Chapter 4: The Naden That Naden Never Knew(4)

MISTERLP

With a mystified look on his face, Kazuma tilted his head to the side.

"This has been bothering me all along, but who decided Naden can't fly?"

"Huh? It should be obvious that this wingless worm can't fly."

"I mean, why would a ryuu need wings to fly?"

"Whaa?"

"Huh?"

...I felt like I had heard this exchange somewhere not so long ago.

Having gotten sick of the atmosphere here, I tugged Kazuma, who

seemed to have a question mark floating over his head, away by the collar

gently. "That's enough... Let's go."

"Hm? What's wrong, Naden? Your cheeks look awfully red."

"Y-You're imagining it! Come on, I was in the middle of showing you

around the Star Dragon Mountain Range, remember?"

"Oh, now that you mention it, you were."

Leaving behind the dumbfounded Ruby and the others, we turned

around and went back the way we'd come.

"Naden, you better be at the Contract Ceremony!" Ruby shouted after

me. "Don't you dare run away!" She seemed to have come back to her

senses.

My response was to turn back, pull down my eyelid, and stick out my

tongue at her.

"So, where to next? You've seen Crystal Castle already, right?" I

asked.

Once we'd gotten away from Ruby and the others, I had Kazuma ride

me again so I could show him around the Star Dragon Mountain Range. It

didn't even feel like a hassle anymore. In fact, I even found myself

wanting to keep going on like this, and to see all sorts of things with him.

Not just in the Star Dragon Mountain Range, but in the world outside, too.

"I was teleported when I came in and when I left," Kazuma said. "I'd

like to see its rumored beauty from the outside, but... before that, there's

one place I'd like you to take me," Kazuma added with a thoughtful look

on his face.

"There's somewhere you want to go?"

"Madam Tiamat said I already knew the way. If she meant what I

think... it's worth trying it, I'd say," Kazuma said with a confident look on

his face.

Ten minutes later, after racing along in my ryuu form...

"Was this place really okaaaaay?!" I shouted.

"Yeaaaaah, it'll do fiiiiine!" he called back.

Rumble, rumble, rumble...

We were both shouting. Thanks to the endless rumbling, we couldn't

hear each other if we didn't.

The source of the rumbling sound in front of us, with its spray of water

that resulted in constant rainbows during the day, was the Great Waterfall.

It was a curtain of water several dozen meters high, and several hundred

meters wide, creating a mist that spread out far into the distance. Even

among the many sights of the Star Dragon Mountain Range, which tended

to be large in scale, this and the Great Tree of Ladon were in a class of

their own.

Unable to remain quiet in the presence of such a sight, Kazuma shouted

out, "Ohh, the scenery's beautifuuuuul, just beautifuuuuul!"

"Huh? Whaaaaat? I couldn't hear youuuu!"

"I said it's beautifuuuuul! Alsoooo, there's something I want you to

tryyyyy!"

"I dunnoooo! Soooo, what is it you want me to tryyyyy?!"

"Ohhhh, I remember noooow!"

It looks too noisy, so I think that's enough drawn out vowels from here

on.

Kazuma started stripping his clothes off. It came out of nowhere, so I

turned my back to him and cried, "Wh-Whoa?! Why are you suddenly

stripping?!"

"To get in the water, of course."

"Whaa?! Why?!"

"Come on, you get in, too, Naden."

"Again, why?!"

Kazuma took off just his top, leaving his loose-fitting pants on as he

started doing some light exercises, then got in the water. I tried dipping

just the tips of my feet in, too. The water was being kept at the perfect

temperature, neither too cool nor too warm. It felt good... But, before that.

"If we're going to swim, there are calmer places to do it, like the lake,

you know?" I said.

"It needs to be a place like this. Hurry on in, Naden."

"Are you telling me to get naked?"

I hugged my body tightly. The idea of making my clothes disappear

and getting in the water in front of Kazuma... It was so embarrassing, I

thought I might die.

While I was acting shy, Kazuma laughed wryly and said, "No, no, you

can do it in your dragon form, okay?"

"Oh... Th-That's right, huh." I blushed at having jumped to

conclusions.

While I was still like that, Kazuma beckoned for me to come in.

"You're a ryuu, so you should be good at swimming, shouldn't you?"

"I don't know about it being because I'm a ryuu, but... I'm confident in

my ability to, yes. But why is this coming up so suddenly?"

"There's a little thing I want to try out. Okay, Naden. Let's go to the

bottom of the falls."

At Kazuma's urging, I turned into my ryuu form and plunged into the

water with a great splash. There was a big wave that lifted Kazuma up and

down. I asked the drifting Kazuma, "Why the bottom of the falls? Do you

want me to train that way, or something?"

I'd heard that sort of training method existed in the world below. Was it

that they tried to focus their mind while being struck by the falls?

However, even if I went beneath the Great Waterfall, which would

probably break a normal human's bones if they tried to train under it, with

the increased mass and defensive power of my ryuu form, it probably

wouldn't feel like much more than a massage.

"It'd probably help with stiff shoulders," I commented at last.

"You don't have anything that'd give you stiff... Okay, I was wrong.

Please, no lightning."

"Geez!" When I raised the hairs on my back in my ryuu form, showing

some electrical sparks, Kazuma put his hands up. "If you don't want to get

shocked, you can just avoid saying things that'll make me angry."

"Nah... When I'm with you, I remember my female friends from back

in my homeland," Kazuma said, shyly scratching his cheek. "That's why I

end up making the sort of jokes I would've made back there."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. The women in this world are all living their lives restrained by

something, be it large or small. It could be a famous family, the need to

produce an heir... For those of high enough birth, it could even be their

hometowns or country. Those restraints also offer them protection, though.

