Climbing Up the Ruins

It was spring, and Oma had dragged Saihara out for a walk. Saihara didn’t like leaving the dome often: it reminded him too much of the world they’d lost. The signs of it were inescapable – the remnants of pavement that marked their route; the frames of buildings as they ventured further out. Back at the school, you could forget they were alone in the world. Out here, he couldn’t help but be reminded.

It was pretty, though. The trees were coming into blossom, the scent of them on the wind. Oma lead him off the road, into the ruins of a building. There were still walls, but inside it was like a garden, and the plants grew up and through the concrete and steel.

‘Now we can have our picnic,’ Oma said.

‘We couldn’t have done that somewhere closer?’

‘We might’ve been interrupted,’ Oma said. He’d carried the bag with their lunches, and he set out the blanket now, pressing down the grass and wildflowers. He offered Saihara the thermos, to pour the tea.

It was quiet, but not the unnatural quiet of the dome. There were birds, and the sound of the wind. Oma lay on his back and stared up at the sky.

Saihara watched him. He always felt a little nervous around Oma. It wasn’t just the lying, but that he wasn’t sure who he was from Oma’s point of view, or what role he was expected to play.

‘Aren’t you going to eat?’ Saihara asked.

‘Maybe not,’ Oma said. ‘Don’t you think it’s nice, being this far away from everything else?’

‘I don’t know,’ Saihara said. ‘It feels a little lonely.’

Oma opened one eye to look at him.

‘I mean ... it’s easy to forget we’re the only ones, back there. But when I’m out here ...’

‘Huh.’ Oma sat up on one elbow. ‘That’s awfully sentimental of you, Saihara-chan. I don’t feel anything like that.’

‘Don’t you?’ Not that Oma would tell him what he actually felt anyway.

‘I was thinking it’s like we’re on a date,’ Oma said, putting his hand in the air.

‘A date?’

‘Yup. That’s why it’s good no-one can interrupt us.’

Saihara didn’t know how to respond. He began to unpack their lunch containers, to counteract his silence. Maybe it was like a date. Oma had insisted he prepare all this food after all, and he hadn’t let anyone else take any. Even though there was no way they would finish it.

‘Aren’t you gonna say anything?’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘Well, it doesn’t have to be the truth.’

‘... even so,’ Saihara said. He passed Oma a plate, and they ate together. And the whole time they were eating, Saihara couldn’t stop thinking, was this a date?

---

‘Last one to the top has to jump off it!’ Oma said. He’d proposed to Saihara that they climb the ruins after lunch, which Saihara wasn’t too happy about.

‘I’m not jumping off,’ Saihara said. Even climbing it seemed risky enough. But Oma didn’t wait; he ran to the wall, and began to clamber up along its edge. It terrified Saihara just to watch him.

Halfway up to the first floor, Oma stopped to look down at him, sitting with his feet dangling from either side of the wall.

‘Come on, Saihara-chan.’ He pushed himself up, so that he was balanced on both feet, and he stood. ‘I didn’t know you were such a scaredy cat.’

Saihara didn’t think being a scaredy cat was such a bad thing. ‘It seems dangerous.’

‘Only if you mess up.’ Oma put his arms out to catch his balance, then he climbed up onto what was left of the first floor. ‘I guess I’ll just have to win by default.’

Saihara didn’t like the thought of climbing up there. But he didn’t like being down here with Oma looking down at him either.

He began to climb up after him, taking the same route but moving more cautiously. Oma sat on the edge of the building’s floor, where it had collapsed however many decades ago, and waited for Saihara to catch up.

Then he began to climb up to the next storey.

That was even more hair-raising. There was no convenient wall-top for Saihara to follow along this time; he had to check closely for where the wall would take his weight, where he could grip safely. By the time he pulled himself up to the dubious safety of the second floor, his heart was thumping and he was sweating.

‘Only one more to go,’ Oma said cheerfully.

Saihara couldn’t believe he was serious. ‘We’ll fall off and die,’ he said.

Oma raised his eyebrows. ‘Don’t be silly,’ he said. ‘We’ll probably just break half our bones and have to crawl back home on our knees.’ He looked upward, appraising the rest of the structure.

‘Isn’t here good enough?’ Saihara asked. You could see a long way, just from the second storey – see all the way out past the dome, to the far hills and the horizon.

‘You’re an underachiever,’ Oma said.

He was going to try it.

Saihara stood up, and caught Oma’s sleeve in his hand.

‘Just stay here,’ he said.

‘Hm.’ Oma appeared to consider it. ‘Maybe we could try a different game.’

‘I’m not jumping off anything.’

‘You don’t have to jump off anything,’ Oma said. He laid one hand on Saihara’s shoulder, not meeting his eyes.

The touch of his hand made Saihara’s heart beat faster too, as much as climbing anything did.

‘I asked you to come out here,’ Oma said, ‘cos I wanted us to be alone.’

He wouldn’t look up.

‘Cos I ... didn’t want you to get embarrassed when I beat you!’ he said. He shoved Saihara a little, only to make him sway, and then he turned and began to climb up what was left of the building.

Saihara had thought he was going to say something else.

He’d wanted him to say something else.

‘What sort of ...’ Saihara took a deep breath. ‘What sort of a date is this? You’re not meant to terrify the other person.’

Oma stopped climbing, and said, ‘Oh.’ He jumped back down to the floor where Saihara was standing. ‘You took me seriously,’ he said.

‘You’re not taking me seriously,’ Saihara said.

‘I always take you extremely seriously, Saihara-chan.’ Oma cocked his head. ‘You’re blushing.’

Saihara opened his mouth to speak, but Oma patted his cheeks and Saihara shut it again.

‘It’s cute,’ Oma said. And then, as if saying even that was too much, he began to make his way back down the building. Saihara scrambled to follow him down.

Maybe Oma was a liar, but that last part hadn’t sounded like a joke.

Maybe they were on a date. It wasn’t a bad thought, even if it was a new one.

And maybe being outside in the ruins of the old world wasn’t such a bad thing after all, either. Just as long as you kept your feet on the ground.