290 – In My Eyes, You Are Beautiful -3-

It’s an old story.

A story that could be scary if you think so, or sad if you perceive it that way.

I wasn’t sure if I could tell it interestingly since it was a story I never told anyone, but with a little embellishment, perhaps an interesting story could be born.

It was a story that could be heard anywhere.

With a small smile, I carefully parted my heavily settled lips.

To tell a trivial tale.

Hoping it would be heard with interest.

***

Once upon a time, there was a boy despised by the people.

-A boy?

-Yes, a boy.

-Oh…

The boy’s name was ‘Nameless’.

No one to give him that name.

Nor parents to have done so.

-That’s sad.

-I think so too.

-Ricardo is less pitiable.

-…

-Because I have you.

-Hahaha! That’s true.

The world was cruel to the boy. For he had no parents to call his own.

-You didn’t have Ricardo either.

-I too had my share of misfortune in my childhood.

-But you’re doing well now?

-All thanks to meeting you, miss?

-Hehe! Right!

Without anyone to protect him.

Without anyone to lean on, life was not smooth. A common plight for orphans.

Yet, the boy was happy.

Though his life was not abundant.

He had friends at the orphanage.

And a grumbling teacher who cared for him. With no parents’ faces to know, there was no need to long for them.

-Ah…

The boy liked the children.

And he liked the orphanage they were all in.

If you listened well, there would be food.

And sometimes he was scolded with a cane, but it wasn’t too much trouble.

Of course, the children didn’t like the boy.

-Huh? Why not?

-Because the boy was too mature compared to the other children.

-Eh?

-Hmm… How should I put this? Ah! Let’s say you snatched an ice cream from a passing kid.

-Was it chocolate flavor?

-Is the flavor more important?

-Yeah.

-Then let’s say it was chocolate.

-Hehe… sounds delicious.

‘…’

-What do you think the kid who had his ice cream snatched away would do?

-He’d cry, right? I’ve snatched enough to know.

-But what if that boy said, ‘Hmm… An older person shouldn’t be doing that.’

-That’s creepy.

-That’s exactly how the boy was.

-Eek.

No one welcomed the boy who was more mature than the other children. So much so that they said he saw ghosts. I was afraid of ghosts at that age too.

-That’s positive.

-Indeed.

-He sounds like a fool.

-He is somewhat foolish.

Then one day,

On a day when the rain poured down just like today, the boy went out to the streets to beg.

-Eh? Why is he begging all of a sudden? I thought you said there was an orphanage.

-The orphanage director embezzled a lot.

-Eek… That’s terrible.

-Right?

-Yeah.

-Well, there was no choice but to survive. It wasn’t an orphanage created with good intentions, after all.

-Yeah?

-It’s a fairy tale, so please understand if the story seems strange. It’s meant to be scary, not necessarily fun.

-That’s true.

-I’ll continue.

-Yeah.

In a deserted place, a boy stealthily emerged, holding a begging bowl ‘as always’ and began to beg. After all, a young boy couldn’t harm others to earn money.

Watching people pass by. ‘Clang!’ He’d strike the bowl.

Seeing someone running with an umbrella, again ‘clang.’ He’d hit the bowl.

The boy kept striking his begging bowl until people took notice.

As time passed, the rain grew stronger.

And as it got late and the footsteps on the street ceased, the boy’s begging continued.

It was really cold that day.

Night fell.

No one was around.

And the wind blew fiercely.

Huddling in his wet clothes, the boy muttered that today’s begging had gone wrong, hoping to at least earn enough for the kids’ snacks as he stayed up through the night.

About an hour must have passed.

Then, a sharp voice of a girl called out, ‘Hey!’

A girl slightly shorter than himself.

Her face was hardly visible under a large hat, but she seemed about three years younger than the boy.

The girl said to him,

‘I found you.’

-Yeah?

-I don’t know either. That’s what the friend who told me this story said.

-It’s scary…

The story of the boy and the girl began that day.

As he gave a generous sum to the begging girl, he pleaded for a story.

“Talk with me.”

“I don’t want to. I need to earn money.”

*Clang*

“Now that I’ve given you money, you should talk with me.”

“Uh…? Are you rich?”

“Hehe…”

He enjoyed trivial conversations.

“How’s the weather today, where do you live,” and so on. Even though the topics weren’t interesting, the girl seemed to find them amusing, smiling broadly.

“I like talking with you.”

“What’s there to like, it’s smelly and dirty.”

“Hehe. I still like it.”

“Was she pretty?”

“Uh… I guess so. I don’t remember well, but I think they said she was pretty.”

“Oh… But she wouldn’t be prettier than me.”

