Chapter 9 Section VII
In the middle of the night that day, Yuriko walked into her brother's room again.She didn't want her parents to know, so she didn't turn on the light.The street lamp outside the window is enough light.
The red book was back on the bookshelf, standing upright on one side of the front row.Mom must have come in, picked up the book and straightened the folds.
Yuriko walked over and touched it lightly with her finger.
The magic was revived, and the spine of the red book felt a little warm.
Is it a little girl?asked Redbook.
Yuriko nodded silently, then cried in a low voice.For a long time, the tears could not stop flowing.She involuntarily hugged the red book to her chest.
"It hurts!"
Red Book seemed to pouted and said.
Sorry!Yuriko cried very sadly.
"The little girl seems to be in pain too!"
Soft vibrations came from the red book.
"Yeah!" Yuriko drooped her head, sitting by the wall with her book in her arms.
She then recounted what happened at school during the day.She paced up and down, sobbing and talking, and her words seemed very confused.However, the Red Book seemed to understand everything.In Yuriko's idiot-like narration, it only repeats one sentence - okay, okay, don't cry!No matter what Yuriko says, no matter how Yuriko cries.It's all - well, well, stop crying!
"Everyone is like this!" After Yuriko finished speaking, the tears shed here dried up, and then the red book said, "Everyone will feel the same as the little girl! If someone is fascinated by the 'hero' .”
The red book sang and conveyed the composed words to Yuriko: In the infinitely long time, there are countless times that people have trekked in the long river of tears.
"There is nothing anyone can do about it. Although it is very sympathetic, what happened is irreparable."
Because you can't turn back time!
"Will the little girl stay at home all the time? The future is long! Now time is the little girl's enemy. After a while, it will become your friend!"
"You mean, can you forget?"
"……maybe."
That can't be done!Totally impossible!
"Anyway, your brother has disappeared!"
The disappearance of her brother stopped the time of Yuriko, and the time of the Morisaki family was also frozen.
"What I said yesterday," Yuriko held the red book in front of her face, "you know more, don't you? You know why my brother did that kind of thing, and you should know where my brother is, right?"
Red Book hesitated and didn't answer, it was because what Yuriko said was true.
"Where is my brother? What happens to people possessed by 'heroes'? Will they be taken away? Is my brother locked up?"
Questions came pouring in one after another like a tidal wave.
"My brother didn't intend to assassinate his classmates, right? He couldn't help doing that horrible thing because of the 'hero' possessed, right?"
After a pause, the red book replied:
"Yes, because that's the nature of a 'hero'—manipulating human beings to launch wars and disrupt the world!" The words in the red book were too difficult to understand, Yuriko frowned and thought hard.
"Will 'heroes' start wars? All the heroes I know are those who prevent wars!"
Many stories are described in this way, even textbooks are written in this way.
"Whether it's activated or stopped, it's all the same thing! Little girl, the beginning and the end are connected together."
What did you say?I don't want to have such a guessing conversation.
"Well, your brother is not a bad guy. It's not that your brother is bad. He was controlled by the bad guys and did bad things involuntarily."
Brother is a victim!victim!
"I have to save him!"
When the words were spoken, she felt the words echoing and floating in the air of the dimly lit room.
"I must go and save him! Why, tell me where my brother is!"
Yuriko had an idea.
"Could it be written on the pages of your book? That's why you know so much about the 'hero'!"
Before the voice fell, Yu Lizi was about to open the red book.Surprisingly, the Red Book resisted tenaciously!
"What are you doing? It's ridiculous!"
Red Book stood up straight and stepped hard, obviously resisting Yuriko.Yuriko was in a hurry and tore the cover of the book vigorously, but the red book still refused to open the pages.
"You, aren't you... a book?"
It was still loose yesterday!
"You can't save him!" said the Red Book.It is no longer a singing tone, nor is there a gentle vibration, "People who are controlled by 'heroes' are hopeless! Human strength cannot be saved!"
"It can be saved! As long as I know where my brother is, he can be rescued immediately! There are police, firefighters, and parents."
"Ridiculous! Can adults do anything? Let alone being close to 'heroes', they simply cannot get out of this world."
Say something inexplicable again!
"Okay! Let me see the pages! Surely it's all there, right? Those important things!"
In the white light of street lamps shining through the window, in her brother's tidy room, Yuriko wrestled with the red book.When she thought about it later, she still didn't understand what was going on in that process.Anyway, the opponent was just a book, yet at the time it felt like she was fighting a boy—a boy who happened to be around Morisaki Taiki's age.
Of course, Yuriko is no match for her brother at all.In fact, she has never fought against her brother, and there is a huge difference in physical strength, length of arms and legs, and speed.However, after all, the girl has a unique killer.
Yuriko bared her teeth and bit the book cover.The red book let out a scream of "Wow", a half-turning body flew into the air from Yuriko's hand, and then the book cover fell face down on the floor.
Yuriko picked up the book panting heavily.Perhaps it was an illusion, but the red book looked like it had collapsed from the impact, and there was a tooth mark from Yuriko's bite on the corner of the cover.Yuriko has always been proud of her beautiful teeth.
"You are so cruel!" Red Book groaned.
