Won't You Play with Us?

Let's enjoy the game.

In the forest the light had abandoned, I would dress myself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in dirt. Catch a bug. A rhinoceros beetle—wasn't that hard shell a splendid thing? I'd show it off to my friends. Catch a snake. Whoa, it was long. Was this the anaconda I'd only ever heard about? It went clean past imagining. Its tongue flicked in and out. A hundred times bigger than mine! Get wrapped up in that and you'd be dead where you stood!

Hey. I'd heard there was something called snake wine. Where? Dad had mentioned it, just in passing! Wow! Catch that and bring it home, and he'd be thrilled! He might even give us candy! He might tell us we'd done well and hand over our allowance!

But I didn't think we could manage it on our own. No—there was someone over there who could help us. Who? Let's go to that ugly old man with the staff! He looked like a wizard! We were little, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so he might help!

Grandpa. Grandpa. A grandpa like the sage of the forest! Do you have a moment? Please look this way. We need help.

Grandpa. Grandpa. Are your ears bad? Please look this way. That long snake is flashing its fangs. They look just like jewels.

"Grandpa. Grandpa."

Are you there?

"Please say something."

Grandpa. Grandpa.

"Won't you play with us?"

"Koff!"

Dark crimson liquid poured. A black speck bloomed on the green sea.

The liquid writhed like tentacles. Disgusting. Where had a thing like that come from? Maybe I'd only mistaken it for an earthworm crawling along the ground?

"......That one landed."

Grandpa seemed to be in pain. A beard gone red was ugly to look at. Better get rid of it quickly. Grandpa was ugly, but without the beard he might have been handsome!

A hand reached out. Joy and curiosity seeped from every knuckle. There was no malice. Only innocence.

Wherever instinct led, wherever the heart led. I didn't think about the aftermath.

Whether someone was hurt or not. The desire welling up had to be satisfied.

Right now.

"......Remove that hand."

Crackle.

Electric fire spat from the beard. The blue glitter was pretty. Magic? How had he done it?

"Get off. You're too much."

Whip.

The snake coiled around my legs. It rode over the skin as if sliding. Like clipped hairs tickling the inside of your nose at the barber.

My vision yanked backward. Grandpa grew distant.

I was left alone in the forest. What now? Mom had said I mustn't go around by myself.

Hissss!

The snake gaped its mouth and threatened me. Its breath was awful. Didn't it even brush?

Crunch.

My shoulder was bitten hard. It stung.

Snake, do you know where Grandpa went?

Glug. Glug.

The great snake melted away, creeping into slime. Sticky mucus fouled my whole body. Ptui, ptui—some of it went into my mouth before I noticed. The taste wasn't much.

Eat whatever you pick up and you'll get a stomachache......

Mom won't scold me, will she?

I can just hide it.

La-la-la.

Hop, hop. I walked the forest. All sorts of animals lived there.

Lively trees, a bear bigger than a mountain, a tyrannosaurus, king of the dinosaurs, a goblin with many heads, an eagle smashing trees as it fell—things like that.

A joyful, joyful kingdom in the woods.

What I liked best of all was the robot. A white machine that looked like something I'd seen before was coming down, and if I'd been careless I would have died in more ways than one.

Oh? Sunlight! I took off at a run.

Wow! I burst out cheering and came into the open. Beyond the forest lay a beautiful city. Buildings rising all the way into space, streets overflowing with character, dazzled my eyes.

Even the people filling the city were fascinating. People walking on four legs, people bouncing along on their faces, people going about with their stomachs hanging out, people with eyes as big as king marbles......

I liked it. A city ought to be exactly like this!

Was it somewhere near home? I craned my neck and looked it over once. It was a place I didn't know. Getting home late was scary, but that was all right! The Earth is round! Keep going and I'd arrive someday!

"Bye, bye, that was fun!"

I said my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠farewells to the friends who had played with me.

The friends were huddled close together. Every one of them was smiling.

"I'm going!"

The farewell game finished, I went into the city. But there was something hurtful about all of them.

"Ugh! Who doesn't shed a single tear when it's time to say goodbye!"

People cry their hearts out when they part! Didn't those guys feel even a little sorry?

"That's mean! Go on and take your punishment!"

I spat out whatever words were boiling inside me. Once the resentment was out, the feeling settled.

────!!!

