Curtain Call — An Aurelion Dawn

Night had fully fallen by the time we got back to the sinkhole from the mansion. Jack was waiting for us by the auto-trike. We were too exhausted to bother with a big production for dinner, so we just took a handful of the cans and made a simple meal. Afterward, Jack quickly returned to his lodging—the apartment on the third floor he’d first called out to us from. We each gave a “see you tomorrow, then” as he went. It felt like the return of a lifetime ago.

I brewed some coffee over the Svea as Nito gazed at her notebook with a conflicted expression. An unpleasant darkness wreathed the town as it stood around us, but it also felt at peace. I poured the field coffee from the kettle into a metal cup, and then added sugar and two heaped spoonfuls of powdered milk. Once I’d stirred it through, I offered it to Nito.

“Didn’t you say that stuff didn’t taste nice?” she asked.

“You’ll be able to drink this. Don’t look so doubtful.”

She hesitantly took the cup and brought it up to her nose to take a sniff. Then, warily, she took a sip. Her eyes widened.

“It’s delicious.”

“Right?”

“Why don’t you normally drink it like this?”

“Because it’s cooler to take it black.”

She paused, considering me.

“Are you an idiot?”

It was a merciless indictment, but I made no rebuttal. It was true, after all. I’d left my own portion black, and the harsh, astringent, bitter taste prickled over my tongue as I drank it. My jaw tightened and I quickly regretted trying to play it cool in front of her.

“I can’t get enough of that flavor.”

“I don’t really get what you mean,” Nito admitted.

“You’re just too young to understand.”

“Then I’ll stay young forever.”

It...somewhat felt like she wasn’t pulling any punches. I was happy about that, though. We sipped our coffees in wordless silence, and the Svea’s flame cast flickering light across the nearby buildings. When Nito had finished looking through the notebook and closed it, I spoke.

“Can I have a look?” I asked.

“Sure...” she answered, albeit hesitantly, before handing it over to me.

I opened it up. It held a plethora of paintings. Supposedly, each one was a sight from somewhere in the world. I felt like going around and searching for these places might be fun, almost like a treasure hunt. Eventually, I arrived at the page depicting the Golden Sea. It was a gorgeous sight, full of amber tones, with a signature in the corn—

I almost kicked my cup over as I scrambled to my feet and looked for the lantern in my bag. Once I’d gotten the lantern switched on, I brought it up to the notebook.

“K-Keisuke? What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t reply. I just couldn’t formulate the words.

This was the second time I’d seen the signature. The first time had been in the dark, and I hadn’t been able to see clearly. I hadn’t thought anything of it at the time. With the lantern light, though, I could read it.

That’s right, I could read it.

For whatever reason, the people of this world and I could understand each other’s speech, but I couldn’t read their writing. The instructions on the canned food were meaningless to me, and I’d just skimmed past the signature, assuming I wouldn’t be able to read it. Yet, as I traced my finger along the scribbled letters now, I could tell it was written in cursive English. I went over each letter carefully, making sure I’d read it right. I could only decipher the unfamiliar cursive script because the word was both short and a person’s name.

“Almeria.”

I raised my head and met Nito’s gaze. Her expression wasn’t what I had expected. Though she must have known how shocking it was for me to be able to read this, she had a small, gentle smile on her face.

“That’s my mom’s name,” she told me after a moment.

There were two names in the corner: Almeria and Albert. Slowly reading the letters to myself, I felt something strange. I’d heard a name like that, and recently too.

I didn’t need to ponder for long. Like a flash of lightning coursing through my mind, the memory came into sharp, vivid relief. It was Ned’s voice.

“You know, I’ve met another otherworlder before.”

And then...

“When my dad was still around, he brought a man home with him once. The man called himself Albert.”

A chill went down my back. It couldn’t be.

“Nito, was your dad’s name Albert?”

My mouth felt irritatingly slow as my mind rushed frantically to ask her the question.

“No, that’s the first time I’ve heard the name.”

That name was in the notebook though, along with her mother’s. She’d purposefully held her tongue, keeping it a secret even from her daughter.

What was it Ned had said about that “Albert”? I pressed on my temples and screwed my eyes shut, looking for the memory.

Think, think! He said something else.

“He lived with us for a summer.”

Right, that was part of it.

“Helped with the wine.”

Then there was more...

“Painted pictures, and rode horses.”

“Painted pictures.”

“—suke.”

I raised my head.

“Are you okay, Keisuke?”

