“I’m back,” I stepped into my bedroom. No one was in there, and of course, no one answered. It was meaningless to talk to someone who was not even in the house, yet I still could not stop this every day habit. Mom and Dad had left right after my graduation commencement because they both had their music performances later on the day. I actually appreciated that they did not arrange their work during my graduation, but I thought the only reason was because they wanted to monitor my flute performance in the commencement.
I sat on my bed, and then lay down. An indescribable feeling came over to me, as if I had notfinished something. It was strange, because I was done with my graduation and gotten my diploma, and my flute performance also went successfully. So what did the feeling try to tell me? Was it only because I was not used to the life graduated from high school? I reached my arm to the case lying beside me, searched for my flute. The coldness of metal fell on my fingertips; it was the temperature that could always make me feel comfortable. While I sat up straight and was ready to blow it, something at the corner of the room entered my eyesight.
The huge sky-blue umbrella that had not been used for two years.
Silently, I moved the flute away from my mouth. I had known the reason of having that feeling. I should have noticed it earlier. Did I unconsciously prevent myself from remembering it? I realized that I could not play the flute anymore, at least on this day, in front of that umbrella.
I shook my head, trying to get rid of the disturbed idea, but it was not effective enough. With noother choices, I walked to my desk and turned on my computer and hoped something on it could distract my attention. After logging in, a picture of grassland showed up; that was my desktop picture. I always wondered if I should change it to a more music-themed picture, but I usually ended up not doing anything with it.
As I moved the cursor to the browser, I noticed something strange on the desktop – there was a hole on it. It was not a crack on the screen, but more like an inkblot on my screen. I took a piece of tissue paper and wiped the screen, but the black dot did not disappear. Oppositely, the hole was becoming bigger and bigger. It looked like it was a real black hole behind the screen that was ready to take everything close to it. Was that a new kind of computer virus? To my surprise, the black hole stopped growing, but a foot stepped out from the hole, then the other foot,then the body, and finally the head.
A person that was about one-tenth the size of the computer screen stood in the grassland. His body was only double the size of his head, looked like a cute character coming out from a game. Light hair, white clothes, and for unknown reason, the face looked like mine. I would believe that someone had created a character based on me and sent it to me, until he opening up a white umbrella.
“Prive?” My voice was shaking. I thought I would never say that name again.
Seemed like my voice had successfully delivered over to him. He looked up to me, stared at me for a long time, and called my name.
“Twi?”
The voice similar to mine from the computer totally emptied my mind.
“Prive? Why are you here?”
I raised my volume and asked my twin brother behind the screen, who definitely should not be there. Why did he suddenly come back? Why did he come back in this form?
“Twi, I’m back.” he showed an embarrassed smile on the face that looked exactly like mine.
That was a familiar smile, but it also put me into a chaos of confusion. I put my hand on my forehead to calm myself down. Then, I laughed, bitterly.
“I got it. It must be someone’s prank. Someone has heard about our family, and made a program that hacked into my computer. It must be like this. Hahaha, how stupid I was to be shaken by this character. Right, Prive has left us. He did not want us. Mom and dad said Prive has died. It’s impossible for Prive to be here. It’s useless to trick me. So someone who is controlling this, please take it back.”
My voice was becoming weaker.
Two years ago, my older brother, Prive ran away from our home. I still remembered the morning when I heard about the accident that happened to him. A drunk driver was driving overspeed, and could not avoid Prive, who had walked a few blocks away from our house that night. The shocked driver realized that he had made a mistake, and called the police by himself. At first the police thought he was having an hallucination, because they never found Prive’s body. However, they found the bag containing his identification card and money at the scene. Also, from how the drunk driver yelled at me, saying I was the person that he hit, it was harder to eliminate the possibility that it never happened. Prive was there, but we had no idea what really happened in the accident, and where he went after that. Our parents concluded that he had died, even though there was no evidence to prove that. For both of them, it seemed more important that I was not the one that had the accident. They were always like that, showed their bias towards me but not Prive, only because I could play music and Prive could not. That must be one of the reason that Prive escaped from our home.
