Hortus Arcanus Planēta

ACT 2

role

The next morning, I woke up. Somehow, unlike usual, my body felt unbearably heavy.

And when I thought back on what had happened yesterday, the weight in my chest deepened, exhaustion pressing down on me like lead.

I had woken before Ella, and as she turned over with a soft “Mmm…,” I called out to her.

“Good morning, Ella.”

“Morning…” she replied in a sluggish voice as she slowly sat up.

“Ella, I’m going to tell you about what happened yesterday,” I said, and began telling her about El.

“You see, yesterday El and I went to your father’s room… to the study belonging to both Ella and El’s father.”

“Why?” Ella asked.

“It was based on the illustrations written in this book. What we need are the button, the flower petals, and the song of this country.

We went to your father’s study to search for them.”

“A song? There’s no such word in this world, is there?”

“Well… about that. In my homeland and in this country, it’s called by different names. In my country, we call it a ‘song,’ but in this country, it’s called ‘stuonga.’”

“L-Lumia… I know the word ‘stuonga,’ but… your country isn’t this country?”

“That’s right. It isn’t.”

“It’s difficult to ask, but… where did you learn that word?”

“Sorry, Ella. I can’t tell you that. That’s the one thing I can’t explain.”

“I understand. Then… were you able to decipher what was written in the button and inside the book?”

At that moment, I told her what had happened.

“El and I touched the button that belonged to your father, Mr. Guto, and we saw something. What El saw was different from what I saw.

But I don’t know what it was, because El never told me. Maybe what I saw was the story of El and Ella… perhaps even the history of this world itself. I’m not certain, but it felt like something like that.”

“El saw something too? And you saw something as well? Just like I did?”

“Yes. But El looked like she was suffering. She looked like she was in terrible pain.”

As I said that, Ella’s eyes slowly filled with tears, and a single droplet slipped down beside her eye.

Drip.

Another tear fell quietly.

“Ella… are you okay?

I’m sorry for bringing up something like this first thing in the morning.”

“It’s alright… it’s alright. El did her best, didn’t she? I… I’m sure she really did her best.”

After that, a silence followed — one so long, or perhaps so short, that I couldn’t tell which.

In the end, I was the first to speak.

“Alright, Ella. Let’s get ready.”