Willing to admit or not, the young traveler had a lot of thoughts as she went by the same path she took about two days ago... Her companion, obviously trying to maintain the silence, managed to do so as the path became more familiar, whereas the blades of grass do not.

There was something different, the angle, the perspective, the color- Oh! The motorrad finally settled with color as the night sky drowned everything in blue. But yes... the positions have also changed... and come to think of it, the grass would still have a different color since they were in the opposite direction... ahhhh!!!

Poor motorrad...

Hermes decided on a less thought provoking task, counting the times that Kino sighed or the number of times Kino held him tighter until they eventually found themselves on the same place they started before.

"So to the Country of the Moon we should go then," said the traveler.

And Hermes prepared himself for a long ride.

--

7 sighs later, the couple reached the open gates of the unfamiliar country, as if they weren't closed since they were built.

Kino saw lights, lit just enough not to be blinding and smelled a distinct aroma of roast chicken seasoned with oriental spices. Indeed, the young traveler was at awe.

"Hello, stranger and welcome to the Country of the Moon. We are currently having our nightly festival. Please don't be shy to partake in our activities. Here, grab a plate", said by an old man who appeared to be the town's representative for tourists; they must have so many.

As the traveler gave his thanks, he chatted with the old man. Together, they talked about life and recent occurrences, with the former mentioning the country she had previously been to. She talked about the odd way the citizens behaved during the night... and the morally questionable sacrifices they make just to please their God.

"What country are you referring to?" replied the old man.

"The Country of the Sun. They seem to be competing with yours."

The resident claimed that he did not know of any country but did not deny noticing the tall tower they had. He said, "A long time ago, people from our country saw a tower being built nearby. We tried to make ours but unfortunately, we can't seem to build one laughs so we just dropped the project."

"What about human sacrifices?" Hermes said.

"Huh? What sacrifices?"

Then the country became as quiet as the night...

--

"Maybe we have been overlooking the demands of Moon God lately?"

"Should one of us volunteer on dying for Her?"

"How about just offering two cows instead?"

"..."

And they made a decision. The mayor announced to the strangers, "In two minutes, we are going to sacrifice one child for our Great Deity!"

Before they knew it, an altar was made with the tables originally meant for eating. And the chairs? They were placed on the side... since this is supposed to be an important event and people do want to see what's going to happen exactly.

The mayor sharpened his knife, raised it to the willing child and chanted. He swung his knife at moderate speed... and stopped.

"I can't do it"

Almost facing death, the child said responded. "I think that I don't want to die too."

"Okay. Let's just eat" the crowd agreed and in no time, they ate once again.

"..."

"What a weird country, Kino" said Hermes.

"Let's just eat..."

--The end--

A/N Wow. They added a new category dedicated to Kino no Tabi fanfiction. After seeing it, I quickly wrote this. Hahaha. Actually, I thought about how this country should behave about a year ago. People try to compete with others and sometimes, it has its benefits. However, maybe it is better to only realize what you really want to do, even if others behave a different way.

Thanks for reading and sorry to keep you waiting.