The sky is boundless, because it's the mirror of my soul
It changes colors everyday, as if it's reflecting my heart
The white smoky haze turns into clouds
Concealing my tears that seem about to overflow
Whenever something I have faith in begins to fall apart
I close my eyes and make a wish
Even on a night when I'm alone and can't fall asleep
I just close my eyes in the darkness
And find myself listening closely for the radiance of the stars
I'll keep running, even barefooted, because I can't give this up
And like the moon in the blue sky,
I want to embrace my transience and reach out my hand
Whenever people see birds flying through the sky,
it's said that they get the urge to go on a journey.
Who said that?
I forgot.
In my dreams, I am always flying in the sky.
No matter how much I fly, I always want to fly more.
Birds flying in the sky
are not always
free though.
Land of Wizards
Nimya?
Nimya?!
I know you're here, Nimya!
Nimya!
You're coming with me to meet my relatives today for sure!
He's my fiancè.
We've been stuck with each other since we were kids.
Oh, shoot!
I need to hurry!
You know what?
I finally finished it!
I need to go get permission from the Country Chief!
You're still talking about that?
You'll never get permission!
First of all, something like that wouldn't really...
Looks like a traveler has come.
That's unusual.
On the day the first traveler in five years visited our country,
I was about to go one last time to negotiate in person for my dream.
Oh, Nimya!
To begin with,
there's a reason why I ended up living in a warehouse like this.
A long time ago,
a mage used to live here.
In this country, a "mage" is someone
who brought cultivated fields and crops to this land,
which used to only have swamps and forests.
In other countries, they would have been called "founding fathers".
The one who used to live here, of course, wasn't a real mage.
We kids took the liberty of calling him that
because he was a weird old man
living alone away from the town.
Let's get out of here!
Run! Let's get out of here!
I heard that the old man
went to study abroad when he was young
and when he came back,
he couldn't talk to anybody here anymore.
In this country, "something useful" means
skill or knowledge that increases crop yields.
I imagine what the old man learned abroad
was not very useful.
He had a sad end to his life.
Before anybody had noticed,
he was drawn to heaven without anyone by his side.
And the time came when my destiny changed.
I lost both my parents, one after another, in an epidemic
and my aunt took me in.
She stole my fortune from me
and made me live in the warehouse that she had purchased cheaply.
But...
But it changed me!
Nimya...
Would you pray for me too?
Pray that everything will go well.
Nimya!
After I started living in the warehouse,
I found something there.
It was an encyclopedia the old man had written.
All the knowledge he had ever seen or heard
from all over the world was written in it.
I pored over the pages.
All kinds of science and culture of foreign countries.
But most of it was knowledge
that would be called "useless" in this country.
I thought I understood how the old man felt
when he shut himself away.
After that, I became famous for being just a bit bizarre.
It was because I surprised everyone with the devices I made
using the knowledge I gained from the encyclopedia.
Though I had failures more often than not.
When I turned 20 years old,
I got back my house and fortune from my cheating aunt.
I was sad,
but now I had time to think about my childhood dream
that I had almost forgotten.
It was...
my wish to fly the skies!
As I was reading through the encyclopedia,
I found among the foreign anecdotes
a story about a man who tried to fly.
But it was...
a comical story that made fun of his failure.
I couldn't just leave it as someone else's problem.
I wondered,
was the idea of humans flying the skies like birds
just a wild fantasy?
When I'd almost given up,
it suddenly came to me.
Ouch!
Where is the Country Chief?!
You, again?!
The Chief is busy.
I only have a little favor to ask!
No, no.
The Chief is currently welcoming our first traveler in five years.
...and so,
in the days of the 16th Chief,
the crop yields went up 4.7%.
As for myself,
I have increased the yield 3%!
Three whole percent!
We successfully increased the crop yield
and at the harvest festival
we made offerings to the bronze statue on the boulevard,
0.5% of the yearly rate...
I'm telling you, no!
How many times do I need to tell you?
Chief!
Please do me a favor!
...and I was just about to get to the interesting part.
Please give me permission for that, Chief!
That, again?!
No!
What do you think the great god of the country is?
If I succeed, it will become your achievement too!
I'm not falling for that.
It's impossible anyway!
How foolish you are!
Is that all you want to say?
Ask her to leave!
Wait!
Yes, sir.
Come!
Please wait!
Isn't it the Chief's job to listen to his citizens' appeals?!
Let me GO, stupid!
I've heard enough.
Let me GO, stupid!
Oh my, how embarrassing!
There's a law that says
the Chief must listen to any appeals at any time.
I see.
So what was her appeal?
It is to remove the bronze statue on the main street.
Tragically defeated, huh?
Hello.
You're the traveler I saw earlier.
I'm sorry to have disturbed you.
Oh, no.
I was freed, thanks to you.
That's right!
I was bored because his speech was so long!
You slept through the whole thing, didn't you, Hermes?
Yes. I slept well.
Say, what were you going to do
once you got rid of this bronze statue?
Would you listen to me?
I'd love to.
Say, why don't you two come over to my house?
It's messy,
but big enough for one person and a motorrad to stay in.
Thank you very much.
This will help us, right, Kino?
Here you are.
I'll tell you the reason why I wanted the bronze statue moved.
It's for this.
What is this?
I haven't named it yet,
but I want to ride on this and fly the skies.
In the skies?
Fly?
How?
I'll tell you...
So, if a board is secured at an angle and you run at a high speed,
it should be lifted by the air pressure.
In other words, it should float up into the air.
Since I came up with this idea, my days of hard fighting started.
