Only with Your Heart

Feeling a few drops of cold water, potpourring like a slap on his cheek, and pourring again, Chizuru unconsciously frowned and shook himself.

When I breathe in, the cold air creeps in like a wash of my throat. Reaching out with my eyes closed tightly and exploring where the blanket that warmed my body went, all I felt at my fingertips was the touch of damp clothes.

... wet clothes?

Cold air?

Chizuru's consciousness slowly emerged from his dreams into reality.

Yes, I had dinner with Chief Tangzawa last night, and I dreamed I heard the example 'voice' and tinnitus when I left the nearest station alone on the way home. And......

And?

(Dream...?

His heart howled and sounded, and Chizuru hurriedly opened his eyes.

Then jumped into view was a woodlike place lined with trees similar to several cedars, the ground stained red brown covered with wet fallen leaves. Just a few meters away it looks thin surrounded by white mist, and if this wasn't real, I'd just wonder what a fantastic and beautiful landscape it is.

The light of the day, which leaks down from among the trees, is shaken by the fog and shines as if it were an Aurora.

Chizuru, waking up his body, which was lying buried in fallen leaves, accidentally drank his breath and remained stiff. A vivid wild bird chirping sounds like an alarm bell from somewhere far away.

No matter how modest, it was not a common scenario in modern Japan.

It was a world where we could hear the unlikely silence and sometimes the whimpering of creatures that betrayed it, but not at all the artificial sounds like the noise of automobiles and trains, for example.

No way, no way, no way.

Chizuru looked further around and tried to ascertain the situation in which he was placed.

Clothes… as they were in Japan. You inhaled the moisture of the fallen leaves, though it was completely damp. The bags and umbrellas I had were gone, and it seemed like this was the only one I had.

Yes, as if, the last time I came to the world of Luklov......

(Go home... I did!

Thousands of cranes were so convinced that they hadn't met anyone yet or seen any evidence of anything. The limp, clear air familiarized him with his lungs, and the heartbeat of a thousand cranes rang out sometime. I can't taste the air as beautiful as this in the original world. Thousand cranes sat down on the fallen leaves, sucking that refreshing air all over his chest as much as he could.

I'm home.

Still breathing the same air in the same world, although I don't even know where I am and where Ruklov lives today. Just thinking so filled Chizuru's chest.

But it wasn't that long to be immersed in that emotion.

Just one person in a deep forest with no other human presence, ever blurry, nothing starts. The day was still high, but I couldn't predict whether it was now morning or already afternoon. Knowing from experience that if the sun went down, it would be a complete darkness without any light source, Chizuru decided to walk out for somewhere anyway.

For now, the season didn't seem to be winter.

It was cold wrapped in damp clothes, but not so much freezing. Given that there are leaves falling after red leaves on the ground, will it hit around autumn in Japan? It was October, so maybe it's about the same season.

With that in mind, Chizuru calmed down a little.

Because I thought maybe it's only been the same year and months over here.

In the meantime, Chizuru's immediate goal was to find someone to talk to and see the exact date of the current month to secure tonight's inn. The book that lent me the dance often featured things like "lodging" and private lodging at times like this, but there was rarely such a convenience in this world. Maybe those stories were written assuming a slightly more advanced era. Now, here, revealing the night outside of my own house was mostly about either doing wild lodging or letting someone else stay at my house.

After a while of walking, I gradually become anxious about the unchangeable landscape forever.

I don't have water when my throat starts to dry, and I don't have anything to eat when I'm hungry. At the same time, he thanked Tanzawa for knowing the convenience of modern Japan to make and for having eaten at the restaurant just before.

On several previous occasions, Lucroff had taught him how to distinguish between nuts and mushrooms that could be eaten in the woods, so Chizuru explored the memories of the time in an attempt to recall at all, and when he found the seemingly soft ground, he fell leaves and searched for a source of food.

There were many parts of the candlestick, but I found some nuts similar to the wax, and when I found the right stone and crushed the shell, I ate it thankfully.

This can be done naturally because this is the second time in the world.

Her throat was still dry, but when the gap in her stomach was somewhat filled, Chizuru decided to walk out again. The ground was smooth but slightly sloped, and Chizuru proceeded towards the bottom. That's more likely to find a private home...... this was also something Ruklov told me when it was.

Walk, walk, walk.

As he kept walking further, something like a spiral of water flow that had never been heard before from some far away, Chizuru's feet were beginning to move toward its audio source before thinking.

It was small, but it did have to be the sound of the water flowing.

In addition to the fallen leaves, he discovered a whispering stream at his feet as he entered the area where the weeds grew to his knees for a while. The depth was not even thirty centimeters, even the width was a small stream of about fifty centimeters at best, but the colour of the water even smells beautiful and clear.

Chizuru broke his knee by the river, and when he checked the temperature, he shrugged with his hands and drank the water as it was.