While I was thinking, she’d moved closer. She was kneeling and had her hand on my shoulder. The blue of her eyes, shining in the lantern light, suddenly stuck out to me, even after all this time.

“Your eyes.”

“Huh?”

“Are they the same color as your mom’s?”

Said eyes drifted slightly closed as she shook her head.

“They’re different from both of my parents. I’m the only one with this eye color in my family. The doctors said it was probably due to my mana deficiency syndrome.”

Mana deficiency syndrome—wasn’t that a disease that Nito was the only person in the world to have had? Could a disease like that be because of a difference in the fundamental building blocks of a person, in their genes? I couldn’t just laugh off the thought like some bad joke. After all, if it was true, that would mean—

“So I was right?” she asked, looking me in the eye.

“Right?” I parroted.

“My real dad came from the same world as you?”

“How—” I started, before covering my mouth; this was serious, perhaps the most important factor in her upbringing.

She shook her head though, telling me it was fine.

“I think that my dad realized it too. He knew I wasn’t his real daughter.”

“Realized... Huh?”

“Their marriage was one of those political ones. They wanted a connection between their families more than love.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, but before I could even try to reply, Nito continued.

“I asked my mom about the signature lots of times. She would always look conflicted and not answer though. I never understood why, but when I saw that small clock on your wrist, I had an idea.”

“This?” I asked, looking down at my wrist.

It was just a standard watch from a common brand. I remembered that she’d sketched it while we were at Vandyke’s workshop, as well as doing her painting.

“The letters on it are from your world, right?”

Her question made me take notice: the brand name and the functions of the buttons were all written in the English alphabet.

“I got a strange feeling when I saw them, like I’d seen them somewhere before. Your tent, camping stuff, and rucksack had the same kind of letters as well.”

All of my things had brands and logos. She’d noticed those and realized they were written in the same alphabet as the signature in her notebook.

“I finally know why she kept it a secret. My real dad was an otherworlder.”

She paused for a moment, her gaze drifting down to the signature.

“Albert,” she said, looking steadily at it and then smiling. “That’s my dad’s name then. Thank you. I finally know because of you.”

“I didn’t do any—”

She shook her head.

“I could never believe her stories. After all, she wouldn’t tell me about my dad. The paintings weren’t by her, but by my real dad. I just didn’t know what to believe.”

Her expression slowly morphed. Her lips curved down into a fainter smile, her eyes drifted slightly closed, and her cheeks flushed red.

“It made sense when Olympia told me the Golden Sea didn’t exist. But she wasn’t a real witch, so it actually might.”

“So you’re back to not knowing what to believe?” I asked hesitantly.

“No,” she answered firmly. “She said that people believe what they want to believe. I’ve decided to do exactly that.”

Her eyes shone into mine, taking my breath away.

“I’ll believe that it exists. After all, if it does, I can keep searching for it. I can be with you, visiting lots of places, eating lots of delicious meals, and painting lots of pictures.”

Her gaze had drifted as she spoke, landing somewhere off to the side. The smile on her face was the first one I’d seen that fit her age—soft, and with nothing hidden behind it.

“That’s a great answer,” I managed through the bright emotions making my throat tighten and my chest feel full.

She looked back up at me.

“Besides, we have a deal. I’ll be with you, so you’re not allowed to die.”

Urk.

“I have no idea what you’re on about. That’s ridiculous,” I answered with a snort.

I didn’t have a clue as to when she’d noticed. Her smile strained, taking on a more mature tinge as she looked at me.

“We fired the signal rounds at that station to call Vandyke.”

“And...?”

“When you got it out, you already had live rounds in it.”

“Well spotted,” I said, only just realizing how suspicious that would have been. “I mean, it’s dangerous out there. They were for self-defense.”

“I asked if we should get out the gun when we heard Ned’s distress signal. You said no. That seems like odd behavior for someone using live rounds for self-defense. When we met them, you didn’t even get out. You just stayed in the car, ready to drive off.”

I fell silent.

“You kept the live rounds in the gun but left it in its case. If it wasn’t for self-defense, there’s only one use I could think of.”

Her conclusion was completely logical, and though I tried to think of some excuse, I knew it was hopeless. I raised my hands in surrender and could only offer a rueful smile.

“I!” Nito suddenly shouted, making my eyes shoot wide open.

She was looking down, her hands gone paper white from how tightly she was holding them together.