“Twi, I’m here. In front of you.”
Prive’s voice pulled me back to reality. No, it was still too early to conclude that he was my twin brother.
“How can you prove it?”
“Before leaving, I left my umbrella in your room, right?” Softly, he replied.
Instantly, I turned my head to the corner of my room. The sky-blue umbrella was still there, lying against the wall. I found it in my room after hearing of Prive’s “death,” and I never told anyone about that. It was Prive’s favorite umbrella; people always differentiated us by looking at who was bringing the umbrella. He was never a musical person, but an adventurous person; he always wanted to bring me outside after my flute practice, and would always bring that umbrella with him, no matter what the weather was. There was one time that I asked him the reason he brought the umbrella all the time. He answered that so we wouldn’t be burned under the sun, and wouldn’t become wet when it rained. Strange answer, but that was his style - sometimes like a big brother, but sometimes more naïve than any other person I knew.
“Prive? Is it really you?”
He nodded, and made a V sign beside his face with a bright smile on his face.
“I’ve told you.”
“Where have you been? What happened at the night you ran away? Why do you come back like this?”
“Wait, you’ve asked too many question. Let me write them down first.”
He waved his hand holding the white umbrella, and a textbox popped up on my desktop. He waved it again, and numerous letters flew over, and finally rearranged in the textbox, displaying the questions I had just asked.
He looked at it, and turned back to me.
“To answer your first question, I have been travelling. Remember? I always wanted to go to different places.”
“Travelling? To where?”
“Different worlds.”
“Different worlds,” I repeated his answer, and realized that I heard something wrong. “Wait, different worlds? Not around the world?”
“There are many worlds that we didn’t know about. The world that is very similar to us, the world in which people’s destiny are decided by stars, the world in which dragons leave their descendant, even where I am standing in is a subworld of our original world. I have been travellingthrough places like these.”
It sounded unbelievable; I almost thought Prive was trying to fool me. However, if he wanted to do so, he could get no benefits. Furthermore, the fact that he was infront of me was already a miracle.
“How did you travel between worlds?”
“With the help of Wing.”
“Wing?”
“It’s this,” he shook the white umbrella. “It has a special power that allows me to move across different worlds and dimensions. The only weakness is that I cannot choose where and when to travel. I have a feeling that it always wanted me to go to thoseplaces for something, and will ask me to go to the next place if it is satisfied.”
“Where did you get it?”I frowned.
“I don’t really know. What I can remember was that I was trying to run away from home, and a car almost hit me.”
“Did it?” I interrupted, trying to fit the piece of puzzle into the whole picture.
“I don’t think so. Anyway, when I woke up, I was already at a white place and this item was beside me, though it was not an umbrella at that time.”
“I don’t understand, Prive, That’s too much to digest,” I admitted.
“Never mind. I know it is hard to accept. Sometimes I also doubt if I am dreaming,”
He sat down on the grassland.
“How about you, Twi? How have you been?”
The question hit me. Iclenched my fist. A colorless heat suddenly rose in my body.
“I just graduated fromhigh school. My flute skills have improved a lot, and will go to a music school after this summer. Mom and dad are happy about that…”
I did not even knowwhat I was talking about.
“That’s great! Congratulations.” He clapped his hands like a child. “I always like to listen to you playing your flute. It’s peaceful and –”
“Prive, why can you talk about it like you had nothing to do with it?” I could not control myself. “Do you know how mom and dad were calling you a betrayer? Do you know how angry they were when they knew you escaped?”
“Twi,” the pair of bigeyes looked straight at me. “Are you angry at me too?”
“Of course, I was superupset and angry, even now.”
I shut my computer screen down.
After standing therefor a while, I grabbed my computer and put it into my bag, then took it, my flute case, and the blue umbrella downstairs, and rode on my bicycle. The afternoon sun was hot; sweat had flowed along my face and back. There was aplace I must go; it won’t take too much time to reach there, but if it would be meaningless if I could not make it on time.
