I'm a Lunatic (3)
A lone house perched on the hill at the edge of the village blazed fiercely against the night sky.
The place where Kuu had been born and raised. A house that still bore the touch of his father and his late mother. But now those traces were vanishing, one by one — the record of a man named Kuu was being erased from the world.
"Ahahaha! Ahahahaha! Ahahahahahaha!"
Kuu watched the house burn, arms flung high toward the heavens, laughing like a man who had lost his mind.
He had set the fire himself, resolved to leave the village. Never to return again. He would sooner starve to death in a strange land than come crawling back. He had burned down the only home he had in the world to rip out, once and for all, any lingering temptation to lean on his hometown if times got hard.
And since he was making a fresh start anyway, he decided to throw away the country-bumpkin name of Kuu and rechristen himself with something grander — a magnificent name befitting a man of twenty-five that no one could ever laugh at!
"You crazy bastard. If your father ever finds out, you're dead meat."
A woman's voice shot out from behind him, and his high deflated in an instant. At her words, the laughter drained from Kuu's lips, and the stern, terrifying face of his father painted itself across his mind unbidden.
"Why, you little—"
Scowling, he turned around to find Sara sitting on a large flat rock with her knees hugged to her chest — who knew how long she'd been watching.
"Hey, do you really have to jinx a man being reborn like that?"
"If you're leaving the village, leave quietly. Why burn down a perfectly good house?"
"It's my solemn vow never to set foot in this place again until I've made it big."
Sara snorted.
"What about your father, then? Look what you've done to the house."
"He's got a separate place the temple provides for his shepherding, so he's fine. He can live there."
"Isn't that a communal dorm? A shack that looks one gust away from collapsing?"
"It was, last I saw it."
Kuu scratched his temple, rummaging through his memory, and Sara stared at him with contempt.
"Trash."
"Shut it. What kind of father is one you see twenty times a year, tops? He's a stranger, that's what. He'll manage fine on his own, so don't worry. He's probably got money squirreled away somewhere, too."
Kuu kicked a pebble off the ground as hard as he could. It struck a burning pillar and dropped, scattering sparks.
"So how do you plan on living from now on? Have you even picked where you're going?"
"Hold on. Don't you think the order of those questions is a little off?"
"Why?"
"Isn't it weird that you're suddenly here? You're grilling me like you knew I was leaving from the very start. And you look so calm about it that I'm the one getting flustered."
"Your crazy antics stopped surprising me ages ago."
In truth, Sara had been tailing Kuu all day long, and every single thing he'd done was carved into her memory. When he'd slipped into Barbara's house, she couldn't see a thing until he came back out — but a woman's intuition told her plenty about what he'd gotten up to in there. It was all so unlike his usual self.
She had liked Kuu since she was little. He had come to her rescue when the neighborhood kids made her an outcast, taken her along with him day after day, and taught her everything from one to ten — even the filthiest of curses. To her, he was the coolest person in the world. But she hated how, whenever she was at his side, talk of Emilia always slipped in so naturally, and it made her chest ache.
Sara never let her dislike show, but the Emilia talk grew harder to bear with every passing year. In the end, she even started to resent him. So every time Kuu brought up Emilia, she cut her hair a little shorter.
She was terrified of being measured against Emilia, who carried herself with the grace of a rich family's daughter, and she had resolved to become a boy, convinced that if she ruined herself into some homely girl, she would never even work up the courage to confess her feelings to Kuu. Truthfully, what frightened her most was confessing to Kuu and being turned down.
And so, at a glance, she now looked like a boy bronzed by the sun. To anyone who didn't know her well, she was unmistakably a lad.
And right now, she was hurting. The moans drifting from outside Barbara's house had thrown her heart into chaos. So she had cried.
The shock of knowing the man she loved was entwining his body with another woman had broken her into tears.
Even now the tears kept coming, but the flames of the burning house blazed in her clear eyes — which was convenient, since it hid every trace of her weeping from Kuu.
She could just say the smoke stung her eyes.
"If you leave the village, what are you going to eat?"
It was attachment that had brought her this far. Not a shred of her wanted to talk him out of it. Right now she was bitterly disappointed, and she hated him for wrapping his arms around another woman.
"What I'll do for a living? Haven't the faintest. Yet."
When Kuu flashed a grin, Sara was on him with a scolding at once.
"Not a shred of a plan, as always. You lunatic."
"Anyway, once I make it big, I'll buy you a whole house. Hahaha!"
"Hmph, hilarious. Coming from a fool like Kuu."
"Oh, nooo. Wrong."
"Wrong about what?"
Kuu raised his index finger and wagged it left and right, striking a pose.
"My name, from this moment on, is 'New Kuu.'"
