We spoke not a single word as we made our way back to the train station.
My left shoulder was carrying the backpack, while my right hand was carrying my bass which was wrapped up in the towel, so Weiss had no choice but to carry her own guitar. Our footsteps were both really stable, unlike that of yesterday where we were stumbling about. The weather was incredibly clear as well, and it made me feel like I could just walk to the ends of the world.
However, both Weiss and I did not ask each other where we were planning to go to next, and instead we were walking side by side down the streets of the small town, which had already dried up due to the rays of the morning sun. Perhaps it was because the two of us had some sort of premonition about it?
"Are your legs fine?"
"Mmm, they're alright now."
"Really? It won't turn into the situation where half of your body is unable to move or something?"
"Probably not. The doctors said nothing, but I always felt like the right half of my body disappears when I sleep. Either that, or it will slowly sink into the waters with a gurgling sound. It felt really scary. Therefore, I always sleep with my left body facing downwards."
That should be Weiss' hallucination or something? Speaking of which…
"But you were sleeping with the right side of your body downwards last night?"
Weiss looked at me in shock.
"It's true. You were sleeping while facing me."
"You're lying?"
"It's true!"
"You liar!"
"Why do I have to lie about things like that!"
"To be honest, I always felt like the right half of my body was buried in a hole, and soon I wouldn't be able to move my wrist either. If that's the case, I won't be able to play the guitar anymore."
I took a glance at Weiss's right hand which was hanging by her side.
"But your left hand can still move? If so…" I took a look at my right hand.
"If so?" Weiss asked. I continued staring at my hand.
"Why don't you learn how to play the guitar with your teeth, like how Jimi Hendrix did?"
"Idiot!" Weiss lifted her guitar case and swung it towards me. "Why can't you say things like 'Then let me be your right hand instead,' or something along those lines?"
"No wait! But… it's my right hand, right? I can say that, but I suck at playing the guitar or the piano! I'll ruin your sublime techniques!" I explained as I ran away from her.
"It's your thought that counts! Geez!"
After chasing me for quite a while, Weiss suddenly walked away from me in quick steps. I chased up to her, and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Oh right, Weiss…"
"What?" She asked snappily without even turning her head backwards.
"Do you still remember about our bet, about whether I'll find my bass or not?"
"… Mmm."
"If so…" I pondered for a moment. How should I put my words?
"I can still play the guitar for now, so it's fine."
"But after that…"
"I'll use my teeth to play. Fine?"
Whoa, she actually retorted like that. Seems like she is really pissed. I maintained a three meters distance behind Weiss, and pondered on how I should put it into words.
"I understand, we'll just leave the things about the band as it is for now, but…" I guess I'll just tell her truthfully. "I wish to hear you playing the piano once more."
Weiss did not stop her steps, and neither did she turn around to look at me. She did not answer me for a long time. However, she did slow down her steps, and she finally walked by my side. Somehow, it felt like she had nodded her head slightly.
In the end, I still missed the chance of saying what I wanted to say—to ask her to treat her illness by seeking the expertise of a specialist. However, that is something that only Weiss can decide for herself. All I can do is to run away from home together with her.
The first person to find us was a young policeman that was cycling on along the road opposite of us.
He hurriedly braked his bicycle at about ten meters away from us, and nearly slipped into the ditch by the side. The young policeman took out a notebook to repeatedly confirm our faces, before taking out a walkie-talkie to report to someone.
"What should we do? Run?"
Even though the policeman was grabbing me by my arm, I still whispered that into Weiss' ear, who was standing next to me. However, she shook her head quietly. That was the end of our journey.
While waiting for the reply from his superior, the policemen was hounding Weiss for her signature like a dog, and he even asked her to sign the police notebook. Hey, is that really okay?
We were then brought to the train station. There were quite a few cars at the bus stop, and a huge group of adults had gathered—they were all faces that I hadn't seen before. It was until much later that I knew that they were the members of the orchestra that had come down specifically to look for Weiss, though there were some cops mixed in between as well. After they had confirmed our identities, the whole group of them rushed up to us with a "Whoa!", and that scared the hell out of us.
My mother was among them as well. What is she doing here! She walked up to me in huge strides with a sweet smile on her face, and the first thing she did was to award me with a hard slap.
"Aw!" Dammit! This is the third time I got slapped for trying to help a girl!
"No, w-wait Mom…" Before I could explain, she slapped me on the other side of the face.
And then… a car came speeding towards the bus stop at great speeds, and it even made a drift before stopping at a distance just as it was about to slam into a police car. And the person to open the door and step out of the car was, "Papa?" Weiss murmured that with a voice that could only be heard by me.
The person who was rushing over is indeed Senju Tobirama. His shirt was in a mess, and his eyes were dark and puffy, perhaps because he hadn't slept all night. His hair was messy, just like the mane of a defeated lion.
"So you really came here? What in the world were you doing for the past two nights? Think about how worried we all were—"
"… What about your concert? Isn't it suppose to start today…?" Weiss mumbled as though she was dream talking. Tobirama arched his eyebrows in response.
"What are you talking about? How can I carry on with the concert when you're missing? To think that you actually ran away from home! In any case, apologize to everyone here!" Tobirama dragged Weiss into the center of the crowd, but all I did was stare at her back blankly.
After Weiss and I were brutally lectured by the three policemen in charge, the rest of the searchers then began to leave gradually with their cars. Weiss directed a glance at me as she was taken into the car by Tobirama.
The expression in her eyes was no longer filled with dark clouds like before. Instead, it was a little happy, but a little lonely at the same time as well—I don't really know either.
Tobirama then popped his head out of the window of the driver seat and said, "Kushina, you two can come in as well, I'll give you a lift."
"Sorry, Tobirama, but we'll just take the train back, there's something my son and I must discuss. " Mom's cold voice came from behind me.
… Dammit, that's really scary. I don't have the guts to turn around to look at her.
Tobirama nodded his head and pulled up the window. Hey, don't agree to it that easily! At least insist on it for a while!
However, the father and daughter pair drove away just like that, leaving me by myself in the wake of the exhaust. The other cars began pulling away as well. As I looked at the car plates passing by me one by one, even though my feelings were no longer the same as back then, what I was thinking was still the same though. No, I can't let her go just like that.
I had not passed her the application form to the band yet. Even if she had already decided on going to America, and won't be returning to our school. Even so, the exhaust was further and further away from me, and all that was left in the end were the faint sounds of the sea waves. There was no other person at the bus stop. I was left by myself yet again. And oh, that's not a person behind me, but a demon.
"Well then, Na-ru-to-kun… Mommy has plenty of things to talk about with you. You should have more or less expected this, right?" Mom said that in a terrifyingly kind voice, and pulled me up by my collar with her crazy strength at the same time. All I could do aside from sighing was to sigh even more. And with that, the journey of us running away from home came to an end.
And that means that despite me coming up with all sorts of excuses like wanting to go to the toilet or wanting to buy a drink—even though I tried to come up with all sorts of reasons to escape, I still couldn't flee Mom's interrogation.