Chapter 5: Ecolo's Love
“Arle—! Carbuncle—! Ringo—! …Ally—?” I called their names as my shoulders slumped.
I’d been in such a panic when I ran away that I didn’t even have a clue which direction I came from. I knew this forest pretty well, so it wasn’t like I was worried about never finding my way out again, but right now just wasn’t the time to play in a woodland maze!
…Hm—
I thought for about three seconds.
“Alright! For now let’s just keep walking!”
I couldn’t change that I’d lost my way, so what was the point in getting all worked up about it? I’d probably get a lucky break and somehow meet up with everyone again soon! If there was anything I knew I was good at, it was staying positive in situations like these.
Just as I was thinking that and taking a firm step forward…
“Oho~~?”
Above my head, I heard a carefree voice. It wasn’t Arle’s, Ringo’s, Ally’s or Carbuncle’s voice, so none of the ones I was looking for. Instead I found…
“Ecolo!”
Yep! Before I knew it, there was that weird shadowy, blobby figure floating right next to me.
“Wow! Ecolo! I’m so glad I ran into someone, even if it’s just you—!”
“Uhm, rude?”
I threw my arms around them, but Ecolo smoothly slid upwards to dodge me.
“Oh, sorry! Ehehe~” I laughed awkwardly.
“By the way, Amitie, why’re you alone?”
“Er, you see… A bunch of stuff happened, and I kinda got lost.”
“Ahahaha! Ditzy, aren’tcha? ”
“Ugh… You’re right, but…!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s kinda charming, you know~”
Just what part of me being such a klutz is charming?! Does Ecolo always treat things this lightly? …Actually, now that I think about it, I feel like there’ve been many times where they were taking things heavier, too.
“So what are you doing here, Ecolo?”
“I was searching for Ouroboros. They’re two slippery snakes, I’m telling you~ The only way to get them to you guys is to fix their placement in space-time and pull ‘em out~ So, for now, I tried putting up some 4-dimensional traps around here, but I dunno yet if that’ll snag Ouroboros or not…”
“Fixing space-time… Was it broken…?”
“Ahah, you don’t gotta worry about that complicated stuff!”
Ecolo laughed and waved their lumpy, hand-like thing in front of their always-drooling face.
“The important part is that it feels like they’re pret~ty close right now~ Maybe I can catch them if I wait just a bit longer…”
Watching Ecolo chattering and tilting their head, I suddenly remembered something. Oh right, we hadn’t asked Ecolo yet!
“Hey Ecolo, I gotta ask, do you know what love is…?”
“…Lo…ve…?”
This time, their mouth twisted.
“Why’re you asking me that when we’re busy trying to find Ouroboros?”
“W-well… Ally said that to beat Ouroboros, we’ll need ‘love,’ so…” I mumbled quietly, looking at the ground.
It’s not like I had that much confidence in that myself, so I got a little embarrassed. Ecolo’s laughing voice drifted down to me from above.
“Ahaha, I see~ Yeah, sounds about right. Looks like Ally’s still her same old self!”
“Huh…?”
…So Ecolo DID know something about Ally after all? Before I could ask, Ecolo went on.
“Okay, ‘love’! So, about that!”
“Y-yeah?”
“Isn’t that just something people made up?”
“……”
…What did they mean? I was confused by Ecolo’s unexpected answer.
“I don’t really get what ‘love’ is. I mean, does love even really exist?”
“Of course it exists!” I said firmly. “I mean, so many people love to be in love! Then, how couldn’t love be a real thing?”
I mean, isn’t it obvious? Everyone knows the word “love,” so it has to be a real thing! Why would there be a word for it if it wasn’t?! …But Ecolo had an answer anyway.
“Okay then, what color is love? What’s it shaped like, what does it taste like? Or, if it’s an action, then what does it do?”
“Uh… Uhm—!”
The more they said, the more confused I got.
Ecolo put a “hand” on my red Puyo hat and patted it a little. “Sorry, I’m not trying to bully you,” they said, “But I do think about that sometimes~ About whether ‘love’ is a real thing that actually exists. I mean, it does sound too good to be true, right? So wouldn’t it make sense if people just came up with that concept because they wanted something that great to be real?”
“We…just made it up?”
