary corn salad.

Then...

'Maybe he was born that way.'

Kind from birth. In this harsh world, he was exactly the type to get swindled. At the same time, Niksi, whose nature was closer to unkind, suddenly wanted to mess up his hair.

"Gilbert! Look at this!"

Niksi held up a tree root the size of a house and cheered. Oh dear, that's not wild yam but kudzu. Gilbert secretly shook his head.

"Wooow~ congratulations Niksi."

Gilbert was amazed by her hopeless eye for detail. Wild yam and kudzu are similar in that they can be pulled easily from the ground, but there's one obvious difference.

'I said three times that wild yam flowers are white or slightly yellow. Kudzu flowers are purple.'

Regardless, Niksi seemed enchanted by the white cross-section of the kudzu stem, thicker than her wrist, grinning foolishly.

Can't be helped. Gilbert chuckled and gently touched the white, round wild yam flowers that were blooming.

While the farmer was having an absurd battle with the kudzu stems in high spirits, Gilbert filled his basket full with wild yam chunks. Somehow, he'd come to teach but it felt unfair that he was only working.

But what could he do? It was something he himself had caused. Carrying a wistful heart, he was digging the ground several times when he discovered something and raised his head.

"Niksi."

"Yeah?"

"Come here."

When he gestured while wiping his sweat, Niksi came running over. Gilbert cupped both hands together gently as if showing something precious.

His face somehow held anticipation.

"This here, during the war we really sought these out to eat. Sautéed and fried in lemon basil sauce, it was as good as meat dishes. Really delicious."

"You're rambling. What is it?"

At Gilbert's mouth-watering foodie comment, Niksi became curious and brought her face close to his tightly cupped hands. She looked like a cat wiggling its bottom at foxtail grass. He grinned and opened his palms.

"Ta-da! A frog!"

"What the..."

The frog immediately jumped and stuck with a plop to Niksi's nose bridge. Niksi froze solid with the frog still attached, letting out a death cry.

At the same time, Gilbert burst into boyish laughter. His seemingly fearless neighbor had stiffened at a mere thumb-sized frog. She had quite a cute side.

He wanted to laugh and watch a bit longer, but if he left it any longer she might suffocate and faint, so Gilbert removed the frog from her face. Wiping away the tears that had formed in his eyes from laughing.

"What's this, Niksi? You're more timid than I thought."

"......"

"Huh~? Are you mad?"

Gilbert chuckled as he bent down to meet Niksi's blank stare. The moment focus snapped back into her red eyes, Niksi bonked him on the head with the kudzu she was holding.

"You startled me."

Niksi looked at the small tree frog sitting on his palm and felt countless thoughts flash through her mind in a short time. Like the souls of all the frogs she had dissected...

"This tastes as good as meat dishes?"

"That's right."

What a waste! If she'd known, she would have been chewing frog legs instead of leather belts!

"Oh..."

Gilbert let out a dumbfounded exclamation at her triangular-shaped eyes. A chill passed down his spine. He hurriedly sent the frog kindly back to the pond side. He couldn't stand to watch the frog's lifespan be shortened because of his prank.

Before long, their baskets were filled abundantly with wild yam, some wild vegetables, and one enormous kudzu stem. Niksi patted the basket and smiled.

"Today will be a fresh and filling meal plan!"

"That's a relief."

"But Gil. How do you know all this so well? Do you have the DNA of ancient hunter-gatherer civilizations remaining?"

"Of course. I grew up eating a lot."

Niksi walked looking at her basket with a pleased face. When they reached the steep slope, Niksi slipped her footing several times on the muddy bottom.

Gilbert grabbed the swaying arm of his kind neighbor to prevent her from rolling down the slope and arriving in the village.

"Oh, oh thank you!"

That touch was quite firm. It was a moment when she newly realized forearm muscles she hadn't even been aware of. Indeed, sweet potatoes aren't something just anyone can grow. Niksi nodded while tapping his arm.

"Should we rest for a moment?"

"I'm fine. Actually, it's been a while since I went mountain climbing, so my legs are shaking."

