Blood Of Platinum
Chapters 30. A Stranger Way. 1
Kino's steps came to a halt when someone patted her on the shoulder from behind. When he looked back, he saw the figure of Ryou who was full of sweat with breathless breath like running for a very long time.
“R–Ryou?! What's wrong with you?” Kino who saw that suddenly became panicked
“...Haa...Finally I...Successfully found you, Kino” with breath that is still not stable he tried to talk.
Kino held onto Ryou's sweaty hand. Ryou said that he only needed to catch his breath for a moment. After taking a deep breath and exhaling it five times, Ryou was finally able to speak normally.
“I've been looking for you everywhere. At first I thought I would end up surrounding all corners of the city just to find you. I was happy when I ran earlier I saw you in front of this bakery again”
“So. So, has the pocket watch been found?” Kino was a hopeful face
“That's the question.I've searched all the roads we've been through, but well..didn't find any clues” Ryou shook his head and looked disappointed.
Seeing Ryou's reaction, Kino also turned increasingly moody. He hoped to find the pocket watch but, from the beginning it seemed like it could not end easily. Ryou sees her brother's face turning moody again and decides to change the subject.
“How about eating first? Are you hungry now?”
“I'm not so hungry. Even if I feel it now, I don't think it's a good time to eat. I have to find that pocket watch again and–”
Ryou cuts Kino's sentence and says “eat!. You should find a nice place to eat and a comfortable place to talk. Judging from the heat of the sun now I can guess it's eleven or half twelve in the afternoon. There are at least a few things we can talk about. We eat!”
Ryou took Kino's hand and led him into the bakery. After buying a lot of bread, they walked out and went again to the cold drink stall not far from the bakery.
“Excuse me. Uncle, ice lemonade two. All I ordered soft ice cream in a glass of two ya” Ryou ordered some drinks
Kino who saw it could only pull the sleeves of the sister, indicating it should be enough, but Ryou smiled widely while saying “aku who pay”
After all his orders were in hand, they made their way towards the center of the city.
The city center is the part of the city that is located opposite the altar building. Now they were quite far away from the altar building. Of course the city center is a place that is wider and wider than the big streets in the city.
In that place, before this strange happened there was a fountain pond in the middle of the downtown road. After the change occurred when ‘world malam’ did not appear, on the downtown road there is nothing and only a wide road through horse carriages and pedestrians.
On the side of the road from the city center there is a shady area with trees and garden chairs around it. The two brothers looked a bit surprised but it made them better. They looked for a place to eat and after successfully finding one that was quite comfortable, they sat there to rest.
“Wah, comfortable once~” Ryou smile cheerfully once
Kino only smiled faintly, but she could see that the place was indeed so comfortable. Ryou starts to open the bread he just bought and gives one to Kino. Although initially refused but, inevitably he still accepted the gift of his sister to him. Ryou thought of talking lightly to the older brother to change his mood.
“It feels good, right? Although not as good as bread in Japan, but they say this melon cream bread is quite famous”
“I know. It's tasty. Thank you for buying it for me” Kino ate it with a smile
The mood is a little better. They ate the bread and ice cream they bought. After successfully making the atmosphere and the sister's face cheerful again, Ryou began to talk seriously.
“Kino, I think you should stop blaming yourself for this”
“……”
“It's not like you omitted his pocket watch, therefore it's best to stop blaming yourself and we start thinking of another possibility”
“Isn't that a reality? I lost the pocket watch, whereas all this time it was on me” Kino turned sad again
But that's not what this conversation means. Ryou was trying to compose words to encourage and comfort Kino. Although it seems like her fabricating ability is not as good as the acting she did a while back.
“I don't want you to blame yourself again, my brother. Now I want to invite you to think about another possibility”
“Other possibilities? What does Ryou mean?”
“I think that the loss of that pocket watch is no coincidence”
“Not a coincidence? Why could Ryou think so?”
“I don't know. Just guessing. But that doesn't mean I know where that thing went. The pocket watch is not a living thing that has little legs to run from us, you know”
Ryou spoke in a relaxed tone while sipping his cold lemonade and wearing an ice cream cup in his hand. Kino could not stop making a confused face hearing his sister's casual remark like that.