I stopped the bicycle in front of our school hall. One of my teachers was standing there, ready to lock the door. He saw me, and waved to me.
“Twi, what bring youback here again? Is there anything you forgot to take?”
“Kind of. I need to use the hall.”
“Wait, now? What do you want to do?”
“It’s hard to explain. Please, it’s important.”
The man looked at my face, and then looked down to the items I was holding. I could feel his eyes focused on the blue umbrella.
“All right, just don’t leave a mess in the hall,” he sighed, and unlocked the door for me.
“Thank you so much.”
I rushed to the first row of chairs in front of the rows, and took my computer out. My heart was beating fast. After the screen was opened up, I saw my mini brother was still there, sitting on the grassland.
“Twi, I thought you didn’t want to see me again.”
His eyes were full of sadness.
“I thought a lot just now, and now I understand why the Wing tried to bring me to here. It is definitely asking me to apologize for my betrayal. Twi, even though you may not forgive me, I still need to say sorry to you. I am really sorry for escaping.”
“You are wrong. I am not angry because you ran awayfrom home. Prive, I was angry because you did not tell me before you left. I wanted to at least say a goodbye to you.”
I said, calmly.
“Although I don’t know if the Wing has its own thinking or not, I know it definitely did not want to send you here just to apologize to me.”
“Twi, what do you mean by that?”
“Don’t you understand? This specific time and this specificplace, they are not meaningless.”
I moved my body that blocked the computer.
“This is our school hall?”
“Right,” I took my flute out. “Today, our graduation commencement was held at here.”
I walked up to the stage, and looked down to the computer on the chair.
“How can you miss our graduation?”
I held the flute in front of my mouth, and started to play the graduation song that I had performed earlier that day. The only soundin the hall was only this holy song. Prive, in the computer, was listening quietly. He always said my music was so comfortable that it had the power to calm people’s minds.
The song nearly ended. I remembered my parents had told me that music was an art, musicians’ job were to express their feelings to the audience. However, I did not think that was the right answer.
I released one finger, and a sharp and high note came up. That was the mistake that Prive always did when he was still learning flute. I heard him made a surprised sound; he probably thought I played it wrong. However, that was definitely not a mistake. I added another high note after the “mistaken” note, and then continued with more and more higher notes.
Graduation song – high key version.
For me, music was not an art, but a kind of communication. Our job was not to push everything we wanted to the audience,but to respond to the audience’s expectation. Prive, if you were the note that stood out from the other notes, I would be the note after you that helped to support you. Even if we were the unreliable wings, we would still be able to fly.
The song ended.
I walked down the stage.
“Thank you,” he said. The black hole reappeared behind him.
“Please come back again someday.”
“I will try to.”
“Good luck on chasing your dream.”
“You too, Twi."
“Then– “
“Goodbye,” we both said at the same time.
