TATEV – Part 4.2

Hi guys~ It’s a bit late, I know. I fell sick unexpectedly after the New Years Day and in combination with the University work I still had I ended up in utter misery for a few days and I had to push aside translation for a bit. I still have a paper to write and my head hurts just thinking about it…

Anyways, enjoy~

“Ee? We’re going to fly?”

Finishing his preparations and exiting, when Yukino asked about their mode of transportation, his eyes went wide in surprise.

They were not walking to the mountain stream – Izuna was going to fly carrying him.

“It’s not as if I’m saying we can’t walk, but it’s because flying is the main way of traveling here. There are no roads.”

“I see…”

Truly, if one can fly in the sky, there is no need to move about by expressly walking on rising and falling mountain paths. There probably was the so called ‘animal trail’, but seeing that his feet were clad in geta [wooden clogs], Yukino guessed that it would be too strenuous for him who had lost physical strength doing deskwork.

“So, listen to me.”

“Well, if that is the case, it’s bad, but…”

Izuna had spread his arms as if he was saying come here, and Yukino approached him with resignation.

“There’s nothing bad with it. Rather there are benefits to it.”

As Izuna said it and laughed, he held up Yukino’s body in his arms.

“You know, it’s fine if you hold me a little bit more like a piece of luggage.”

Even though it was impossible for Izuna to carry him on his back seeing that he had wings, no matter how he looked at it being carried ‘princess-style’ was embarrassing.

“There’s no way I can carry my precious bride like a piece of luggage, right? Hey, hold on to me properly.”

“…okay.”

Yukino had a feeling his cheeks were slowly heating up, and as he averted his eyes, he held unto Izuna by entwining his arms around his neck.

Izuna’s face was very close to his, it was embarrassing.

However, when he had thought about that, only then there was the sound of a thud in his ears and as Izuna rose into the sky, his stomach went soft at the sensation of floating he was not used to yet, and he put more strength into his arms that were hugging Izuna.

“Don’t be so scared, I won’t drop you.”

Izuna laughed saying that, but it was not like Yukino did not trust Izuna.

It was just that honestly, he thought that flying with wings of this size was completely ignoring the laws of physics, and no matter what the feeling of his body rising into the sky by itself was still a little scary.

He guessed Izuna too was not really complaining, and just like that began to move.

“Yukino, look down.”

Being told that, Yukino timidly peeked down.

Because he did not really have the fear of heights, this situation was alright, but…

“Uwaa…”

At the scenery stretching out underneath his eyes, Yukino raised his voice in wonder.

“Amazing. It’s so pretty…”

He murmured sighing. The autumn colours of the trees planted in the garden were also splendid, but the whole surface of the mountain had already turned into a fine dress of autumn colours.

In metropolitan areas there were still hot days in October, but it seemed like around here autumn had already deeply set in.

“Right now is the mountain’s best season. Another time we could go search for mushrooms?”

“Come to think of it you knew a lot about it…”

During childhood, Izuna had pulled him by his hand into the mountains and they had searched for mushrooms.

This one is edible, this one is not, it had been fun appraising this, and he recalled being taught a lot.

Because he knew he would be scolded for entering the mountain if he came back with mushrooms, Yukino had only picked them up, but because it was like a treasure hunt it had been very fun.

Even though Izuna had said it was a date, it was somewhat strange since they were going to do the same things they did when they played as children, so Yukino laughed and nodded. He felt like there was something ticklish in the pit of his stomach.

Perhaps, he imagined that it was certainly his best memory.

Finally, Izuna slowly descended, and landed on top of a big rock at the riverside.

The top part of the rock was even, so even Yukino who was not used to wearing geta could stand on it without being in much danger.

In addition, fishing rods and wicker baskets had already been prepared for both of them. Was it because it was prepared in advance, or was this place usually used for this? While he thought about which one it was, Yukino sat down next to Izuna who was sitting down on the rock in a practiced way.

“You know, this is quite nostalgic.”

“Is that so?”

Because the rod Izuna had handed over was a simple bamboo pole that had a string and hook tied to it with some feed attached, he recalled that in the past they had also tried to catch fish with this sort of rod. Naturally, the ones they had back then had been much smaller.

“But, wasn’t Izuna not very good at fishing?”

“Yea, sitting still for me is not….”

Izuna shook the rod while smiling wryly, and tossed the hook into the river. While imitating him, Yukino gazed at the surface of the river that reflected the glittering autumn sunlight.

The water was very clear, so that from time to time even the outlines of solitary fish were visible.

The moment he thought one of them was nimbly approaching, suddenly, the weight in his hands had increased.

“Ee, wai…faster, faster!”

As he reflexively said that and raised the rod, the fish was firmly caught on the hook. Missing out on catching it, the fish bounced on top of the rock with a sploshing sound.

“It’s a char [type of fish]?  Shall we grill it?”

While saying that, Izuna also casually raised his fishing rod, removed the caught fish from the hook and put it into the basket. Next he also took out the hook from the char that Yukino had caught that had become covered in sand.

