Chapter 67

"Cogito, ergo sum" is a well-said phrase. Indeed, the self exists. But does that mean I exist just because I think?

He extends his flippers to touch his head, but unlike human arms, they don’t reach the top of his head.

Sighing, he tries to shrug his shoulders with his flippers, but ends up in a comical pose with his flippers stretched out to the sides.

He thought it was a daydream.

Who would have thought that there would come a day when he would no longer be human?

But since it actually happened, the world is indeed a strange place.

Pata pata pata.

The reflection in the riverbank was that of an Adélie penguin, just as he remembered.

Is my mind in the body of a penguin? A mind transfer... this is like science fiction. But I cannot dismiss the fact that this has actually happened as unscientific. I am the embodiment of the unreal. This is reality. Even if I wanted to verify this mysterious phenomenon, I don’t have any tools. Besides, I am a penguin. Even if I had tools, I couldn’t use them with my flippers...

He sighs, and his beak rattles.

His wife had passed away, and his son and daughter had grown up and left home.

He, Sojiro, the man inside the penguin, had long since retired and thought he was just waiting to die.

But he, who seemed to be lamenting his transformation into a penguin, was actually regaining the will to live.

His life... no, his life had been like a puppet without spirit. Now, he was a penguin, and a mysterious world lay before him.

Curiosity had brought him back to life.

Not that he had changed his nature...

"The Adélie penguin I know is clearly different from this body. Because..."

A gentle breeze blew, and Sojiro sensed the presence of prey.

"The main food of Adélie penguins can't be such creatures. Such creatures don't even exist on Earth."

He began to waddle, drawn by the scent of the prey.

"Hmm. Quite a big catch."

Though he tried to remain cool inside, if Joshua or anyone else saw him flapping his flippers, they would think the penguin was excited about the prey. But Sojiro believed he was cool.

In front of him, a snail with a shell diameter of two meters was moving away (it was too slow to be called walking, so it was described as moving).

The penguin, Sojiro, waddled and pattered closer to the snail, raised his flippers, and struck.

Pshiiiiin.

A high-pitched sound echoed, and the snail was knocked over.

The not-so-hard shell of the snail was cracked where it had been hit by the flippers.

"Hmm..." Sojiro growled in his mind.

Since becoming a penguin, he had developed an animal-like instinct.

This ability to sense the presence of the snail was perhaps something all wild animals possessed.

Or, as Sojiro speculated, it was a capability that humans originally had.

The world of living beings is one of predator and prey.

To survive, it is crucial to sense danger. Humans, with the development of tools, no longer had any natural enemies. At least on Earth.

Therefore, the ability to sense danger, which is essential for survival, had been lost.

But penguins were different.

Not only could penguins sense the presence of prey like the snail, but they could also feel the presence of stronger creatures.

It was as if his back feathers were standing on end, and his body shivered.

However, the action he took was... to eat the snail.

He greedily devoured the snail, munching away.

Though he was nervous inside, he was half-convinced that if he continued to pretend he was uninterested and showed no hostility, he could get through this situation.

Because he heard a certain language from behind.

There were probably two people behind him.

One was strong, the other weak.

If they were humans, showing that he was not a dangerous creature would likely result in observation rather than harm.

If they were hunting penguins, it would be a different story, but based on his memory as a human, that seemed unlikely.

Besides, even if he tried to escape, a penguin on land moved at a turtle's pace.

If they left, that would be good. If he was captured and kept, it would be better than becoming their meal.

With a grim determination, he continued to eat the snail.

Munching away.

"Hmm... They seem to have left."

He patted his chest and flapped his flippers.

The snail's body was still half-eaten.

Of course, he finished eating the remaining snail before leaving the scene.

◇◇◇

From his observations, he reached one conclusion.

The intelligent beings were humans or similar life forms, and they had no interest in penguins.

So, he thought, and continued to live by diving and listening.

If he dove, he wouldn’t be discovered so easily.

No, he must have been discovered. The strong one probably had better senses than him.

Since he was not a strong creature, he was probably just being ignored.

Today, he intended to observe from the water as usual.

But unexpected words reached Sojiro’s ears.

—Battery.

It was nostalgic. He couldn’t stay still and burst out of the water, calling to the person.

"Do you want to make a battery?"

"From what year did you come? Heisei? Maybe Taisho? No, it must be post-war, right?"

He couldn’t stop.

He was lonely. Since becoming a penguin, he hadn’t been able to talk to anyone.

He couldn’t understand their language, so it was inevitable.

But who cares?

Even if they couldn’t understand each other, he could still express his thoughts.

Cogito, ergo sum.

"Where are you? I have no intention of harming you. Show yourself."

To his surprise, he received a response in Japanese.

Sojiro tried to remain calm and replied to the human.

"What are you talking about? I am right here."