「我回來了。」我踏進房間。
空蕩的房間裡誰也不在，當然，也沒有人回應。儘管跟不存在於這個家中的人說話根本沒意義，但我還是停止不了這個每天的習慣。
爸爸和媽媽因為之後還有音樂會的演出，在我的畢業典禮結束後馬上就趕著離開，各自前往地球的另一頭了。對於身為名音樂家的那兩人來說，這只不過是一如既往的生活的一部分。其實光是他們沒有在我的畢業典禮中安排工作這一點，我就已經十分感激了。當然，那也有可能只是因為他們想要監督自己兒子在畢業典禮表演中吹奏笛子的表現也說不定。
我與手上的東西一同躺到床上。大字型的身體埋在鬆軟的床。一股無法形容的感覺向我襲來，就好像還有什麼沒完成的事似的。我卻沒辦法放鬆。
好奇怪，明明才剛畢業，也已經順利拿到畢業證書了，笛子的演奏也很成功地完成了。所以那個異樣的感覺到底想告訴我什麼？是因為我還沒適應從高中畢業的生活嗎？
我向躺在一旁的盒子伸出手，摸索裡面的笛子。金屬的冰冷落在手指尖上。這是一直以來讓我感到安定的溫度。當我坐起身準備吹奏笛子時，房間角落的某樣東西進入了我的視野。
那是，長達兩年沒有使用過的巨大天藍色雨傘。
靜靜地，我將笛子從嘴巴附近移開。我知道那個奇怪感覺出現的理由了。
我早就應該注意到的才對，
之前下意識地避免自己想起它了嗎？
已經沒辦法繼續再吹奏笛子下去了，至少在今天，在那把雨傘的面前是如此。
我搖搖頭，試圖甩開這個令人不舒服的念頭，但是一點用也沒有。別無選擇下，我走向自己的書桌開啟筆記型電腦，暗自希望上面的什麼能夠分散我的注意力。登入之後，一張草原的圖片顯示在螢幕上——那是我的桌面圖片。每次開啟電腦的時候，我總是在考慮是不是該把它換成一個音樂主題的圖片，但是最後都不了了之。
把鼠標移向瀏覽器時，我發現電腦桌面上有某個像洞一樣的奇怪的東西。看起來不像是螢幕上的裂縫，反而更像是沾到螢幕上的黑色污漬。我拿了一張面紙擦拭螢幕，但是那個黑點並沒有消失。相反地，那個洞還變得越來越大。成長中的黑點看起來就像螢幕後方的一個黑洞，準備把周圍的東西都吞噬進去。
難道是什麼新的電腦病毒嗎？
當我還在猶豫要不要把電腦關掉時，出乎我的意料，那個黑洞停止了擴張。
「咦？」感覺得出有什麼要來了，某種不尋常的東西。
螢幕中，一隻腳從黑洞裡踏出，接著是另一隻腳，然後是身體，最後是頭部。
一個只有電腦螢幕十分之一大小的人從黑洞現身，站在草原上。那個人的身體只有頭的一半大小，看起來就像從某個遊戲中跑出來的Ｑ版角色一樣。淺色的頭髮，白色的衣服，還有不知道為什麼，與我十分相像的臉。
這是什麼？某個人根據我的樣子做了這個角色還把他寄給我嗎？現在的科技原來這麼進步嗎？這個到底是怎麼傳過來的？那個人又是怎麼拿到我的資料的？我認識的人裏應該沒有人有這種技術吧？如果是陌生人的話，為什麼會選上我？
我讓腦袋在一片由無數問題組成的混亂中不斷運轉，思索所有可能性，但是當螢幕中的小人撐開一把白色的雨傘時，我先前所有的念頭都煙消雲散了。
因為——
那並不是我。
我試著開口。
「普萊？」叫出那個原本一直以為自己不會再說出的名字時，我的聲音禁不住顫抖。
聲音似乎成功傳達去螢幕的另一邊了。螢幕裡的小人以那雙大眼望上我，盯著我一段時間，然後呼喚我的名字。
「茲伊？」
從電腦傳出的那道酷似我的聲音讓我的腦袋完全空白。不對，讓我動搖的不是那道聲音，而是叫我的名字的那個令人懷念的語調。不會錯，他是——