“How to say this…these guys bite at every cast?”

“Well, it’s because this mountain is filled with my divine energy. The bait also has divine energy in it so the bite is also good.”

“Ee, isn’t that unfair?”

At Yukino instinctively saying that, Izuna blinked and after which he raised his voice and began to laugh.

“Really, Yukino has not changed at all.”

“—–there’s no need to laugh like that.”

Moreover, it was not the case that he had not changed.

Rather, when he was close to Izuna, naturally, things became like this.

Because in the past, he had only been able to say the things in his mind like this when he was by Izuna’s side.

That’s why, he thought, it couldn’t be helped that he was helplessly weak to Izuna.

For him there certainly was a time when Izuna was his everything.

“But I understand. Because you can fish as quickly as this, even Izuna will be able to do this without getting bored.”

“That’s probably true. I can’t stand wasting time.”

Izuna said that and after he’d caught several more fish, he tossed the hook into the water without putting bait on it, and lied down where he was.

“In the end you did get bored.”

Yukino said and continued to fish for a short while laughing.

For a while after he had met Izuna, he always became restless that he should also give up doing things whenever Izuna got bored like this.

However…

“When Yukino is next to me, strangely, even spending time quietly does not seem bad.”

Sighing, words spilled out of Izuna’s mouth and without thinking Yukino gazed at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“…nothing.”

Yukino hesitated a little, but in the end he just said that and again turned his gaze towards the water.

Actually, he’d been surprised because Izuna had said the same thing when they were children.

The phraseology had been different, but…

——When I’m together with Yukino, it’s not boring even if we don’t do anything.

He had said that.

“Can it be like that?” he had thought, but before long he had also realized that when he was together with Izuna even if they did not really do anything he did not feel unsatisfied and anxious.

It was fun to do something together. But even if they did not do anything, he felt peace of mind just being together. That was what that little Izuna had taught him.

From the start Izuna who was approximately the same age as him had been the sort of child that was very well-informed, exceled at physical activities and would certainly keep even trivial promises.

Yukino had respected all of that, and being someone who had been promised ‘I’m going to come back’ only for that promise to be thrown away and turned into wastepaper, several times his feeling had been healed by Izuna who kept his promises.

Even though for a Tengu it was a natural thing.

—–However, him being a Tengu…

Naturally, he could never have imagined it.

If he had known, perhaps he wouldn’t have coaxed such a promise from Izuna. If he had known that to the Tengu promises are such an important thing…

After that thought, Yukino suddenly asked himself “Is that actually true?”

At that time he had really liked Izuna, so he felt that even if had known that the boy was a Tengu he would not have been able to separate from him.

Even though he had been bullied by other people, because he had Izuna as his friend, he was alright with it, – that was how much he had idolized Izuna.

While that may have been true, by no means he could have thought he would become married to him…

But the question was whether he would have been able to reject him, if he had known the meaning of the word ‘spouse’.

No, from the start if Izuna had clearly understood the meaning of the word spouse, Yukino guessed that he would not have proposed for them to become spouses, so this was a futile supposition.

Nevertheless, since he had made that promise, it seemed to mean that Izuna too had not wanted to part from him.

“Hey, Yukino.”

“What?”

“…What happened while I was not around? Because I had to undergo training for a very long time, I was not allowed to go to check on you. The only thing I had been worried about was whether you were not being mistreated by that family…”

‘That family’ he smiled bitterly at those words.

When he thought about it, he had complained about various things to Izuna, so it was likely he had caused him worry.

“It was alright. …They let me properly get to high school, so it wasn’t like they mistreated me that much.”

“—–you’re as bad at lying as always.”

As Izuna said that, he laughed as if troubled.

“Truly, I had wanted to come for you earlier. Were you not crying there alone, that was the only thing that worried me.”

“…didn’t I tell I was alright?”

Moreover, he had been saved by Izuna, is what Yukino thought.

At least a few years after Izuna had gone away, the thought that Izuna would come for him had supported his heart, and after he had learned the meaning of the word ‘spouse’, on the contrary, it appeared likely that since Izuna had not come he had thrown away the promise.

Because he’d been a child and had not known the meaning of that word, he had thought that it couldn’t be helped, and that feather and his memories of Izuna had greatly comforted him.

“But, there are one or two things I have to be thankful for…”

“Thankful?”

At the low whisper, Yukino tilted his head.

“No, it’s nothing. Look, it’s biting!”

He said that and hurriedly pulled up the fishing rod.

Yukino felt like he was being deceived, but since childhood Izuna had been able to comprehend things that Yukino could not understand, so the matter this time was probably of the same type.

[T.N. ごまかされた気がするが、子供の頃から飯縄は雪野の分からないような部分で納得していることがあったから、今回もその類なのかもしれない。F*** this sentence. I’ve no idea what the author is trying to say here.]

“…Now that you mentioned it, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time.”

“Yea?”

“Er, in the first place, why did Izuna decide to become my friend?”

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cuties~

Anyways, next update should be up as usual in six days…
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TATEV - Part 4.1
TATEV - Part 4.3

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