I smiled faintly at the lady’s grumbling and continued the story.

“Now begins a scary story.”

“Eh?”

“Me too… I mean, that friend also doesn’t know what happened from now on.”

The encounters between the girl and the boy continued.

Even when the boy became a student and went to school.

“It’s been a while?”

“Right.”

“Why haven’t you come to beg recently?”

“I have to go to school. It’s becoming noticeable… Don’t you go to school?”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Hehe… It’s a secret!”

Even when the boy grew up and started working in society.

-Ta-da.

-What? When did you get here?

-I came to see you.

-I have to go to work.

-Don’t go. Play with me. I’ll give you money.

-I can’t, I’m busy.

-Hmm…

As always, the girl appeared before the boy, who was begging in his usual spot, wearing a large hat and with a beaming smile.

-But, do you know what’s strange?

-What is it?

No one recognized the girl.

-Huh?

Clearly, the boy was talking to the girl, but to everyone else, it looked like he was a madman talking to himself.

One day, a passerby called out to the boy, asking, ‘Why do you keep talking to yourself?’

-Eek?

-His friend was just as startled as you are.

I mean, he’s been living well on the money the girl gave him, so he wondered what they meant. But to the eyes of others, it appeared differently.

As if he had been talking to himself.

-Was that woman a ghost?

-Um… I don’t know. The money she gave was real, after all.

-Hmm. I’m scared.

-Are you?

Yet, the boy didn’t think ill of the girl. She hadn’t harmed him, and perhaps, thanks to her, he was able to endure his unfortunate childhood a bit more gently.

After learning the truth.

The boy met the girl again on the street.

The girl was smiling her usual radiant smile, and the boy couldn’t accept it as he used to.

What should I say?

It hurt his heart.

He wondered how she had died or what story had led her to wander.

Rather than feeling betrayed by the fact that the girl was a ghost, it seemed his feelings were more of a wistful nature. At least, at that time.

-Hmm…

And so, the boy asked the girl.

‘…Are you okay?’

It was then, the girl who always showed a smiling face, began to frown. Why she did so, even the storyteller didn’t seem to know.

She just looked at him with eyes brimming with sadness.

-What… did you like it?

-I don’t know.

-It’s boring.

-Pfft…! Isn’t this level of horror just right if you’re going to sleep alone?

-Eek…! It’s not even scary!

-It might get a bit scarier from now on.

-Huh?

I began to wrap up the story with a gentle smile.

The girl said to the boy.

-Um. I’m okay.

-Really?

-Yeah.

And then, with a trembling voice, the girl asked.

-How about you?

-Me?

-Yeah, are you happy with this life right now?

-Um… all of a sudden?

-Just curious.

-I am…

The girl no longer came to see the boy.

Leaving behind just one last phrase.

-See you again. And I’m sorry.

*

“That’s it for now. The end!”

The lady looked at me with a sulky expression.

“It’s boring.”

“…Hey, it’s a story wrung out from the depths of my mind.”

“But a boring story is still boring. Like when a ghost suddenly appears…!”

-Rumble!

“Eek!!!”

The lady clutched me tightly, startled by the striking lightning. Then, with eyes brimming with moisture, she looked at me and bit her lip.

“Scold Ricardo.”

“For what?”

“The lightning.”

“…?”

“Eek…”

The lady nuzzled her head against my chest at the sound of the pouring rain. Then, lifting her head, she asked me something else.

“But Ricardo… aren’t you cold?”

“Huh?”

“You didn’t bring your clothes.”

“Oh…”

I gave an awkward smile and shrugged my shoulders.

“It’s fine.”

“It seems cold though.”

“Ah, it’s nothing compared to the north.”

“No, talking about ghosts makes one feel colder. So you must be cold.”

The lady shivered from the cold and then scolded me with a firm voice.

“You mustn’t catch a cold, Ricardo.”

“Oh my. Are you worried about me?”

“If you’re sick, I can’t cook for you.”

“That’s a letdown.”

At the lady’s trivial reason, I smiled and tousled her wet hair.

“Don’t eek!”

“Can’t help it.”

“Wooeee!”

I hope this captures the essence of the original text for you. If you need any more assistance or further refinements, feel free to ask!

With a trembling touch, the lady’s head shook in tandem, and with a pouty expression, she spoke to me.

“Wait and see, I’ll turn you into a beef soup…”

-Beef soup?

“No.”

The lady turned her gaze away from the yawning beef soup and stared intently at me, spitting out her short and concise command.

“Take it off!”

“What?”

“Take it off, I said!”

“…?”

The lady reached out to me aggressively.