Gift.

A very extravagant word.

But all gifts, all careless. But on this huge island of everdarkness, where can there be a gift? I can't think of anything that would give Dr. Mori as a gift. And, it's a meaningful gift.

But at the same time, my attention was finally drawn to the question of [what gift to Dr. Sen]. I finally got out of the confused state of [how to please Dr. Sen] and had a clear goal to think about and a firm direction to go.

In addition to the smoke of gunpowder, Chang Dark Island is actually very beautiful.

I want to give Dr. Mori the beautiful aurora in the sky, and I want to decorate Dr. Mori's collar with the jewel-like stars under the canopy. I wanted to give him the cool sea breeze, the snow-white spray of the waves crashing against the cliffs, and the small rustle of the little crabs as they crawled over the beach gravel.

And the whimper of the sea breeze.

It's like a symphony of nature and harmony.

But none of this belongs to me.

I was alone, nothing, nothing since the day I was born on the island of Everdarkness. If there is anything that truly belongs to me completely, it is my body, except for my soul.

I made a whistle.

A small, easy-to-carry whistle.

Ueno said that he had tinkered with these gadgets before he enlisted in the army. The whistle may seem small, but when it is blown, the whistle will drift far away with the wind. It will float to a place where even the owner of the whistle does not know, and be heard by someone who is destined.

Listening to Ueno's description, it was probably a very romantic thing.

The whistle can sound.

I wanted to put the sound of the sea breeze in.

Once the goal is set, everything is in order. My life began to become fuller, and all the time, energy, and mood changes I had put in during this time were condensed into a small whistle.

It's an amazing feeling.

Outside of the necessary war, in his spare time, he began to practice making a whistle from scratch - designing, selecting materials, drilling, sanding, polishing. With Ueno's help and constant adjustment, the whistle changed from a hoarse to a small, high-pitched sound, and finally a dull whimper of the sea breeze.

I really made a whistle that made the sound of the sea breeze. When I stood on the beach and blew the whistle, the sea breeze would drift into the distance and in the direction of the warship.

I pinned my hopes that the whistle would drift to the warship and to Dr. Sen's quarters. Finally, it landed on his pillow, like a petal on the water, to his ear, gently rippling in a circle, light and gentle.

I was so happy.

And it creates a sense of anticipation.

I'm looking forward to making a whistle that sounds and looks perfect after a dozen whistles for practice. Then I'm going to look for a good time, solemnly give the whistle to Dr. Sen, and tell him—

I've put the sea breeze in the whistle. As soon as he blows the whistle, he can hear the sound of the sea breeze.

＊

After I reconciled with Yosano, the medical room became a place I frequented again. The grim circumstances of the war made the death and injury of soldiers the norm.

I got up and stepped off the stretcher. But as soon as my feet touched the ground, the bone-eating pain came from the soles of my feet and crawled all the way all over my body. My legs instantly lost their strength under the attack of pain, and I fell to my knees in embarrassment.

I looked at my legs, and they were clearly good, they were complete. But not long ago, they left my body. My soul was forced to remember the pain and the moment I used my new legs, it returned the pain to my body again.

This is the difference between [Please Do Not Die] and [Death Fugue].

If the instantaneous treatment of [Please Don't Die] is a repetition of the great pain that the body has endured before, then [Death Fugue] is the chronic pain that is like a blunt knife cutting flesh during the repair process of the body.

I can't say which of these two abilities is better.

Regeneration and restoration always come at a cost.

I clutched the stretcher bed and tried to use the strength of my upper arms to stand up. But alas, I failed. Then I could only sit on the ground and wait for the phantom pain in my limbs to end, and wait for my soul to adjust to my new body before I got up.

The door to the medical room was pushed open.

Yosano walked in.

"Huh? Akari you're awake - what are you doing when you get up yourself? ”

She quickly put down the medicine in her hand and walked in front of me, and helped me from the ground to the bed: "Don't you take a break anymore?" Your body won't be able to take it. ”

I could only sit on the bed, and I didn't have the strength to respond to her question.

