Six-year-old Leo came into view.
"Waaah...."
Leo was crying.
With a piece of hard, dried-out bread in his tiny mouth instead of warm fresh bread, he was letting tears fall drop by drop.
"Uncle... hic... Uncle...."
At the table where the two of them would normally have sat and eaten together happily, one seat stood empty.
It was Alex's seat. His own, now that he was dead.
'Leo....'
Alex, now a ghost, could do nothing but watch. Because he could neither touch him nor speak to him.
"Uncle... I miss you.... Come back home.... I'm scared...."
He had lost count of how many days it had been like this. With swollen eyes, Leo did nothing but cry.
"I don't like... being alone...."
With no one to comfort or soothe him, the six-year-old boy left alone in the world picked at his food and wailed, Waaaah!
'Leo, don't cry! Uncle's right here!'
But neither his voice nor the hand reaching to wipe those tears could reach. Every time his hand passed through Leo's face, Alex felt his heart drop.
'Let's go to Mister Mark's house, Leo. You need to go and eat. Have something warm... and keep your strength up....'
Alex, barely twenty years old himself, said it while shedding tears.
Leo, who had not eaten properly for days since Alex's funeral, was in poor shape.
"Uncle.... It's my fault... I... I...."
Waaaah!
In the house that had once been full of laughter, nothing could be heard now but Leo's crying.
'No, Leo. This isn't your fault....'
Alex kept saying it, weeping.
"Leo!"
Just then the door flew open and someone's urgent voice rang out.
"Uncle?!"
Leo, who had cried out for his uncle by reflex and turned with a joyful face, saw Mister Mark's face instead and burst into even louder sobs.
It was not his uncle.
His uncle could never come back.
Because he was dead.
Mark quickly pulled Leo into his arms. The hand patting his back was gentle.
"I keep telling you not to stay here alone. Stay at my house."
"B-but... Uncle... might come back...."
At Leo's tearful words, Mark's expression darkened.
"Alex, your uncle, can't come back anymore...."
"No, no.... Uncle said he'd always be... right beside me...."
Even as he said it, Leo could not help knowing the truth.
He could not feel the touch of the uncle who had always soothed him when he cried like this, and so he bawled.
'Leo, don't cry.'
The ghost Alex's hand reached out over Leo's small back.
But it could not reach.
'...Uncle's right here.'
Growing frantic, Alex's hand moved toward Leo's swollen eyes.
But again it could not reach.
'I'm right beside you....'
「Reach him. Please.」
***
Seven-year-old Leo came into view.
Now, a year after Alex's death, Leo seemed to have grown fairly used to the empty space Alex had left.
During the day he played with his friends, and he ate at Mister Mark's house next door.
Mister Mark and his family showed no sign of finding it a burden, treating him well as though they had gained a youngest son.
They also took good care of the field and the house, which now belonged to Leo.
"You understand, Leo? You never sign a contract carelessly. If anyone says they'll pay you later and asks for the deed to the house or the land, you run straight to me or the village chief. All right?"
"Yes! Mister Mark!"
The village chief and the adults of the village looked after Leo very well.
"Leo, I picked these up on the mountain. Take them and share them with your friends."
"Thank you!"
The ghost Alex watched and felt relieved.
'Everyone, truly... thank you....'
There was nothing else he could say.
And so Leo's situation seemed to be improving.
But sadly, only during the day.
"I'm home, Uncle...."
When night came, Leo returned to sleep in the house where he had lived with his uncle. That was the one thing he would not give up, no matter how Mark and the village adults tried to stop him.
Every night Leo came back to that house, swept clean without a speck of dust, yet lonely for want of anyone in it.
Then he lay down on the bed where he used to sleep with his uncle.
Wondering if he might still feel his uncle's lingering warmth, he buried himself in the cold blanket and lay quietly.
"Hnngh...."
And then he wept.
He could not bawl the way he had at six; he only shed tears in silence.
"Uncle... I miss you...."
He buried his face in the blanket as if burying it in his uncle's warm chest, but all he felt was cold.
"Why... did you leave me behind.... Hic. You said you'd stay beside me...."
Watching Leo cry so quietly from beside him, Alex felt his heart tearing apart.
Only seven years old.
An age when a child should receive nothing but love from parents and family.
But Leo had no one.
'...Leo. Don't cry.'
Alex found himself weeping too.
'Uncle's right here....'
But neither the hot tears nor the gentle hand reached seven-year-old Leo.
'Uncle's always beside you. He's watching over you.'
That trembling voice, full of love, went unheard as well.
「Be heard. Please」
***
Eight-year-old Leo came into view.
Leo was heading for the field with a hoe from the shed slung over his shoulder.
'Leo! Where are you going? Why are you carrying a hoe?'
