Part1

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Translator: ayszhang

Proofreader: Ying

A short story more thoughtful than you'd expect!

6.4

There were two female

mosquitoes who each had a thousand babies each.

The mostagonists of this

story are two of these two thousand babies.

Due to the deep friendship

between the two mothers, the eggs of these two mosquitoes ended up side by side.

The small eggs housed two

tiny lives, two sets of breath and beat.

They were still asleep.

It grew dark, and one egg

suddenly showed signs of movement.

The little guy inside

stretched for the sky.

He said, “Mom.” It was the

first word he spoke in this world.

But little did the

mosquito know, his mother had already died under the palm of a human.

Humans had their human

sorrows, and this was nothing but the tiny sorrows of a mosquito.

Then, the egg beside it

began to move as well. The slight wobble was not visible to anybody, after all

he was simply too small.

He said, “Mom?” This was

his first word and his response to him in their very first conversation.

This is the beginning of

our story. June 4th, 2006.

Mosquito A greeted,

“Hi…are you like me?”

Mosquito B replied,

“Yeah…we’re the same.”

They were the same, living

in a small house floating on water.

Mosquito A said, “How

nice…we’re the same!”

Mosquito B replied,

“Yeah…what’s your name?”

“Name? What’s that?”

“Erm…it’s what you use to

call somesquito. Didn’t your mom tell you?”

“Huh? I don’t know.”

Mosquito A did not have a

high IQ.

Mosquito B said, “Then

I’ll call you Milk Monster.”

Mosquito A asked, puzzled,

“Milk Monster? What?”

“It’s a kind of monster,

duh! Since your IQ is too low, you don’t count as a mosquito; you’re a little

monster,” Mosquito B explained seriously. Then he thought of something. “Wait,

have you seen a monster before?”

Mosquito A said

dejectedly, “I haven’t…I have never gone outside…”

“You idiot! I haven’t

either. We’re still inside the egg! Seriously, why hasn’t your mom done any

prenatal education?”

“Prenatal edu…what?”

“Okay, okay. You’re Milk

Monster from now on, ya hear me?”

“Oh…what about you?”

“Call me Watermelon.”

“Waterme…what?”

“Good heavens, you are one

stupid mosquito! Go to sleep!”

Thus, the slight ripples

on the water gradually disappeared.

The silence was a bit

frightening.

Little Milk Monster began

to wonder, Where is my mom? And why

didn’t she give me prenatal education?

6.5

It was always harder to

fall asleep thinking about your mom than counting mosquitoes. Thus, the next

day, Milk Monster was still drowsy when Watermelon gave a bright and cheery

morning call.

Watermelon shouted, “Milk

Monster! Milk Monster, Milk Monster!”

Milk Monster mumbled,

“Prenatal…why didn’t I get…”

Watermelon spat in

frustration, “Birdbrain…”

By the time Milk Monster

woke up, Watermelon was about to take his afternoon nap.

“He…He…”

“Hey my ass! I’m

Watermelon! I guess mosquitoes without prenatal education really do turn out

retarded…”

“I actually wanted to say hee

hee…”

…

More silence…

“Watermelon, are you

hungry?”

“You know what hungry means?”

“No duh! I’m a mosquito,

after all!”

The loud exclamation

scared Watermelon so much that he shrunk back into a corner in his egg.

And more silence…

“Watermelon, I’m hungry…”

“Even then you can’t go

out. It’s only the 5th today!”

“Then when can I go out?”

“Erm, let me think… Born

on the 4th…5th, 6th, 7th…I think we

can leave on the 7th.”

“We have to wait that

long? I’m going to starve to death before I get out.”

“Were you a cow in your

past life? But even cows ruminate. You’re so weak against hunger…hopeless…”

“Rumina…what?”

“It means throwing up what

you ate and then eating that stuff again.”

A strange feeling stopped

Milk Monster from speaking – he must have felt sick.

Thus, there was another

long silence.

“Watermelon.”

“What?”

“Say, what’s the first

thing we should do when we get out?”

“Take a wee-wee.”

“No, let’s have a fight.”

“Huh?!”

“Let’s have a fight.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t like

you.”

“Erm…if you insist.”

This was their first agreement

in this lifetime.

How much change can occur

in the hearts of two mosquitoes?”

Only the floating algae

knew that there were two indistinct voices in that night.

“Watermelon?”

…

No response.

“Are you there,

Watermelon?”

…

“Watermelon?!”

This little mosquito felt

fear for the first time.

Then came a tiny disturbance.

That stupid mosquito was trying to get out and find Watermelon.

“I’m here. What’s the

fuss?”

The voice put Milk Monster

at ease. He began calling unknowingly, “Mom…”

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

asked Watermelon in a tired voice. “You don’t think you can get out sooner if

you don’t sleep, do you?” He yawned.

