In a corner diner of the mining housing area, Pazu, who had just filled a bucket with stew for dinner, was hurrying back to his workplace. In the sky, thick clouds flowed, having formed unnoticed.
<I won’t see them tonight.>
He hadn’t told anyone for fear of ridicule, but Pazu had stars for “Mom” and “Dad.”
He was approaching the slope of the mine entrance.
Between the clouds, Pazu felt like he saw something sparkling in the area where “Mom’s” star was supposed to be. He stopped suddenly and strained his eyes; he saw intermittent flashes of light.
An uneasy feeling, as if “Mom’s” star had started flowing, made Pazu’s knees tremble.
Drawn to the light, Pazu hurriedly headed toward the mine entrance.
The light was approaching.
A softly glowing blue lamp was slowly descending from the heavens, flickering as it came.
As it came even closer, a strange silhouette emerged within the mystic blue-white light tinged with purple.
“Could it be…”
It’s not fluttering skirts… Feet! Pigtails.
<A girl is falling from the sky!>
Stunned, Pazu stared but quickly came back to his senses.
The girl was falling right above the mine shaft.
<Maybe I can catch her at the tip of the winding machine.>
Pazu ran desperately to the protruding pillar of the winding machine at the cut-open mine entrance.
The girl had fallen to head height.
Her face looked pale blue.
The light was emanating from a pendant on her chest.
At the tip of the steel pillar, Pazu lowered his posture a bit, tensed his entire body, and reached out with both hands.
Regardless of his agility, the vertically cut mine road beneath his feet induced fear.
The girl gently landed in Pazu’s braced arms. Just when he thought it had gone well, the recoil from his relaxed arms caused the girl to float up like a feather.
“Eh?”
She fell slowly again. It looked like he could hold her with just a pinky.
When the girl was completely in Pazu’s arms, the light from the pendant quickly faded.
And, as if trusting the caught Pazu, the girl limply left her entire body in his arms. A proper weight was applied.
Although called a girl, she was about the same age as Pazu, with a similar body size.
“Mmm…”
If he hadn’t been trained in physical labor, he wouldn’t have been able to hold her. While staggering, Pazu lowered the girl onto a work plank protruding from the winding machine pillar.
Pazu wiped the sweat from his forehead, bent a little, and peered into the girl’s face.
The light from the workplace lamp hardly reached here. In the dimness, a transparent white face floated. Her eyes were softly closed, and her mouth was slightly open.
<She’s beautiful…>
Forgetting his surprise, Pazu was entranced.
Gwaan… right behind Pazu, the winding machine started to turn.
<That’s right, I have to call the boss…>
“Hey, Boss!”
No matter how many times he called, his voice was drowned by the loud machine noise in the workplace and didn’t reach.
Pazu hurriedly ran down the ladder.
“Boss, a girl (fell) from the sky!”
“What? What are you dawdling about? The boiler is in a bad mood.”
“She fell from the sky!”
Pointing to the upper board, Pazu grabbed the sleeve of the boss.
“Don’t pull me, Pazu. …There’s nothing there.”
“You won’t see if you don’t go up.”
“I get it. Stop saying ridiculous things and quickly tend to the boiler!”
“But she’s there!”
Whooosh…
Because the pressure was not applied properly, steam is leaking from the joints of steam pipes here and there. It’s old equipment, so they are just making do, but today it seemed to be working too hard.
“Open that valve! Go quickly!”
<Not now>
Giving up, Pazu, while paying attention to above, ran to open the valve.
The engineer who had been in the mine tunnel came up in the elevator.
“Duffy, unfortunately, it’s pointless to dig.”
“Again…”
The boss was noticeably and pitifully disappointed.
It was hard for Pazu, but above all, he couldn’t bear to see the boss’s face.
As they finished bringing up the underground miners one after another in the elevator while staying silent,
“Dammit. Pazu, put out the boiler fire.”
The boss rudely opened the steam release valve.
“Let’s eat and go home… Hm? …What’s wrong Pazu? The food.”
Pazu was flustered. He did not remember where he had put it.
“Ah, ah, maybe there.”
Pazu, pointing upwards,
“Are you still saying that? Quickly bring out the food!”
Hungry and frustrated that the job didn’t go well, the boss spoke more harshly than usual.
“Boss, if you go up, you’ll understand.”
The boss, angrily shaking off Pazu’s hand grabbing his work clothes, finally exploded in anger. His thick right arm flew.
Being hit hard, Pazu was blown back to the place where the lanterns were kept.
“You, were you slacking off and dreaming? Clean up!”
Leaving his angry voice behind, the boss left.
Pazu, rubbing his cheek, was vaguely looking at the now deserted workplace.
<What a long day>
And yet, it’s not over… Pazu looked up at the hoisting machine’s board.
<Did a girl really fall down?>
The incident earlier seemed like a lie.
However, the painful feeling still remains in his arm.
Feelings of wanting her to be there and thoughts that it was a dream mingled in his mind, and his head became dizzy.
Pazu, step by step, slowly climbed the ladder of the pillar.
And, nervously, he peered at the board.
She was there…
Illuminated by the dim light of the workshop, the girl, unchanged from earlier, as if sleeping, was laying on top of the board.
