Chapter 12: 12 | Don’t let go

Still, the image haunted his dreams throughout the night: 

a lovely girl gazing at the stars, 

and the stars who gazed back.

—Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass

 

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Fwoosh.

The portable stove ignited with a turn of the valve and a tiny levenslied-created flame. I carefully adjusted the fire until it burned steadily with a translucent blue flame. Filling up a dented mess tin with water and three spoonfuls of brown powder, I placed it atop the flame and waited for it to reach a boil. 

“What are you doing?” I asked, glancing up at Rya who was busying herself sorting through our stockpile of canned foodstuff on a bench. 

“I’m trying to figure out which one is the best option for breakfast…” She finally took a can and rolled it towards me, the metal cylinder making a loud tin-tin-tin noise against the splintered floorboards. “What do you think about this, Mori?”

Picking it up, I glanced at the faded label. “Pineapple…slices?” 

“In syrup,” she added happily. “My mum said that fruits and vegetables go bad fast, so we should probably eat those first.” 

I raised my eyebrows, but since I wasn’t the one eating the pineapple slices, I sliced open the can with my scythe and passed it back to her without a word. 

Rya picked a slice out of the can with two fingers and brought it to her mouth, swallowing it in one bite. “Mm, it’s delicious. Don’t you want to try it too, Mori?” 

“I don’t really need to eat food, so you can have everything,” I said, stirring the brown liquid in the mess tin until it looked completely black. Humans have been drinking this particular beverage for over half a millennium, but this would be the first time I’m trying it out for myself, so I was a little apprehensive about brewing it on my own. 

As I stirred the boiling liquid, an intense fragrant aroma wafted up from the mess tin, causing Rya to pause and sniff at the air.

“Are you making coffee?” 

“Oh, is that what it is called?” 

“I’m pretty sure there are many fancy names for different types of coffee, but I just call them all coffee,” she said absently. “Are you not going to put any milk or sugar in it?”

“Why?” 

“I don’t know why, but usually that is what grown-ups do with their coffee.” 

“Huh…but we don’t have milk or sugar, do we?”

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“Hmm, you’re right. I guess not.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Are we going to get some later?”

“If we can find some,” I said, turning the stove off and pouring the coffee out into a canteen, making sure that all of it goes into the small opening. I looked up and noticed that Rya was staring pointedly at me. “What’s wrong?” 

“U-uh…ah!” She fished out another slice of pineapple from her can and held it out to me. “Can I exchange one pineapple slice for one sip of coffee?” 

“Here, you can have some…I don’t need the pineapple, really.”

“Never mind, just take it.” She dropped the slimy pineapple slice onto my palm and took the canteen from me. “Trade success!” 

I couldn’t help but crack a smile at her silly remark. What a funny human thing to do.

“H-hot!!” She stuck her tongue out and panted almost immediately after putting the lid of the canteen against her lips. “Mori, why didn’t you let it cool down first before pouring it in?” 

“I didn’t think of that,” I replied honestly. “To me, hot and cold are the same.”

She screwed the lid shut and folded her arms across her chest. “You’re weird, just like that weird scythe of yours.” 

I wonder who’s the weird one here, forcing someone she just met to eat a pineapple slice coated in disgustingly artificial syrup. But it definitely left an amazingly sweet aftertaste in my mouth after swallowing it. 

“So, Mori,” Rya asked after she finally mustered enough courage to take a sip of the hot coffee. “What do you plan to do now?” 

“…” I frowned and gave it some thought. “Nothing until I find another living human, I guess.” 

“Another living human?” She tilted her head to the side and gave a confused look. “What, are you just going around saving and gathering survivors?”

I didn’t want to tell her about my promise to her, because that would reveal my true identity, so I simply said, “I suppose so.”

“So since I’m your first…does that mean before me, you have been wandering about by yourself?” 

“Yes, that is correct.” 

“Isn’t that…lonely?” she asked, gazing at me with a look I could not understand. “How did you manage to convince yourself to continue…to not, you know…” 

“I don’t get what you’re trying to say,” I murmured. “All I was focusing on then was to keep going forward…to search for a hope for this world, I guess.”

Rya didn’t say anything for a moment. Then, she suddenly stood up from her seat and stood in the middle of the tram aisle. 

“Where are you going?” I asked, surprised.

“Didn’t you say that you’re on a mission to find more survivors?” She flashed me a grin. “I’m going to help you.”

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