Melodic Drops
I've been waiting for this...
A day like this...
When the rain would be pouring and the grey clouds would obscure the sky.
The wet soil is splashing underneath my feet as I make my way up this muddy little hillside path. Of course, I brought my raincoat with me, not wishing to get soaked and catch a cold. But hearing all these raindrops smatter away at my water-resistant hood, like a thousand nails piercing my ears and crashing through my brain, it makes me wonder if it would not have been wiser of me to simply leave it at home…
…
No matter, it won't be much longer anyway. It's not far off at all now.
Ahead of me I can see my destination: a small wooden cottage with a roof made out of thin metal plates.
There is nothing quite like it!
Inside I take of my muddy boots and walk over to a wooden chair placed beside a small wooden table. Relaxing on it, my elbow resting on the table to support the head propped onto my hand, I let out a long, heavy sigh.
Whether it was of relief or despair, I do not know.
And so, as I close my eyes, it begins.
I can hear it…
The smattering of raindrops…
Against metal…
There truly is nothing quite like it!
Although random, I've always found it so soothing to listen to that one sound of all sounds.
At least, ever since I stepped out into the surface world.
Naturally, there wasn't much rain back in the village.
I can still recall the first time I heard it too…
That melody… formed by such a simple thing as random raindrops randomly hitting a thin sheet of metal above my head.
How calming that was…
The melody of melodies, it requires no instruments to be played, it requires neither skill nor effort, nor does it need any players. Yet it is still the most beautiful of all melodies one can hear!
It is the melody of nature itself.
I find myself so at ease whenever I hear it. Every burden, every pain, every tiny little trouble bothering me is instantly lifted off my shoulders.
It is, to be honest, only at times like these that I can truly relax.
That I can relax… and let my thoughts roam freely.
That is why I came here…
To think.
To ponder.
There's much of that to be done here.
Much indeed…
I open my eyes and look out the window beside me, right above the table, and watch the blurred mix of green, grey and brown presented before me. I watch the raindrops run down the windowglass, tracing its patterns…
So random…
Yet somehow… so orderly, as if carefully planned beforehand… or so it seems.
The paths on it are as many as those of all the humans on this world.
Some run alone from the beginning to the end.
Some intersect and merge.
Some stop right in the middle and remain there.
While others follow the old tracks laid out by their predecessors.
Yet they all share one, common feature…
They all have a beginning and they all have an end.
Just like us humans.
One drop in particular caught my attention.
First it joined up with another, leaving behind it a greater trail together than any did alone. They travelled quite a bit before coming to a halt. Then they just stayed there.
After a while though, it began to move again. It split, one drop dashing one way, while the other rumbled and began moving in another. After a while they were quite a distance from one another.
Going on for another bit of time, they began to travel back toward each other again. However, just before linking, they both stopped. They remained so for a while.
Soon, the first drop began to rumble, as if beckoning the other to come. The second seemed hesitant, but soon responded by joining up with it, where after they began a slow crawl toward the bottom.
That drop, that one particular drop reminded me so much of myself…
Of my own fate…
And my own actions…
Like it, I have once split from the one I joined up with. I have once left the one that I had gone and fought together with and with whom I'd shared such memorable times… experiences.
Some… no, a lot of them very good ones!
Simon...
It was he, he and Kamina who had convinced me to leave for the surface world in the first place.
We fought many battles together. We talked of many things, discussing many topics. We travelled together over vast distances whose length I cannot remember. We ate together. We worked together.
We lived together…
We… and everybody else…
Of the Dai-Gurren Brigade…
It may have been nothing but a distant memory, but it was still reality. It had still been real!
And I had just thoughtlessly forsaken it.
I turned on my own comrade.
No! He was more than a mere comrade, he was my friend. A good friend! A close friend…
And I turned on him…
And why? To please the ones that he… that I… that we together had fought to save, protect and grant a future and a decent life to.
I turned on him to satiate THEIR demand and make HIM a scapegoat!
For politics… simply politics.
I ordered his arrest. I rigged his trial. I sentenced him to death.
Probably the best friend I've ever had. If not the only one I've even been able to call my friend.
And I sentenced him to death…
The raindrops continue to smatter away at my roof, their melody ringing in my ears, nourishing my thoughts.
I'm sweating, and also shaking. I notice my hand being whiter than normal.
I must've have worked myself up a bit too much over this… a thing of the past.
…
I shake my head at my own thoughts.
No, not too much. Too little.
For I HAD after all sentenced my best and only friend to death.
Unbelievable…
Inexcusable…
What coldhearted rotten wretch of a soul could find himself capable of such a despicable act of betrayal!
…
I myself, apparently.
Though I wonder, when I said those words, when I gave that verdict, did I really mean it?
Did I really mean to have him executed?
