Back to the Future 1999: Raining at the Same Time

Chapter 136 A friend descended from the sky!

"Chirp."

The beautiful singing of birds came from overhead. Liberty looked up and smiled again.

"You were waiting for me? That's really nice."

"I hope what just happened didn't scare you. They're not always like this."

At the crossroads, Liberty met a new friend again and apologized to her for what happened just now.

"I'm going to see Sarah, my sister. She's always here with the union people.

If you like, you can wait for me here for a while."

"Chirp."

The bird responded happily, not at all angry about what had just happened.

Liberty also took the sound of the birds as an affirmative answer and stepped onto the stairs with satisfaction.

But before she could knock on the door, she was stopped by a tall and strong worker.

"Hey! What are you doing? This is not a place for children!"

The worker stared at Liberty suspiciously, as if she were just some little kid trying to get in and cause trouble—until he heard the name of another "adult."

"I'm here to see Sarah."

"Oh! I remember you. You are her sister. I'll go and call her."

The misunderstanding was resolved, and he asked Liberty to wait outside the door and turned into the house.

"Okay, now we just have to wait here. The adults in here always have stern faces, and I don't like it here very much."

"Tweet?"

The girl who was locked outside the door and the bird started chatting again.

"Sarah is a very capable person, and I admire her very much. Although... sometimes I feel like she doesn't like me very much."

"I overheard Mom and Dad saying that Sarah was running for union president, and if she succeeded, she was going to move out of the house..."

"...This means I won't have many opportunities to see her anymore. I don't know whether I should be happy or sad. Whenever I think about this, I feel a little weird."

Liberty, who was experiencing the first taste of separation, lowered his head.

"Chirp!"

The bird perched on the treetop tilted its head, flapped its wings, and landed on Liberty's shoulder, who had lowered his head.

"Wow! What's wrong? It's itchy... Hahaha!"

Soothing sad emotions is also what a friend should do, and Liberty's new friends are obviously doing a very good job in this regard.

"Speaking of which, I'm sorry I couldn't get you any bread. I was going to introduce you to Ollie, but maybe next time."

Liberty and Bird waited on the street for a while, but there was no sign of Sarah. They began to feel a little bored.

...Got it! I can show you a magic trick, do you want to see it? "

A flash of inspiration at just the right moment is a standard feature of a mystic.

Liberty took the half sheet of newspaper from his pocket, flattened it, and pinched a corner of it to make the whole sheet stand upright.

"Watch carefully..."

"Stop! What are you doing?"

A pair of strong, calloused hands grasped Liberty's wrists, and the shopping list fell to the floor.

"You're going to do 'that'? Here? How many times have I told you not to use 'that'!"

"I just……"

Liberty was frightened by the sudden interruption and looked a little aggrieved.

"You haven't already shown off your little tricks to everyone, have you? To impress others? To your classmates and friends?"

"I don't!"

Liberty cried out in grievance, but Sarah obviously didn't believe this strange little rascal.

"You'd better not."

After glaring at Liberty, he finally let go of her wrist, which was beginning to turn red.

"Remember, don't cause trouble for your family."

"I don't! I'll even work as a wake-up call girl to earn money for my family!"

Liberty held her head high and responded rudely, but it was obvious that her deeds could not convince her sister.

"Yeah, that's amazing. You know what I was doing when I was your age? I had four jobs."

"When I was younger, I even fought in wars! Back then, our family's conditions were even worse than they are now, but I never complained. You should be content!"

Liberty's head drooped again.

"Chirp..."

The bird touched Liberty's cheek with its wing, and she raised her head again.

"You're always like this. Why do you always bring up the past?"

"Besides, why not 'that'?"

"You wouldn't understand what I'm saying to you, a child. Just remember what I say. You'll thank me when you grow up."

The answers from "adults" are always perfunctory and evasive, but children's curiosity will not be satisfied.