Perhaps because there was no one in the infirmary to talk to her, she opened up the conversation in front of me: "I can already foresee the reaction of every dying soldier when they are brought to the infirmary. I could have saved them, but when they came to their senses, their first reaction was to yell. ”

"I repeat the scene when I was injured, and I suffer the pain when I was injured. The roar was followed by a trembling of the whole body, and it was their bodies trying to forget and drive away the pain. When they wake up, they look at me. Say what [angel]? What [hope for war]? They looked at me with nothing but fear and resentment in their eyes. ”

Talking to Xie Ye, he became aggrieved, and even his voice was crying: "I—I don't want them to be so miserable." But two months ago, I was just an employee at a dim sum shop. ”

"Victory in war comes at a price." I don't have a sense of belonging to Japan, but at this moment I felt that I should comfort her with this reason, "Maybe this is the price to pay for winning the war, and you didn't do anything wrong, so there is no need to blame yourself." ”

"It's the choice from top to bottom, including Dr. Mori and all the soldiers."

With Xie Ye's mood stabilized a little. After these low emotions dissipated, she seemed to suddenly think of something: "Speaking of which, A-hunt, every time you come to the medical room, you are in a hurry, and you go straight back to the front line without waiting for your body to slow down." ”

She called me Akari. The reason is that she feels that she is the only one in the whole base who can barely be called the same age, and I always look tattered (this is with Yosano Hara), so she really doesn't want to call me [Kazama], probably because of her ridiculous pity (also the original words).

But it doesn't matter, I don't really care about the title. Although at her request, I will also change my name from [with Yosano-kun] to [Akiko].

"Because there's still some important things to do." This time, I touched the ground with my feet in advance, and after trying not to have too strong a phantom pain, I stood firmly on the ground.

"Something important? Referring to war? ”

"No, I found the material, the material to make the whistle." I'm also very happy when I talk about this, and the happiness overcomes the phantom pain in my body.

"Whistle? What are you doing that......" Xie Ye muttered suspiciously, but she quickly reacted, "It's for Dr. Sen, right?" I knew you didn't have anything else on your mind but Dr. Sen. ”

"Hmm." I nodded, "For Dr. Sen, gift." ”

I'm all set. Including what size hole, how long the whistle body can blow a good sound, including how to polish and polish to make the whistle look more perfect and delicate. I'm just short of material, and I've found it now.

"Alright, alright." He waved his hand in disgust with Xie Ye, "When you mention Dr. Sen, you look fully charged, it's really hard to understand why you like that kind of nasty person." ”

And Xie Ye didn't understand why I liked Dr. Mori, just as I didn't understand why she didn't like Dr. Mori - it was an unsolvable question in the first place.

So I didn't answer her, I just said goodbye to her very simply: "Akiko, goodbye." ”

"Yes, yes, goodbye." At the mention of Dr. Sen, she angrily packed up the medical equipment behind my back and didn't even look back, "Then I wish you success in giving gifts." ”

*

What follows is the very boring daily life of the frontline. I don't really have a lot of time to concentrate on a whistle, whether it's fighting on the front line, cleaning up after the war, or even military defense, these are all within the scope of my work.

Now that I can't bother Tachihara and Ueno very much, the two of them are already in a bit of a bad state. After many experiences of death, he became sluggish, sluggish, and even his eyes were deeply tired and numb.

On the contrary, it was the moment when they were resurrected by Yo Yosano, and that roar containing endless pain and fear was when they reacted most violently. It was also at this time that they became a little more like a normal person.

I'm a human being again.

I can only seize all the free time and make a whistle with my heart in that short period of time. He also carved my state of mind and state at that time into the whistle with a carving knife.

Actually, I'm probably a little numb. Death after death is followed by resurrection. Maybe when the body hurts to the extreme, when the body hurts too many times, it also feels sluggish.

But my heart was still beating and my brain was still spinning. The belief that [I want to make the whistle and give it to Dr. Mori] sustained me and made me survive death after death, night after night on the front line of Tokumi Island.

I'm looking forward to it, looking forward to that day.

By the time the whistle was really successful, it had already been another two months. At this time, the walls of the trench wall were already full of vertical passages painted by Ueno. Just above the wall above the Ueno bed, densely packed.

It was the symbol he used to keep track of the number of days, representing all the days from the beginning of the [Undead Legion] plan to the present.

While it was time for the changing of the guard, I went to see Dr. Sen.

Medical offices, familiar with the road.

What shall I say? I'm going to tell him that this is the whistle I've been doing for a long time, and that this is my gift to him. I've gathered enough sea breeze to be heard when Dr. Mori blows it.

I also want to tell him that I am obedient to the front line for him. I've made progress, I'm already defending myself on the battlefield, and I'm going to defend the line. It won't be long before I'll be promoted to Private First Class, and then Private Private.

I will make merit in the army, I will grow up and grow into a person who can give himself decency. I will repay him for all his charity to me, and I will do my best to stand next to him like a real person.

