The Memory Store at Kurama 2nd District

Chapter 4 | A Fragrant Feeling and Disappearing Smile

Support the original translation team by reading on Chaotic Frog Novels!

Katatamaru opened his mouth and swallowed the teddy bear that was larger than his body. It could be more accurate to say; the beak grew and wrapped itself around the teddy bear. For a moment, the top of his neck was strangely distorted, and the next, it was back to normal. 

“What are you doing?!”

I’d certainly heard it couldn’t be returned. But with that alone, who would have imagined the memory item would be eaten like this?

The crow flapped its wings and started circling around just below the ceiling. Then Momose-san stood up, and when he extended his hands, a small bottle from who-knows-where materialized in his hands. It was like watching a movie or something. I couldn’t quite process it in my head. It felt like I was being surrounded by fog, looking into someone else’s dream. 

Katatamaru perched atop Momose-san’s shoulder and exhaled. With his small eyes, he blinked again and again, rapidly. 

“Shiro-sama, please have this”

 “This is…?” 

The small bottle handed over to me looked the same as the ones lined up at the entrance of the store, although it differed in size and color.

There was a bit of liquid inside.

“It’s a fragrance. You can meet your parents by smelling this scent.” 

“It looks beautiful…”

The bottle gleamed a bright orange and scattered light in all directions. The color seemed to change slightly depending on the angle it was viewed.

“Come now, please use it.”

I could see that Momose-san’s expression at the moment looked different from before. I felt that the mask he’d put on had finally come off. 

“If you use it, you will awaken from this dream. Shiro-sama and I will part. You will forget about me, and Shiro-sama will continue to live normally from tomorrow on.” 

“A… farewell?”

“Yes. It will be lonely. But this is goodbye.” Katatamaru said quietly, sticking out his thin beak.

Momose squinted, annoyed, avoiding the feathers that were hitting his face while Katatamaru moved.

“Please rest assured. I will remember Shiro-sama, even if Shiro-sama forgets us.” 

I knew, by saying that, he was taking care of me, but it made my heart even heavier. Why did encounters and farewells come hand in hand? Couldn’t we just meet and keep meeting after that?

“The encounter shines because there is a farewell. It’s a beautiful thing, I think. I believe knowing that someday we will part make us cherish the limited time we have with another person that much more. If there was such a thing as eternity, I wonder if humans would even be able to love at all? For this reason, please don’t be so sad.“

“Bu-…But…”

Momose continued to speak gently.

“It has been a rarity to encounter someone who hates the idea of bidding farewell. Most people forget about our existence right after experiencing the joy of being able to see the deceased again, but… Shiro-sama is kind. However, this is also a rule. The effect of fragrance does not last that long. ” 

“…I wonder if my parents even want to see me…” My voice involuntarily became tear-chocked. 

From here on out there will be an encounter, and then a farewell. Why does my heart ache so much when it’s only been two days?

“I’ve decided that they want to meet you. I think so. I have a good intuition.”

“…I understand. Thank you, Momose-san and Katatamaru.”

I realized I couldn’t keep throwing a tantrum by quibbling like this. So I clenched my teeth, swallowed my words, and gave them a bow. 

Farewell is certainly lonely. The most regretful thing was how I would forget all about the man and the bird I met here. Momose-san’s unique laughter, and the gentlemanliness of Katatamaru… all would disappear from my memory. 

I pretended then, to be unaware of these foreign feelings and opened the bottle I had just received. The nostalgic smell tickled the nostrils, and the world seemed to grow distant. The sunset, which I should have grown accustomed to by now, shone even brighter.

In front of me was a view so magnificent it made me question whether I hadn’t died myself. I even had a passing thought that the expression, the word “beauty” itself was a hackneyed term, devoid of meaning. 

On the earth was an endless field of flowers. Even if I were to gather all the flowers I’d seen throughout my life in one place, they still wouldn’t be enough to make up this flower field.  

“What a nice scent…”

I crouched and sniffed the blossoms. They smelled gentle and warm. I wondered if my parents were around here somewhere. It was strange to be in a dream.

After walking for a while, I suddenly wondered what I was doing here. In a state of confusion, I straightened up, not knowing how I got there and for what purpose.

It was when I crouched down with my head in my arms that…

“Is this Touko?”

I lifted a face full of terror toward a man’s voice I’d only heard very long ago. Before I was even aware of who the other person was, my vision gradually blurred and swayed.  

“Ah…aah…”

I stood up, attempting to raise a voice that wouldn’t come out. A man and a woman who were similar in height with myself stood right in front of me.