This story is from Fina’s point of view.
Please be aware of this.
“Onee-chan (big sis), what kind of person was mom?”
I wonder how old Neil was when he asked that…
It was when I was looking after Neil in the children’s playroom.
I think Neil was five, and I was seven.
The sadness of losing our mother had finally started to heal, and I told my little brother various stories about her.
“She was kind! Onee-chan, are you like mom?”
Unfortunately, I didn’t look like her.
My mother was beautiful, but she was often told that she looked scary when she wasn’t smiling.
That’s why she always tried to smile and was a cheerful person.
“No, I look just like Tou-san (father), don’t I? I guess Ren-nee is more like her.”
On the other hand, Ren-nee often made kids her age cry, so in a way, her face and appearance matched.
“But Ren-nee gets angry easily, so she’s scary.”
“Ahaha… You’re right, her aura and personality aren’t really like her. Even though her face is the most similar to mom among us siblings, there are differences.”
It seemed Ren-nee had some feelings about Neil, since our mother’s health deteriorated after giving birth to him.
There was a time when she was a bit harsh.
“How are they different?”
“How, you ask…”
I froze at his question.
Specifically, how were they different?
Even though I remembered the fact that Ren-nee resembled her the most, my mother’s face wouldn’t come to mind.
“Onee-chan?”
“–Sorry, Neil. Onee-chan just remembered something she has to do.”
I asked a maid to take care of Neil and left the room.
Without realizing it, I started walking faster.
I can’t remember?
That’s impossible! I should be able to remember easily if I have a trigger…
I entered my mother’s room and picked up some of her belongings.
Her makeup tools, clothes, the fabric and thread she used for her hobby of handcrafts…
The gloves she had been happily knitting to give to dad were still unfinished, covered in dust, never having been given.
I could recall the episodes related to them, but I couldn’t recall my kind mother’s face…
Why! Why!?
A room like an empty shell without its owner, where time had stopped.
I couldn’t stand being in that room anymore, so I ran out of the room, out of the house.
Without a destination, or rather, not even knowing which direction I was headed, I just ran.
After running until my feelings calmed down and I was out of breath, I arrived at the town’s park.
Now, the town’s park is a place that’s easy to get to, but for a child’s legs it was quite far, and it was the first time I had ever been there.
As I was looking down and catching my breath, I finally noticed that someone else was there besides me.
That’s where I met a peculiar person.
“Ojisan (old man), what are you doing?”
I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone.
But that person was doing something strange, peering into a black box with one eye.
“Huh? Oh, what’s this? An elf girl?”
I’m actually a half-elf…
I’m often mistaken for one, so I don’t even bother correcting people anymore.
“What’s that box?”
That person’s appearance was also different.
He had black hair, which wasn’t very common around here.
“This? This is called a camera. An instant camera.”
“Camera?”
“Ah, how should I explain it… It captures scenery… no, no…”
“?”
“To put it simply, this box draws a picture for you, instead of a person.”
“Wow! What kind of picture?”
“It’s kind of like what you see with your eyes, just like that. Hmm, if I use it now, I don’t have much film left… Is it okay if I show you an old one?”
“Yes!”
He then handed me a strange, smooth palm-sized piece of paper.
The picture on it was…
“Beautiful! What kind of flower is this? And who is this person?”
A vividly colored pink flower.
And a black-haired woman with a beautiful pattern on the strange clothes she wore, the opening in front of her chest, was standing under the flower.
It was a strange picture, as if I were standing and looking at that place right now.
“That’s a flower from my country. It’s called a sakura.”
“Sakura? Ojisan, are you from another country?”
“Yeah. For reasons I can’t go back home. I look at this sometimes, and remember my home.”
Ojisan looked a little lonely.
He had a distant expression as if he was looking somewhere far away.
“Who’s that woman?”
“Secret.”
Ojisan looked a bit embarrassed this time.
His wife? Or maybe someone he likes?
“If it’s this amazing, why aren’t cameras widespread?”
“I took it to someone who looked like they could mass-produce them. But they said the pictures looked too real, that it would steal their soul! Haha, just imagine that.”
“It’s not true though,” he said, with a troubled look.
He also muttered something about “Bakumatsu Japan,” but I didn’t understand what it meant.
T/N: Bakumatsu refers to the final years of the Edo period in Japan, characterized by a period of isolation, followed by increasing contact with the West. He’s implying the reaction to the technology is primitive like it was in Japan during that period.
“Ojisan, can I learn to draw pictures like this too?”
There wasn’t any particular reason, but those words came out of my mouth naturally.
Now that I said it, it felt right.
Yeah, I want to try drawing.
“Pictures like a camera? Hmm…”
“Ojisan, are you going somewhere?”
“No, I’m planning to stay in this town for a while.”
“Then I’ll draw a picture and bring it tomorrow!”
“Ah, hey!”
I made a one-sided promise and ran off without hearing his reply.
I didn’t really know how to get home, so I asked people on the street for directions to the Lord’s mansion.