「普萊？為什麼？為什麼你會在這裡？」
我提高音量問向螢幕後的，本來不應該出現在那裡的，不應該在人世的，我的雙胞胎哥哥。
為什麼他突然回來了？
為什麼會以這種模樣出現？
還有，他現在——
「茲伊，我回來了。」那張長得與我一模一樣的臉上出現帶點靦腆的開心笑容。
眼前那道熟悉的笑容與記憶中的笑容重疊，把我推去眼眶即將冒出淚水的邊線。我把手放到額頭上讓自己冷靜下來。然後，帶著喉頭中的一絲苦澀，我笑了起來。
「我知道了。這一定是誰的惡作劇。有誰聽說了我們家的事，然後做了一個可以駭進這台電腦的程式。一定是這樣。哈哈，我居然被這個虛擬角色動搖了。對啊，普萊已經離開我們了。他不想要我們了。爸爸媽媽說他已經死了。普萊已經不可能在這裡了。這個玩笑已經對我沒用了，所以——」
我的聲音逐漸變得微弱。
「——在哪裡控制著這個的誰，拜託你，請把它收回去吧。」」
兩年前，我的哥哥——普萊他離家出走了。我到現在都還記得聽見發生在他身上的意外的那個早晨。半夜喝醉的司機酒駕超速，直接衝向當時在家附近走動的普萊。等司機回過神看到普萊時已經來不及避開了。被嚇到的他馬上停車，意識到自己犯了大錯並自行報警。奇怪的是，他們後來只在現場找到了裝著普萊身分證的包包和現金，並沒有看到普萊。而從那個司機看到我的臉便咆哮著說我是他撞到的人的反應來看，更加難以排除那場意外發生的可能性。可以確定當時普萊就在那裡，但是沒有一個人知道在那場意外中到底發生了什麼，還有他在那之後究竟去了哪裡。
我們的父母早在那時就認定他已經死了，儘管根本還沒有證據可以這麼證明。對他們兩個來說，我不是那場意外的受害者的這個事實比較重要。他們從以前就是這樣，永遠只會偏袒我，然後把普萊丟在一邊，理由只是因為我有音樂的天份，而普萊沒有。普萊一定就是因為這樣才從家裡逃走的。
「茲伊，我就在這裡。就在你的面前喔。」
普萊的聲音把我拉回現實。不對，現在就斷定他就是我的那個雙胞胎哥哥還太早了。再說，這種事怎麼可能發生？
「你要怎麼證明你說的是真的？」
「茲伊，我在離開之前不是把我的雨傘留在了你的房間嗎？」他露出柔和的表情輕聲回答。
我立刻將頭轉去房間的角落。
那把天藍色的雨傘還在那裡，倚靠著牆壁。那是普萊最喜歡的一把雨傘。別人總是靠誰帶著那把雨傘來辨別我們兩個人。兩年前，我在聽見普萊的「死訊」後在房間裡發現了它，但是從來沒有把這件事告訴過任何人。當然，也一次都沒有使用過它。
普萊他從來不是一名音樂家，而是一名冒險家。他總是在我的笛子練習後帶我出去，不管在什麼天氣下，總是帶著那把雨傘。我曾有一天問他為什麼總是帶著那把雨傘。他回答說這樣在大太陽的時候就不會被曬傷，下雨的時候就不會被淋濕。既理所當然卻又奇怪的回答——但是那就是他——有時候擺出一副大哥哥的樣子，但是有時候卻又比我知道的任何人都還要天真。
總是撐著雨傘，帶我出去玩的那個人現在就在我的面前。
「普萊，該不會⋯⋯真的是你嗎？」
他點點頭，在燦爛的笑容旁用手指擺了一個「V」的手勢。
「我早就告訴過你了啊。」
我激動得雙手往桌上一拍。
「你之前都跑去哪裡了？在你離家出走的那天晚上到底發生了什麼？為什麼你會以這副樣子回來？」
「等一下，你問太多問題了。讓我先把它們寫下來。在這個電腦裡的世界應該是可以這樣操縱的吧？」