"Really? Then give me the basket."

"If you carry mine too it'll be heavy."

"It'll be less heavy than later when your legs go on strike and I have to carry you down the mountain."

"That's really unfair but it makes sense."

When someone offers to carry your luggage for you, there's no reason to refuse. Niksi handed over her basket to him. Instead, she shouldered his tools.

"Then there's a good resting spot up ahead, so let's just go that far."

"Sounds good."

They began climbing the uphill path again.

'That's strange.'

Niksi tilted her head. The tools somehow felt heavier? She glanced at him. Then she met Gilbert's eyes, who had been looking at her already. He had the same expression as when he was hiding the frog earlier, the corners of his mouth turned up.

She'd been tricked. Niksi punched his back with her fist.

In the end, Niksi got her basket back and she and Gilbert bravely pushed through the undergrowth.

"There's really a resting spot in a place like this?"

Niksi asked, using the kudzu shakily like a walking stick. He'd said there was a resting spot, but was he talking about resting in the afterlife? Gilbert kept going up steep places.

"Yeah. We're almost there."

"That's the third time. If we're not there when you say it a fourth time, I can't guarantee your weeding hoe's safety."

"Really."

Gilbert, who had climbed up the hill first, reached out his hand and pulled Niksi up.

"Oh..."

In front of them stood one abandoned house. It wasn't the kind of abandoned house where things that weren't living people might pop out.

A wooden house on the quiet mountainside. The vines were scattered here and there messily, but it had exactly the charming atmosphere that ten-year-old kids would say was perfect for exploration.

"Come in this way. Ah, the floor over there has caved in so be careful."

He opened the door and entered. There was a big hole in the ceiling, but the sunlight pouring down through it gave a subtle thrill.

"Wow... how did you know about this place? The path coming here was treacherous, so no one would have known this road."

"When I was young I ate and slept here. ...Should I say it's like my secret hideout?"

Gilbert sat on the sofa with cotton sticking out and patted the spot next to him. Niksi, who had been looking at the nails roughly driven into the wall and the old map hanging on the nails, plopped down next to him.

He pointed to the fireplace next to the couch.

"I lit campfires here and roasted mushrooms."

"Amazing you're still alive. You said nine times out of ten you'd die."

"I'm a mushroom expert. And I caught fish down in that river."

Through the window he pointed to, there was a steep slope, and below it a river that looked good for swimming. Gilbert walked around every corner of the house like a guide showing the interior.

Passing through rooms full of broken debris, wood scraps, and wire, he reached a small room that a child might use and put his hand on the doorknob, then paused.

"...The doorknob here is broken so it won't open!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. So shall we go look somewhere else?"

"......"

"......"

"......"

"You're telling me to move aside, right? I understand."

Gilbert raised both hands and stepped back. Niksi kicked the doorknob with a thud. The pitiful doorknob's neck flew off and the door opened absurdly easily.

The room was very small. As small as it was, it seemed a small child had used it - the bed was also low, and the chair was also small.

"There's nothing much." Niksi muttered. When she said that, she happened to see old chunks of iron rolling around on the floor.

Niksi stared at it blankly and put it in her basket.

"Hey Gil. Is there anything worth looking at over there?"

Gilbert was standing vacantly in front of the wooden wall next to the door coming in. Niksi looked over her shoulder at the place he was staring at.

It wasn't anything particularly special - just some kind of mark.

"It's a bloodstain."

"...Yeah. It's a bloodstain."

"Are you going to keep looking?"

"No."

He turned around sharply. Niksi made a "hmm" sound and looked at the wall with the bloodstain.

A palm-sized bloodstain at about her sitting height. Nothing particularly special or touching about it. She didn't really want to know if there were hidden secrets or some kind of story.

But.

'If you're going to turn away so sharply, then don't make such a bitter expression.'

"When you make such a storied face that anyone can see, it makes me worry."

Gilbert's expression while looking at this was distant from being nonchalant. Even she, who was dull about emotions, could tell that much.