The original cast of Nagasarete Airantou and other anime, rightfully belongs to Takeshi Fujishiro and Square-Enix, as well as other respective owners.
Argentum Canalis
PROLOGUE
{Mina, Ohaiyou!}
Morning shone up high in the clear blue sky after a haggard night of the raging storm. Through the open door panels, light spilt over the wooden floor, a futon, and a slumbering young girl, with a soft round object on the top corner of her mattress. She had long soothing brown hair, a round and delicate face with full of hidden energy, wore a thin and loose white sleeping robe, and her slender body frame, at the age of fresh 17, was concealed under the cottony covers.
The pink orb twitched before rolling over to one side. It rolled up a rather large pig snout, blinked open a pair of tiny black eyes, popped a pair of pig ears, and sprung out a curly pig's tail.
"Pu," it said. Without any noticeable feet, the tiny piglet-like creature hopped onto the girl's head. She stirred, moaning from her pleasant dream. Her eyes opened to reveal to the world her crystal blue orbs of shining innocence and wisdom. Not having to look up, she smiled as she buried her head deeper into her pillow while she stretched her body.
"Ohaiyou, Tonkatsu…" she grinned.
[Morning]
The piglet, Tonkatsu, hopped on her head with an energetic air, "Puu, puu!"
Suzu pushed herself up to sit on her futon and stretched out her arms to her sides with a light giggle.
"It sure was a scary storm last night. I hope everyone in the village is alright."
"Pu." Tonkatsu leapt off Suzu's head and she caught it in her arms. The tiny creature turned to her.
"Were you scared Tonkatsu?"
The piglet was a single round being without a visible head or body. One could say that it was fused together as one. The creature shook it's head/body, "Pu-pu."
Suzu's smile faded a little, "I was…I don't like storms…But…" She brightened once again, "With you being with me, I don't have to worry about being alone!"
Tonkatsu smiled, its eyes turned upside-down Us, "Pu! Pu!"
[******]
Suzu grinned widely, "Ohaiyou!"
"Ah, Suzu-chan. Ohaiyou!"
"Ohaiyou!"
"You too, Suzu!"
"Mina, ohaiyou!"
[Everyone…]
"Ohaiyou!"
The young girl happily strolled down dirt path of her villager and farm-grounds, pulling a small but full cart behind her, with Tonkatsu riding across the top of her head. She was dressed in a blue and white Japanese garment, with short sleeves that reveal her shoulders, a white cotton sash around her waist, a short white skirt, long white tabi stockings that reach up midway across her thighs, brown shoes, and a lovely blue bow tie, in the shape of a sharp butterfly, which tied her hair in a long ponytail that reached all the way down to the level of her ankles.
Suzu strolled along the village grounds, passing by fellow villagers of all kinds, dressed in traditional Japanese garments of all types. The one exception to the 'of all kinds' was a fact that Suzu did not keep in mind very often, or at all; the entire village was populated by women of all ages; not a man in sight.
"Suzu-chan!" called a fellow village girl.
"Hai!" The blue-clad girl came to a stop as a pair of village girls approached her, "Mia-san, Ruka-san. Ohaiyou!"
"Ohaiyou," smiled the one named Ruka.
"Here, Suzu, can you take them to the Chizuru-sama's shrine? She asked for an order of these," said Mia.
From behind their backs, Ruka and Mia pulled out white carrots – huge white carrots, equalling the size of a full-fledged body builder. And with ease, as one could add. Unfazed, Suzu nodded.
"Of course." With equal smoothness, she picked up both white carrots and placed it into her cart. They lay among a rather large – in size – assortment of vegetables, fruits, and cans of milk. Suzu was charged with the delivery of grocery, as part of her chores and work as with everyone on the island.
"Arigatou!" thanked Mia.
[Thank you!]
"Ja ne, Suzu, or Obaba would think we're lazy if we don't get back to work," added Ruka. With that the two girls left to return to their chores on in the vegetable fields.
"Ja ne!" waved back Suzu. With a hearty giggle, she curled under the wooden reins of her cart and trotted off.
[See ya]
[******]
"Obaba!"
A small and wrinkled old lady perked her head up from deep thought, eyes opening from mental reminiscence. The senior wore an old and slightly tattered murky-dark and plain green kimono. Her hair was as white as snow and was loosely tied back in a bun and her eyes were dark black. She straightened as she was kneeling in the middle of her spacious living room of her old-fashion Japanese house. She turned around on her square mat, meeting a pair of round blue eyes belonging to a sweet young girl she knew ever since she was born. The lady cracked a youthful grin, her voice clear and crisp.
"Ah, Suzu-chan, you came."