"Spouting bullshit again."
Undeterred by Sara's sneer, Kuu squared his shoulders, gazed up at the night sky, and declared with pride.
"Hear me! From this day forward, my name is Cloud New Kuu von Asran!"
Sara jabbed back.
"Since when are you a noble? That sounds like a noble's name."
"Then I'll go through life treating nobles like the dirt they are!"
"Ah, of course. You'll get yourself executed the very moment you step outside the village. My heartfelt congratulations."
"Shut it!"
When Kuu scowled, Sara giggled.
"Since you're dying anyway, why not die with my name thrown in too?"
"Your name?"
"How about Cloud New Kuu Sara von Asran?"
"Hmm... somehow that sounds even grander..."
Kuu stroked his chin, pondered the matter with genuine seriousness for a moment, then looked at her again.
"No usage fee?"
"Be grateful I'm letting you use it at all."
"Hmm, fine. I'm not exactly thrilled, but for you — the only person in this village I ever cherished like a little sister — I'll add it."
"Add it where, you blockhead?"
"Not there, you dunce — into my name!"
"Moron."
Sara cackled.
Her expression brightened noticeably, thoroughly pleased with herself. Having her name woven into his meant he would remember her for the rest of his life — that was the best part. Second best: if he ever got famous, she figured it would make him easy to track down later. Above all, the name was long, outlandish, and utterly ridiculous.
Blissfully unaware of any of this, Kuu straightened his posture once more and preened.
"All of creation, engrave this upon your memories! From this day forth, this self shall be known as Cloud New Kuu Sara von Asran!"
Sara doubled over, clutching her belly.
"What? Why are you laughing? In front of this magnificent name? You want to die?"
"No, no. It's just so cool and impressive! Truly! Pfft, hehe!"
Just then, villagers came sprinting toward them with torches in hand, shouting — it seemed the fire in the dead of night had stirred up quite the commotion.
Kuu realized the time to leave had come.
"Fare thee well, Sara. This self must now be on his way."
"Yeah..."
Sara answered weakly, in a small voice, her eyes fixed on the ground. Her arms tightened around her knees, hugging them closer.
At the same time, Kuu looked toward Barbara's house and spoke.
"Goodbye now, Kuu, the boy who knew nothing of the world."
He turned back toward the view beyond the village, drew a deep breath, and roared.
"Cloud New Kuu Sara von Asran! Welcome, my new life!"
And so the adventure of Cloud — the man who had cast off the name Kuu — at last began.
It was the second day since he had left his hometown of Wes Village.
Cloud was walking through a valley.
A three-tiered waterfall some ten meters high, walled in by craggy cliffs — a place of truly splendid scenery. The sight of the falls streaming cool and clear down the rock face was refreshing beyond words.
There was still time to spare before evening.
To reach his destination of Huan Village, he had deliberately stuck to rough terrain, hoping to avoid crossing paths with Wes villagers traveling the main road.
It had cost him dearly in stamina.
"Huff... huff... thinking with my head got me fucked, goddammit."
But he couldn't stop walking. Once night fell, the monsters dwelling in the forest would stir to life.
For a Cloud who didn't even know how to grip a blade against a monster's attack, the only weapon in hand at the moment was a wooden stick about a meter long. Beyond that, he knew this terrain reasonably well from growing up here, so he had generally steered clear of the spots he'd heard about all his life — the places where people tended to get ambushed.
Following the valley stream, Cloud turned his mind to what lay ahead. He had swaggered out of the village in front of Sara, sure — but he honestly had no idea what to do or how to do it. The one plan that came to mind was to pass through Huan Village and make for the city of Valois. Any young man bursting with dreams and hot blood, he figured, would find something to do the moment he reached a city.
"Hm?"
His footsteps stopped of their own accord.
Down the hill, near the valley water winding its way between strange rocks, he had spotted a lady knight in the company of a white horse.
Her horse was white, and so were her armor and her cloak.
Her armor showed just the right amount of skin, hugging a slim, alluring silhouette, and her long blonde hair spilling down to her waist was striking in its own right.
And the sword at her hip gleamed with a splendor all its own.
"Ooooh..."
One look was enough to tell she was a knight — and a noble, no less.
Her every movement was graceful, too. Even the way she swept her hair back to wipe the sweat from her neck, the way she bent to drink, was feminine and delicate, steeped in noble bearing.
"Have I fallen in love at first sight...? Heh."
Cloud hopped down from the hillside and approached her without a second thought. With the day dying out around him, it occurred to him that he might just get the lady knight's escort all the way to Huan Village.
The lady knight noticed Cloud sauntering up without a care in the world, stopped mid-motion of scooping up a drink, and sprang to her feet.
"Who goes there!"