CH 5

DRAWN MOCHI VOLUME 1 CHAPTER 5: SEARCHING FOR PAINT*4

For a while, I watched the bird fly away. After the bird was out of sight, I was still in a daze, I think.

I went out of the tent and looked at the spring.

There was a feather that must have fallen out. I waded into the spring and picked it up.

The gray feather was as big as my upper arm. It was huge. What is this?

Encountering the unknown was terrifying, but more than that, it was exciting. Perhaps I had mistaken fear for the thrill of excitement. What do you call this kind of thing? Suspension bridge effect?

But that’s okay. Suspension bridge, hanging bridge, whatever effect. I like that bird. I want to draw it. I’ll draw it. I’ve decided. I will definitely draw it.

I don’t want to materialize it, I just want to draw it.

… Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve had this feeling. I’ve been painting to materialize things for a while now.

Yeah. Then, it’s just right. I’m going to reward myself once and for all by painting without thinking about things for living. I firmly decided.

Once the goal was set, the planning was quick. I would find and paint that bird one more time, no matter what it takes. I decided.

Now that I’ve decided, the first thing to do is…

…take a bath.

Yeah, I thought. I forgot all about it. But then I remembered.

I had gone about a week without taking a bath…

I drew out soap, a tub, and other things, and took a bath.

I didn’t feel comfortable taking off my clothes outdoors like this, but I thought… well, no one will be around anyway. No one, right ……?

The water was cold when I took the plunge and bathed, but I felt refreshed after being clean for the first time in a long time. I will bathe regularly from now on. Or let’s make a bath. A hot spring might be nice. Or rather, let’s separate water for daily use and drinking water. That means we have to build another spring first, right…?

I decided to leave the water problem for later… Now the bird. I need clothes for that.

Well, because I didn’t want to wear my old clothes after bathing and getting clean after I had been wearing them for a week or so… I mean, once I was clean, I was worried about how dirty my clothes were. And also, a little bit, stinky.

… I had to do something stupid like drawing clothes to wear after taking a bath… Next time, I’ll do it after preparing properly.

Then I packed my bag and set out.

I headed in the direction the bird had flown. I don’t have any other direction, but if I listen carefully… I can faintly hear something like a bird’s call, so I’m sure I’ll be able to find it, I think. I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

I think I have good hearing. I can pick up even the smallest of sounds.

That’s why it’s useful when I’m looking for birds, like in this case. I kept on walking, looking for a distant “cooing” like a bird’s call.

If I found something beautifully colored on the way, I would pick it up and collect it. I would use them as paints later.

The most interesting thing I picked up this time was a purple flower. If I had to describe it by color, I would say mauve. It is such a vivid purple color that it would be a great color for paint.

I also found bright green insect shells, white pieces that were probably lizard eggshells, and clear brown jewel-like pieces. I got a lot more than I expected, so it was well worth the walk.

“I wonder if there are living things around here.” (Tougo)

There are probably more creatures here than where I was at the beginning. I had never seen insect shells or eggshells before. Thinking back, I haven’t seen any animals up to this point. At best, I picked up a dead butterfly and used it as paint. After all, that was only once, and I haven’t seen any living creatures, even carcasses, since then.

…Yeah, as far as animals go, I haven’t really seen any. That bird was the first time I’d seen one. I guess that’s why I was so impressed, though.

If there are a lot of animals, it means that there might be danger. What if a bear or something comes out? The only thing to do is to run away, but bears run faster than people think, right?

Even if there is no bear, I will probably die if a wolf or wild dog or something like that comes out. I will run away. If that doesn’t work, I’ll give up and die. But before I die, I want to draw the bear or the dog, or the wolf. No, I don’t think I’ll have time for that. [T/N: We have an art-baka, he’s beyond otaku. LOL]

…Well, I’ll be careful. As much as possible.

As I was going through the forest, I heard the sound of birds getting clearer.

I tried to be careful and look for at surroundings from that point on…

…that’s where I found it.

“Huge.” (Tougo)

A huge tree.

And also, a huge bird’s nest perched on top of the tree.

…I’m pretty sure that’s it.

I’m not good at climbing trees. I mean, I tried to climb a tree once, but I fell off and went home covered in mud, and they got mad at me. Since then, I have not climbed a tree.

But I have to climb trees because I can’t see them if I don’t climb.

…However, of course, I can’t climb a big tree, so… I can’t help but draw a ladder that hangs over a tree. Climbing up the ladder to let me watch the bird’s nest from the tree next to it.

I drew the ladder and climbed up the tree.

The branches of the tree were surprisingly thick and sturdy, and even a novice tree climber like me managed to stay steady on top of the tree.

The view from the top of the tree was not so bad. I could see the forest trees spreading out. I can’t see beyond that. If I climbed higher, I would probably be able to see where the forest ends.

But that’s okay. What I want to see now is not the topography of this area, but it is the inside of a bird’s nest.

I looked at the bird’s nest hanging in the middle of the tree next to me.

…there were no birds.

But instead… there was an egg.

The shell of the egg was a beautiful Robin’s Egg Blue… Blue.