"Laputa..."
"Is..."
"REAL!"
The man's coarse, deep voice echoed across the wilderness! Mixed with the equally rough grit and the spear-sharp scorching sun, it carried a long way... "There are only the two of us here, you're being too loud!" A Child's voice piped up clearly. "You only need to tell me, right?"
The man's medium-length hair looked dashing when there was a breeze (though he hated the pervasive grit), but at noon, in the windless, sweltering heat, the greasy locks would hang limp and flat against his cheeks.
It made him look like a wild man.
A wild man living in the Sahara Desert, which sounded even more miserable than just a regular wild man.
Fortunately, he had someone to keep him company—while his aircraft was broken and undergoing repairs.
Looking down, a head of soft blond hair came into view: it was even more golden than the surrounding sands, with the ends curling upward. Unlike the man's own disheveled appearance, this Boy, who called himself the Little Prince, maintained an air of elegance and innocence even under the blazing sun.
"Because the desert is beautiful."
That was how he answered when the man asked, "Why are you here?"
"Alright."
The man wiped the sweat from his forehead and plopped down under some ruins, hiding in the shadows to wait for the noon heat to subside.
"I just want to tell you, Laputa exists." He stared blankly at the azure sky above the vast desert, as if the majestic castle were hidden within the thick cumulus clouds. "Many people say I'm a liar; only you believe me."
"Of course I believe you," the Little Prince said, puzzled. "I already have a talking rose, I've met a fox and a king, and encountered a lamplighter—"
"And a drunkard who drinks all day, whose reason for drinking is because he's troubled by his constant drinking."
Is that so... Hahaha.
The man laughed heartily. "I'll find Laputa one day! I'll prove it to those..."
His voice trailed off, and his eyebrows slumped.
"Right, you've finally noticed the problem, haven't you?" The Little Prince stood up and brushed off his clothes, walking on tiptoe across the sand with a faint rustling sound. "You're a grown-up; how can you not understand how grown-ups think?"
He also found a spot in the shade not far from the man, tugged at his collar, tilted his head back, and settled into a comfortable position to watch the thick drifting clouds together.
"They'll only ask: 'Did you find it? What's there? Is there any gold?' What are you supposed to say to that?"
"If you say 'yes,' then the response will be 'Take us there immediately!'"
"If you say 'no,' the crowd will disperse, leaving behind unpleasant remarks like, 'If there's no gold, how can you prove it exists? I didn't see it anyway.'"
The Little Prince asked curiously, "Can't one just go there to play for a while? In that castle—assuming it has a lawn—I'd rather roll around on it, wander for an afternoon, and then leave in my little spaceship."
"I'd have a great time!"
"Why must curiosity and happiness always be linked to gold? Is it because it's conductive, so it makes people jump high when they hear about it?"
The man laughed again. "Because it truly is the most important thing."
The Little Prince murmured incomprehensibly and tucked his chin.
—A fourteen-hundredth of the volume of gold is worn away every year; this is what is called loss. Thus, of the fourteen hundred millions of gold circulating throughout the World, one million is lost annually. This million in gold turns to dust, flies and floats about, becoming atoms light enough to be inhaled and exhaled.
—This inhalant weighs like a burden on the human conscience and reacts chemically with the soul. It makes the rich arrogant and the poor fierce.
The man thought of a book he had read. Monsieur Victor's words could certainly serve to explain something to the Boy before him, so that he wouldn't seem like such a... useless adult?
He thought about it.
But... he decided to keep quiet and just be a Child repairing an aircraft in the Sahara.
"Yeah, I don't know why grown-ups get so excited either." The man rubbed his calves. "What about you?"
"Me?" The Little Prince didn't understand.
"I mean, are you coming with me? Or, as you said before, are you... leaving?"
He was a bit reluctant to part with this Boy from Asteroid B612. It was a pity that after spending so little time together and chatting about many legends and aspirations, the Boy was truly about to leave this Planet.
The man felt it had only been a blink of an eye.
"I have to go back to my little rose."
"Yes, she's waiting for you, she's been waiting a long time." The man nodded. "The rose..."
The Little Prince reached out and touched the man's shadow with his own, as if in comfort, and then patted his head. "You can just pretend I'm going with you, right?"
"When you happily discover the legendary castle, just imagine I'm sitting in the back of your ship—you can imagine me cheering and shouting incessantly."
"And then, I'll beg you to plant a rose on the lawn in front of the castle... or a whole field of roses."
"But then you'll find that we left in such a hurry that we forgot to take the bag of rose seeds!"
"How about that?"
The man grinned and pumped his fist. "That's great!"
—I will definitely remember to pack that bag of rose seeds and, when the day comes, scatter them on the ground in front of Castle Laputa.
The notebook entry ended there.
Mori Tsukisa blinked, closed the notebook, and handed it back to Baru.
The Boy's eyes flickered with anxiety. He scrutinized Mori Tsukisa's expression and movements, appearing ready at any moment for the girl's doubt or confusion.
"That's amazing!"
But there was none.
Just like the father in the notebook, Mori Tsukisa raised her right fist and pumped it hard in the air!
"That's great, Baru! I actually want to go now!"
The Boy carefully put away the notebook and turned around, his fingers picking at the corner of his tattered pajamas, his head bowed. "Is that so..."
"Do you think... any of this is real?"
"Of course!" Mori Tsukisa patted her chest with confidence. "Though, I like that Little Prince even more!"
"They say... it was just a hallucination my father had in the desert when he was severely dehydrated and near death..."
"They say... Laputa doesn't exist..."
"That my father is a big liar!"
The Boy was getting a bit worked up.
"Won't we know if we just go and see?"
"What?"
"Fly up! Fly up and see." Mori Tsukisa rolled her eyes. "Wait for me to get back, and I'll go with you. Wait for me, wait for me, wait for me, wait for me..."
Baru grinned, his anxiety and resentment finally fading. "Then it's a deal! Hurry back, and after you come out of that non-existent pyramid, we'll go find Laputa together!"
The air suddenly went still.
"Wait..." Mori Tsukisa's smile vanished. She crossed her arms and slowly looked down. "What do you mean by 'non-existent' pyramid?"
The little Boy grumbled, "Hamunaptra doesn't exist in the first place..."
"Then Laputa doesn't exist either," Mori Tsukisa said expressionlessly.
The two childish apprentice adventurers stood with their hands on their hips, glaring at each other.
"It does exist! Laputa exists!"
"Then Hamunaptra exists too. Deal?"
Mori Tsukisa raised her right fist toward Baru—
"Hmph..."
"D-deal..."
A pair of even smaller fists lightly bumped against the surface of Mori Tsukisa's raised fist.
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