"Hai, Obaba!" grinned the girl. She reached over out of sight from the Obaba's open doorway and pulled out a rather large metal milk-tank, "Here's the fresh milk you wanted, Obaba."
"Thank you, Suzu-chan, you can leave it at the step and I will handle it later."
"Do you want me to do it?"
"No, that is alright."
Suzu returned a nod before setting the tank down at the stone steps. She brushed off her tender hands then waved a gentle good-bye, "Ja ne, Obaba. I have more deliveries to carry out."
"Suzu-chan…"
Before Suzu even had a chance to go down the steps, she faced her village elder again, "Hai?"
"Have…" the old lady hesitated, almost chewing her thoughts out before they were heard, "Lately, have you heard of anything…unusual?"
Suzu blinked, "Un…usual?"
"Yes."
"Like what?"
"…Say an strange creature lurking at night or…things out of the ordinary happening on the island?"
"Mmm…Other than the big storm last night, I'm not so certain…Doushita no?"
[What's the matter?]
"…Iie…nandemonai…" Obaba sighed.
[No…nothing at all.]
Suzu leaned forward over the elevated flooring of Obaba's front porch, "Hontou."
[Really?]
Obaba only nodded in pondering silence. Suzu respectively dropped the subject.
"Then I'll be leaving. Ittekimasu," faintly smiled Suzu.
[I'm heading off]
"Itterasshai…" uttered Obaba.
[Take care / Go and come back safely]
Suzu then leapt off the steps, took up her cart reigns, and went on her way while humming a pleasant tune, with Tonkatsu in the cart and following her song. When she was out of eyesight and earshot, Obaba gave a distraught glance down at the wooden floor covered with mended dry grass mats.
Since the beginning of a few days ago, the old lady had been having these inkling feelings. She had never experience it before and it felt it represented a bad omen. Lately, the feeling has gotten stronger and it really distracted her from everything else. Maybe she would go and visit the miko master up on the hill…or maybe it was just her imagination. Obaba sighed again, standing up for her full height no taller than 1 and a quarter of a meter stick, and made her way to fetch the milk.
She could only pray to the Sea Dragon God that all was well and at peace for the island's inhabitants.
[******]
"Chizuru-sama! I'm here!"
A young and mature Japanese priestess perked her head up, from her chore of sweeping the temple grounds of fallen leaves, and turned to meet a familiar blue clad girl.
"Ah, Suzu-chan. Welcome," smiled the priestess, "How are you?" The miko was donned with her traditional priestess clothing of a white upper robe with long and baggy-like sleeves and a long dark blue skirt, along with tabi and wooden sandals. The island's priestess, Chizuru, smiled in greeting to the young girl that had brought along a pair of white carrots.
"These are for you, Chizuru-sama!" giggled Suzu. The miko graciously accepted them after resting her wooden broom to the ground.
"Arigatou gozaimashita, Suzu-chan."
[Thank you so much]
"Douitashimashite! Anou, how are Ayane and Machi-nee?"
[You're welcome. Um…]
"KYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The two females jumped at the shrill scream that felt like it were the cries from the unknown beyond itself.
Chizuru sighed with a faint smile, "Ara…looks like they're at it again."
"AHHH! ONEE-SAMA! I DIDN'T MEAN TO EAT YOUR CRACKERS! THEY WERE RIGHT THERE IN THE OPEN! GOMENASAI!!!"
[I'M SORRY!]
"Hu-hu-hu-hu…you won't escape my wrath…"
"IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Suzu sweatdropped, "They're fine alright…"
"Ah, by the way," spoke Chizuru. She placed the carrots to the ground and then rummaged into her left sleeve for a second. She then pulled out several pieces of enchanted seals and placed it into Suzu's hand, "Take these."
"Eh? What for?"
"It's hard to say…but lately I've been feeling a dangerous presence on the island…"
"Really?" blinked Suzu.
Chizuru nodded, "I best advise you place some on your doors and keep one or two with you at all times. I may be a miko, but I am the only capable one to ward off evil spirits on this island. I won't be able to help you or the others that quickly if you happen to be far away or alone." The priestess then softly touched Suzu's cheek with a beam, "Take care of yourself, ne?"
[Okay?]
"Um, I will," nodded Suzu.
Then the two girls jumped again at another cry.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! TASUKETE!"
[HELP ME!]
[******]
"Delivery!" cheered Suzu. The girl came to a stop before what seemed to be a construction site. Wooden panels and columns were set up in a frame of a house as wood, nails, carpentry utilities, and many others were placed about. From where she stood from, she could already see several familiar faces hard at work.
"Ah, Suzu-chi," called a deep male voice. Suzu turned to be greeted by a large – but short compared to Suzu's height – blue and white penguin that wore a purple worker's robe. "What have you got for us today?" he said with a fold of his small arms/wings.
