We were wandering in the woods looking for the outlet mall when we met a girl wearing a Nishikese outfit. |
She's a St. Irish girl in Nishikese clothing. She has no ears and no tail, and has never left the forest since she was born. |
--I'm here. This is my home. |
Yoshino |
"Ooooh- Didn't know there was such a nice place in the forest." |
Yoshino |
"There are all kinds of shops. Nishiki hair ornaments, Verforet perfumes and medicine. A wide range of products. It's a convenient place that sells everything." |
Conductor |
There's a limit to 'everything', surely? Look over there. There's even Eisengradian munitions. |
Yoshino |
"Ooooh, so true. They sell old military uniforms and teppous." |
Yoshino |
"The teppous should be safe and they can't be fired, right?" |
Conductor |
It's not okay. These guns aren't toys. It's all real. I don't know how they procured them, but depending on what happens, they could be targeted for a crackdown. |
Conductor |
There are a lot of other weird things for sale. What is this place? Some kind of black market? |
Yoshino |
"That's means a 'yamiichi', right? Although Yoshino doesn't think this place looks like that." |
Yoshino |
"Yes, there are some dangerous things being sold, but Yoshino doesn't feel like they are doing bad things to make money, and is sure the people here are not bad people." |
Yoshino |
"They are not like military personnel or mercenaries. It's just a bunch of normal people living a happy life." |
Conductor |
This is why I am curious as to why such a market has developed. II've never heard of a town in a place like this in the first place. |
Yoshino |
"...but Karamachi knew about it." |
Yoshino |
"This must be the 'outlet mall' Karamachi was talking about. A place where we can get things we can't get in the city. Old and broken things are sold as products." |
Yoshino |
"People take very good care of their things. Like that girl's kimono, even if it's old or broken, she treats it like a treasure." |
Yoshino |
"Come to think of it, Yoshino wondered where that little girl has gone?" |
--I'm over here. Big sis! |
Yoshino |
"Ooooh- speak of the fairy-san. Don't get lost or you'll be in danger." |
Yoshino, who had been a full-fledged lost child until a moment ago, held the girl's hand. The girl in a tattered dress is transfixed by Yoshino's ears, tail and glamorous date outfit. |
Yoshino |
"Ehehe, if you're so interested in me, you can touch me." |
Conductor |
...Wait, really? |
Yoshino |
"Not talking to you, Shashou. Talking to this girl." |
...Can't be helped then. I'll hand over the reins to the girl for today. You'll let me touch you to my heart's content on our next date at home. |
Yoshino |
"You've never been out of this forest, have you? Nishiki ears and tail are very rare huh." |
Yoshino |
"Here, you can mofu mofu them as much as you like. You can squeeze them if you want♪" |
--But if I do, you'll get your clothes dirty.
--And you'll get your ears and tail dirty too. |
The girl quickly let go of Yoshino's hand and showed her fingertips, which were freshly stained black with machine oil. |
Yoshino |
"Ooooh- that's machine oil. Are you also a 'kougyoukei' by any chance?" |
Yoshino |
"Yoshino likes kimonos and is a kougyoukei too, you and Yoshino are just like each other." |
The girl rolled her eyes, as if she is surprised by Yoshino's words. She asked, "Do you like machines, too, big sister?" She then pulled a rusty piece of machinery out of her pocket and showed it to Yoshino. |
--It's my treasure. I found it by my father's grave. |
Yoshino |
"Ooooh- you have a very rare piece of machinery." |
--Do you know what kind of part this is, big sister!? |
Yoshino |
"It's a part of a cool robot. The Eisengrad Army uses them when they fight big enemies. It's a very old robot, they don't use it anymore." |
Yoshino |
"This part is made in Nishiki, Yoshino used to build some of them when Yoshino was little. The factory back then where Yoshino worked used to make these things." |
Yoshino |
...This is the story before Yoshino became a seamstress at Somei-Ya." |
Yoshino |
"Ah yes, There's something good to give for you." |
Yoshino returned the old machine part to the girl and took out a weaving cloth and a pretty drawstring bag from her bag. |
Yoshino |
"You can have this drawstring bag, as a present from me. Put your 'takara mono' in it and take good care of it. It's a cute drawstring bag made from Nishiki cloth." |
Yoshino |
"And you can have this leftover cloth too. You can ask your mother to make clothes out of this cloth. It's okay if you can't make Nishiki kimonos. You can make a 'ko-ra-bo' out of Nishiki cloth and St. Iris design." |
Yoshino |
"It will surely become a 'nice kimono'. It's a one-of-a-kind kimono that you won't find anywhere else in the world." |
--Wowie zowei! I've never seen such a beautiful cloth! |
Thank you, big sis. The girl lepted onto Yoshino's chest with her hands full of the beautiful cherry-pink cloth. |
Putting the old parts into a drawstring bag, the girl then muttered, "Now I can always carry it with me". Yoshino is happy to see her happy smile. |
Yoshino |
"When you handle machines, try not to touch them with your bare hands. Be gentle with them, as if you were treating them as takara mono." |
Yoshino |
"And don't play with machine parts too much. There are all sorts of things on the ground, but you shouldn't pick up everything. Learn how to use them and understand what they are." |
Yoshino |
"Thank you for showing us the way. Thank you for showing me all these things." |
Yoshino |
"Your kimono is very beautiful." |
...By the time Yoshino had finished, the girl was already gone. |
It wasn't just the girl who disappeared. |
The shopping street that was crowded with people just a few minutes ago, and all the goods on display there, have all vanished without a trace. |
Conductor |
So that town was an illusion after all... |
Yoshino |
"Think the goods sold there were brought from the battlefield." |
Yoshino |
"There were many people wearing clothes from different countries. The girl earlier was wearing a tattered kimono, but the guy in the shop was wearing an Eisengrad uniform." |
Yoshino |
"The Eisengrad uniform had blood on it. The kimono she was wearing had claw marks from demons on it." |
Yoshino |
"They have bought all kinds of things from all kinds of places. They lived their lives to the fullest in a forest with no way out." |
Yoshino |
"Karamachi told me that where there is a new Mist, towns and villages like the one we see now sometimes appear out of nowhere. It's a mysterious phenomenon called 'Garakuta no machi'..." |
Conductor |
Karamachi called it 'Otakara no machi' instead, Town of Treasure instead of junk, what kind of people live there? |
Yoshino |
"People who used to live inside thick Mist. Nowadays there are not many of them, but there used to be a lot of them." |
Yoshino |
"They are all dead, but they are not bad people. They warn the living of danger." |
Yoshino |
"There are people who lived desperately near the Phantom Mist. They picked up what they needed inside the Phantom Mist." |
I looked around and realised that we were standing in a completely different place from where we was at the beginning. |
I checked the map, we definitely still travelled quite a distance. Even though we're lost, it's hard to imagine that we've walked such a long distance since we met that girl. |
Yoshino |
"Shashou, look. Can see Mist over there." |
Yoshino |
"That girl saved us. Let's hurry back and report to the knights nearby." |
A strange thing happened in the forest. It was later discovered that sightings of the Town of Junk have been reported not only in St. Iris, but in many other countries around the world. |
--Yoshino's hands and clothes were covered in machine oil. |