“You always tell me ‘when you grow up,’ but when will that be? If you really have a good answer, why can’t you tell me now?”

"Why do you have so many whys? There is no why!"

Sarah was clearly a little annoyed and angry, and her voice was so high that the whole street could almost hear it.

People nearby looked over. Sarah cleared her throat and lowered her voice.

"...Okay, I don't have time to talk nonsense with kids. What are you doing here?"

"..."

Liberty silently handed over the shopping list in his pocket.

"Food for next week? Time to buy it... Sigh."

Her sister frowned and took out the coins from her pocket and counted them one by one.

"Here, it's the right amount. If the guy in the store says it's not enough for you, tell him not to raise the price!"

"But if you get any change, you have to take it back and don't buy those candies secretly."

After giving her a stern warning, Sarah went back into the house. The door that said "No Children Allowed" was closed.

"...I won't buy candy secretly."

The aggrieved speech that no one heard was scattered in the wind. Liberty then took a deep breath and suppressed all his emotions.

She planned to go to Mr. Rawls's store later because after buying her things, she had to go back.

But she doesn't want to go back for the time being.

……

"Chirp, chirp."

Liberty walked all the way to the lake, the birds always by his side.

"Are you comforting me?"

Liberty rubbed his face against the bird on his shoulder and smiled with relief.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. It'll just take a little while."

Kids always have their "secret place," and this is where Liberty goes when he wants a little escape.

There are actually quite a few legends about this place.

The adults said that the scary Jenny Greenfang lived here and would drag the wandering children into the lake and drown them.

The adults said that there were evil goblins wandering around here who would steal precious things from careless children.

They also said...

But Liberty had never actually encountered those things. She guessed they were just lies told by adults to scare children and keep them in captivity.

This was a good thing for her. There were few other children competing with her for this little space, and Liberty could often spend her time before dinner here freely.

But today, an "uninvited guest" who hid his body very well broke into this world.

He hid quietly, waiting for the right opportunity to appear.

Liberty sat down by the lake, pulled out the shopping list he'd gotten from his father, and then—

"Look, fold it like this...it's done!"

"A little bird, just like you! Aren't they similar?"

"Chirp!"

The bird responded eagerly, but it aroused a sense of melancholy in Liberty.

"I really envy you. Why can't I be a bird? Then I can fly. Fly to... somewhere else."

"Maybe there will be an exciting adventure waiting for me there, without all these trivial worries."

Liberty looked at the bird beside him sincerely:

"Can you take me flying?"

"Tweet?"

The bird flapped its wings, showing a little panic.

"Well, this request is indeed a bit much for a bird of your size. I was just joking."

Letting go of his new friend beside him, Liberty placed his hands behind his back and looked out at the shimmering lake.

"Do you remember Ollie, who I said I wanted to introduce to you? He's a bird too, just a rooster."

"Ollie's crowing would disturb the others, so I slept in the cellar with him."

"Ollie would wake me up, and then I would wake others up, rapping on my employers' windows with a pole at the appointed time..."

Liberty's voice trailed off as he spoke, and his hands, which had been holding the bird high, drooped listlessly.

"But...I'll tell you a secret."

"I could have gotten up on time even without Ollie. But sleeping in the cellar with Ollie made me feel more comfortable.

Dad and Mom and Sarah... I know they love me, and I love them too. But they just act like that sometimes.

I don’t understand, why can’t we smile more? Maybe we don’t have much, but we can still be happy.”

"What do you think... huh?"

Everything was quiet, and Liberty's new friend was nowhere to be seen.

A trace of loneliness appeared on her face, and Liberty spread her arms and legs, throwing herself on the soft grass.

"...Okay, bye. It would be nice if you told me before you left."

"Looks like I'm the only one left again."

"Ahem, maybe you're not the only one."

The figure that had been hiding for a long time finally revealed his face and walked slowly towards Liberty who had already sat up from the ground.