Most plants and trees sleep in winter.
Even when it’s not winter, they often sleep at night. So, on a winter night, it’s the worst condition for me to hear and feel anything.
Coming down to the city was fine, but everyone was asleep or just about to, so it was too difficult to resonate. Something kept telling from somewhere, but the power was too faint. On top of that, the telling was also getting smaller and more sporadic bit by bit.
Fires were lit here and there, and even the remnants of the last sunset completely crumbled away.
That’s how I finally found it.
“What is, this?”
Making all that circling around feel futile, the place I reached was the pile of planks where Miros had been three days ago. In front of the pile of crudely stacked planks, everything was a mess.
On the frozen hard ground, cold blood pooled thickly, and that pretty thing was all broken, rolling around on top of it. Why is this so broken? I approached Miros and asked.
“Where did your arm go? Your eyes?”
Miros’s eyes that shone brilliantly like amber were gouged out and empty, and the arm that was like a freshly sprouted fern was cut off as if torn. Having spilled almost all their blood, there wasn’t even much blood seeping out.
Why? Why did they break pretty Miros? I wouldn’t have been puzzled if they’d killed them.
For some reason, Miros hadn’t died. They gouged out both eyes and cut off the arm, yet they’re still breathing. Why did they make them like this? Weren’t humans beings with their own intelligence?
Why did they do such a meaningless thing?
If it wasn’t to eat or to kill, why did they do such an incomprehensible thing? Gouging out the eyes is even stranger. What would they use such a thing for after taking it?
How strange.
That pretty thing only wheezed with their breath. They couldn’t answer my question. There’s a high possibility they didn’t even perceive that I was here.
Is there anything else? I looked around. Then I finally found it. The thing that kept telling me it smelled blood.
—It’s you.
It was a very small plant. A tiny sprout impossible to gauge what it would grow into. A small thing whose stem was just about to stretch. It’s still so cold, yet for some reason it must have sprouted too early. I took that thing into my embrace.
—Thank you for telling me.
I don’t know what happened, but right now there’s no time. Miros is very small and weak. I don’t know how they’ve held on until now, but they’ll soon die.
“Miros, will you live?”
Still no answer. This is the most important thing, yet they can’t answer.
If Miros dies, it would be too wasteful. It might even be disappointing. But all things circulate like that. It’s not my business to intervene, nor do I particularly want to.
No, it’s more accurate to say I can’t. This is human business, the natural order of Miros who is human. I don’t have the right to interfere. I might not know if Miros wanted it, but regrettably, Miros doesn’t seem conscious enough to ask me for salvation.
I looked down at Miros who was slowly dying.
So this is how humans die. They die over nothing too. They really are beings who die just from breathing.
Miros was truly beautiful, but now they’re not beautiful. Because they’re broken. And they’ll die soon.
What a waste. If it’s going to be like this, they should give them to me.
‘Wait?’
A lightning bolt of a thought flashed through my head.
They’re all broken and dying. Even being in a pack of kin, even being a star-blessed individual, leaving them to die like this means…. they don’t need them, right?
Then wouldn’t they not know if I stole them away?
My heart that had been empty with regret suddenly pounded. I can have them. I’m having this lovely thing. They’ll become mine.
Though they’re broken now, it’s okay. I can fix this. I can make them pretty again. Because Miros is beautiful, they can bloom anew.
I picked up Miros who was sprawled out and kissed their forehead. Just with that, Miros’s bleeding stopped and their wounds healed. Color began to return to their pale skin.
I looked around needlessly. There’s nothing.
The plant that was telling me is already in my embrace. Things like wood bundles or piles of planks died long ago, so they wouldn’t be able to tell anything. It’s a dark night and winter, so even the tall trees didn’t see this.
That meant even if I steal this now, no one would know.
Ah, this is dangerous. I shouldn’t do this. Twisting this child’s natural order on my own is a wrong act. I shouldn’t interfere with what humans decided. Whatever the reason, humans decided to abandon this child. The kin decided to cast out the blessing.
But, but….
So wouldn’t that make it okay? Wouldn’t it be okay for me to take them? Yeah, it’ll be okay. This is mine now. My Miros. The humans gave up on this. They decided to abandon them! I can take them! No one will know anyway, right?
The rooted things, the humans, the other things—no one will know!
Even now, if I put them down, it’ll be okay. I know. But my happy imagination had already extended endlessly. I couldn’t stop. My heart pounds. I’m so excited I don’t know what to do. Like that, I tightly embraced Miros in my arms and hurriedly headed to my nest.
Miros is mine now. The prettiest thing is mine.
That’s how I stole a human star.
