Death… Out of all the things he could’ve done, he chose death.

If it was true that he made that choice, then it was disheartening, to say the least. To see a second chance end so soon.

I remained still as I watched his remains. And as I did so, I began to wonder what would happen to him. Would his soul ascend to a higher plane? Or would he end up right back over here to endure the whole thing all over again? I didn’t know for sure, and for some strange reason, as I looked at the rock’s remains, part of me wanted to find out for myself.
I paused. I’d often had thoughts like this over the past year—of all the ways to destroy a rock—of all the ways to put me out of my misery. It was one of the things that kept me occupied during my time at the lake. I had assumed those thoughts would go away after what happened a couple days ago. So then why was I still having them?

Why did I still want to die?

No! Calm down. Calm down. There was no reason to worry about thoughts. They come and go. What’s the point in dwelling on them beyond that? Besides, I had too much I needed to do anyway. So—so many things to do. But would any of it actually matter? How could I be sure that all those other trapped souls wouldn’t turn out like the trees? Or worse.

I once again looked at the rock’s remains.

No, he made that choice, not me. But then why did I feel like this was my fault? No, I did the best that I could, right? But I hadn’t seen this coming, and now it was too late to do anything to reverse it.

So what could I do now? I paused. Were there any signs that I had missed elsewhere?

I couldn’t think of anything at first. But then I began to think about the last time I spoke with the others. As I thought back, it quickly became clear that there was potentially a sense of finality in that conversation. I also recalled Oyakawa mentioning that this would be the last time that we would speak, and the rock had said something similar when I spoke with him. With all that in mind, could that mean that they were planning to—no, they couldn’t be planning to do that, could they? But did I really want to take any chances? I looked down at the rock. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to check up on them.

But first, I looked at the rock’s remains again. As I did so, I tried to think of one last thing to say. But in the end, I could only say one thing: “I’m sorry.”

After a few more moments, I turned away from the rock and turned towards the slope. It shouldn’t be too difficult to get up there, right? For a moment, I considered asking the trees for help, but with everything that had just happened, I didn’t think they would be of any help. So with that, I decided it was best to make the climb myself.

I hopped away from the tree and towards the slope leading to the road. With the paint off of me, it was far easier to see, meaning I had no trouble making out any exposed ledges that I could use to get up. Getting up there, however, was a different matter, but it was something that I knew I had to do. I couldn’t have anyone else die under my watch; I couldn’t have any more failings on my conscience.

I leaped up exposed ledge after exposed ledge until I reached the top of the slope, which had the road going across it. The road was unpaved yet smooth at the same time. It looked just like the most barren parts of the soil, such as at the clearing where the girl was. There were some clumps of grass on my sides that towered above me, similar to how a tree would back when I was human. And speaking of trees…

I looked behind me and toward the trees on the riverbank. Funnily enough, even from up here, the trees at the riverbank still towered above me. However, at my size, pretty much everything around me appeared to be gigantic.

I still couldn’t see much from where I was, so I went onto the road itself to get a better look at my surroundings. After I got to the middle of the road, I began to look around.

To my right, I could see the bridge, which seemed to simply lead to more forest. It was possible that the road took a turn beyond the bridge, but I couldn’t tell for sure. Regardless, I couldn’t see the others on the bridge itself. Was it possible they jumped off of it? But if they did, I would have seen them fall, unless they did so while I was underwater with that other rock. I shuddered for a moment, recalling what had just happened to him.

But at the same time, how could I be sure I didn’t want that as well? It would be easy, right, to just end it all right here and now. It would be quick, easy, and painless. I began to lean forward in the direction of the bridge, only to stop myself partway through. I needed to get back to what I was doing; there’s too much at stake to be distracted.

I turned the other way, trying to shake away those thoughts. From here, I could see the road heading into town. The town walls that I had seen a few days ago were barely jutting out from the distance. It was possible the walls were only a kilometer away, which was surprisingly close, all things considered. The road itself seemed to have a gentle incline towards the city. And along each side were narrow strips of grass and shrubs going all the way to the town. I froze. There were probably thousands of them. How long would it take to free them all? And that was even if I could convince the girl to do so. At the same time, those grasses are plants, just like the trees. If they were all reanimated, would anything actually improve? Or would things just stay as they had before? Would I be making any meaningful difference, or was I just wasting everyone’s time?

I stopped myself again. Why did I keep getting distracted? I just needed to look for the others; that’s all I needed to do. They had to be around somewhere. I looked ahead at the road, but to my chagrin, I couldn’t see them anywhere.

With that in mind, where could they have gone? It hadn't been very long since we had said goodbye, so they couldn’t have gone far. Maybe they were among the grasses and shrubs alongside the road. That seemed reasonable to assume, and they would probably be safe there as well, unless some wayward vehicle veered off course. If they fell—well, I’d already survived a fall myself, and the trees there probably didn’t pose any sort of threat either. So had I just been making a big deal out of nothing?

No, there had to be something to this. Otherwise, what would I do if there was nothing—if all of this was for nothing? I thought about the rock again. No! Just keep looking. Keep looking. I rolled over to the right side of the shrubs as I mumbled to myself, veering toward the direction of the town. This wasn’t something I had put any active thought into, as my focus was mainly on looking for the others, even as this rolling was making it harder for me to see around me.

Eventually, I stopped in the middle of the road again. I looked in the direction of the town. The town walls appeared closer than before, and I had probably gone a few hundred meters in distance, more than enough to have surpassed the others, even with their head start, especially since, as a group, they were probably going a lot slower. I called out, hoping that they would hear me if they were near, but I heard nothing in response. And I didn’t see them on the road in this area either.

Were they gone? No, they couldn’t be, not so soon. I just had to keep looking. But where? Maybe in the grass on the other side? I hadn’t looked there yet. In any case, I needed to find them. I had to find them.

I rolled onto the other side of the road and back the way I had just come, once again rolling through patches of grass, once again hoping that no more unwanted thoughts would distract me. But after a few more minutes, the shrubs gave way to open air. I stopped when this occurred, quickly realizing that I had ended up back where I started, right next to the bridge.