“Watermelon…what were you

doing just now? Why did you ignore me?”

“I was thinking.”

“About what?”

“You, of course.”

…

Milk Monster experienced

yet another strange feeling. What could it be?

He only said in that

stupid voice of his, “Oh, hee hee.”

Watermelon ignored him and

replied rudely, “Birdbrain.”

He turned to the other

side and went to sleep.

6.6

The morning of June 6th,

the trees reached for the sky and the stream trickled along merrily.

The tranquility of the

water was stripped by a breeze. Floating along in the microlayer were the eggs

of the mother mosquitoes.

Milk Monster awoke from a

wonderful sleep, and he wondered, When

can I get out?

Then he discovered.

Watermelon was missing.

Out of the thousands of

eggs, it didn’t matter to him if one or two or even hundreds went missing.

But Watermelon was

missing. His Watermelon.

He couldn’t move as he

wished and could only shout with all his might, “Watermelon! Where are you?

Watermelon!”

From sunrise until dusk he

shouted.

He was only a mosquito. A

mosquito who hadn’t hatched yet.

So he made an extraordinary

decision.

He decided to hatch.

This was the first thing

he did for him and the thing that changed his life.

So Milk Monster tried his

best to be hatched.

It hurt. After all it

wasn’t time yet.

He didn’t understand why

he had to do this. He just writhed and strove to be hatched.

Eventually he became a

wriggler.

Racked with pain, he

consoled himself, “I’m just a bit early, that’s all.”

After a while, he could

finally move through the water, so without hesitation he began his search.

It was close to midnight,

and the air temperature had dropped significantly. Milk Monster felt half cold

and half warm at the surface of the water.

6.7

By the time he found

Watermelon, the eastern horizon had lightened. Down to his last breath but

glad, he gazed at the familiar egg and the little silhouette curled in slumber.

He didn’t wake him, only flanking the translucent egg and falling asleep

contently.

The warm sunlight fell on

Milk Monster, and he dreamt he and Watermelon turned into big mosquitoes and

flew and flew and flew…

“Who the hell?!”

Milk Monster was roused by

Watermelon’s voice.

He said, “It’s me,

Watermelon.”

“Milk Monster?!”

“Uh-huh!” Milk Monster was

excited.

“Oh my Mosquito! You

hatched prematurely?!”

“I…was looking for you…”

Milk Monster had nothing else to say, and he felt aggrieved.

Watermelon said, “Okay.

Okay. Don’t get hung up on it. Stay there and don’t move, you hear me?”

“Uh-huh.”

He saw that he was angry,

but he was happy.

Thus, he stuck close to

the egg that was slightly exuding warmth and remained absolutely still.

The pale light enveloped

the two translucent bodies.

It was chilly, but Milk

Monster felt warm. He was also a bit scared that Watermelon said he would be a

retard because of hatching prematurely.

Only Watermelon knew what hatching

prematurely meant.

It was about time for

Watermelon to come out. He successfully stuck out his little head and breathed

air for the first time.

“You’re so ugly.” This was

the first thing he heard after coming out.

“To hell with you. You’re ugly!” Watermelon stretched a

little before wiggling around in the water.

But Milk Monster didn’t

want to move. He was tired.

Thus, the big-hearted

Watermelon stayed in the spot and chatted with him.

“Are you hungry?”

“What?”

“Didn’t you say you were

hungry?!”

“Erm…yeah now that you

mention it…”

“You birdbrain! Eat up!”

Thus, Milk Monster ate his

first mouthful of food – unicellular algae that Watermelon fixed.

Thousands of their

siblings were hatched…it was quite a grand spectacle.

Milk Monster and

Watermelon swam to the edge of the water so as not to be separated.

Two wrigglers, perhaps the

most content wrigglers in the world, slipped into a peaceful slumber.

6.8

The morning air was fresh

and very cold.

Milk Monster snuggled

close to Watermelon.

The itchiness slowly woke

Watermelon.

He eyed the scrawny Milk

Monster and wondered, Can this kid even

become a mosquito?

…

Milk Monster realized that

Watermelon had woken. He stretched and said with his eyes closed, “Good

morning…”

“Good…good my ass. Only

the early bird gets the worm!”

“The early worm gets eaten

by the bird…”

“You’re a bird – a

birdbrain!”

…

“Watermelon.”

“Mhm?”

“What’s this tube? It’s so

weird…”

“Erm…you use it to eat,

what’s so weird about that?”

“It’s so ugly.”

“What’s not ugly about

you? It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“You have one, too, but

it’s thicker and bigger than mine.”

“Erm…what you got there is

called malformation, got it? Birdbrain!”

“Why do you always call me

birdbrain?”

“Because you’re stupid.”