Then, I will ask him a sentence -

"Doctor Mori, can you call me [Ka-kun]?"

Thinking about it made my heart jump even more. Even the steps of running to the medical office were brisk. At this moment, I seem to have abandoned the heavy □□, and only my soul is fluttering.

Stand upright, stretch out your hand, and knock on the door.

But just as I curled my fingers and was about to knock on the door, I suddenly heard the roar of the collapse of Xie Ye in the office.

"I don't want to treat them anymore. You devil, you're torturing everyone—" she roared, her voice filled with an irrepressible cry, "Can you let me go, I don't want to be the executioner who kills them again and again......"

"Of course, no."

A slow sentence, a unique way of articulating words, a deep and mellow voice, like an elegant classical music - it is Dr. Sen. But Dr. Sen's tone was cold like I had never heard before, and there was threat and oppression in the coldness.

"With Xie Yejun, although I like you very much and don't mind any presumptuous treats you usually have, you should be clear about your position. Your only mission in the army is to heal the soldiers and be the core driving force of the [Undead Legion] project. You don't have any standing to say no. ”

"But isn't the soldier's life his life? Am I treating them just to send them to death? ”

"Of course you can understand that. On the battlefield, human life is the least valuable thing. "If the war is won, it's worth it." ”

"What about Akari? Are you going to send him to death too? Die two, three, or even four times a day. Talking to Xie Ye was close to asking, "He has died so many times more than others. Does he like you so much, and don't you care how he feels? ”

"Kazama-kun?" At the mention of my name, Dr. Mori was curious for a moment, "I'm naturally relieved that Kazama-kun can play such a big role on the front line. Moreover, isn't Kazama-kun's ability perfectly in line with the [Undead Legion]? ”

"As for Kazama-kun's feelings, that's not on my radar."

He said "gratifying" in his mouth, but his tone did not change at all, as if he was the most emotionless scene. I felt the smile on my lips seem to drop a little in response to Dr. Sen's cold tone.

Instead, there is amazement.

"You devil—"

Yo Ye yelled at him one last time. In the next second, the door of the office was rudely opened, and what caught my eye was Xie Ye's already crying red eyes. The moment she saw me, she wiped away her tears and ran out on my shoulder.

Her arm was slammed into my arm, and the whistle in my hand fell out, rolling straight to the ground with a crisp sound.

"Kazama-kun? There you are? "Dr. Mori also saw me next to Yosano.

I crouched down to pick up the whistle, and it was picked up by a thin hand. Dr. Mori played with the whistle as his eyes crossed with a bit of amusement.

Small, white, whistle.

"...... this?" He was surprised.

"It's a whistle." I pursed my lips and added, "A gift for you." ”

I'd also like to say that there's the sea breeze from Everdark Island. But the words were stuck in my throat, and I couldn't say anything anyway. My heart was sullen, and my mind was echoing what Dr. Mori had said—my feelings were never in his mind.

"If I'm not mistaken, the material of this whistle ......"

"It's mine, my finger." I admitted, "I didn't use other people's bones. The only thing I have in my body is my body. So, I used my own bones. ”

Why do I get more and more bored the more I talk? Not at all as happy as I thought. I was afraid to look at Dr. Sen's face anymore, I was afraid to see his eyes. His eyes were so beautiful, but when he looked at me, there was only a cold, merciless light in them.

"That'...... Thank you, Kazama-kun. "Dr. Sen didn't care about the whistle that I had been working on for two months, he was ready to put it in his pocket like a coin or a bullet casing.

I grabbed him by the wrist and forced him to stop.

"Kazama-kun?" Dr. Sen wondered, "Is there anything else?" ”

"I-" I didn't expect him to call me [Kami-kun] at all, I just humbly spoke, "Doctor Sen, you can ...... Don't you put the whistle in your pocket just yet? OK...... Blow it? Just blow it. ”

"Blow?"

Dr. Sen was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect me to make this request. But after a moment's hesitation, he gently brought the whistle to his lips and blew it.

A whimpering whistle sounded in the empty office.

He responded to my request.

All of a sudden, I burst into tears.

In Dr. Sen's incomprehensible gaze, I threw away the dignity I had always wanted, and also abandoned all the military exploits, wars, and everything on the Isle of Constant Darkness, as if I wanted to vent all my grievances, and I cried in front of him.

The whistle hole is like an outlet for my soul. And my soul is haunted with whistles, weeping, whimpering, wailing.

The moment Dr. Sen blew the bone whistle, he touched my humble and small soul.