novelraw Chapter 76: The First Step of Dream
Chapter 76: The First Step of Dream
The silvery scroll unfurled.
The light spilling from it lit up his face, but...
"What... the hell?"
He rolled the scroll up and then unrolled it again. He did this over and over, and the strange glow would vanish, only to reappear on his face.
Figures... After all, the surface of the unrolled scroll was a silvery, mirror-like surface.
It was simply reflecting the morning light.
"...Is this some kind of joke?" he whispered in bewilderment, staring at his own reflection.
The scroll contained only a reflection of his mask with its shifting black patches—essentially, just a reflection of his face.
"No, no, no..." He pressed his hand to his face, recalling a scene from some cartoon in his past life. "Just don’t tell me it’s something like ’The answer is already within me’ or ’The answer is me’..."
"Huh...?" Apparently, Santi, sitting next to him, was also stunned by this turn of events.
Could this naive boy really have been deceived even here?
"Hey, you, take it. Look." He shoved the scroll into the boy’s hands. "Tell me, what do you see?"
"U-um... Me?" He replied uncertainly, staring at the reflection of his face.
"What the... Hey!"
"Y-yes?!"
"Look closer. I know people from the Path of Dreams love discovering answers, and this is right up their alley... But this time, they said the reward would definitely be a method. There’s gotta be some kind of clue."
"B-but there’s nothing..."
"Move."
Next, he roughly grabbed the boy’s hand and pressed his palm against the scroll. As far as he remembered, this was the hand Santi used to greet the people from the Path of Dream, so...
"O-oh?! I-it looks like something’s appearing!"
"I see..."
At the very bottom of the scroll, small letters began to appear, surrounded by a faint star-like glow.
"How interesting... Looks like some kind of phrase?"
"Looks like it..." Mr. Nobody replied, frowning.
Essentially, it was just a short phrase written in small, elegant script.
"B-but... Is this some other language? I don’t understand what’s written here. Santi replied, scratching his head."
"You can’t understand the text?"
"Damn..." He sighed heavily and pressed his palm against his face.
For him, understanding the text wasn’t difficult. In his past life, he had been a man who spoke four languages fluently...
And he knew this one especially well.
’English... What the hell?’
"W-what? What does it say?"
"It... looks like part of someone’s dialogue."
Sighing again, he read the phrase in English to the boy.
I opened my eyes once more and saw a beautiful creature with six white wings. Some called him a monster, some a beast, some a god, but I preferred...
"I think I made an angel cry... That should be criminal." He said this with a smile.
I remained silent.
"Ah, I think I get it... You don’t know if you’re ready to take the first step?"
"How will I know if I’m ready?"
"Want some exclusive advice? Just for my special one."
I nodded.
The angel laughed.
"You can’t. It’s a leap of faith. That’s all, a leap of faith."
Mr. Nobody rolled up the scroll and handed it to the boy.
"And—and that’s it?" Santi asked, stunned. "What does that even mean?"
"That’s it... How the hell should I know what it means!"
...
The long promenade along Concord’s only body of water reflected the dim light of early morning.
*Splash.* The black coat fell into the water and drifted away with the current.
Of course, these were simple safety measures. But also, as Mr. Nobody would say, "That was something symbolic."
"..." Mr. Nobody himself, having thrown off his raincoat, leaned on the embankment railing.
After a few seconds of hesitation and glancing around, he took off his mask.
To tell the truth, over the past two years he had taken no action to advance along the Path of Dream. Or even to set foot on it.
However, he himself understood that he was involved in it, probably more than any other person in the world. Therefore, all information related to it was perceived very keenly.
The Peak of Dream mentioned that the First Step was something special.
Up until that moment, the main clue for Mr. Nobody had been that old legend.
"Whoever can soar and rise into the sky will forever earn a place in the Abode of Dreams..."
Next came Marie’s speech, which she delivered while placing her hand on his heart.
"People are always afraid to take the first step. After all, to do so, they must step over what has always kept them in place and forget what lies behind."
And now...
"...It’s a leap of faith," he whispered, staring at the black spots on the white mask.
What is this? If we’re talking about jumping from heights, he’s been doing that all the time. Maybe when jumping off roofs, he should have done it with faith? Sometimes that happened, too.
If he put all the clues together, then...
"What is all this supposed to mean?" Holding the mask in his hands, he looked up at the sky. Toward the distant celestial continent—the Abode of Dreams.
"What the..." he whispered in bewilderment, seeing something interesting.
There were two figures flying toward the sky, holding hands. Mari and Simon.
Both had smiles on their faces, as if they were still under the spell of the moment.
Mr. Nobody gave a dry chuckle and lowered his head.
"Looks like I didn’t even succeed as a villain today."
Perhaps he now resembled those people in Concord who averted their gaze when they saw Marie? Pathetic and unworthy. Those who had decided for themselves that they were just that.
"Funny. Hey, I know you can’t hear me, but..." He gave the two flying figures the middle finger. "Fuck you."
He smiled grimly, watching them go.
’The Abode of Dreams... Will the day really come when I get there?’
’Do I really want that?’
’What do I... even want?’
The flow of his melancholic thoughts was interrupted by a barely audible shuffling sound.
"..." Someone’s small, dark, and... fluffy paws had appeared next to his hands.
His eyes widened in astonishment.
"A cat...?"