“Ryou. Kaito-san also said that this thing is–”
“I'm serious about this too, Kino. I myself still can't think of what would happen to us if the pocket watch was not found when Kaito had found his memory”
“I've guessed it's my fault”
Now Kino has really become moody again and this is all thanks to Ryou's ‘tulus’ intention that simply can't put the words together properly. His initial intention of wanting to comfort the older brother and now ended up making him blame himself. Finally, Ryou could only take a temporary peck and think of a way to change this topic.
‘Stupid basis! Find another topic so that Kino is not moody anymore!! Ah!’
Ryou recalled what happened before he met Kino a while ago when he visited the altar.
“Kino, listen. I went to the fountain and altar. There the guard said someone other than me was looking for a pocket watch and when I thought it must be you, I bet you must have heard some weird rumors too. That's right, right?”
Kino's facial features began to turn normal. He remembered what he had heard while at the altar. She told her sister everything she knew when she went to the building. Of course Ryou's face seemed calm listening while drinking the lemonade ice he bought.
“Actually Kino, I even get more details than you heard that. I had a chance to talk to one of the visitors I met before going into the altar. They are a couple who experienced the loss of objects in the form of a jewel bracelet. And even more absurdly, within one week they had lost a similar object when visiting altar”
“Lost...similar item in one week?” Kino looked surprised at what Ryou said
“True. Surprisingly, they say it's only been happening this past week. If only once I might think they are careless, in fact, those who experience it are not just the couple. I had heard that there was more than one who experienced it and all the missing things were quite have a value”
“I remember Kaito did too, right? When he first came to this ‘world’, he said that he stole at the altar to connect the life of”
“Ryou's right, I remember it too. At that time Kaito-san still did not know anything about ‘both worlds’ this”
“I want to know what you think of this. Kino, you don't think our pocket watch was lost because it was stolen, do you?”
“I thought so at first. It's strange if someone wants to steal an old pocket watch full of scratches so, moreover, the clock is still there when we will leave the altar. To be honest before meeting Ryou earlier, I had thought that there could be someone stealing it while we were walking in the city. But, after seeing that the money was still in my pants pocket, I started to dispel that thought”
“So yes, so the clock is still in your pocket when we exit”
“Iya” Kino replied while drinking cold lemonade
Ryou looked a little relieved hearing that. At least he didn't need to express his foolish thoughts about anything else.
‘Thank God it wasn't stolen. At first, when I heard the couple say and asked about the loss at the altar, I thought it had something to do. I almost accused a group of orphans in front of the altar of theft. There were indeed children who even entered the altar, but I guess because the guard officers also allowed them to request donations in’
Ryou casually took another piece of bread from the bag and ate it. He gave one more to Kino so that she would eat a lot to calm down. Kino certainly could not refuse to give his sister and eat her. Ryou only glanced at Kino's face with a sharp look without his knowledge.
Kino's complicated unknown thoughts continued to reside in Ryou's heart, as if at the moment he couldn't dispel all the prejudices he had.
‘This is more complicated than I thought. It's strange that a pocket watch that has been kept well by my brother can be lost without being noticed. If it is related to the incident on the altar, it could have been stolen without Kino's knowledge while he was searching for information. But, that thought instantly vanished when he said his pocket watch was still safe back then. Means, I can start assuming this has something to do with the vanished ‘world malam’. I don't know if I can think so far, but Kaito who has been here for a long time just doesn't know for sure. Now, I can understand why Kaito says the problem of our lost pocket watch is more troublesome than the other’
Kino looks better than ever, it can be seen from the way he enjoys the bread and ice cream cup in his hand. Although Ryou's ability to compose words is not as good as his acting, but he is skilled enough to make the brother's mood change for the better. After they finished eating, they kept the remaining bread in the shopping bag for Kaito.
After sitting down for some time, they thought about looking for their pocket watch back.