"Lots of lots of goodies, of course!" giggled Suzu.
"Great, I'm dead beat…" Suzu turned to meet two other human-like animals that came up to her and the penguin on their hind legs. One was a monkey with green worker's robes and the other was a tall squirrel with a white band around its head and had identical clothing as the penguin. The squirrel wiped the sweat off his brow and sighed, "So glad you're here. I thought I would never get a break."
Suzu could not help a laugh, "Konnichiwa, Hako-san, Zako-san, Mako-san. Genki?"
[Hello…How are you?]
"Quite well," chuckled Zako, the monkey, with a buzzy male tone.
"Is Rin doing alright?"
That was when a female voice, with a boyish tone, cried out in frustration.
"GAAAAAH! MIKOTO GET OFF ME!"
"NEVER, RIN-NEESAMA! I WANT TO HUG YOU TILL I DIE!"
"STOP IT OR THE HOUSE WILL NEVER BE DONE IN TIME!"
Hako furrowed his blonde brows, multiple veins throbbing in each passing second. He then turned about, marching off towards a cloud of conflict, "OI, YOU TWO! STOP FOOLING AROUND AND GET BACK TO WORK!"
Once again, Suzu nervously laughed and sweat-dropped.
"Say Suzu," called Mako, the squirrel. Suzu's attention shifted as Mako continued, "Have you seen anything weird lately?"
"You too?"
"Me too? What do you mean? Did some wood or trees get shattered as well with you?"
"Eh?"
Mako folded his arms, staring down at the ground in deep thought, "Lately some of our wood supplies were splinted or clawed up. Some even had monstrous bite-marks on it or so."
"Not to mention loads of trees at the edge of the Western area were ripped out of their roots without mercy…" added Zako. The squirrel nodded.
"Also, one logging house we were working on far off was almost done, until it was found to nothing but a pile of sawdust the next morning," finished Mako. A shivering feeling went up Suzu's spine.
It seems Obaba and Chizuru are not the only ones who are experience suspicion of strange activity on the island. The poor girl never even knew what was going on.
[******]
Suzu was strolling through the village again, her cart now half full of massive plants, vegetables, and fruit. She was humming along with her friend, Tonkatsu, on top of her head. She kept the recent news in the back of her head, thinking that it might be the other's imagination or something that will subside in a day or two. She just hoped she was right.
"Panako-chan!"
The one before her was a rather small and adorable pink elephant, with a short trunk, tiny tusks, and wore a maid's apron around her waist and it turned to greet the girl.
"Suzu-chan, konnichiwa," bowed the elephant, Panako.
"How is Chikage-san?" asked Suzu, pulling her cart to a stop next to Panako.
"Chikage?" wondered Panako at first, "That book-worm, she's at it with her habits again. I don't know what she'd done but her last experiment blew her face up and now left a horrible smell in our house. I was just heading into the village to buy some smell repellents to get rid of the stench." The pink elephant sighed, and Suzu can relate to it.
"Chikage-san always loves to play around with something new and different. You really can't blame her…"
"I know…but I wish she would always clean up her book-filled room once in a while. The newest thing she found is so dusty, I could barely try to clean her room without sneezing."
Suzu blinked, "Newest thing?"
"Hai," confirmed Panako, "She said she found them by the base of the island's Mt. Fuji. They looked strange when she showed them to me, but that didn't matter as much when she came home that day all caked and tattered in mud and moss…" Panako sighed again, "It was a big mess to clean up, both her and home…"
"What is it?"
"I have no clue. But it looked like an ancient plate with carvings on it. I'm quite surprise that such a fragile piece of china that old was still intact…it didn't even break when Chikage dropped it after she'd passed out…"
Now the news was starting to bother her. These things were not the same things that she would usually hear every morning for the past 10 years or so. It felt…creepy. Was the island undergoing some change…or was it truly everyone's imagination.
Oh well, she mental breathed, might as well finish up the last stop at Kagami's house. And that was where she had stopped by. Suzu skipped to the door and was about to knock when she heard faint noises behind it. The girl curiously pressed an ear to the door, hearing a sort of commotion behind it. Gently, she rapped her curled finger on it a couple times.
"Moshi – moshi?"
[Hello?]
Suddenly the door slid open and a blur of brown fur sprung out with a yelp. Suzu squeaked and evaded out of the way in time – thanks to her martial arts training. She gracefully did a low back-flip before landing into a crouch, surveying the events before her.
"GOT YOU!"
A human-like pink and green blur shot out of the open door and tackled the brown blur in an instant. Clouds kicked up, engulfing both figures whole, and Suzu fanned it out of her face. When the dust dies, it reveal a young girl in a pink kimono, with emerald green hair and matching eyes, lying on top of a bear that was twice her size, with a white crescent moon mark on its chest. She playfully giggled and tapped a hand across the bear's fore-head.
