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IBP 149
(End of Part 1)
Feeling the presence of people approaching from afar, I closed and then opened my eyes.
‘Thank goodness.’
I couldn't catch the Imperial Concubine and the High Priest, but it seemed I would at least be able to say my final goodbyes.
I let out a quiet breath.
Caligo and Amius rushed toward me.
[What happened?]
Seeing the words the panicked Amius wrote, I gave a weak smile.
“Amius....”
As if trying to heal a sick tiger, Amius desperately licked my cheek.
But my body was simply fading away.
Caligo approached me and tried to take my hand.
However, because my hand was gradually becoming transparent, I couldn't hold his.
The corners of his eyes slowly turned red.
“Coco, why, why are you here? G-get up.”
“Mm-hmm.... I was worried things would go wrong.... I c-called you. You came quickly....”
If the Imperial Concubine couldn't be stopped from interfering with the divine beast of the dragon.
If the prophecy failed to come true.
In that case, I wanted Caligo and Amius to call the adults over....
“...Why are you dying? Why.... You said once the apprenticeship ended, we’d be b-best friends forever.”
Meeting Caligo’s trembling gaze, I nodded.
“I’m not dying. I’m just disappearing for a little while.”
“.......”
“When I come back, let’s be the best friends in the whole world.”
Looking at Caligo, who couldn't say a word, I smiled weakly.
And....
I locked eyes with my sister, who was looking at me with a trembling gaze.
“Unnie.”
“Coco, baby. Don’t talk....”
“You know. Did you see my letter?”
“I did. Unnie saw it all.”
“Don’t stop eating just because I’m gone.”
“...I won’t. Unnie won’t do that.”
Feeling a bit more relieved, I let out a laugh that sounded like a sigh and spoke.
“Then, you know. There’s something I want to ask. My breath keeps catching, so the words won't come out....”
Still, I felt like I had to say this.
“I made you a little bit happier by coming back, right...?”
With tears in her eyes, my sister nodded vigorously.
“Thank goodness....”
I took a quiet, deep breath and recalled the happy memories I shared with my sister.
But strangely, I could only hear the voices; the specific memories wouldn't surface.
“Our Coco is such a good girl.”
“Mung!”
“Oh, so pretty. Our Coco is so pretty.”
...I understood now.
As my body became transparent, the memories I shared with my sister were slowly disappearing.
Because the memories with my sister were what constituted me.
Once my life force was worn away, it might be only natural for my memories to vanish.
But more than dying, I hated the thought of losing my memories of my sister....
I had endured the prospect of death with composure until now, but now I found myself looking completely heartbroken.
“Unnie. Unnie, listen.”
“Co-Coco....”
“And, I....”
“Yes....”
“I have something to say for the last time, Unnie.”
“It’s not the last time. Coco, it’s not the last time....”
Even though I promised to return, standing before death was so, so terrifying.
But right now, the thing I feared most in the world was the warm memories of being with my sister fading away....
“Unnie, listen. If, just maybe, if I can’t remember you....”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Later, could you be the one to hold my hand first?”
“Just come back. If you come back....”
Before I knew it, my consciousness began to flicker.
It felt as if my sister's voice was faintly scattering in my ears.
“Coco, no matter where you are, Unnie will be the first to recognize you.”
Finally, a sparkling light touched my sister's fingertips.
Then, the darkness that naturally emanated from her fingertips and the light flowing from my hand slowly blended together.
Everything went black.
* * *
Resenting how her vision blurred with tears, Chloe forced her eyes wide open.
She had clearly been holding her in her arms.
How strange.
Coco had vanished without leaving a single trace that she had ever existed in this world.
Now, only the lingering warmth on her hand seemed to make her feel Coco's existence.
It was a death too wretched to even leave behind a grave.
However, Chloe stared straight ahead and murmured.
“Our Coco promised she would return.”
Her darkness mixed with a light that was so painful it made her fingertips tingle.
“I promised Coco.”
“.......”
“Since I said so....”
Coco had said it once. The two of them had pinky-sworn.
“I’ll definitely keep the promise I made with Unnie!”
Recalling Coco's cheerful voice like a hallucination, Chloe rubbed her tingling fingertips.
“We promised, so come back.”
The cluster of light faded, and Coco's body disappeared.
But....
She pushed herself up.
“She will come.”
If you return, I will wait right here forever.
“...Because I said I love you.”
Even if you return having forgotten everything.
Even if it is a memory only I possess.
I will absolutely remember you.
Just as you returned and lingered near me to find me.
“Coco, Coco is....”
She looked down at Grand Prince Caligo Rivera.
This was likely the boy's first time experiencing a parting like this.
Beside his tiger, he simply collapsed to the ground. His hand fumbled, stroking the spot where Coco had vanished.
“Where, where did she go. I couldn't say it, but.... I’m your best friend too, so, let’s stay together, forever and ever.... There are so many things I want to say....”
“.......”
“I don’t mind being an assistant for the rest of my life. I just want to stay by Coco’s side, please....”
The boy, who had been frozen like ice until the moment Coco died, wept as he let out the words he couldn't say in time.
Even as she watched Caligo collapse and cry on the ground, Chloe remained composed.
Unlike Caligo, for whom this was a first, this was Chloe's second time.
Though she didn't know if the day would ever come when this pain—which felt like a blade scraping her heart—would become familiar....
She whispered a bit more calmly.
“Please stand up, Grand Prince.”
“But, but, Coco is g-gone....”
In a way, Caligo was right.
As he said, there was nothing before their eyes.
However....
“She will come back.”
“.......”
“You mustn't cry if we want to wait for her together in good health.”
...Because they had promised to stay healthy until the day they saw her again.
Caligo's eyes were already swollen.
But the boy managed to pull his shaking body upright.
“...Coco, is she r-really coming back, hic, really?”
“She promised she would return.”
...Because Coco had never once broken a promise.
Chloe gripped his hand firmly.
They stood steady upon the earth.
Behind their departing backs, the sage turtle sang a song that sounded like a gloomy funeral dirge.
“The divine beast shall come to the darkest place. The light of the divine beast shall illuminate the darkest place.”
She couldn't understand exactly what it meant.
But within that weeping voice, which sounded like a dirge, there was a faint glimmer of hope.
Chloe could vaguely understand the turtle's words.
Chloe recalled the darkness that had entwined around Coco's disappearing toes and the pure white cluster of light that had entwined around her own fingertips.
And then, she whispered with strength.
“Let’s go home quickly, Grand Prince.”
Little Coco, who vanished without leaving so much as a speck of dust.
But Coco, Unnie won't stop here. I won't remain silent in sorrow as I did when you first left.
Following the way of life our Coco taught me, I will try to live bravely with a smile from now on.
Because this is not an eternal parting.
That's why we....
“When we see each other again, we have to do it with smiling faces.”
<End of Part 1>
Continues immediately to the Epilogue.
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