“I think we should start asking some residents to make it easier for us to find information” Ryou stands with his waist down pose
“Ryou correct. I wish Kaito-san could find her, but I also don't want to wish on her since Kaito-san also has to find her missing piece of memory”
“Absolutely. Think this is both of us. We'll finish it. I hope when the strange clock sounds later this afternoon, the pocket watch comes back to us when the repetition happens”
“I hope so and actually Ryou.I hope we don't split up again to look for him. I just don't know what I'd think of again if I tried to find it myself”
“Hee. I also don't think I'll let you look for it myself. You might cry and blame yourself again. In essence, we can be sure 100% of the pocket watch was not stolen and had nothing to do with the events at altar”
“Ryou true”
“And now, just stay hope there are good people who find it and want to return it to us”
Ryou's last words were nothing but serious nonsense. Of course he wasn't that stupid to the point of relying on someone else to return the lost item to him. After all, Ryou never expected that the pocket watch would be easy to find. As optimistic as he is, he knows it is not easy to find items that disappear suddenly within 12 hours.
After which, they stood up and started walking to look for him once more.
‘I hope that pocket watch really comes back to us when looping happens’
******
At the same time as Ryou exits the altar building to find Kino, Kaito finds a descending staircase that seems to lead to another path. He could see there was a house building on the right and left side along the descending staircase and then there was a straight path leading somewhere.
Kaito still did not move from where he was standing and could not hide his surprised expression. He was stuck in ‘kedua dunia’ long enough and of course in his heart began to appear the most basic questions in situations like this.
“Since when is there another road in this city?!”
What a surprise during the day. Besides this morning he saw a scene in front of the altar that looks like ‘world night’ last night, now he finds a tourist attraction in the form of a mysterious staircase with a house on each side.
Kaito tried to take a deep breath and began to descend the stairs. Along the way he looked at the right and left sides of the place.
“About the suspicion. I thought it would be very quiet turned out to be quite crowded”
As he said, the place was quite crowded. It still looks normal even though it is not as crowded in the city. Kaito began to stare intently at the entire place. When he finished going down all the stairs and walked straight down the street, he started to feel a little different. The longer the population's house is not as crowded as before. There started to be buildings with broken glass and there were some damaged buildings.
Kaito could not stop thinking.
‘This is not my feeling. This place is getting quieter and quieter for longer. Some of the buildings even look uninhabited. Besides, I don't like the smell of this place. A scent filled with something like trash or alcohol. It's really hard to believe there's a place like this in the city’
In front of him was a T-junction that each led to all the small alleys. He chose the turn at random. As he walked into the narrow alley, he was in another crossroad that made him choose a random turn. Kaito continued to do so until he finally felt he had entered the place deeper. Now the best part. The last turn he chose was the road to a foreign estate that had strange goods stalls. Almost all goods whose quality is below standard are not even clear in shape. Even so, there were some stalls selling items such as weapons or food.
‘Similar to a kiosk in town but simpler. If you pay attention again, the lighting in this place is somewhat lacking. I want to know why the lighting here is not so good even though it has been exposed to noon’ sunlight
Kaito saw the people around the place also had a hostile face. Some avoided it because they saw Kaito's scabbardless sword, some tried to get close but were repulsed by a sinister look from him.
Along the way Kaito saw some burly people with tattoos on their hands and other body parts. They whispered and watched Kaito from a distance. Kaito realized that but he remained calm and continued through the path unhindered. When he was almost away from the area, he glanced back and saw the burly people leaving.
“……”
After spending a few minutes, Kaito took his pocket watch and saw the time was already showing at 12:35. After reinserting his pocket watch, he walked back and saw a bar. The bar was dark with the door closed. He was not very interested in the place so he passed by it. A few minutes after passing the bar and walking straight, Kaito started running at high speed.
‘It looks like I was followed. They were probably a group of big-bodied people earlier. Unlike the ‘world malam’, here as much as possible I should not kill humans except under certain circumstances. In the meantime I guess I'll avoid them’
Kaito's guess is not wrong, behind him there are indeed people who follow him and they are indeed a group of people with large bodies with tattoos that he sees. More than seen before.
‘I think they're quite interested in the sword I brought. They must have thought that I was worthy enough to be their victim during the day like this. Really troublesome’
Kaito made a turn and immediately increased his speed again until the men lost track of him.
******