***
I know it’s a foolish thing too.
But they didn’t need them over there, right? They took away their pretty eyes and arm, and left them to die, right? Then wouldn’t it be okay even if I secretly took them?
Making all that excitement of stealing Miros feel futile, Miros didn’t wake up.
“Why? What’s the problem?”
How strange. They have sufficient vitality, so why won’t they wake up? It happens to be winter, so most are sleeping. Even if I want to communicate with something else, there’s no individual who can properly convey it.
In the end, I woke up Havi who was barely falling asleep again.
Havi got furiously angry at me. They’d barely fallen asleep again, and I woke them up again. But I can’t help it. Because our Miros won’t wake up.
Is something wrong? To my eyes, I don’t see anything particularly wrong, so it’s frustrating. There might be something I didn’t perceive.
When I earnestly begged, Havi grumbled as if they had no choice but followed along.
It was the first time bringing Havi directly into my nest. Well, there was no particular reason to call them before. Havi had never been curious about my nest either.
Havi rubbed their eyes as if still not fully awake and grumbled.
“Now you’re going so far as to bring me into your nest.”
“Sorry. You’re the only one who knows about humans.”
“I’m not human in the first place either. I’ve just seen a bit more, that’s all.”
“Why won’t this wake up?”
I showed Havi Miros. Seeing Miros, Havi shrieked and jumped.
“My goodness! What are you trying to do with a half-dead human child? There’s nothing to eat!”
“But this is pretty.”
“Don’t bring trash into your home for no reason, throw it out right now!”
“No. I’m going to make them pretty again.”
Trash, that’s too much. Such abuse toward something this beautiful.
Regrettably, Havi didn’t understand how beautiful and lovable Miros was. They just shouted to throw them away.
“You just said a pretty human! Not this rag-like lump of meat! It’s not even pretty!”
“That’s rude. Miros is really, really beautiful. And they’re just a little broken, it’s not that bad. As soon as they wake up, I can fix them right away.”
The current bad appearance isn’t a big deal. The problem is not waking up. To restore the broken state, accepting my power, a miracle, requires the will to do so, but there’s no way to express that. Humans are individuals who must directly express their intentions vocally. They can’t tell like the plants and trees I prove.
Even if I try to fix them on my own, Miros is too fragile. If they melt away completely because of my power by mistake, what kind of disaster would that be? That’s not why I stole them.
I gently soothed the furiously angry Havi and carefully asked again.
“Why on earth won’t they wake up? They have abundant vitality. They won’t wake up at all, so I called you.”
“Why on earth did you pick up such a living corpse?”
“What should I do to wake them up?”
At my question, Havi scrunched up their nose and made groaning sounds. Then, as if giving up, they exhaled and said.
“Humans are fragile. There are often cases where they can’t wake up just from being severely injured.”
“Even though they’ve already fully recovered?”
“It’s called shock. They’re resolving pain they can’t handle.”
Havi said so while tapping their own head. In short, it’s a mental problem. They explained that if a human’s physical damage is too severe, their mind can collapse too.
Havi’s explanation was curt but kind. However, I still had doubts.
“Why? They weren’t a mental entity from the beginning.”
“The human body is a vessel for the mind. Those mental entities you’re thinking of ‘manifest’ bodies to exert physical force. It’s completely different. Even if their bodies are slightly broken, if their minds are intact, they restore quickly, but the human mind is mediated through the body, so if that collapses, the mind spills out too. Even if you barely gather it back, it takes time to reattach.”
“…Is that, so?”
“That’s so. Don’t think too deeply. Anyway, this can’t wake up right now.”
I wanted to say something was strange, but that’s what humans are like. If they say so, what can I do? I just accept it as it is.
In short, humans must preserve both mind and body to function normally. But to fix the body, I need to fix the mind, yet they can’t come to their senses. What on earth am I supposed to do?
I feel deflated somehow. Will I lose Miros like this? I don’t want that.
“Then, is there no way?”
“…If you take good care of them, they’ll wake up someday. If they don’t die, that is.”
In the end, it seems I have no choice but to wait for them to recover on their own. It wasn’t an answer I was very pleased with, but it couldn’t be helped.
I can’t show them to other humans either. Then they’d find out I stole them. No matter how much they left them to die, Miros is very pretty and a star-blessed individual. Even if they wanted them dead, if they find out I stole them, they’ll try to find them.
They might harm them again. It was the same kin, humans, who made Miros like this. If I show them to save them but they try to kill them again, it’ll all be for nothing.
I lay down facing Miros who was laid down neatly.
“When will you wake up?”
I hope they wake up soon.
