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Volume 5 Trouble File First Second Half Part 5

Izayoi thought that this might have been because they were looking at the sun for too long, but no, that was not the case at all. Because even now that the kid turned away from the sun, tears continued to fall from their eyes without stopping.

Those tears contained all of the emotions that have been intertwining inside of him or her and were spilling forth in form of the purest kind of tears that could only be shed by those who were filled with innocence, joy and gratitude. They were also reminiscent of one other thing: the tears that are shed by the newborn children at the moment when they are born into the world along with their first innocent cries.

With their pure white hair fluttering in the wind and red eyes staring directly at Izayoi, they smiled with a smile that looked like it was the happiest one in the world, and then they have introduced themselves to him.

「Hello, and nice to meet you. My name is 「Ishi」. Can I know what your name is?」

* * *

To be completely honest with you, there was no chance for Ishi to be saved. According to what the doctors who were taking care of her were saying, it was impossible to treat her because of the bacteria that got into the wounds that she was left with after the procedures that removed a part of her internal organs because they were performed poorly and in the inappropriate conditions. So with all its power and possibilities, the only things that the modern medicine could do for her was to relieve the pain she was in and slightly increase the finite amount of time that Ishi had left to live. When faced with such a diagnosis, most of the people would have undoubtedly fall into the abyss of despair, but when she heard that she had about a month left to live, she made her decision very quickly.

「Since I am going to die, then at the very least I want to go through lots of experiences before that happens. If I cannot experience all the different things that the world has to offer, then why live for so long?」

That is what she said without a second of hesitation, so it was probably safe to assume that even though her days were numbered, she was not going to give in to despair, focusing instead on making up for the time that she had lost for as much as she could. That was what set her apart from most of the regular people who were is a similar situation to her.

For them, these two things were connected to such a degree that most humans would have probably told you if you were to ask them that a long life is exactly what is needed if you want to experiences all that the world has to offer, and would probably think that it is meaningless to undergo painful surgeries for half a month just so that you could prolong your life for only about three more days, and would rather wait and grasp at the chance of doing anything to prolong their lives for much longer, just so that they did not have to face death just yet.

But Ishi did not want that. She has made peace with the fact that in about a month her life was going to end, and she would rather spend her remaining time not for trying to search for ways to live for even a day longer but for doing all the things that she could not do before. She wanted to spend the last month of her life living it and enjoying it to the fullest under the blue sky, even if it meant taking large amounts of painkillers to keep relieving her pain. When Canaria asked her why did she made such a decision, she answered her while a slight blush appeared on her pale, white cheeks:

「Because. . . .. because that was my first time?」

「Your first time?」

「Yes. It was my first time getting out of that cold, metal prison, seeing the vastness of the blue sky and feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin. What I felt during those moments. . .  those are the feelings that I will make sure to never forget, even after I die. So if I do not have much time left, I want to experience as many things that are going to make me feel exactly like that.」

For some strange reason, Canaria appeared to be pretty shocked when she heard that confession of hers. She looked as if she was completely frozen in place with her eyes opened so widely like Izayoi had never seen before, but after a period of complete silence that lasted for about a minute or so, she nodded her head and accepted Ishi’s wish.

For reasons unknown to Izayoi back then, such a simple, yet powerful wish was enough to make Canaria feel something other than pity for that kid. She put her hand son her hips and laughed confidently, boasting that she was going to take her to any place she would want to visit, show her every last piece of art she would want to appreciate, have her listen to every genre of music that has been invented up to date and do many, many more things that she would like to try and experience. . . .. and the next thing that Izayoi and Ishi knew, she went off to forge a fake family register that listed her as Canaria’s and Izayoi’s relative, ensure that they could travel anywhere Ishi would want to go, whether it be by land, sea or air and even got them visas that would ensure they would be granted entry to pretty much every country in the goddamn world.

Izayoi already knew it, but then he was reminded once more that when Canaria was putting her mind onto something, she was turning into an unstoppable force, or perhaps an unstoppable monster would be a much better term here. And when they tried asking her how in the world did she managed to get all of those things so fast, the only thing she answered them with was:

「I know that I might not look like it, but I have quite a few connections in the World Health Organization, and they still owed me one for letting them borrow a flag with the Rod of Asclepios on it and use it as their official emblem.」

Even though that was quite a revelation in and out of itself, that was not the thing that Izayoi was the most shocked about. The words that he directed at Canaria were about something else entirely:

「You know what, Canaria? I thought about it earlier, but you really are the strangest person that I have ever met. I never had you for someone who would go the extra length to have a fake passport made for someone who you have never met before and have it delivered to them on the very same day. You just do not look like that type of person to me.」

「Oh how your words wound me, dear Izayoi! I mean, that is exactly the kind of person that I was from the very beginning, you know? I will also have you know that if I did not go to such lengths all the time, it would not have been possible for us to travel around the world as freely as we were doing it for years now, so the best thing you can do is show some appreciation for my continued efforts.」

As much as he did not want to admit it, she was making a pretty fair point. If she was not pulling the strings of some force that worked outside of the regular rule of law, it would not have been possible for Izayoi, who not only was not Canaria’s blood related relative, but not even an acquaintance of hers in the first place, to travel all around the world without anyone asking them questions and prodding into their business. But if she had connections in the World Health Organization, and in the United Nations by extention, then that would have explained everything quite nicely.

「By the way, there is something else that I wanted to ask about. Her name, what does it mean? Because I know that it is probably not her real name but rather something along the lines of a codename or perhaps a nickname, but still, I could not help it but to get a little bit curious about. Is it something special, or something more along the lines of how it was with me?」