“Okay, lemme put it like this: What’s the difference between saying ‘I love this’ and ‘I like this’? Like, when somebody likes sponge cake better than chocolate cake, they might say ‘I love sponge cake!’, but isn’t that really still the same thing as just liking sponge cake? They just used a different word. That’s all.”
“Uhm, uhm…”
“I don’t think ‘love’ is something that actually exists. People just want their many individual likings and preferences to be more meaningful than they actually are. But admitting that to themselves would make them sad, so instead they’ve convinced themselves that there is this special something that makes them different from just being opinions they have, and called that ‘love.’ Or, at least, that’s how I’ve come to think about it…”
“……”
What Ecolo was saying was difficult stuff. I’m sure that you’d have to have smarts like Ringo to be able to answer. But, even so, I still got the sense that what they had just said was actually pretty sad.
As I was staring at my feet glumly, Ecolo suddenly perked up and sounded cheery again. “Now, don’t get the wrong idea, it’s not that depressing! For example… I still think that Ally’s conviction is pretty amazing!”
“Ally…?”
Love conquers all. Right. That girl, who really did believe those words with all her heart, who wouldn’t stop talking about it, and wouldn’t waver even for a moment. A girl who would go bouncing everywhere with excitement when she found love in the things around her, and who said that she wanted to fall in love and share her love with everyone.
“Ally believes in love so~~~ ve~ry much, the strength of that belief alone is impressive. Even if ‘love’ is just something people made up, Ally believes in it all the same. And that belief powers her through everything she does! That power is real, even if the rest isn’t! Yep, yep!” In the air, Ecolo folded their arms and nodded, bobbing their head.
So they were saying that even though “love” might not be real, Ally’s love was still a wonderful, fantastic thing? That just sounded like some kind of riddle to me. And I was still puzzling over that, when…
…SLITHER.
The light around us dimmed. W-wait, I’ve seen this before…
HISS… HISS…
Oh no, was that awful, creepy sound really coming closer to us?!
“Yay! There’s Ouroboros—! Looks like all we needed to do was pass the time a little!” Ecolo raised both arms and laughed.
…Wait, no, it’s still way too early for that! We’re not done preparing, not to mention that Arle and Ringo and Ally all aren’t here!
In the darkened sky, those white doors appeared. Again, those same two snakes wound around it.
“You call yourself…the Space-Time Wanderer? …What an obstinate creature you are…”
“If you dare interfere with Us any further…!”
Ouroboros didn’t really seem to be paying any attention to me panicking down on the ground. Angry light flashed from their long, vertical snake pupils, threatening Ecolo.
EEEYAAH! SCARY! …But Ecolo didn’t let that bother them.
“Look, this isn’t my battle. I just think you should probably put your loot back where it came from.” They said smoothly, with a chill face.
“…We have no intention of engaging in word games with you.”
“We will have you erased right here!”
Both of the snakes’ mouths opened at the same time. Inside of the mouths was… AAH! It was that blazing flame that they’d used against me back then! But this time, both the red and the black snakes were both aiming at Ecolo together! No way, no way!
“ECOLO—!” I yelled.
Without even turning around, Ecolo raised one hand and waved it for me to see.
“It’s okay, no need to worry about me!”
Right after they said that, there was a huge noise, and both red and black flames shot at Ecolo!
It’s over… Ecolo is going to… Ecolo is going to…! I covered my eyes.
“Whoa, you’re strong… This is gonna be fun! …LOVELY TRICK!”
Get real!
Ecolo countered both of the flames with just a single spell! The red and black flames aimed at Ecolo were now headed back towards Ouroboros instead!
“Ecolo! Wow, amazing! You’re amazing!” I jumped up and down.
“Ehehe~” Ecolo replied, without taking their eyes off of Ouroboros. “But I guess this won’t do more than buy us some time~ Again, we can’t take them down for good without firing off two giant chains at exactly the same time…”
When I glanced forward, I saw Ouroboros calmly flicking Ecolo’s counter-attack away with their tails.
“Amitie!”
I jumped when I heard Ecolo call my name.
“Look, I can’t do anything but defend right now, and you’re not gonna be any help all on your own! Hurry up and find the others. I’ll take care of bringing these snake weirdos to you guys later.”
“…RUN!” I felt like that was what they were telling me. Turning my back to Ecolo, I dashed away. I sprinted at full speed, desperate to escape those horrible HISS… HISS… sounds hot on my heels.