I poured the house and all the fortune I got back
into the dream of flying the skies.
I rebuilt an engine I picked up at the edge of the country
and solved the problem of the propulsion.
That just left...
That's the story.
How's that?
After listening to my explanation,
the traveler said only this.
I'm impressed that you came up with the idea.
But in that case,
you'd need a straight road of a certain length.
Right!
That's right!
That's why you wanted to move the bronze statue.
Say, traveler,
are there any machines like this in other countries?
Do you think humans can build machines that can fly?
We have visited some countries with very advanced technology,
but we have yet to see a machine that can fly.
That's what I thought.
But there might be one somewhere in the world.
If not,
you may become the first human to fly.
Yes,
it was sort of a coincidence that we came to this country.
That's right!
We let a stick fall and it happened to point this way.
Right, Kino?
Really?
What a fabulous way to decide which way to go.
I like that!
Nimya Tchuhachkova!
Would you open the door? Or rather...
Open the door now!
Yes, yes, yes, yes!
You're all here together.
How can I help you?
Look at this!
I keep receiving complaints from your neighbors.
I can't ignore them anymore.
We decided that your strange machine is to be dismantled.
I can't believe it!
We'll perform the demolition work tomorrow.
This is a final decision made by the Chief's authority.
Objections are not allowed.
That's all.
Please wait!
Nimya...
You, too?
Please listen to me, Nimya.
I just want you to be an ordinary wife.
I hate to mention this,
but I imagine you already spent
most of your parents' inheritance.
They would be sad.
May I stay here tonight?
I want to take some time and talk to you.
No.
Because I have things to do.
In that case, I'll help you.
Nimya-
Please go home today.
Please tell me, Mr. Motorrad.
What?
You must understand.
Is my theory wrong?
Will that machine not fly?
I knew it as soon as you told us about it.
From the looks of it, it'll fly.
You think so?
All right!
I don't have much time left!
I'll fly it tomorrow morning
and show those hardheaded fools!
There's only the road to worry about.
Right!
I need to run the machine until it rides on the wind.
Obviously, that bronze statue is in my way.
How about making a mound in front of it
and jumping over it?
Motorrads can get over obstacles that way.
So, I'm sure you could.
You may be able to do it, or maybe not.
That's it!
That way, we may not need to move the bronze statue!
Good idea, Kino!
No good!
Even if I jump it, I'll fall right away.
I can't get enough speed to start with.
Too bad.
I wish we could use gunpowder
to catapult it out in one shot like a persuader bullet.
Like "bang!"
If we do that, the machine will break...
That's it!
I should use the backlash instead of the bullet.
If I put many tubes of gunpowder on it
and let them burn one after another to generate a gas blast,
I'll be able to make a mad dash!
I can fly now!
Thank you, traveler!
Now, it's becoming interesting.
Okay, everybody, please be careful.
Please stay outside these ropes,
because it's dangerous.
What's going on here, traveler?!
Oh, please be careful, Mr. Chief and everyone else.
What in the-
Nimya!
Nimya! Stop it!
It's dangerous!
Wow! What's that?
It exploded!
No, she's all right.
Such a heavy thing flew in the air!
It flew! Such a heavy thing flew in the air!
I can't believe it.
It flew?
I'm flying...
I'm flying.
Everything was right.
The calculations, experiments, and my life...
They weren't wasted...!
Any thoughts?
I envy her a little.
That's all.
Now, then.
Everybody!
We need a long straight road to let it land safely!
Right, everybody!
The bronze statue is in the way! Move it!
Nimya!
Everybody...
Heave-ho, heave-ho. Hurry up.
Nimya!
Are you all right, Nimya?
I'm fine!
How about going for our honeymoon on this?
Nimya, you are...
Miss Nimya,
we never knew you were a mage.
What are they talking about?
I didn't know, either!
Know what?
Certainly, we didn't realize it,
but please forgive the rudeness we have shown until now!
Miss Mage! Please forgive us!
Oh... Well...
Hm?
I'm a bit touched.
Congratulations on your success.
We should get going now.
What?
Wait a minute!
I owe this all to you two!
Please stay just a little longer.
I'm sorry,
but it seems things might get complicated.
I enjoyed it.
Very much.
Wait...
It might be just a coincidence or a whim
that the traveler came to this country.
But for me,
it seemed like it was destined.
If I hadn't met them,
I'd have spent the rest of my life in disappointment.
I am truly grateful beyond what words can express.
But anyway, what a surprise.
Yeah, I know.
The minute she succeeded,
they start saying, "It's magic!" And, "Please forgive us!"
Sheesh.
No, I'm not talking about that.
What then?
I didn't think the machine would really fly.
What did you just say, Miss Kino?
I said I didn't think a human could fly.
I understood the theory she explained to me, but still...
I never thought it was possible.
Kino!
Then why did you help her out?
Why?
No reason.
But it flies...
What's wrong, Hermes?
Nothing.
I'm just pondering the range of potential that people have.
It flies.
It was just like magic.
Yes, yes.
It has begun to rain in a far off place
And in it, someone shivers softly as they get wet
Losing myself in the forest, I nestle up to the sky
Visiting countries, coming and going among people
And the journey will never end
So the beautiful world...
Where did I come from? How far will I go?
So the beautiful world...
I travel the world, going where the currents take me
Kino's Journey
Land of Books
What would you do if you woke up one morning
and you had transformed into a bug?
I don't want to be a bug...
How about a roach typewriter talking to you?
I can't say that imagining about impossible things
is a very constructive activity.
You couldn't become an author.
But maybe thinking about non-constructive things once in a while
isn't a waste of time.