[Serialized Novel] "Lute of the North Wind" Episode 12

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Episode 12: Mysterious Proliferation (2)
[April 23rd, Kohada Residence]
Rei watched the sunset bleeding into the ever-present overcast sky from her open bedroom window. Ten days ago, Ryuto, whom she met at the air show, had said it was strange that the clouds only persisted over Kagamihara. She had also begun to see red floating objects more frequently. They were scattered here and there at the base of the clouds covering the sky.
A transparent fish glided in. It swam around Rei's room. Bosch, the Border Collie who had been curled up in the corner of the room, sluggishly stood up and moved to Rei's feet, keeping an eye on the ceiling.
Bosch could see the transparent fish too (probably). When he was a puppy, he would often bark and threaten the fish. Once she taught him that they wouldn't do anything, he stopped barking. The fish in the sky were invisible to anyone but Rei, but perhaps dogs and cats could see them. Sometimes, when she saw a cat on a fence swinging its front paws as if scratching the sky, trying to catch a transparent fish, Rei, as an elementary school student, would feel happy.
The sky fish circled the room once and hovered above Rei's head.
《Daughter who inherits the true blood of the Dragon Person》
A voice-like sound descended. She checked the hallway and downstairs, wondering if someone had come home. No one was there. Her parents were still seeing patients. Her younger brother, Kai, hadn't returned from his club activities either. She looked outside from the window in front of her desk, but no one was there. Was it an auditory hallucination?
《Daughter who inherits the blood of the Dragon Person》
The muffled, low voice came again.
Rei looked around the room. She held her smartphone to her ear. There was no voice. No sound came from her tablet either.
When she looked up, a transparent fish was looming right in front of her.
It had never come this close before. She swallowed hard. The fish brought its protruding crown close to Rei's forehead. Bosch growled.
《Daughter who inherits the blood of the Dragon Person》
The voice flowed into her brain from the forehead the fish was touching.
Telepathy... perhaps?
"Ryuto?" Do you mean Tenma Ryuto?
"If it's Ryuto, he's in Tsukuba."
《You are the Dragon Person》
《The Dragon Person is one who plays the Wind Harp》
"Wind Harp?"
The transparent fish tapped the tablet on the desk with its tail fin.
Then, the screen lit up, and the characters for [Dragon Person] and [Wind Harp] appeared.
What is this? What kind of magic is this?
Even Rei felt like her brain was short-circuiting, exceeding her capacity for understanding.
《The Wind Harp is the harp of the wind》
The transparent fish slipped under the bed.
She hid her silver lute there. She reached in and pulled out the instrument case. The fish followed it out.
"Is this what you mean by Wind Harp? Is this called a Wind Harp, not a lute?"
《The Wind Harp is... the divine treasure of the... Wind Dragon》
The voice echoing in her frontal lobe grew faint, and the pulses of communication became intermittent, like a signal failure.
Rei asked the question she wanted to know most in a rush.
"What are you eating?"
The characters for [Wind Worm] glowed on the tablet.
《Worm of the wind... Worm》
《There is... no time》
《Find the Dragon Secret Transmission》
The characters for [Dragon Secret Transmission] flickered.
After finishing, the transparent fish fell swaying, lay limply in the instrument case, and vanished without a trace, leaving behind a gust of wind. Just like steam rising from a mug disappearing into the air.
Rei was stunned.
A scene and a mysterious last testament that were hard to believe.
Dragon Person, Wind Harp, Wind Worm, Dragon Secret Transmission. All words she was hearing for the first time.
She held the silver lute to her knees. This is a Wind Harp. Since it's a harp of the wind, perhaps the fish, which are incarnations of the wind, are drawn to it. She had more to ask. What is a Wind Harp? What is a Dragon Person?
Rei plucked the Wind Harp. But no matter how much she played, the fish from the sky no longer entered through the window.
It was humid and windless. Bosch's breathing was heavy.
Sorry, sorry, Rei said as she closed the window and turned on the air conditioner.
Wait here, I'll go get some water. She told Bosch and went downstairs.
They said they wanted her to find the Dragon Secret Transmission.
What is the Dragon Secret Transmission?
Am I a Dragon Person?
What does it mean that there is no time?
Questions bubbled up and disappeared one after another like soda bubbles, leaving her confused.
Who could she talk to about this... Even if she mentioned the fish in the sky, she would be called a liar. If she said she heard telepathy, she would just be thought of as crazy.
Lost in thought, she tripped at the corner of the stairs and dropped the plastic bottle she was holding.
Thump. The bottle made a strange sound as it crumpled.
Then, Ryuto's face, trying to hold back laughter, suddenly popped into her mind.
That's right, Mr. Tenma, Ryuto would understand.
Rei ran up the stairs and opened her smartphone screen.
She tapped Ryuto's number. She called over twenty times, but it didn't connect. She called four times—after dinner, after her bath, and before bed—but he didn't answer.
Giving up, she typed "It talked!" as the title of an email and tried to explain the situation, but no matter how many times she rewrote it, she couldn't explain it well, so she deleted everything and just wrote "Call me."
Ryuto did not reply the next day, nor the day after.

To be continued