Published: September 10, 2025
――Nostalgic.
It was strange even to myself that such a feeling arose when I looked out at the scenery before me.
Because there weren’t many good memories here.
“Liza~?”
“Is your stomach hurting?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Tama and Pochi, who had been chasing rabbits, came running back and gently rubbed my stomach.
Maybe I had a worried look on my face as I gazed at the scenery.
“Is this your hometown, Liza?”
“No, this is the place where I lived for about a year after the village was destroyed.”
In front of me was what seemed to be the charred remains of houses.
They were buried in weeds and unclear from afar, but it was my Master who found this place.
“Do you know the way from here?”
“Yes, from here I think we can reach the location where the village once stood.”
I summoned faint memories and traced the path backward from the village to the Hidden Village.
I had only walked this path once, and sometimes lost sight of it while swaying on my mother’s or brother’s back, but Master and Tama found traces of the road.
And then we arrived.
At the place where Kishureshigarza Village once stood.
◇
“Splash splash~?”
“The roots of the grass are all soaked.”
I was so captivated by the view of the swamp in front of me that I didn’t even hear Tama and Pochi excitedly talking.
An empty spot in the middle of the swamp.
There’s no doubt.
This is it.
The shape of the mountain ridges and the shore where the Shigarza River flows in tell me so.
This is my hometown.
Though burnt down by war and left empty, the nature of the Shigarza swamp remains alive.
“This is Liza’s hometown?”
“Nothing remains, but there’s no mistake.”
“I see, so this is where Liza was born and raised.”
“‘The country is broken, but the mountains and rivers remain,’ right?”
“Oh, did I tell you that before?”
When I quoted that phrase from a Tang poem that Arisa told me, she nodded with an awkward look.
Apparently, it made her uncomfortable.
“Fish~?”
“There are lots of frogs too.”
Tama and Pochi continued to chase the swamp creatures at their own pace.
“Ribbit ribbit~”
“Hop hop, yes!”
“Hmm, a chorus.”
“‘Ribbit ribbit, hop hop, ribbit, hop hop!’” “That’s right!”
Tama and Pochi chorused along to Mia’s impromptu song.
Come to think of it, I used to sing that often as a child――.
◇◇◇◆◆◇◇◆◆◆
“Lizarin! Over here, over here!”
My childhood friend, Somarin, called me by my childhood name.
Adding “-rin” to the two characters of my long name is a common way girls get nicknames.
“Let’s go frog fishing today!”
“Eh~ I prefer crayfish fishing!”
“I want to collect pond snails!”
Along with Somarin were two boys: the cheeky Zarton and the shy Mozton.
When we were kids, we often played together.
“Which one do you want, Lizarin?”
It was always the same, with them dumping the decision and coordination on me.
I personally liked the firm texture of crayfish, but picking only crayfish would be unfair.
“Let’s set pond snail traps first, then catch live bait insects to fish for frogs. Using the frog legs, we can fish for crayfish afterward. That sounds good.”
“As expected of Lizarin, always greedy.”
“If we’re making traps, we should use water bamboo grass.”
“In that case, let’s go to Long Ear Inlet. We can catch live bait insects there.”
Everyone chattered excitedly as we headed out for a fun trip that doubled as food gathering.
We sometimes quarreled but always made up the next day.
“――Lizarin!”
Around sunset, men returning from fishing on large bamboo leaf boats appeared.
The one swinging a spear in the middle was my father. Older Brother Ueni-sama and Younger Brother Shitani-sama were with him.
We greeted them at the dock.
“Father, brothers!”
I hugged my big father, inhaling the scent of hardworking sweat and the swamp’s unique fragrance, different from the water’s edge.
As a child, that smell always made me feel very safe.
“Lizaru, today is a feast.”
Older Brother Ueni-sama, along with other young men, lifted a large Lotus Alligator.