It was cold, fragrant and soft water.

The feeling of dry throat moisturizing was difficult to replace every time, and Chizuru was obsessed and carried the water to his mouth many times. Even wet his face and neck a little along the way, he was comfortable trying to revive to soak up his sweaty skin on long walks.

Water.

Oh, water!

When there was nothing more alive and alive to support and empower me, Chizuru felt smudged at that time. The nerves and fibers in the tired body relax again, and anxiety and tension disappear. The worries and worries that had brought my head to me when I was walking carelessly left, and I felt I could see the hope ahead. I'm sure I can handle it.

Chizuru lowered his back straight to the riverside and took a breather as he decided to take a break between the bundles.

Sober water spirals and the sounds of the little birds who seem to come by for its source gently tickle their ears. Chizuru was closing his eyes when he noticed.

And I fell asleep only temporarily with intent.

Chizuru woke up feeling her body shake unnaturally with yuckiness.

The shake seems to last forever and regularly, it never fits just because Chizuru wakes up, and sometimes, the whole body even hits a jumping shock. My back and back hurt and I didn't feel very good.

(back, hurts... what is this...?

When I opened my eyes suspiciously, it was the night sky that first came into my sight.

So Chizuru fell asleep until the sun went down. You shouldn't, even reprimanding yourself is a later festival, with a full star dancing in the sky.

And......

"Oh, my lady, this is a good place to wake up. You'll be at my castle soon."

Chizuru made a short scream.

What a big man in front of me, like a bear smiling in the moonlight, looking down at a thousand cranes looking funny. He was a man whose hair shrunk and disturbed by toys covered his head to jaw surprisingly, and whose eyebrows were bordered by similar hair and smelled of intense sweat. Age was unknown, but maybe Santa Claus would look like this if he didn't take a bath for about a year.

"Whoa, it's better for you not to break out, Mr. Beppin. I'm not much of a caretaker. You don't want to see it hurt, do you?

"Huh..."

Exhaling in excitement, looking around to check his surroundings, Chizuru apparently was being put on board by this bear man's horse. He seemed to be wrapped around his body in a thin dirty cloth and held tight to keep him from falling, but the man's manners and appearance are far from those of a gentleman or knight.

I couldn't see clearly because the area was the darkness that only gave me the moon star, but I felt like I could hear a few other horse legs in addition to the bear man. Do you have a man or something?

"Wow, what are you gonna do to me?

Sadly, Chizuru's voice caught on to fear and trembled. The bear man seemed to enjoy her reaction like that.

I see, how he is a man of appearance who seems to enjoy bullying women.

The bear man made his yellow teeth glimmer and laughed and showed them.

"You're Mr. Beppin, and we're all men and hungry for women. I don't know what to do!

Thousand cranes were cut and immediately tried to escape from the man's arm, but the thick arm held onto Thousand cranes disappointingly and did not let go. A crooked laugh called Gahaha was emitted luxuriously from his beard-covered mouth, causing Chizuru no more disgust.

"Ha, let go!

"And I just wanted to say..."

But the bear man went on somewhere happy. "... you have dark hair, black eyes, and an unusual face that you don't see a bit around here. The outfit is tight, too. I'm a little too young for that."

"Or face?

"If that scumbag is in a good mood, I might get a little ransom. That's why, until then, you're like our prisoner. I don't have any hands. I'm not treating you like a princess."

That's when I heard the owl ho, ho, from somewhere strangely loud.

Chizuru tied his lips together, enduring anger and humiliation. Of course I didn't think I could go straight back into Lucroff's arms, but no way. All of a sudden, I didn't expect any rogue anywhere to be treated like some kind of commodity.

Even as I tried to turn it over, I couldn't stop the tears from coming up.

"Whoa, you're crying. That Duke of Cold Thor, he used to be a hero of the Redemption, and he said he was a thief. That's great. Now I'm just going to rule this country."

"Huh."

To the words of the bear man, the breath of a thousand cranes stopped.

of the Redemption... Hero...?

"Well, that's... who is it? Yes, when the hell are you talking about?

The bear man raised his eyebrows and showed surprise at Chizuru's question, which was released early in the arrow as he grabbed it. It's like you didn't think Chizuru would be interested in such a story.

The bear man stroked the beard of the toy with one hand and seemed to be thinking of something.

"It's been fourteen years... it was so noisy and lifted back then, but now it's dirty. They call me" The Black Assassin. "

Chizuru lost more words.

Fourteen years. Almost the same as Chizuru's calculations. And a hero of salvation.

But why 'assassin'?

"The hero who saved the kingdom was actually just a killer blinded by gold and women. They say the man he killed at the king's mercy won't drop a hundred. I'm making a big deal out of the country mansion now..."

That said, the bear man laughed even louder. Chizuru had no idea what was so funny.

Again, the sound of the owl sounded in the dark from somewhere, making Chizuru even more anxious.