Alex was right beside him, but he could not be heard.
"Leo! Where are you going?"
"Let's go play on the mountain!"
His village friends ran up and surrounded him.
"I'm going to the field!"
Leo, whose face no longer bawled, grinned bravely.
"Why the field?"
"I'm going to learn farm work from the men."
"Farm work?"
"All of a sudden?"
Like the village children, Alex stared at Leo in surprise.
"Yeah! It's our family's field, so I have to learn quick."
At eight-year-old Leo speaking with such a dependable expression, Alex could only open and close his mouth before finally managing to speak.
'But Leo. You're still only eight years old.'
Eight.
An age for playing rather than working.
'Mister Mark and the village adults are taking care of the field, so don't worry about it and go play with your friends.'
Alex resented himself for having died.
Why had he climbed the back mountain that day, why had he taken that particular path, why of all things... had he died.
"It's the field Uncle took such good care of. He'd be happy about it."
Had he turned a child this young into an adult?
'Kids. Tell Leo to come and play, quickly. How about fishing? Or going to see the horses?'
Alex egged the children on, but no one could hear him.
The village children looked at one another at Leo's words, then spoke up.
"Then we'll come too!"
"We might as well learn farm work too!"
The children said it with giggles. Leo broke into a wide smile as well.
'Not you kids too...!'
Alex dragged a hand down his face.
Weren't they all far too good-hearted! This was an age when they should want to play.
Leo and his friends chattered as they all headed for the field together.
When they arrived, the adults were at work.
Hearing Leo out, Mark and the others tried to shoo them off to go and play, but Leo stubbornly insisted on staying.
"Haaa. Just a little, then?"
"Yes!"
Unable to win against that stubbornness, Mark taught him something very simple. Leo listened to the explanation with a serious face, getting dirt on his small hands.
'Leo, you don't have to do this.'
Alex stood in front of Leo and tried to stop him.
But he could not be seen.
「Be seen. Please.」
***
Ten-year-old Leo came into view.
Ten-year-old Leo, grown up healthy, was in the study.
"This is it! Basic Swordsmanship!"
It seemed he meant to learn the sword.
"First, how to grip the sword."
Leo carefully touched Alex's sword where it lay to one side, then shook his head and took the wooden sword Mark had made him, along with the book, out to the backyard.
"Like this?"
It was his first time holding a sword, yet Leo did it remarkably well. His downward strikes and his swings were textbook-perfect.
'That's my Leo! The best!'
Alex clapped. Clap, clap!
'Yes. That's how you do it. Spread your feet a bit wider, and hold the sword lightly! Ah, but not so loose either.'
Alex passed on what his sister and brother-in-law had taught him.
"Is that wrong?"
Though Leo could not hear him.
Watching Leo tilt his head as he read the basic swordsmanship manual, Alex's face turned bitter.
"Haha!"
Just then he heard Leo laugh. Somehow it was a laugh with damp in it.
When he went closer to look, there were words Alex had written in the manual.
-This is hard... what does this even mean.
-No idea. What should I have for dinner tonight?
At Leo laughing, Haha!, Alex cleared his throat in embarrassment. He remembered grumbling as he scribbled those down while teaching himself from nothing but the book.
"Let's try some more."
Ten-year-old Leo swung the sword, his sky-blue eyes shining.
But his grip must have been weak, because the wooden sword went flying. A branch lying in the backyard was struck by it and flew back toward Leo.
'No!'
Alex threw himself in front of Leo.
But the branch passed through Alex's insubstantial form and struck the arm Leo had raised to shield his face.
"Ah!"
Luckily it was a small, thin branch, so Leo was not badly hurt.
'Are you all right, Leo? Does it hurt? Uncle's sorry. I tried to block it....'
Alex, keenly aware of how powerless he was, unable to block even a single branch, could only weep.
'I'm sorry, Leo....'
All he could do was follow behind Leo as he went to get treated.
「Block it. Please.」
***
Sixteen-year-old Leo came into view.
Leo, two years from adulthood, had come back from hunting a boar.
"What?! He killed a boar!"
"Whoaaa! They say Leo killed a boar!"
"You! You wretched kid, that's dangerous!"
Dodging the startled village adults, the cheering friends, and Mister Mark's thick palm coming for his back, Leo burst out laughing, Hahaha!
'Do you know how amazing our Leo was, Mister? He dodged the charging boar this way and that, and then one swing of the sword and it went SQUEAL! and dropped dead!'
Alex chattered away excitedly too.
Of course, only a short while ago, standing in front of Leo as he announced he was going up the mountain,
'No! It's dangerous! Absolutely not! Uncle will not allow it! Leo, don't go! Let's not go! Uncle's going to lie down right here! I'm lying down right here!!'
he had shouted that, and now he had forgotten it completely.
