"Hurry up, stop dawdling!"
Although this witch wasn't from the village, she had helped him after all, so just this once.
Let some blood, then leave—that was what Kalpas had in mind.
Even though he didn't know where to go, and didn't know what he should do.
But this wasn't his home. He would have to leave eventually.
However, after waiting for a long time, what Kalpas received was not the expected sharp ritual blade cutting across his throat, but instead a gentle hand, softly stroking his neck.
"It tickles... Is this also part of the bloodletting ritual?"
Kalpas had never experienced anything like this before. Weren't the witches before always decisive with their knives?
Slitting throats, cutting wrists, stabbing hearts—anything that could cause heavy bleeding, Kalpas had experienced them all. But this... he had never encountered.
Aponia, however, showed no fear as she embraced Kalpas and gently patted his back. "Don't be afraid, child. Here... no one will harm you."
"Tell me, you need help, don't you?"
Faced with this strange woman, Kalpas hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "I do."
Aponia smiled. Kalpas' honesty pleased her. At least now she knew how she might help this pitiful man.
However, what Kalpas said next was something else entirely:
"Can you tell me what people usually say when they want someone they dislike to go away?"
Aponia blinked once, her smile unchanged. "Perhaps... something like 'please leave'?"
"Too long. I can't remember it."
"I see... then... although it's not very polite... people are indeed more used to saying... 'get lost'?"
It was the first time the man had heard this phrase.
He found it somewhat novel, and... satisfying.
"Alright... get lost."
Aponia smiled. "Very well, I will 'get lost' now."
Aponia stood up and gracefully walked away.
Kalpas watched her leave, feeling a sense of relief. But when he lowered his head, he saw that at some point, a clean and tidy set of clothes had been placed in front of him.
"...Tch." Seeing Aponia's considerate care, irritation surged within Kalpas. He ignited the dry clothes before him, using the flames to warm the few damp garments still on his body.
At the corner of the corridor, Pardofelis saw this horrifying scene and felt goosebumps rise all over her body. When she saw Aponia approaching, she quickly pulled her into a spot out of Kalpas' sight.
"Hey, Sister Aponia, aren't you going to drive him away? That guy looks like his brain got frozen silly. What if he hurts the other children here?"
Aponia understood Pardofelis' panic.
She lowered her head. After a moment of hesitation, she placed her hands on her bloodstained, damp nun's robe and spoke slowly, "Everyone in Dusk Street carries their own suffering. He is no exception. Please trust me, I will take care of him."
"I have observed him for quite some time. He is not beyond understanding. I can see... the scars behind him... the struggles behind him. I can feel... the loneliness and pain within his heart. He resists the help of others. What he needs is... a home that can accept his uniqueness..."
Seeing this, Pardofelis hurriedly waved her hands, interrupting Aponia before she could go on like chanting a spell. "Alright, alright, Sister Aponia, as long as you've got a plan, that's fine. No need to explain it all to me. In that case, I'll just go back to sleep."
...
Over the next dozen days, Kalpas listened to Aponia tell many fairy tales, and from them he learned quite a few useful new words.
For example, from "The Nightingale at the End of the Century," he learned words like "noisy," "get lost," "struggle," and "blazing."
From the story of "The Laughing Boy Kalpa," he learned "shackles," "anger," and "hahaha."
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Kalpas held an axe and continuously chopped at the branches in the courtyard.
Of course, unlike the other children, he didn't come to listen to Aponia's stories on purpose. He just happened to hear them while cutting trees in the courtyard.
The reason he learned those words wasn't because he actively tried to, but because Aponia kept repeating the same few stories over and over until his ears nearly grew calluses.
"Noisy... noisy... noisy..."
As he chopped the tree trunk, he muttered repeatedly like a cicada.
Strangely, despite the loud commotion, it didn't frighten the children. Instead, they gathered around him, constantly cheering him on.
"Big brother, go for it!"
"Big brother is so strong!"
"Will I be as strong as big brother in the future?"
Most of the children in the Dusk Street sanatorium were frail and sickly, so they naturally admired Kalpas' seemingly endless vitality and vigor.
Chopping trees wasn't Kalpas' job. Ever since encountering that very cold woman, he had always felt a kind of "coldness" inside his body. Even pouring boiling water over himself couldn't warm it up, so he wanted to burn wood to keep warm.
For some reason, when there were many people around, cutting down trees from the courtyard and burning them would dispel the cold inside his body.
Kalpas had also tried chopping trees when no one was around, but the cold inside him would instead grow stronger.
That was why he chose to cut trees while Aponia was telling stories—because that was when the most people were present.
"Hmph... get lost!"
Hearing Kalpas shout, the children immediately stepped back obediently.
Then, with a heavy strike, he brought the axe down. With a sharp crack, the tree fell.
The children nearby erupted into cheers!
"Wow, the tree fell!"
"So amazing, he really chopped it down with an axe!"
"Big brother, are you making masks again today? Can you carve me a little penguin?"
Kalpas didn't answer. With his thick, muscular arms, he hoisted the tree onto his shoulder and silently walked toward the storage shed.
A few days later, the child who had asked for a penguin received a small wooden penguin carving.
All of this was seen by Aponia, who watched with quiet satisfaction as Kalpas gradually融入 the children's group.
Although he still maintained a rejecting attitude toward her, Aponia knew this was simply Kalpas' way of interacting with others.
However, there were still things that needed to be corrected—for example, randomly chopping down the trees in the courtyard.
Those trees had been planted by the children themselves, carrying their hopes for the future. How could they be cut down so carelessly?
After Aponia explained this to Kalpas, he still acted as he pleased.
But at least, he no longer cut down the trees planted by the children who had already passed away.
Aponia knelt before the statue of the Holy Mother, her hands crossed over her chest as she prayed devoutly.
"Kalpas has remembered... every tree planted by those children. One day... those trees may bloom into brilliant flowers within his heart..."
Even though the "voices" she perceived told her that Kalpas' future would not be so...