I must have! Why else would I give such a verdict? I always base my decisions on reason, when after I've thought them through and fully so! I had arrived at a decision, a final one! Otherwise I could not have given such an order!
I couldn't have!
Though, part of me still wishes to doubt that.
I still cannot believe that I sentenced my own best friend to death! Even if, it cannot possibly have been my real will! I would never agree to such a thing!
I know I'm not that cold. I have feelings too! If I wouldn't have, I would not be sitting here thinking about all this!
So that must mean that, as I have these feelings, I couldn't actually, in reality, have sentenced him to death. Not for real. There must have been some plan behind it! It must've been some ruse! Something of the like!
…
…
Ugh! My memory is just too fuzzy of that period! Why don't I remember?!
It should be one of the clearest memories I should have, no?!
…
I guess I must've suppressed it.
But… isn't there anything that can convince me that I didn't?
…
Hmm…
…
Oh… wait…
…
Is it… that time?
…
Ah! Yes, that time!
Now I remember!
Oh yes! I remember that! I clearly did not want him to die.
No matter the people's wishes.
I wouldn't let him die! Never!
The fluorescent blue lines flew past my eyes as the train sped around the government building. It was pretty quiet, the only things to be heard was the near-silent hum of the machines and the air-conditioner as well as the breaths of me, Simon and the two guards with us.
Really quiet.
I looked at Simon: he was just staring down at the floor, as if having resigned himself to his ultimate fate. Resigned to the knowledge that soon his life would end in the most unceremonious and inglorious manner possible.
That look… it didn't fit him. It wasn't like him at all.
I felt a weight in my chest by just seeing him like that. This was wrong, I knew it. Yet it was I who'd robbed him of all his hope like this. I couldn't just stand there and watch him in that sorry state. I felt compelled to say something.
…
"What is it with you? You never look that downbeat, not for as long as I've know you, why now of all times?"
He didn't respond, though I did notice him furrow his eyebrows.
I sighed. It was a stupid question, I knew it, but at the same time, I didn't think it as foolish, for some odd reason.
"You don't seriously think that you'll get executed, do you?"
His eyes popped open, his gaze having locked me in an incredulous stare.
I couldn't help but feel myself a little offended by this.
"Who do you take me for?! Do you even remember who I am?" I paused for a moment to see if he'd react. "I have a heart too you know."
There was only silence for a while.
Then he chuckled.
"Hm! And I almost thought you'd all but lost it."
"Don't be kidding me! I was with you at all battles. I was at your side when we took down Adiane! I was there when we defeated Lord Genome! I have worked with you ever since that day to build up what we have here today! How do you think I could possibly condemn you to death? You're my friend, Simon."
He didn't answer right away.
"People still change over time."
Now it was I who stood speechless.
…
…
…
"I helped you come up with an anniversary gift for Nia…"
Heh! I remember that one! I don't think I've ever seen him more hopeless than at that time.
When I looked back at him his gaze was again fixed at the floor. However, he was blushing.
First I chuckled, then I began to snicker and giggle. Finally, I laughed, louder and louder till even the guards were unnerved. It took quite a time for me to cool down.
"Ah, what memories…" I brushed a tear of joy from the corner of my eye.
…
"I've missed that," he suddenly spoke.
"Eh? What?"
"Your smile," he said, smiling himself.
"My smile?"
"Yes. I haven't seen it in quite a while. You've been quite the stoneface in recent times."
"Wha-wh… I have?"
I couldn't believe that I hadn't smiled in front of him a single time since.
"Since when?"
"Hmm… well, ever since all those complaints started flooding in, I think."
Now it was probably I who sported an incredulous stare.
"Damn… that's a long time…"
He chuckled.
Then it all became quiet again.
…
"So, if you didn't plan on killing me, what are you going to do with me?"
"It's all a ruse, Simon. No more, no less. Don't you worry, I have a plan. You won't get hurt, trust me."
"Hmm…?"
I turned to him, a serious expression on my face again.
"You're my friend Simon, I'd never let anything like that happen to you. You mean a lot to me, to all of us, but to me as well… I wouldn't be able to bear myself if I'd do anything like that to you."
He smiled again, his eyes revealing that I'd gotten through to him.
And I smiled back.
"It's good to see you smile again, Rossiu."
We shared a small laugh, then it all returned to that quietly solemn mood that'd been before our little chat.
M! So it was! I never planned on killing him at all! I'd planned for him to be taken with us on our ascent into space, in secret, of course.
Too bad that plans don't always work out the way they're supposed to though.
Oh well, never mind… It's all fine and settled now, since a good time ago. Me and Simon are once again the friends we used to be.
Just like those two drops that merged back together.
And nothing could make me happier.
I buried my head in my arms on the table, resting and enjoying the rest of nature's rainy melody.
There really is nothing quite like it!