The next day, I went to the park at the same time, and the Ojisan from yesterday was waiting for me.
“Ojisan!”
“Oh, you actually came.”
“Look at this!”
I showed him the picture I had drawn of him, that I had made after getting back yesterday.
It was nowhere near as good as the camera’s pictures, so I asked him what was different.
“…Is this a picture of me? How old are you, little miss?”
“Seven!”
“Haa… So some people are born with talent.”
“Talent…?”
“First, let me say one thing. I have a camera, but I’m not an expert in drawing. Do you still want to hear my advice?”
“Yes! I want to hear it from Ojisan!”
“I see. Then I’ll teach you what I know.”
Ojisan taught me various things about drawing.
First, how to decide on a composition.
To carefully consider the proportions of things.
The most helpful advice was about how to show depth, and how to use light and shadow.
Thanks to this, I felt like I had gotten a lot closer to the camera’s pictures.
According to Ojisan, the paintings in this country are flat compared to the paintings in his country, and lack three-dimensionality.
I was definitely making something different from the paintings of other people that were hanging up at home.
I drew various things that caught my eye, such as the town scenery and people.
Such days continued for about a month, and then…
The day Ojisan was leaving town arrived.
“Now that I think about it, little miss. Why did you suddenly start drawing?”
“Well…”
It was around this time that I finally understood.
I wanted to leave a picture of mom.
If I had something as accurate as the camera’s pictures, I might not have forgotten her.
I told Ojisan everything I had been thinking.
“I see… It must have been hard for you.”
When he said that, Ojisan held up the camera and pointed it at me.
“Come on, smile, smile.”
Ojisan made funny faces to try to make me laugh while asking for a smile.
His awkward faces weren’t funny at all, but I could feel how much he wanted to change my sad expression.
I gave him the best smile I could.
After a sound I’d never heard before, “pasha,” the paper came out of the box.
“Is it okay, Ojisan? You said you didn’t have much film left…”
He had told me earlier that he didn’t have many uses left.
“It’s okay. To be honest, I was rotting away. In this far-off land, unable to go home, I was acting like I was the only one who was unfortunate. When I thought I couldn’t use the camera anymore, I felt like the connection to my hometown would be gone. But seeing you doing your best every day gave me energy. Thank you.”
“I… Thank you too, Ojisan.”
The time for parting was approaching.
His words were like a reflection on our short month together.
“Um, Ojisan, this is a picture of you. I was actually planning to give it to you at the end.”
I showed Ojisan the new picture I had drawn.
It was nowhere near as good as the camera’s pictures, but I think it was much better than the first one I showed him.
“But can I keep it? So I don’t forget you.”
“Yeah, you can. You’ve gotten so good.”
Ojisan smiled with wrinkles around his eyes.
I was happy.
“Then, I will keep this pict… camera picture.”
Ojisan showed me the picture that had come out of the camera.
I was smiling more brightly than I thought I had been.
“It’s about time to say goodbye… Take care, little miss.”
Tears welled up as I heard his parting words and saw his back turned toward me.
They just wouldn’t stop.
“Ojisan… Ojisan! My name is Fina! Please don’t forget it!”
I blurted out my name, which I hadn’t managed to say until now.
Ojisan didn’t force me to tell him my name either.
“My name is ——–. See ya, Fina-chan.”
T/N: The name was left out intentionally, so I didn’t fill it in.
I engraved that name deep in my heart.
I will never forget the name of the important person who gave me the chance to start drawing.
And I continued to watch his back as he walked away, the image blurred by my tears.
And now, the person in front of me had brought back my memories of my mother.
Her name is Katia Myers.
She’s 170cm tall, with bright long red hair and red eyes, and wears a ponytail when she’s active, letting it fall naturally when she’s relaxing.
She’s beautiful with big breasts and a slim waist, and a cute, lifted butt.
Her face is a sharp type of beauty, but she is humble and polite.
She looks very womanly, but she doesn’t realize Neil’s affection for her, and tenses up and becomes stiff when I get close to her. She’s a strange one.
Her smile is gentle, and it looks just like my mother’s.
“U-um, is something the matter, Fina-san?”
“Nn, it’s nothing.”
When I stare at her, she makes a troubled face.
Cute.
But sometimes Katia-chan looks like she’s gazing into the distance.
Somewhere far away that wasn’t here, as if she were looking far, far away…
It overlaps with the lonely expression he had when he talked about his hometown.
She’s a really strange one.
Even though it hasn’t been that long since we met, I like Katia-chan a lot.
“To-ou!”
I jumped on her back, for no real reason.
Oh, her hair is so silky.
“Uwa, what is it, Fina-san?! H-heavy…”
“You were about to say ‘heavy,’ weren’t you! Come here!”
“I-I’m gonna… stop…”
“What are you doing, Fina-nee! You’re choking her!”
I want us to have the brightest journey possible.
I don’t want to see Katia-chan’s sad face if I can help it.