“Oh.”

Milk Monster moped around

the whole day because of that.

That night, there was a

ray of light from the far side of the water.

“Watermelon.”

Having just finished

supper, Milk Monster had nothing to do again.

“What?”

“There’s light coming from

there. Is that the sun?”

“It’s fire.”

“Fire?”

Right then and there, a

group of monstrous things flapped their way towards the light.

“Watermelon, what are

those?”

“Moths.”

“They’re gigantic…”

“No duh, you’re just a

wriggler.”

“But you are, too.”

“I don’t have as many

questions as you, you bird…” He didn’t finish.

“What are they doing?”

“Flying toward the fire.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know.”

“What’s fire like?”

“Erm…I’ve never seen it,

but my mom said it’s like the sun.”

“The sun?”

“Yeah, the moth’s sun.”

“Oh…”

Silence.

“Then what about our sun?”

“Our sun is in the sky.”

“Oh…it’s very bright.”

“No duh.”

“I like the sun. It’s so

warm. When it’s here, I’m warm all over.”

“Really? Then it’s easy.

When we grow up into mosquitoes and learn to fly, we’ll go to the Arctic.”

“Arctic?”

“Yeah, when the summer

solstice comes, the Arctic Circle experiences constant daylight.”

“What and what? I don’t

get it.”

“Erm…it means the sun is

there the whole day.”

“Woah, awesome! When is

the summer solstice?”

“June 22nd,

approximately.”

“Perfect! We’ll be able to

fly by then.”

“Mhm, but the Arctic is

really far…”

“That’s okay. We’ll fly

and fly and fly. We’ll get there eventually.”

“Yeah…”

Stupid Milk Monster, thought Watermelon.

Ever since, Milk Monster

had something on his mind.

He wanted to go to the

Arctic and enjoy a full day of sunlight.

I wish I can grow up faster. He shifted

around and snuggled against Watermelon before slipping into sweet slumber.

6.9

June 9th, a

very provocative date.

Milk Monster thought of an

important question…

“Watermelon.”

“Mornin’.”

“Why do we have to go to

the Arctic and not to the sun directly?”

“What?!”

“See, the sun is right

above our heads. It’s so close.”

“You birdbrain!”

Watermelon couldn’t help breaking into dialect. “Whoddaya think ya are?!”

“Huh?” Milk Monster was

left very confused.

“Don’t you know the sun is

very far?” Watermelon had calmed down.

“But…”

“No buts, you dumdum.”

“Then let’s look for

fire!”

“Insane. You’re an insane

mosquito.”

“Why?”

“You try touching fire,

then,” Watermelon dared angrily. “You dumbass mosquito can’t tell right from

wrong.”

The scolding made Milk

Monster feel sad and also very lost.

“But the moths…”

“They are imbeciles!”

“Then I am, too.”

“No. No, you are not.”

But before Milk Monster

could rejoice, Watermelon added, “You’re even dumber.”

Milk Monster sighed

because he thought he was indeed stupid.

“Then…” He looked up and

said dumbly, “let’s stick to the Arctic…”

When he looked up, he saw

many of his kind flying above the water.

“Watermelon, they’ve grown

up so fast!”

“Shut up, they’re our

elders. They’ve come to lay eggs.”

“Oh? Then let’s go play

with them.”

“Shoo, shoo. You’re so

annoying.”

For some reason,

Watermelon became very short-tempered. The air grew humid. Rain was coming.

The rain came in buckets

that night. Milk Monster tossed and turned, unable to find sleep.

He called softly,

“Watermelon?”

“I’m asleep.”

“Oh…”

Thus, little Milk Monster

stared blankly up at the sky.

Where did all the stars go? he wondered.

6.10

When the sun rose, the air

was moist and just as humid as before.

Milk Monster spotted many

giant fellows, even bigger than moths, circling above the water.

Every now and then they

would dip into the water with the lowest point of their body.

Milk Monster shook

Watermelon awake. “Watermelon, Watermelon! Wake up!”

Watermelon rubbed his

eyes. His worries had indeed followed the rain.

“Look, what are they

doing?”

“Giving birth.”

“They give birth here,

too?”

“Mhm.”

“Then let’s go play with

them.”

“When they grow a little

bigger, they will eat us.”

“What?! But why…”

“Why don’t you ask why

your mom gave birth to you?”

“…”

“Some dragonflies already

laid eggs here a few days ago. Those have probably become nymphs by now.”

“Nymphs?”

“They eat wrigglers.”

Watermelon grew solemn

while Milk Monster grew dumb.

“So…do we fly away?”

“Fly away? We’re wrigglers

not mosquitoes.”

Milk Monster grew anxious.

“Then what do we do!”

“You’re that afraid of

dying?”

“Yes! Very! We haven’t gone

to the Arctic yet!”