Some sound came from behind. Was that crying? So they simply hadn't shown it on the outside!

They'd been sad! I'm sorry! I went too far!

The view opened wide. The crying stretched on, and roars and screams ran wild, but that must have been because they were sad enough for it.

To look back would have been rude to my friends.

"Everyone has to live happily ever after."

────!!!

Had the little whisper reached them? The sound grew even louder.

—save—. ——stop——. Die—.

They were too sad for words. I won't cry. That's what a man does.

Someday the day will come when we meet again!

Once I was all the way inside the city, people stared at me.

They stopped on their way, stopped what they were doing, stopped driving, stopped construction, stopped loving......

They stood frozen like statues of ice. I seemed to have become famous. Was this what it meant to have people's attention? In a way it was a burden. Too much attention isn't a good thing.

Wouldn't it be better if these people minded their own business? Why look at me? I'm an ordinary little kid.

Thud.

While I was glancing aside, I bumped into the person ahead. A man with vacant eyes. In his rags he looked homeless. For a homeless man, though, his body was outrageous enough to put a bodybuilder to shame.

The man's empty pupils swept over me. Somehow he was frightening. He looked like a dead person.

"I'm sorry......"

I hid the legs trembling with fear and bent a deep bow. This ought to be all right.

"......Hee."

Hee?

Hyaaaaaaaaaah!!!

The man suddenly screamed. He seized his own throat and thrashed. Then he began to hurt himself more and more, until at the last he cut off his head, pulled out the brain, and spun it round and round. The brain was black and dead.

The man's actions were beyond understanding.

The other people, it seemed, were not of the same mind.

At the man's fit they behaved in much the same way. It was grotesque past anything a sentence could set down.

Hmm......

Why was this happening?

I recalled the words of the sages. It is not right to reject a thing out of hand merely because it differs from oneself. To understand, and to show consideration—that, they said, is the true gentleman.

Right. Things can be a little strange. So what.

The city turned into a festival of frenzy.

Swept along by the mood, I threw myself into the madness. I linked arms with the person beside me, tried a song, ate something delicious, grew tired partway through and rested......

How long had it been?

When I came to, the people and the city were gone without a trace. There was only me, bobbing on a red sea.

Ugh.

I pulled something out of my mouth. A long, long thing like a rope kept coming. At the end a rather large piece caught, and I retched it up, gagging. Tears sprang on reflex.

Curious what had been in my mouth, I brought it up before my eyes. It was the man's neck.

The face looked quite relieved. He must have had a good dream.

Using centrifugal force, I sent it flying into the sky. Mister, go live your own life.

Maybe because we'd played together so hard. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I had the feeling I shouldn't be doing this.

Even playing has to know its limits. Do nothing but play, and you turn into a fool.

"This is the sea! Exercise seems like a good idea!"

I'm a genius. Tell them I exercised, and they won't be able to say a word at home!

I stretched. The red sea ran on without end. It looked like a long workout.

If I got hungry, I'd eat the chunks of meat floating along the way. They came from the sea, so they ought to be fine. Fish come from the sea too, don't they? So this must be something I could eat.

Splash, splash.

With clumsy swimming I pushed on and on.

At first I slipped and swallowed seawater and meat. The taste was passable.

Swim and swim again, and at the end of it an island came into sight. A blue island, the very opposite of the red sea.

On the shore stood the grandfather I had seen in the forest.

"Grandpa!"

I waved, putting all my gladness into it. Grandpa's body swayed a little, too.

I stepped onto the sandy beach. It was warm.

"Where did you go? You wouldn't even listen."

Step. Step.

Grandpa's eyes trembled, just barely.

Inside them, a faint emotion showed through.

"Ah."

Grandpa's human, isn't he?

"So some of it remains."

"............"

"The wager still stands. Bear that in mind."

A thin grin.

"Smile, Grandpa. Good fortune comes to those who smile."

You'll see it through, won't you?

"...Yes. I have to."

"Just stay exactly as you are. I am having a thoroughly wonderful time."

I look forward to what comes next.

"Time is passing."

Any time. Any place.

Hk.

Grandpa swallowed his breath.

"If you wear a face like that, I may not be able to restrain myself."

I like them, you see.

Fear, confusion, regret, resignation......

And Chaos.

Grandpa. Grandpa.

The game is only just beginning.

Give me more games.

Give me chaos.

Grandpa. Grandpa.