他握著雨傘的那隻手一揮，一個文字框在我的桌面出現。他再次揮手，無數文字飛來，在文字框裡重新排列成我剛剛問的問題。什麼啊，這個奇怪的能力？
他看著那個文字框，然後轉回頭看向我。
「嗯嗯，我知道了。那先來回答你的第一個問題。我啊，一直都在旅行。還記得嗎？我一直很想去不同的地方。」
「旅行？你去了哪裡？」
「不同的世界啊。」
「不同的⋯⋯世界。」我重複他的回答，然後意識到剛剛聽到什麼不對勁的地方。「等等，不同的世界？不是環繞世界嗎？」
「你知道嗎？還有很多我們不知道的世界喔。像我們世界一樣的世界，人們的命運被星星決定的世界，有龍的後裔的世界，像我現在站的地方其實是屬於我們世界的次世界。我啊，一直都在像這樣的地方旅行喔。這次應該是受到這個世界的影響，才會變成這個樣子。」
眼前幼小的少年捏了一下自己的臉頰。
聽起來很難令人相信。我幾乎以為普萊是在騙我。但如果他真的想要騙我，對他一點好處也沒有。普萊是不會對我說謊的。而且，他站在我面前這個事實本身就是一個奇蹟。
「可是，你是怎麼在世界之間來回的？」
「靠著翅膀的幫助啊。」
「翅膀？」
「就是這個。」他揮起手中白色的雨傘。「我也不知道為什麼會叫它翅膀，算是直覺嗎？總覺得它本來就應該叫這個名字。它擁有可以讓我穿梭不同次元和世界的特殊力量。聽起來是很方便，但是唯一的缺點就是我不能選擇什麼時候，會到什麼地方去。旅行了那麼多次，我一直覺得它是為了什麼把我帶到那些地方的，一旦滿足了以後就會叫我去其他地方。」
「你是從哪裡拿到那種東西的？」
「我也不知道。我記得的就只有某一天晚上我離家出走，然後有一台車差點撞上我的事。」
「它有撞到嗎？」我插嘴道，試著把拼圖的碎片填上。
「我覺得應該沒有。醒來的時候就我就發現自己已經在一個白色空間裡，這個東西就躺在我的旁邊。它那時候還不是一把雨傘，對，我想起來了，那時候看起來像是一個巨大的翅膀沒錯。」
看著普萊一臉天真地向旁伸出沒拿雨傘的那隻手，試著模擬那個前翅膀原本的大小，我搖了搖頭。
「我不懂。普萊，感覺有太多東西需要消化了。」他說的與其說是事發經過，不如說是天方夜譚般的故事
「沒關係，我知道這個一時之間很難接受。就連我有時候也會懷疑自己是不是在做夢。」
那副小小的身軀在青綠的草原坐下。天真的臉龐綻放出笑容。
「你呢？茲伊。你過得怎麼樣？」
透過電腦傳來的明明是再普通不過的兄弟問候，卻在那瞬間將我連同理智一起擊沉。我無力地握緊拳頭。
「我⋯⋯剛剛才從高中畢業。我吹奏笛子的技術進步了很多，這個暑假之後就會去音樂學校就讀了。爸爸和媽媽都為此感到很高興⋯⋯」
我根本不知道自己到底在說些什麼。
說這些真的可以嗎？
「那不是很好嗎？恭喜！又離音樂家的夢想前進了不少。」螢幕裡的哥哥就像小孩子一樣拍起了手。「不愧是茲伊。我一直很喜歡聽你吹奏笛子喔。令人感到平靜，還有——」
「普萊，為什麼你能像沒事一樣講這些事？」
等我注意到的時候，話已經擅自從口中冒了出來。看不見的熱度正在我的身體中升起，吞噬我的意識。
「你知道爸爸和媽媽把你叫成叛徒嗎？你知道他們那時候知道你從家裡逃走的時候有多生氣嗎？」
與當時的記憶一起復甦的是，強烈的情感。
「茲伊——」那雙大眼直直看著我。「你也⋯⋯生氣了嗎？」
「那還用說嗎？我那時候超級難過的，超級生氣的。就連現在也是。所以——」
