A Kino no Tabi fanfiction by Ming-Ling
It's funny, really.
I'll never forget the day I forgot something.
Perhaps it's not important.
At least, not any more...
===
I rose along with the sun to greet the new day. It was one of those days you see in paintings: a wide rosy sky dotted with wispy clouds, slowly turning into the deep blue of infinity.
I had seen many of these types of days. Although I treasured them, it was nothing special.
I stretched my arms as if I could grasp the sky, and then reached down and pulled out my hand Persuader. I replaced it in its hip holster, then drew it again. I did this many times. It's just a part of my daily routine, to train in the morning.
After about half an hour, I replaced the Persuader back in its holster and went around the rest of the daily routine, which included slapping my motorrad, Hermes, awake.
"Unnnnggghhh...do you have to do that every morning?" he grumbled.
"Good morning to you, too."
"Ummmfff..." he grumbled some more. Finally, he managed to say, "Good morning."
I smiled. Typical Hermes.
===
"Look! A wall!"
I looked up. Indeed, a massive set of grey walls could be seen in the distance. "At this pace, we'll be there in time for lunch," I remarked. I patted the meter. "You could use some refueling as well."
"Sounds like a plan."
===
"Welcome, traveler," greeted the young woman by the wooden gates to the country.
"Good day," I replied. "If you don't mind, I would like to stay three days here."
The woman smiled. "Splendid. May I have your name so I can put you on our register?"
"It's 'Kino'."
She wrote it in her ledger. "'Kino'... what a strange name for a young woman."
I paused. I had not thought about my name like that before.
===
Actually, 'Kino' was not the name I grew up with. I acquired it two years ago, when I lived in my home country with my parents. It was expected that I would undergo an operation to become an adult, just as every other citizen did, when I turned twelve. Several days before, a traveler arrived at the gates, and changed everything.
His name was 'Kino', a traveler who went here and there, experiencing the cultures of the world. I showed him to my parents' inn, and we ended up having several discussions. In the end, I questioned my parents about the need for me to have the operation.
My parents were stunned. No one had ever asked that before. My parents blamed Kino, and then tried to kill me for disobeying them.
Kino sacrificed his life for mine.
In the end, I left the country on a newly-built motorrad, who would become my companion Hermes. That day, the very first time I had ever left the walls of my country, I lay in a bed of red flowers, unable to comprehend what was happening. Hermes began to complain about the rough treatment, but I all could think about was Kino.
Eventually, the motorrad was able to cut through my thoughts and bring me back to the present. When I righted him, he called me 'Kino'. When I asked why, he replied that I had answered him with that name myself.
It was then that I decided that to honor the man who saved my life, I would become him. I would be a traveler, visiting many countries and staying only three days in each.
And I would be known as 'Kino'.
===
On that day, that beautiful spring day, I realized something profound.
All I knew of my original name was that it was the name of a flower that, if you changed it just slightly, became an insult. I remembered this because the neighborhood boys were always making fun of me.
I no longer knew the name I had grown up with.
===
On that day, I truely became 'Kino'.
===
"Please, enjoy your stay," the woman said, handing me a set of papers. "If you need any help, feel free to ask one of the guardsmen. Just show them these papers, as they identify you as a visitor. They can probably point you in the right direction."
"Thank you," I answered.
Kino answered.
===
Perhaps, one day in the future, it will all come back to me.
Yet if it does, it won't matter.
Because I am me.
I am Kino.
===
A note on the title: "The Name of the Rose" is a book by Umberto Eco which was made into a movie in the 60s that starred Sean Connery and a very young Christian Slater which I saw a month or so ago. Although the allusion to the title was never mentioned in the movie itself, I learned what it meant while watching the documentary that was one of the DVD extras. "What remains of a rose after it dies?" "Only a name."
Kino's original name was after a flower, whether it be a rose or cherry blossom or anything else.
And when she moves on, what will remain?
Just a name?
Or something more?
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