あの後、びしょぬれになった彼女を放っておく訳にも行かず、僕は彼女を家に上がらせた。僕が家に来ないかと誘っても、ぼぅ、と僕を見ているばかりで、何も反応を示さなかったけど、手を引くと、ゆっくりと歩んでくれた。自宅に上がって、とりあえず彼女にタオルを差し出しても、彼女は無反応でぼんやりと僕を見ていて、じれったくなって、彼女の髪を拭いた。彼女は抵抗しなかった。髪を拭くのをそこそこに僕は風呂を沸かして、彼女に入ってきなさいと命じると、少女は一瞬戸惑ったけれど、そのまま浴場に入っていった。それにしても、見知らぬ少女を家に連れ込んで、風呂に入らせるなんて、傍目から見れば、身体目当ての人攫いだなと思ったけど、勝手に誤解されればいいと開き直った。暫くして、彼女が着替えの僕のシャツを来て、浴場から出てきた。彼女の表情にはほんの少し生気が戻っていたように見えた。きっと風呂で一心地して、色々落ち着いた所もあったのだろう。湯加減はどうだった？と聞くと「・・・良かった」と俯きながら少女は呟いた。僕は、まぁ、座ってよと、座る事を薦めて、僕は自分の名を名乗って、彼女の名前は聞いた。彼女は「・・・・物部布都。」とまた俯きながら、答えた。布都ちゃんはなんであんな所でびしょぬれになっていたのかい？一人ぼっちって、誰かとはぐれたの？と聞くと「・・・我を、子供扱いするでない。千年の時を越えて復活を果たした尸解仙ぞ」と少しむくれた顔で少女は答えた。どうやら、対応の仕方が違ったらしい、でもほんの少し表情に余裕が出来たように見えた。「・・・迷子になった訳ではない。ただ、いつの間にかあそこに彷徨っていただけだ。いつの間にか」そう、少女は言ってぽつりぽつり口を開き始めた。「我は不老不死を求めて、千数年前に仲間と共に尸解してな。見事、こうして、現の世に不死の肉体をもって復活を果たせた・・・我だけが・・・。」「長い眠りから覚めてみれば、我だけが、完全に復活して、仲間達は肉体が骨になってしまっていたり、肉体が失せて気配がなくなったり、我だけが不老不死を得て、皆が居なければ、何の為、我は不死を得たのだろう。」少女は感情が高ぶったのか身を振るわせた。「我は、我は、復活を果たして、二人に祝福されて、それを期待していたのに・・・」 「これでは、報われない。何も。」と、少女はぼろぼろと泣き出してしまってわっふるわっふる。

After that, rather than leaving the drenched girl alone, I decided to bring her home. "Want to come to my house?" I invited. With her response being nothing but a blank stare, I took her hand and we began walking along slowly. After getting her inside and offering her a towel, she still wore an expressionless face, staring at me absentmindedly. I began to dry her hair, somewhat irritated. She gave no resistance. Drying it quickly, I prepared a bath and ordered her to get in. She gave another look of confusion for a moment before getting in. I know that to an outsider, a man taking an unknown girl to his house and getting her in the bath must look like a sexually motivated kidnapping, but let them go ahead and misunderstand, I reassured myself. A while later, the girl came out of the bath with my shirt on. It seemed like the smallest bit of life had returned to her face. I'm sure she came back to her senses and calmed down a bit in the bath.

"How was the bath temperature?" I asked. "...Good," she muttered, eyes cast down. I invited her to sit, told her my name and asked for hers. "...Mononobe no Futo," she replied, again muttering. I asked her why she was out there getting soaked, and if by "all alone" she meant she had gotten separated from someone. "Do not treat me as a child. I am a shikaisen who has finally achieved resurrection after a thousand years," she said with a hint of anger in her face. It seems I had been a bit mistaken in the way I interacted with her, though it did manage to get a slight reaction out of her. "...I am not lost. I merely ended up wandering around out there without realizing it; before I knew it." She began revealing her situation bit by bit. "Yearning for eternal youth and immortality, my companions and I performed shikai thousands of years ago. Impeccably, I achieved resurrection in this present world with an immortal body... but I alone. I alone woke fully revived from my long slumber, with my companions' bodies reduced to bone, their flesh long gone, their presence absent. I wonder why they were gone. Why I was the only one to receive immortality...." She was getting worked up emotionally; her body was shaking. "I was revived and received blessings from two people... and even though I hoped for that...." "This can not be atoned for. By anything," she said, breaking into tears... to be continued