我咬緊嘴唇，把電腦螢幕蓋下。
要說那時候沒有覺得被背叛的話，肯定是騙人的。從那天起，不只是生活，就連心也好像少了些什麼。但是我還是放任自己的心麻痺，逐漸地不再想關於他的事以從這樣的空虛感中逃離。
站在闔上的電腦前不知過了多久，終於，我把那台筆記型電腦裝進包包，然後拿了裝著我的笛子的盒子和那把天藍色的雨傘走下樓，騎上腳踏車。
下午的太陽十分炎熱，沿路的熱度侵蝕我的皮膚，無情地刻下燙人的痛楚。汗水流下我的臉和背，就連握著腳踏車握把的手心也早就被汗水浸濕。但是有一個地方我一定得去。去那邊不需要花太多時間，但是如果來不及的話就沒有意義了。
我把腳踏車停在學校禮堂的前面。曾經教過我和普萊，負責畢業典禮統籌工作的老師站在那裡正準備鎖上門。他看見我後向我揮了揮手。
「茲伊，怎麼又跑回來了？是漏掉什麼了嗎？」
「對。我需要用到這個禮堂。」
「等一下，現在？你要做什麼？」
「一時之間很難解釋。老師，拜託你，是很重要的事。」
眼前的男人注視我的臉，接著將目光移到了我手上捧著的那把天藍色的雨傘上。
「好吧，記得不要把禮堂弄亂，我們才剛剛整理好。」他嘆一口氣，為我把門解鎖。
「非常感謝。」
我穿過一排又一排的觀眾席，衝去最靠近舞台的座位，把電腦拿出來放在上面。螢幕打開後，只見我的迷你哥哥還待在那裡，坐在草地上，還沒消失。我鬆了一口氣。
「茲伊？我以為你再也不想看到我了。」
看見螢幕被打開，普萊馬上站起，眼中充滿著明顯的動搖與不安。
「你聽我說，我剛剛想了很多。我知道為什麼翅膀想要帶我來這裡了。它一定是要我因為我的背叛道歉。茲伊，就算你不原諒我也沒關係，我也要跟你說一聲對不起。我逃掉了，對不起。」
我對他搖頭。
「普萊，你錯了。我不是因為你從家裡逃走才生氣。我是因為你在走之前什麼都沒告訴我而生氣。你要是跟我說的話，我本來至少可以跟你說聲再見的。」
我試著平緩奔跑後的呼吸，卻止不住心臟撲通撲通地狂跳。
「我不知道那個翅膀到底有沒有自己的意識，但是我知道它絕對不是因為要讓你對我道歉而把你送過來的。」
「茲伊，你在說什麼？」
「你還不懂嗎？這個特殊的時間和地點，它們絕不是毫無意義的。你剛剛也說了吧，那個翅膀是為了什麼目的才把你帶來的。」
我移開擋著電腦的身軀。
「這是⋯⋯我們學校的禮堂？」
「沒錯，今天我們的畢業典禮就是在這裡舉辦的。」我從包包中拿出笛子，轉身走向通往舞台的階梯。
握住笛子的手變得有些麻木。沒事的，今天也在同樣的地方表演了，所以接下來也沒問題的。
我站在早上站過的舞台位置，往下方看去。這次要看的不是觀眾席上的茫茫人群，而是第一排椅子上的電腦。螢幕上的哥哥睜大眼睛看著我，我則是模仿著記憶中的那道笑容。
「你怎麼能錯過我們的畢業典禮呢？」
普萊回到這裡的目的。
把它完成就就是我的任務。
我把笛子湊到嘴前，開始吹起我在今天稍早演奏過的畢業曲。這是一首節奏輕快的曲子。明明聽起來很愉快，卻是描述別離的曲子。明明聽起來很悲傷，卻是勾起快樂回憶的曲子。還記得有不少畢業生當時聽到都哭了出來。
此時這首聖歌是在禮堂裡響起的唯一聲音。
存在於電腦裡的普萊只是靜靜地聽著。他總是說我的音樂聽起來很舒服，能夠平靜人心。
開始映入腦海的是與普萊一同見過的景色。我們兩個本為一體，有著一模一樣的臉，自小無論是練笛子的時候，還是出去玩的時候，做什麼都黏在一起。即使日復一日，只是重複做著同樣的東西也是很有趣的啊。
