I Want to Hear Your Voice

Roll roll roll…
An apple rolled toward Satori from somewhere.
There was no apple tree nearby.

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Sometimes, fruit would come rolling towards Satori out of nowhere.
It was as if someone was asking him to eat the fruit.
The fruits were different each time, sometimes it was an apple, sometimes it was a persimmon, and sometimes it was an orange.

Satori looked around his surroundings in curiosity.
The apple was glossy and delicious-looking.
When Satori picked up the fruit, it was heavier than he had expected, perhaps because of the fullness of the fruit.

chirp chirp chirp

A bird was circling in the skies above.

A cool breeze blew down from the mountains to the foot of the mountain.

Satori rubbed the surface of the fruit with his clothes.
As he took a bite out of it, a refreshing scent wafted through his nose, and a sweet sensation slowly spread into his mouth.

It tastes good.
It tastes good.

A smile spread across Satori’s mouth.

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After munching on the whole apple and feeling satisfied, once again an apple rolled in his direction.
Satori tilted his head.
Satori picked up the apple and wondered where the fruit had come from.

(Oh no, oh no.
I ended up seeing a bad omen so early in the morning.)

Satori felt a chill when he heard the voice that came so suddenly.
He felt like a cold hand had grabbed his heart and squeezed it.

With a cold stare, a fox spirit took one glance at Satori, then turned around and ran across the fields and mountains.

The apple fell out of Satori’s hand.
Even though he had been full of joy just earlier, now a chilling sensation has spread across his chest.

I wonder why am I still alive? I’m just being hated by everyone.
What am I even alive for…?

“You sure think about rather sophisticated thoughts for a mere Satori.”

Satori gasped when he heard the refreshing voice.
He wondered how long the Dragon God had been there, and what he was thinking in his mind.
The Dragon God stared at Satori with his translucent eyes.

Satori immediately cast his eyes downwards.
His body trembled a little against his will.

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The Dragon God probably could see through everything that Satori was thinking.
The Dragon God, whose figure was rarely seen, possessed such an overwhelming power that made someone want to bow down in his presence.
For instance, if the Dragon God knitted his brows and decided to do so, he could certainly make this world disappear in an instant.
Even Satori, the lowliest of the spirits, could sense this.

“We just live.
You’re just like a human being, trying to attach any other meanings to life.”

Satori gasped.
He looked up and saw that the Dragon God seemed like he was about to leave.
At that moment, the apple that he had dropped earlier entered his vision.
Satori hurriedly picked up the apple and offered it to the Dragon God.

“Thi-this apple was so sweet and tasty.
If you’d like it, please take this.”

Dragon God stared at the apple that Satori had offered to him with a dubious look.
A silence fell between them.
Satori might have mistaken, but he felt a flicker of emotion in Dragon God’s eyes, then it disappeared.

“U-umm…?”
A cold sweat trickled down on Satori’s back.
As Satori felt that his blood had run cold, wondering if it might have been rude of him to offer an apple that was lying on the ground to the Dragon God, when beautiful slender fingers grabbed the apple from his hand.
In front of the stunned Satori, the Dragon God took a bite out of the apple.

The sound of a fruit being bitten could be heard.

“Hmm.
The taste is not so bad.”

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“…Is-is that so?”

Satori was flustered, wondering that perhaps the fruit he had eaten had been sweeter.
The Dragon God stared at Satori with his translucent eyes, which was as clear as the bottom of a lake.

“…You remind me of someone I used to know in the past.”

A voice could be heard.

It was a low voice, so low that Satori might have missed it if he were careless.
Satori became worried when he felt like he saw a tired expression on the usually dignified face of the Dragon God.

…Dragon God?

“Satori!”

At that moment, a boy whom he had just met a few days ago can be seen waving his hand from over the footpath between the rice fields.

“Sousuke!”

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Satori was so happy that he could jump up and down.
He couldn’t wait for Sousuke to come towards him, and he ran towards the boy who was holding a plastic bag in his hand.

“Grandma boiled some corn for us, so let’s eat it together.
Do you like corn, Satori?”

Sousuke had brought some corn for me.
He went out of his way to do it for me.

Satori nodded his head.
A feeling of joy swelled up in his chest, and he didn’t know what to do with it.
It made him want to roll around in the ground.

(Hehehe.
Satori is happy.
He’s so cute.
I’m glad I had asked grandma to boil the corn for me.
I want Satori to eat it too.)

“Good.
Let’s go to the river you had told me the other day and eat it there.”

“Yeah!”

At that moment, Satori realized that he had left the Dragon God behind and went to Sousuke’s side.
When he hurriedly looked back, there was only a half-eaten apple lying on the ground where the Dragon God had been standing until earlier.