The Sparrow's mouth quickly filled with blood, rendering him incapable of making the slightest sound. Trembling, his eyes drowned with tears, he stared at the horrible woman. Beneath his little babbling and weak moaning, the rice was impregnated with a magnificent scarlet color. While admiring her work, she loosened her grip and let the chastened man-bird flee to the misty mountain.

Carrying a tray loaded with slices of yōkan, castello cheese, and two cups of barley tea, Nozomi walked around his garden, looking for and calling out Suzume! Suzume! again and again, but to no avail. He walked along the rice paddies, going under the big maple tree of their meeting, calling out Suzume! Suzume!, but he received no answer. The young man began to worry about his handsome, singing friend and relentlessly continued to look for him.

The sun traced its course in the autumn sky, and Nozomi was still without news of his beloved companion. He decided to go around the village yet again before going back home, crossing his old neighbor, whose apron was stained with red.

His heart tightened. His throat became knotted. Hoping he was wrong, he called out to her, greeted her, and asked her if she had seen a beautiful Sparrow with a voice like a carillon. The old woman took the few steps that separated her from her home and entered her small garden, where a few spotted feathers were still scattered on the ground. Nozomi followed her, repeating his question. Since this morning, he had been calling Suzume! Suzume! throughout the whole village.

The neighbor told him to stop shouting at the top of his lungs to this cursed thief. She praised her exploits and justified her act, pointing to the mountain. She was tired of watching the boy serenade this… creature. Usually so gentle and calm, the young man abandoned her to her exclamations and took determined steps through her garden. Nozomi retrieved his axe from the log and walked to his family's rice loft. His neighbor's words resonated in his head, the way she had bragged about hurting the Sparrow hurt him too. He wanted to find Suzume, as safe and sound as possible, at all costs. The young man, his brunette hair jostling with each blow, hammered at one of the walls of the rice loft with his axe until the loft gave way, sending a flood of grain spilling into his garden and the neighbor's garden, who screamed in surprise.

The work of a whole year by the sweat of his brow, encouraged and accompanied by the smile of his beautiful Suzume, all gone… But, it was only rice.

“Here is your precious rice.”

As night fell, Nozomi hurriedly changed into an old mino, a cape made of rice straw, and put on his father's worn-out hat. With nothing more, the boy left his house under the worried gaze of his parents, running through his native village, which seemed smaller and smaller with time. He arrived at the end of the paved road – the houses behind him already seemed far away – and, in the middle of the vast expanses of rice fields, the wind rose, making the scarecrows shiver. In front of him was a path well-known by pilgrims, a path lit by a multitude of lanterns and guided by Jizō statues. Not looking behind him, and under the sound of the temple bell, he ventured into the forest.

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Jizō : Protective statue that watches over human beings, especially children.