"Hee-hee. Tag, you're it!"
"Ah, Kagami-san. Kuma-kuma," called Suzu with a grin.
The girl known as Kagami perked her head up, along with the bear Kuma-Kuma, and turned to see who called them, "Hora…if it isn't Suzu-chan. Want to play with me?"
"I'm just here for your delivery," giggled Suzu.
Kuma-Kuma stood up to its feet, picking up Kagami on the way. As she stood, it was seen that she was quite small, possibly able to pass off for a 15 year old.
"Oh, okay," replied the girl, almost pouting.
"Yukino is off picking berries isn't she? But…wouldn't Kuma-Kuma be with her as well, they always go to the berry fields together," pointed out Suzu.
"Ah…that…" a concern washed over Kagami's smile, "She's staying home for now. She's in the backyard playing with her other animal friends. I was just bored so I chose to play with Kuma-Kuma," she turned to the bear, "Ne?"
"Kuma-kuma…" nodded the bear.
"Stay home?" said Suzu, surprised, "That's a bit unlike her…" The expression on Kagami's face faded, replaced by that of severe worry and doubt.
"Something is going on in the forests…"
"Eh?"
"Several animals were attacked and received severe injuries. Some of the bridges to connect with the other island areas have been severed…and some spirit temples were found demolished…"
Suzu could not help a frightened gasp and hard gulp, "Re-really?"
Kagami nodded, stroking a hand against Kuma-kuma's furry belly, "Um…That is why until the reasons for all this happenings have been cleared up Yukino will stay home for now. I'm worried that she and her animal friends would get hurt…badly…"
Suzu quietly returned the gesture, "I…understand…"
"Kaaaaaa-saaaan!" called out a voice of a young girl from within Kagami's house, "Where are you? This isn't the time to for games, Kaa-san, we have chores to do!"
['Kaa-san' short for 'Okaasan' = Mother]
Kagamai's face brightened with a lovely smile, before it snapped into a cute grin and a girly giggle, "Hai, Yukino-chan, I'm coming!"
"Matakun, Kaa-san, I can't believe you're still obsessed with playing around at your age."
[My goodness]
Kagami's smile shattered and veins popped all over her head.
"WHO DID YOU CALL BEING AT MY AGE?!"
Suzu blanched a little, at the same time hearing an 'eep' from within the house. The pink blur returned and zipped into the house faster than a bullet could leap out of a gun, sending Suzu's hair flying horizontally for a moment.
"AAAAAAAAH! KAA-SAN GOMEN! GOMEN!"
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING AT MY AGE TO PLAY GAMES? EVERYBODY HERE GROWS OLDER AND STILL DO!"
Suzu nervously chuckled. The only thing she could do now was to take Kagami's delivery out of the cart, hand it to Kuma-kuma, and slowly departed without a word.
[******]
The girl, Suzu, returned back to her small wooden house with paper screens. It had been a long day, but she was not at all surprise that it had passed an hour after the noon sun. For now, her main work was done as there were no other deliveries need to be made. Since she had almost the rest of the day off, she had a nice plan to relax: fishing.
It was both a pleasurable hobby she enjoyed, as well as a way to catch food for the night's dinner with Tonkatsu; two birds with one stone, she grinned. Just as she stopped by the side of her house and lowered the cart reigns to the ground, locked up thoughts tipped over and poured into her mind.
What was happening on the island? Suzu could not quite get it, plus she admitted to herself that she was a slow learner. Still, she knew the island's ways from the inside out and have never heard of such events in her life. Strange creatures? Dangerous presence? Trees, houses, bridges, and temples been destroyed? If it was the cause of storms or natural disasters, then that was something Suzu would not have to pay attention much. But it was not cause by anything natural. Rather, it felt unnatural that such things had occurred.
Suzu gulped and looked around. She had a gain and loss as to where she lived. She resided upon a small hill and cliff that face the ocean, being peaceful and quiet from day to night. The problem was her home would be cut off from and help that would come quickly enough. The girl shook the thoughts out of her head, trying to think nothing of it as she entered a nearby closest within her house.
It could have been the storm, she thought to herself, no more no less. There was nothing dangerous on the island of Airantou – besides the Eastern Leader and carnivorous plants and animals of the Eastern area…Nothing else.
With a confident nod, she beamed as she picked up her rod with a sturdy string and hook attached to it. Her friend Tonkatsu hopped up and landed onto her shoulder.
"Pu-pu!" it chimed energetically.
"That's right, Tonkatsu. We're going fishing!" giggled Suzu, completely forgetting everything else, "Let's catch something really good!"