But, Naden, you don't have anything like that, do you? You're strong

because you're a ryuu, and if you set your mind to it, you could even live

alone. Freely. In all of this continent, you're probably the closest to the

women from my homeland."

I didn't really get what Kazuma was saying. But...

"Even I... get lonely when I'm all by myself," I said.

The word came out naturally: Lonely. I was more surprised than

anyone that I'd said it. I never really... thought that way before. I've been

happy not to be involved with any dragon other than Pai, because it was

less hassle that way. Yet despite that... I'd just said I was lonely.

"Well, of course," Kazuma replied with a smile. "Even if you can live

on your own, it really is lonely being all by yourself."

When I heard those words, I came to understand that I was no longer

the me I had been up until now.

"The stopped gear will be forced to move."

This was what Tiamat had been talking about.

By being with Kazuma, I learned the sense of security that came from

being with someone who accepted you. I learned of the loneliness that

came with being all by yourself. Now that I knew those things... I couldn't

go back to being alone.

I didn't want to go back.

I didn't want to go back... so I had to move forward.

"Naden?" he asked.

"I-It's nothing!"

Whew... It was a good thing I was in my black ryuu form. If I'd been in

human form, Kazuma would have definitely noticed my face was bright

red. Not good. I needed to get my mind on something else.

"So, uh... Oh! Right. Why are we going the bottom of the waterfall?"

"Huh? Oh. There was a thing I remembered. For now, let's just head

next to the waterfall."

With Kazuma urging me onward, we went up to the mist-filled

waterfall basin. That was when Kazuma pointed to the top of the falls and

said, "Naden, can you swim up these falls?"

"Swim, inside these falls? They're roaring pretty loudly, you know?"

"Well, yes, it is a waterfall."

"But why?"

"There's this saying in my homeland, 'By climbing a waterfall, a ryuu

ascends to the heavens.'"

"Ascends to the heavens?! Really?!"

Could I gain the ability to fly from climbing a waterfall?

He whispered, "Though the saying is actually that a carp that climbs a

waterfall will become a dragon..."

"Huh? Did you say something? I couldn't hear you over the roaring of

the falls."

"It was nothing. You've got to be willing to give anything a try. Let's

do it."

I looked up the waterfall. "Um... I think fighting this current might

break some bones..."

"You can't do it?"

"I don't think I can't."

"Oh, also, Naden, close your eyes when you're in the water."

"Huh? Why?"

"Trust me, just try it."

With that said, Kazuma waved to me, as if saying, "Have a nice trip."

"Why are you acting like this is all someone else's problem?" I shot

back.

"More like someryuu else's problem, am I right?" he joked.

"If I do this and nothing changes, you are so getting shocked!"

Having mentally prepared myself, I moved in and out of the water

repeatedly, like the sea serpents depicted in paintings. I left my body

sticking out of the surface of the water in a half-doughnut shape as I

charged toward the center of the Great Waterfall. When I entered the

waterfall, this time I twisted my body horizontally, climbing further and

further up.

"Naden, close your eyes when you're in the water."

Kazuma's words from earlier came back to me.

Oh, be quiet! I just have to close them, right? Fine!

Shutting my eyes, I swam against the flow of the waterfall.

Urkh, it's pretty scary swimming with my eyes closed...

In total darkness, I kept swimming, sensing only the water on my skin,

and the sound of the falls which had been dampened somewhat

underwater. My sense of which direction was up or down was growing

gradually more iffy. Was I swimming upward like I was supposed to? Or

were the walls already behind me, and I was swimming horizontally now?

It was probably only a few dozen seconds of actual time, but it felt like

several dozen times longer than that to me. Then...

Ah!

The pressure on my body suddenly disappeared.

It was like being thrown out into space. Despite that... I was still

swimming. It was like I had lost my sense of touch along with my sight. I

was swimming, but I didn't feel the water.

What was this sensation? I was uneasy, but it felt pleasant somehow.

"Hold on, how long do I need to keep my eyes closed for... Huh?"

When I opened my eyes, looking down to complain to Kazuma, the

ground was far below me.

The waterfall had ended long ago. Yet I was still swimming.

I was "swimming" in the sky. I could feel the air currents clearly.

By making my body float on them, I could swim through the sky. I was

in the sky that I'd only been able to look up to before, looking down at the

Star Dragon Mountain Range, the land, this world.

To think the world was this beautiful...

The tears started to flow naturally from my ryuu eyes. When the tears

dried, I was awkwardly swimming in the sky, and I descended to where

Kazuma was staring at me with his mouth agape.

"Kazuma... I... I could fly."

"Uh, yeah..." he said. "Though that was more like swimming than

flying. The legends of my homeland said that a ryuu would climb to the

heavens through wind, clouds, lightning, and rain, traveling through the

sky as if they were swimming at the bottom of the sea."

"Traveling through the sky like swimming..."

"Though I didn't expect this to go as well as it did." Kazuma scratched

his cheek, smiling wryly.

"Huh? You weren't confident I could fly if I climbed the waterfall,

then?"

"I gave it fifty-fifty odds. I mean, if you stop to think about it, even

dragons and wyverns manage to fly. Even if they do have wings, they're

not built for flying the way birds are. In order for them to get those

massive bodies flying, there has to be some element of magic involved.

That being the case, I figured, since you're a ryuu, having or not having

wings wouldn't affect your ability to fly. I thought maybe you just didn't

know the way to do it. That, and Madam Tiamat said something that

suggested I would know how you could fly. About the only thing that

came to mind when I thought of ways for a ryuu to fly was the waterfall

climbing in the legends from my homeland. That was why I had you test

it."

It seemed Kazuma had been thinking of something when he'd

suggested it. So Lady Tiamat said something like that to him... That pretty

much guaranteed he was the person who would find the value in me that

even I couldn't.