Suicide Island 19

*Only for use by I-M.

tl by molokidan

82)
Chapter 19 - Over these Lives

83)
1-3: hah
4: Oh yeah! I need to gut it...
5: before the sun goes down!!
6: First...first...what should I do?
7: I think...I read about this in a book.
8: Blood!
9: That's right, I need to get the blood out of it...!!
10: Strangely enough -- the feelings of confusion and hesitation that came before I shot did not return.
11: I need to finish before the sun goes down.
12: Turn it upside down...with a rope.
13: I guess I'll use the rope to hang it.
14: I concentrated on tracing back my meager memories.

84)
1: What am I doing...it feels strange.
2: Eiko-senpai--...
3: After Eiko-senpai passed away, I spent my idle time paging through the books she left behind.
4: Various books about bows.
5: It was as if I knew
6: that I would end up this way...
7: so strange.
8: Looks like more blood will come out...I wish I had a water source for taking its insides out.
9: I should go down to the valley and look.
10: There's water dripping around here and there...good.
11: Maybe--

85)
1: Looks like I'll be able to work here. It's bones will be heavy, but I should try dragging it down here.
2: Hoo...first I need to make sure of the order I do this in.
3(2b): Cut off its head with the machete, open up its stomach, then take out its intestines.
4: I think I have to cut a big section off to remove the excretory organs so their insides don't touch the meat...
5: Can I do this...?
6: No, I have to!

86)
1: Where should I put the knife in...?
2: Around here?
3: Unless I cut open its ribs, I won't be able to pull everything out.
4: I need to use the machete...!
5: I used to hate blood and raw stuff like that--
6: but I didn't find it the least bit gross now. I even thought the intestines were beautiful.
7: Why?
8: I carefully and cleanly continued my work.
9: Here.
10: From the thigh to the rear.
11: I'll need to huge wide and take all its skin off.
12: I felt a sort of love to the life I took.
13: How will I be able to take it all out safely...?
14: This is bad...I have to prepare for my vigil before the sun goes down.
15: I need to hurry.

87)
1: I think...this is the liver...with this temperature, the intestines might not hold until tomorrow...I'll use these first.
2: I cut out the fat between the skin and meat
3: and put it into the heated frypan.
4: The sweet, scented odor of the fat strongly stimulated my appetite.
5: What a nice smell...
6: It's been so long since I smelled fat.
7: I salted the liver I sliced and fried it.

88)
1: It wasn't even about the meat being delicious or not.
2: It was about being "satisfied." It was the first time in a long while I had felt that about a meal.
3: Hoo...
4: Everything that happened today...everything I did.
5: What was it all?
6: Those deer were alive...
7: Bursting with vitality in the sun...

89)
1: She died,
2: and I survived.

90)
1: Do creatures...really return to dust?
2: I hope so...
3: Thank you...
4: Thank you...?
5: It suddenly came out--
6: Hot emotions poured out deep from my heart,
7: and I finally understood
8: those words.
9: To the deer that gave me its life
10: the forest that raised the deer,
11: and this island,
12: warm feelings began bursting out.
13: Feelings of gratitude...
14: For the first time in my life, I felt thankful.

91)
1: Thank you.
2(entire box): for everything this island has given me: deer, fish, nuts, bananas, fern leaves, and salt.
3: I received them and survived.
4: They let me live.
5: I didn't take anything.
6: I received it.
7: I--
8: I am standing over
9: lives piled up over many months and years.

92)
1: I'm going to live.
2(whole box): Close to this island, inside this circle of life.

[Chapter 19 - Above These Lives END]