"I'll go and change my clothes, then."
"Go on! We'll dress the meat for you!"
Leo said it with a smile and headed for the house. Carrying his uncle's sword, the one that had cut down the boar in a single stroke.
Alex, following after him with an excited face, suddenly stopped at the sight.
'Ah....'
Leo had grown so tall without his noticing.
He had become skilled at farm work and could read difficult books. His swordsmanship was good enough to bring down a boar, and he could use a little divine power as well.
And he no longer cried when night fell.
'He'll be all right now.'
He watched sixteen-year-old Leo's back as it receded. He looked composed, spirited, healthy, dependable.
'You grew up well, my Leo.'
Alex smiled brightly.
Somehow it felt as though it would be all right to disappear now.
It was then.
Leo, walking along, suddenly stopped.
Then he looked at something.
Alex turned his head to follow. Leo's field lay there.
Just as Alex was thinking, Is he worried about the field?
"...Uncle...."
A very small voice came to him on the wind.
Alex looked at Leo with a start.
"...."
He could see Leo's face.
It was the same expression as always, but to Alex, his uncle, it was plain as day. The damp sky-blue eyes, the lips pressed lightly together.
Leo was holding back the tears, the sorrow, the longing.
While looking at the field where his uncle had worked.
"...I miss you."
That murmur struck Alex like thunder. FLASH! He came to his senses.
'Damn it! All right to disappear, my foot! My Leo says he misses me! He's still this young! I have to look after him!'
Even if he could not be seen or heard, he could not leave Leo alone.
Alex flew swiftly to Leo's side.
'My Leo! Uncle's right here! Don't worry! Uncle will keep staying beside you from now on too!'
But of course, he went unheard.
Leo stood still, blinked a few times, then walked on toward the house as if nothing had happened.
'...Don't be lonely, Leo.'
「Get through. Please.」
***
A few days later.
Sixteen-year-old Leo left the village to find his parents and help people, and began his adventure.
He met companions on unfamiliar roads and grew through many incidents.
And several months later,
Solenius, the Chief God, unable to watch any more lives dying, sent down a revelation, and Leo drew the Holy Sword and was recognized as the Hero.
And so Hero Leo Solenius began to fight in earnest to subjugate the Demon King.
'Leo!'
His uncle, Alex, was there too.
'There are monsters behind that thicket! Looks like they're going to attack! It's been five days already, don't they ever get tired!'
'Damn it! These bastards put poison in the food! Leo, don't eat it! None of you either!'
'Priest! Priest! Where did you go?! Leo's arm has been cut off! Get over here and fix it!'
'Leo, don't those two look like they're together? No, they got along so badly, didn't they? Why?'
'Goddamn lich bastard! He's back again! Why won't he just die! Where's the life vessel!'
Unheard, unseen, untouchable though he was,
he was always at Leo's side.
「It's all right!」「It's dangerous!」「Heal him, quickly!」「See me!」「Block it!」「Don't cry....」「Die!」「Dodge!」「Run!」「I'm right beside you.」「Careful!」「Hang in there!」「Get hit!」「Don't worry.」「Smile....」
「...Please.」
「Even just once.」
「Let me help Leo....」
Wishing it desperately, over and over.
And finally.
For the first time in twelve years he blocked an attack, and his eyes met those sky-blue eyes he had missed so much.
"...Uncle?"
Right before Leo died.
'Leo!!'
But it was no more than an instant.
As the light left Leo's eyes and they closed, Alex despaired. He broke, he raged, he screamed.
And he wished, desperately.
As he had for twelve years straight.
'I wanted to make him happy....'
Like this, again.
...Again?
"...Oof!"
At the heavy pressure on his stomach, Alex's eyes flew open. And then his eyes met those sky-blue eyes he had missed so much.
The sky-blue eyes curved into round arcs.
"Uncle!"
It was Leo.
Six-year-old Leo, with rosy cheeks and soft golden hair.
"You were crying, so I woke you up!"
"Uh, huh?"
Still half out of it at the words of the Leo perched on his stomach, Alex raised a hand and touched the corner of his eye. He felt wetness there.
"Did you have a scary dream, Uncle?"
"...Yeah. I had a scary, sad dream."
A dream so frightening, so sad, so helpless that he never wanted to live through it again.
At Leo's worry, Alex grinned and tickled his side.
"But Leo woke me up, so everything's fine now!"
"Kyahahaha!"
At Leo's laughter, Alex burst out laughing too.
That was a vanished 'future'.
This was the true reality.
A reality in which the 'future' could be changed.
[That's great!]
[So let's go and eat now!]
[Food!]
...Read the mood a little. You lich wretch.