In the town of Delhi, I stayed at a reasonably expensive hotel. It was a solid three-story stone building with a rooftop.
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At night, Jin left his room, unable to sleep for some reason, and went up the stairs to the roof. There was a small light on, and he could manage to see his feet.
The stars were twinkling in the spring night sky.
"Ah, it's a beautiful night sky. I don't know the constellations over here.
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Jin looked up at the starry night sky and felt uncharacteristically sentimental. Then..,
"Reiko, are you here?"
"Yes, Father."
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Reiko, the faithful automata who has always protected Jin, breaks her stealth spell and appears.
"Come here."
"Yes."
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Jin, who had been feeling lonely for some reason, calls Reiko over and pats her on the head.
"Father?"
Reiko looked at Jin a little differently than usual and raised a questioning voice.
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"Yes. You've always been by my side, you know."
"Yes, that's the reason for my existence.
"You always say that. "Well, you'll always be there for me, won't you?"
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"Yes, of course."
It was too dark for Jin to see, but at that moment Reiko had a big smile on her face.
"・・・・・・"
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Suddenly a song spills out of Jin's mouth. A song that for some reason he had long since forgotten.
It is the ending theme of the story of a group of people who go to the west in search of sutras. This is a song I heard on a videotape, not a cassette tape, in the Director's collection.
"Father ......"
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Reiko holds Jin's hand. She hopes it will make him feel a little less lonely.
"・・・・・・・・・"
Just as Jin finished singing.
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Reiko turns around quickly. Reiko quickly turns around and gets into a fighting stance,......, but...
"Jin-kun?"
It was Erza. Erza's room was on the third floor, and she had come up because she heard Jin's voice.
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"Erza? What's wrong?"
Jin asked her,
"That's what I'm talking about. What's wrong, Jin?
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"What's wrong? I couldn't sleep for some reason, so I came out here.
Erza gave me a probing look,
"Hmm."
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She looked as if she was satisfied with the answer.
"So, what did you just sing?"
"Somewhat."
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Erza seemed to be unconvinced by this answer, and showed a thoughtful look,
Jin-kun, are you lonely?
She then answered bluntly, "Are you lonely, Jin-kun?
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"What?"
Jin was clearly flustered, although the darkness of the room prevented him from seeing the look of impatience on his face. He had not expected Elsa to say something like that.
"Why?"
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I asked in a slightly hoarse voice,
"Because I was like that."
Elsa said something like that.
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"My father is a soldier and is rarely home. My mother is frail and doesn't leave her room much. My brothers and I are too old to talk to each other."
Hearing about Elsa's family structure again, I still feel sorry for her.
"My brother Rai doesn't always play with me. Especially since I became a diplomat, I didn't get to see him very often.
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He must not have had many friends his own age. Jin thought that this might be the reason why he was not good at conversation.
"When I am lonely, I sometimes want to be alone. Then I remember the good times I had.
"Elsa's good times were when she was ......
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"When I was little. When I played with my brothers and my brother Rai, no, they played with me."
Jin thinks again that memories of childhood are special for all of us. Those childhood days when you could just play without knowing anything.
In Jin's case, it was for a very short time, but it certainly happened.
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Jin is an amazing magecraftsman. But that's why I'm lonely.
Tonight Erza is very perceptive.
"......, Rai said."
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But it seems that she actually got that from Reinhardt.
"Brother Rai said. "Only those who share the same feelings can make up for loneliness."
"......Elsa."
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Jin was surprised to hear such words from Elsa's mouth. But,
"What does ...... mean?"
Erza seems to be Erza after all.
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Jin's seriousness has somehow gone away. He looks up at the night sky again, and then at Elsa.
"Are you cold?"
In the darkness, he sees that Erza is wearing a nightgown.
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"Hmm. I'm fine."
Nevertheless, Jin took off his jacket and put it on Erza.
"Thank you. You're always so kind, Jin-kun."
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Erza thanked him and pulled the front of her jacket up. Jin looked at her and said
"Hey, we talked about the popular and the electorate during the day, is it really that bad?"
"No, it is not. There are many common people in our country. Only a few nobles are electorate.
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According to Elsa's explanation, some nobles who have Magi Engineers = Magi Craftsmen are trying to monopolize the technology.
"They just want to feel superior.
Erza dismisses them as "just trying to feel superior.
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"But I'm sure you don't like that kind of thing, Jin-kun."
"Oh. It's good to make what you like, but it's also nice to make people happy. That's when you feel that it was worth making.
"My brother Rai said something similar."
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Then Elsa cut off her speech, turned her head and fidgeted as if she wanted to say something, but then she looked up as if she had made up her mind,
"Brother Rai said not to tell you..."
Then he looked up as if he had made up his mind and said, "My brother Rai told me not to tell you,
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"I want you to come to Shoro. I want you to make a lot of things that you like and that will be useful to us.
Then he blushed a little,
"I love the look on your face when you are making ...... something."
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Then he turns around,
"Good night."
With these words, he turned around and disappeared from the rooftop.
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"Something you like, something useful, huh?"
Jin was left alone and mumbled to himself. For some reason, Reiko was nowhere to be seen.
"If I'm not lonely, that means I'm going to settle down, right?
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Now Jin is alone. He doesn't belong to any country.
"Well, I was planning to live in a country sooner or later.
Originally, he had planned to visit many countries on this trip and come to a conclusion.
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"The Shoro Kingdom, huh?
* * * * * *
At that time, Reiko disappeared.
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"Sister, there was a man like this..."
<
"He's noisy night after night. It would be a nuisance to inform your father of this, so please dispose of it yourselves."
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"Yes, I understand."