translation


They used to build snow animals on the windowsill of Ichiru's room. Whenever Ichiru wasn't allowed outside during the winter because of some sort of complication, Zero would pick up interesting things from wherever it was that his master took him to train for the day. Holly berries, broken twigs, tiny pinecones no bigger than his thumbnail, green fir needles that were sticky with resin. Zero collected them one by one and put them in his pocket when he was sure his master wasn't looking, even though he was sure that Master must have known. The unspoken rule was: don't get caught.

At night, Zero, sore and scratched, and Ichiru, draped in several different layers of blankets, coats and flannel, stood next to each other and used the things that Zero had found to make the animals with the snow that had collected on the windowsill outside of Ichiru's room. Berries for eyes, twigs for ears, pinecones for paws and needles for stripes and whiskers.

That all stopped the day Zero watched Ichiru build a man with snow and the pills Ichiru was supposed to take before going to bed that night. Pink pills for the heart, blue pills for the lungs, white pills for the pain. When he was finished, Ichiru shoved the man off the windowsill, watched it explode on the ground below. With a faint smile, Ichiru flicked his eyes over to Zero.

"I hate this game."