. The cow said *moo~*.
It gnawed the grass lazily.
We walked on the shore for a while.
The coast seems endless. It just goes on and on.
The same is true for water, which is always around us.
But the swamp did end now, and on the other side of us, adjacent to the salt water of the ocean, was a grassland.
It is much easier to walk on the grass than on the sand at the seaside.
Birch stood looking at the cows.
The cows looked at us.
Cows say "moo".
--charming.
I watched the cow slowly lower its head and continue to graze on the grass by the sea.
It is a very large creature.
It was much bigger than both Burch and myself. But it seems mostly tame. It just eats grass, stands in the sun, and listens to the calm waves. Only occasionally does it stop its perfect life and say——
*Moooo*
Ha ha.
This sentence is completely in tune with my thoughts. Thank you, cow.
I will never forget this.
My friend's stomach was growling.
But I think we all know that's a little too much. Assuming we kill the cow without any trouble, what do we do with all the meat?
We could barely move it.
Stopping and cooking over the fire now would be disastrous.
Birch is poor. she does not know.
"Moo~" Birch lowered his voice and made a rumble in his throat.
The cow looked up at her, but kept grazing and didn't answer.
Birch laughed, despite the cow's rudeness.
Let's keep walking.
A minute later, a distant "moo" sound reached our ears, and Birch smiled.
very good.
-Thank you, Cow.
I've decided I like cows.
They make my best friend happy.
word.
Language is a very interesting thing.
With one word, I can define a single thing or concept.
A "cow", a "birch", a "sunflower". All of this represents something singular.
-Each one is a specific entity.
But the composition of these things is already very complicated. How many words are needed to describe each part of Birch's self? After all, we are all made up of many parts.
-So, in that sense, we are all things with many words.
It's very complex.
But words can also be strung together to form sentences and questions, and from there, things get more complicated. A sentence can be something very wild. It can be as wild as any savannah, swamp or desert in the world.
Therefore, the level of complexity has increased significantly. We are not talking about abstract things, such as the rules between nature and living things, or the impact of one person's actions on another. These are profound, mind-boggling topics, and there are thousands more like them.
No, we're just talking.
If words themselves are already so complex and nuanced, what does this say about the incredibly complex experiences life offers us?
--Wow.
As my mind wanders, I realize that I never really realized how complicated life can be.
There are thousands, even millions, of individual pieces to think about and worry about at every moment in the puzzle of life.
The sun shone down on me as we left the shadow of the tree we were walking under.
-[sunflower]-
you bathe in the sun
+1 exp
Experience value: 324/450 EXP(Birch): 75/310
The weather is very warm.
It is bright.
feels good.
——Maybe life is not that complicated after all?
Why bother thinking deeply about a topic like this when it doesn't bring you the same joy that something as simple and clean as the warmth of the sun can?
One might think they are smart in doing so because they participate in such an intellectual cycle.
However, I want to say that there is no intelligent creature in this world who is as happy as I am now. I learned so much from my best friend Birch and her simple lifestyle.
The sun kissed me and I unfolded the petals and leaves to enjoy its warmth.
Life is simple.
life is Beautiful.
I am a sunflower.
-Don’t pursue happiness too much.
A giant crab stood before us.
This is the scariest thing.
good.
It would, if it hadn't died.
-However, the crab is no longer there.
This is a dead crab.
Why did the crab die?
What killed it?
Why is it lying here?
Once again, life has thrown us many questions, and I can't find any answers.
"Wow..." Birch said in a low voice.
I agree.
Wow.
This is a very spectacular crab.
She reached for its pincers.
(Bu
ch) used: (small pulse)
The shell cracked and the arm shook. She did it again.
(Bu
ch) used: (small pulse)
Its large paws fell off its body and fell into the wet sand.
She picked it up and smelled it carefully.
I wonder what it feels like to smell something?
--ah.
I'm jealous again.
Birch had a vast experience of her existence that I, infinitely simple as a sunflower, may never know.
However, whatever she was worried about smelling, didn't seem to be there.
"I'm going to put this here," she said, placing the pliers between her pack and herself, clamping them around my base, which pressed into her flesh. "That's what's for dinner tonight. I'm starving," she said and shouted.
Her eyes lingered on the horizon, and I knew she wanted to stop here, now, to make a fire and eat a hearty, velvety meal of crabmeat.
-She was terribly hungry.
Her body craves a form of nutrition that I can't provide by sharing simple sugars.
We stood there for a while.
But Birch kept walking, along the road to heaven.
curious.
It seemed that Birch's spiritual hunger was stronger than his physical hunger.
-really weird.
Tell me, Birch. What do you hope to find in heaven?
I can't say.
But it must have been something amazing. Why else are we here? Why else would we come all the way? Why else would you take me away from my lawn a few weeks ago?
How magnificent and spiritually glorious are the eyes of your heart when you think of where we are going!
It must be sacred.
Even I can't explain how my friend kept going, even though her body ached, shook, and was ready to collapse like an idle log.
- Or not.
I may have told a fib. I think I became the naughtiest as I got older. Ha ha.
I pushed the roots of my hair inward from her back and braided into her legs, arms, and chest, and when the muscles there began to relax, I pushed them back into place.
We will reach heaven.
together.
There was a time when I didn't care about life or death, here or there, windy or calm. As long as the sun comes out, I'm happy.
-The last part is still true.
But I also found something deep within myself that overrode my flesh’s basic cravings for sunlight, sugar, and minerals. Deep in my heart, there is something that does not belong to the sunflower, it longs for...
Um…
I can't find the right words.
--Heaven.
But it's more than that.
There was something inside me, something not of my flesh, that now drove me against the pain, just as my roots pushed Burch.
I raised her arm and asked her to dig in the raw crab claws, taking a small bite as she went.
She thought she was doing it.
But that's me.
I don't know if she likes it. But it's better than death.
We have to reach the end of the coastline. We have to reach the next goal. We must find a way to throw off our pursuers, today, tonight.
At the rate we're going, tomorrow, the first enemy will hit us.
"Wow..." Birch said, this was her second biggest surprise of the day.
I can't argue with her feelings.
It's really amazing.
Night falls, and before us, on the distant horizon, is the base of a silhouette.
This is the biggest silhouette I have ever seen.
The land rises out of the grass and rocks and reaches into the sky, cutting through the sky like a knife.
Birch dug into the claws and ate the last bits of raw meat.
We haven't stopped once since.
She dropped it to the ground, not taking her eyes off the last great barrier between here and the ever-whispering promise of heaven.
It must be.
It has to be there. Nothing can stand in our way.
Birch and I headed toward the mountain.
"Moo".
Ha ha
What an interesting sound.
I wonder what sounds crabs make?
Um…
Most curious.
I am a sunflower
Ah