“I just read books my whole life. I’d never been outside really, I couldn’t camp as well as those characters, I can’t cook, and I’m not good at talking with people. Also, um, I’ve got no sense of direction, I’m scared of thunder, and I had no idea Olympia was lying! So...”

She raised her gaze. Her eyes shimmered like ice holding the blue summer sky within it—a color that reminded me of home.

“So if you don’t look after me, I’ll end up dead at the side of the road! Got it?!”

“Huh?”

It took me a while to understand exactly what she was trying to say. When I finally did, laughter bubbled up from my stomach. It started small but was soon bursting from my throat in great guffaws, turning into laughter that even I was enjoying listening to.

“W-Why are you laughing?!” she spluttered.

“I just... Does that even count as a threat?”

I couldn’t help it, couldn’t hold it in. What a thing. How could I find it so funny? Why was I tearing up? How had all the things I’d been worried about just faded away like that?

By the time I got myself under control, Nito was sulking. Her cheeks were puffed up and she was pouting, a sharp crease between her eyebrows as she frowned up at me.

“I’m sorry, all right?” I said.

“You’re not forgiven,” she answered after a moment.

“I promise I won’t try to die anymore.”

“Really?”

“I mean it.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Come on. I still owe you for fixing the Kettle, don’t I?”

“That’s right, and I won’t take money you steal from the town. You need to earn it yourself. Vandyke had it right: money that you earn from working has value.”

“Yup, that’s right, so I guess I’ll earn my money as a peddler.”

A beat of silence stretched between us.

“A peddler?” she asked eventually.

“There are probably people around this place. They might have things they want, like we wanted meat and clothes. I’ll bring things to them, and earn money for it. Then I can use that to pay you back. What do you think?”

“That...doesn’t sound bad.”

“Plus, while we’re going all over the place, we can search too. We can look for the Golden Sea, the other places in your mom’s notebook, and even that man in black while we’re at it.”

“That sounds brilliant,” she answered with a nod.

I smiled again at her firm nod. Then, I stood up and pulled out that particular case from the mound of boxes we’d taken out of the Kettle. I unlocked it and saw within it that mass of metal that had grown so familiar in my hand. I took the gun out of the case and broke the body open, taking the rounds out and holding them out to her in my fist.

“Can you look after these?”

She looked at my fist, looked at my face, and then held her hands out hesitantly, cupped with her little fingers all pressed together. I opened my hand and dropped the two bullets into hers. They bounced slightly in her palms and she let out a panicked noise before closing her fingers around them.

“I won’t give them back, you know?”

“Call them a present, then,” I told her.

“I don’t particularly want these to be my first present from a guy,” she told me.

I grinned back in agreement.

“I look forward to traveling with you some more,” I told her.

“Right.”

The world was indeed in ruins, and there were few people left. The people that were left had all lost something, Nito and I included. Yet we shifted our attention to what we still had and treasured each day. I was sure all the people we’d met, and even more besides, were living out their days like that as well.

The world itself was shrouded in night, without any hint of brightness from either hope or the waiting future. Whether tomorrow would ever come to this world was uncertain, but there were people out there who held on to faith that dawn would break as they traveled through this world, and I respected how they lived. I’d been cast into the darkness alone, and had thought of death without the dawn. Yet at some point, one had become two with this girl as we’d traveled and laughed together.

I looked around at the mountain of things in front of me. I had my backpack with my camping gear, the recipe book, the wine, and the blow poke. Now, I had the cigarette case as well. There were still things in the auto-trike too. We’d have to move those to the Kettle with the rest, and then we’d set out again. This time, in search of the places in Nito’s notebook as I peddled my wares.

Huh, haven’t I got a lot of plans now?

Laughter filled my heart once again as I looked up at the sky. The indigo carpet of the night sky was bursting with countless sparkling stars. Nito looked suspiciously at me as I suppressed my laughter, but that didn’t bother me. I didn’t know when it had happened, but I’d started simply believing in tomorrow. I finally knew why the words Jack had left with felt so nostalgic to me.

“Hey, Nito,” I said. “See you tomorrow.”

She tilted her head, the silver threads of her hair sparkling as they flowed and shifted with the motion.

“Right, see you tomorrow,” she said with a smile.

I’d found someone I could be with and believe in that uncertain tomorrow with, laughing and smiling as we ate. It was such a joy to have that, and it meant I was truly living.

The notebook was laying open where I’d set it down. The page shimmering in the lantern light was filled with the Golden Sea, its brilliant amber a sign of the most beautiful dawn in the world.

Fin.