Final Fantasy VII (7): On The Way To A Smile

Case Of Nanaki: Page 9

"Vincent? Vincent! What are you doing here?"

"That's what I want to ask you."

Vincent replied as if he wasn't really interested.

Vincent didn't talk much but, it seems he has been living a life travelling where he felt appropriate. He said he was waiting for something to happen as if it was self-derision. During his travels, he coincidentally saw the Turk's helicopter and followed it, arriving at the village afterwards. It was where the helicopter stopped too. Elena from the Turks was seeking something and had gone into the forest with the hunters. Not long afterwards, she returned carrying a wounded boy and at night, two Nibel bears appeared. There was a lot panic amongst the hunters but they shot and killed the bears. After obtaining what she was after, Elena left in the helicopter. Just when Vincent was about to leave for some place he didn't know, Nanaki arrived. He heard the hunters firing their guns and Nanaki breaking into one of the huts. When he came to see what was happening—

"You had a hunter pressed down and was about to bite into his throat. A boy was crying and saying something about being friends. I don't know what happened to you. But when I looked at you, you weren't the Nanaki I know. You were like a beast attacking humans. That's why I fired."

After shooting Nanaki, there was confusion and knowing that it was a dangerous situation for the hunters to possess guns, he forced them out of the hut. He then bid them goodbye.

"I gave them a little scare. I transformed."

After that, Vincent treated the unconscious Nanaki and waited.

Nanaki looked around the inside of the room. There was blood all over the floor here and there.

"Did I kill someone?"

"No."

"I see. I'm glad."

There was a moment of silence between them. Nanaki tried to get up to look outside.He struggled but he managed to stand up somehow. Vincent began talking again as if he remembered something.

"They took away the bears that were outside. Maybe I should have stopped them?"

"No. They will probably be of use. It's the rules of the forest. No, perhaps it's the rules outside the forest? Vincent. I just don't understand any more. I just don't."

"I don't mind listening."

Hearing those words, Nanaki began to talk as Vincent remained silent. He told him all about what happened from the ear piercing "Geee! Geee!" baby bears to the point he reunited with Vincent.

"What should I have done?"

Vincent stayed silent. Just as Nanaki thought he wouldn't get an answer, he said.

"In my opinion. When you recall these past events again—You'll have an answer. But when you think about them again, the answer maybe different. There is an answer but there isn't only one. You should just continue living to think about it."

What's important is that you don't forget about these events, said Vincent.

"Hmmm—"

Nanaki felt as if he half understood and half didn't. His feelings were half and half.

"Maybe you will understand if I told you this," Vincent added as if he saw right through Nanaki's mind. "What you thought was good that time was one hundred percent wrong. All wrong."

"That doesn't tell me what I should do. No matter how much I think about it, I just can't decide what the correct course of action should be."