How naive, thought Watermelon.

“Okay. Okay. Don’t fret.

I’ll take you away.”

This was the first promise

he made to him. As for their first agreement, it had long since dissipated into

the summer breeze.

Thus, two little wrigglers,

the strangest two wrigglers in the world, swam away from their birthpond.

After a whole day of

swimming, they had finally left that pond.

Milk Monster was so tired

he was about to kick the bucket.

He asked weakly,

“Watermelon?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s just the two of us

now?”

“Yeah.”

“Will it be just the two

of us from now on?”

“No, we have lots of

brothers and sisters. When we learn to fly, we’ll see them again.”

For some reason, little

Milk Monster felt depressed for the first time.

Even though he had escaped

– they had escaped.

When night fell, the

surroundings became unfamiliar and eerie.

As for Milk Monster, the

only thing he knew was Watermelon.

Thus, he snuggled even

closer to Watermelon.

Then he noticed that

Watermelon felt hot.

Milk Monster touched him,

asking, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I think…I’m molting.”

Watermelon sounded exhausted.

Not wanting to frighten

Milk Monster, he explained, “We will molt four times before becoming pupae.”

“Pupae?”

“Yeah, then we will start

to grow wings.”

But Watermelon did not

explain the nature of a pupa.

“Wow, awesome. But why

haven’t I molted?”

“You probably will soon.”

With that, Watermelon went

aside to molt.

The curious Milk Monster

wanted to watch but was scolded until he turned around.

Timid, he faced another

direction comforting himself, I’ll just

look at myself tomorrow…

But before tomorrow came,

Milk Monster had molted, too.

It felt like he was

leaving his body. He thought he had sublimed.

Of course, he didn’t know

what sublime meant.

6.13

June 13th, they

became pupae.

Milk Monster’s tiny body

was encased by clear yet sticky chrysalis, only leaving a small breathing

apparatus for oxygen.

He felt stuffy. The air

was stuffy and so was his mood.

Where was Watermelon’s chrysalis? What was he thinking about inside

there?

Watermelon was thinking

from his chrysalis, What is the birdbrain

doing? Is he hungry? Or is he thinking about useless stuff again?

That night was very quiet.

Nobody knew of the secret thoughts going on in the two pupae.

And so, the first day passed,

uneasily and depressingly.

6.14

June 14th,

sunny, clear skies, gentle breeze.

But Milk Monster and

Watermelon were still trapped in their ugly little houses.

The gentle breeze allowed

them to have one beautiful encounter – they bumped into each other.

“Ouch.”

“Yeesh, would you mind?”

Neither knew that the tiny

life form on their mind was right beside them.

Milk Monster started

fantasizing about his beauty after breaking out of the chrysalis – even though

mosquitoes were not beautiful to humans.

And Watermelon? He fell

asleep.

After night fell, Milk

Monster was disturbed by a chorus of insect calls.

He began tossing and

turning, turning and tossing, and in the end – he broke out.

When his wet body touched

the cool air, he couldn’t help but shudder.

I’m out? He could barely contain his

joy. He cracked a silly grin as he looked at his new appearance. Skinny, long

legs and tiny wing tips – he couldn’t fly yet.

Milk Monster carefully

crawled his way out and steadied himself. Stepping on the leaves floating on

the water, he found Watermelon’s chrysalis.

He poked the mysterious

thing with a skinny leg and whispered, “Water…melon…”

The chrysalis wiggled and

then let out a weird sound before finally cracking open.

Watermelon stuck out his

small head and looked at Milk Monster.

Milk Monster was beaming

wide with pearly whites (now, how would that work on mosquitoes?)

Paying no attention to

him, Watermelon squeezed out of the casing and gracefully unfolded his body.

His legs were slender and

long, and his wings were full and strong, the miniscule water droplets

reflecting the moonlight.

“Hi, man,” greeted

Watermelon.

“Hi…bug.” Milk Monster was

kind of entranced by the sight.

“Hubbub?”

“Uh…no…”

Watermelon touched Milk

Monster’s tiny head with a slender leg.

“You’re so small…” he

said.

“Erm, and you’re so big….

Why is it like this?” Milk Monster was feeling depressed for the second time.

Watermelon thought, Premature hatchlings are all like this.

He patted Milk Monster. “I

told you it’s malformation. You’ll get bigger in the future.”

But would he really? He

had no idea.

Then they watched the

stars together, speechless.

Milk Monster sighed

contently, “I’ve finally become a mosquito.”

Then he happily went to

sleep hugging Watermelon.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

ayszhang: Part One! :) Let me know what you think the secret message is!

For some reason the info page didn't get posted so.... anyway it's been posted now >_<

PART TWO

The Story of Two Male Mosquitoes - English Translation by

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