"Because you are wicked!"
"Little girl can't understand my content. You don't even know the words on the cover!"
After thinking about it calmly, it was right.
"I really didn't expect the little girl to be so grumpy. People can't be judged by appearances!"
Red Book was quite frightened, and his mental injury was even more serious, just like a real person.
"But, no matter how sharp your teeth are, you are still a little girl after all, you can't save your brother. Good boy, wipe off your tears and nose, and go to bed obediently! Go to school in good spirits tomorrow morning! You just have to work hard Just go on with your normal life!"
Come to teach people again!Yuriko stopped her irascible behavior, but her anger didn't disappear, but intensified.
"I can't go back to my normal life at all!"
"You try it!"
"If I go to school, I... will be bullied."
"There will definitely be classmates on your side!"
"What can you know? Aren't you just a book?"
After the red book was silent for a moment, it changed its tone again.
"Oh, so the little girl doesn't want to go to school! So, wanting to save brother is just an excuse to skip school!"
Yuriko really wanted to slam it firmly on the floor again, but her hand stopped in mid-air and was raised above her head.She was so sad and ashamed that her eye sockets burned.
Yuriko lowered her arms and gently put the red book back on Taiki's bookshelf.
"Okay, okay, that's all right!" Red Book said with satisfaction.
"Good night, little girl!"
Let go of her hand, leave the room, and leave now, she has nothing to say.
No!Endless!
"Is it true that I can't save my brother? Just now you said that even adults can't do it, right? Parents, mothers, and the police can't do it either?"
"Ah, yes!"
"I can't do it either, I'm a little girl. Then tell me, who can save him? Can someone save my brother?"
"What's the use of asking this?"
"I'm going to find that person, I'm going to ask him to save my brother."
I will do everything possible to beg him, begging him to promise me.
"So, if you know, tell me, where is the person who can save my brother?"
Yuriko didn't look at her watch, so she didn't know how much time had passed.Red Book hesitated for a long time.
"In this world, no one can save him."
In the "voice" of the answer, there was a serious tone that had never been seen before.
"If you don't leave this world, you won't be able to get clues to find your brother."
That is to say, it has not reached the end of the mountain!
"You just said that even adults can't escape this world, is that what you mean?"
"um, yes."
"I'm a kid, so I can do it, right?"
I'll go there if I can!
"Where? A foreign country? A place that can only be visited by plane?"
"It's not a 'foreign country' in that sense, it's outside the 'circle' where the little girl is."
"Circle" means the world, but the world mentioned here does not refer to the meaning understood by "world history", "world map" and Yuriko, but a broader scope.Redbook explains.
"The edge of this planet or the other end of the universe that you will never go to in your lifetime, from our point of view, is still inside your 'circle'. That is just your world—the 'circle' in which the story of the world in a narrow sense resides ' That's all."
Yuriko is still in the fog.However, there is only one thing that matters most.
"However, if I sincerely express my wish, can I go? Can you take me there?"
Because you are a child - said the Red Book to himself.
"Because I am a child, I can easily make a decision on such an important matter, although, perhaps this kind of decision will take a lifetime to pay for."
Red Book seems to be greatly surprised, but also seems to admire.
"I really can't do anything about you! It's all my fault for telling you this and arousing your interest. I am responsible."
Yuriko suddenly felt a deep pain in her heart, not because of sadness and anger, this feeling has not been experienced for a long time.
"Thank you!"
"It's too early to thank you! Girl, this is a huge project!"
Going it alone probably won't accomplish anything—says the Red Book.
"So, the little girl has to put me back with my friends first."
No matter how you do it, getting started starts there - Red Book added in a riddle-like whisper.
"Okay! Where is it? A bookstore? A library? You're an old book, so you're in an old bookstore?"
Red Book couldn't help but laugh.
"What a funny little girl! Oh, have you forgotten?"
Forgot?I?forgot what?
"Little girl, do you really think that your brother brought my bible book from such an ordinary place? Think about it, don't you remember? A few days ago, it was still very cold, you and your brother were wrapped in thick clothes. thick coats, and we all went to the place where countless books like mine are piled up.”
Yuriko wanted to think carefully, so she took the book in her hand and sat down again.It's still cold, wrapped in a coat, everyone together?
"All together—the whole family?"
"yes!"
Everyone exhaled white breath, and went to the place where countless books were gathered.
Yuriko's eyes widened, and then her mouth opened.
"Isn't there my uncle's villa?"
"To be precise, it should be the little girl's father's uncle, that is, the uncle's villa."
On the first Sunday in December last year, Dad drove and the whole family went out together.
"Well, there is a library in that villa. It's amazing! It's almost like a library. I was shocked."
"That's where I stayed," Redbook said, lowering his voice, "and 'Hero' was there too."
Yuriko was busy recalling, thinking deeply, and didn't hear the muttering of the red book.Uncle's villa, where is it?It was a one-day round trip, so the distance should not be too far. However, it should be in the mountains, and I had to walk a section of unpaved road. My mother was very worried at the time.
"I can't go to that place alone. I don't know the address or the way."
"Then, what should we do?" Red Book asked jokingly, "Little girl, this is your first test!"