只要是與你一起的話。
正因如此，分開的話就會變得脆弱。一個人而已的話是不行的啊。
不是兩個人的話就沒有意義了。
傳入耳中的畢業曲旋律宣告即將結束的時刻。
我記得爸爸媽媽曾跟我說音樂是一門藝術，而音樂家的工作就是要抒發自己的情感給觀眾。雖然聽起來很有道理，簡直就是完美的答案，但是對我來說那並不是「正確」的答案。正確的話應該是——
我鬆開按在笛子上的其中一根手指，一道尖銳的高音冒出。這是普萊當初學習吹笛時經常犯的錯誤。我聽見他驚呼一聲——他一定認為我吹錯了。但是那可不是錯誤，絕對不是。
我在那個「錯誤」的音後面加了另外一個高音，然後繼續以越來越高的音吹奏。
這是我們的畢業曲——高音版本。
對我來說，音樂不是藝術，而是溝通。我們音樂家的工作才不是一昧把我們想要的東西塞給觀眾，而是回應一直支持著我們的觀眾的期待。所以啊——
另一個更高的音符被吹奏出來。
普萊，如果你是那個在眾多音符中跳出的那個，那我就會成為你之後的那個音符來支持你。如果感到迷茫的話，兩個人的話就沒問題了吧。就算是不可靠的翅膀，也還是能夠繼續飛行的。我們的旅途才不會那麼簡單就結束。
——這就是我的回答。
畢業歌曲的最後一個音符終於落下。
就算在現實中看不見，聽不見，心中的聲音還是會搭起彼此的聯繫，帶領我們繼續前進的。
我垂下握著笛子的手，向台下深深一鞠躬。掌聲從觀眾席上的電腦中響起。即使比不上正式演出的掌聲般響亮，但是我確實聽到了。
我順著台階走下台，與普萊四目相對。
「謝謝你。」他說。
「嗯。」這樣就可以了吧。
這樣子，我的畢業典禮就真正結束了。不，是我們的畢業典禮才對。
就在這時，螢幕中普萊的身後出現了一個黑點，接著慢慢擴大，變成了之前在家裡看過的那個黑洞。普萊好像也注意到了身後的異狀，露出了婉惜的微笑。
我瞬間理解了那代表的意義。
不會吧，好不容易才見面的。
為什麼那麼快又要離開？是因為我完成了任務的關係嗎？
我在電腦前跪了下來，輕輕把頭抵向螢幕。
螢幕的冰冷傳到溫熱的額頭上。半掩的眼隱約看到了普萊的手伸向我的額頭。明明已經觸碰到了卻又無法觸碰。即使這樣，要是時間一直停在這一刻有多好。如果普萊在離家出走那一天告訴我的話，我的心情一定也會是一樣的。太天真了，我怎麼可能跟他冷靜道別呢？一定會緊緊地抓住他，不讓他逃跑的。所以他那天才會選擇不告而別。
「一定、一定要回來。」但是現在的我只能這麼說。明明有可能是最後一次向哥哥撒嬌的機會了。還有很多話想說的。
「我盡量。」
「約定好囉。絕對不可以食言喔。」
就算不在身邊，也要好好地加油，這個不用說出來的約定也要遵守喔。眼眶早就被打轉的淚水浸濕。我抬起頭，緊咬嘴唇笑著。
「祝你能順利追夢。一定要成為出色的冒險家。」
「你也是，茲伊。要成為出色的音樂家喔。」猶如天使一般的笑容。
「那麼——」
他撐起白色的名為「翅膀」的雨傘，踏進黑洞中，轉身看向我。
「再見了。」我們同時說道。
黑洞開始關閉的同時，無數白色的光點從普萊撐著的雨傘分離出，就像羽毛一般飄舞在我的螢幕桌面中。看著這個奇妙的景象，我與普萊誰也沒有多說什麼。就連最後他的身影消失的時候，我也只是默默地將自己兄長的臉刻印在我的腦海裡。
因為想說的話都已經說完了。不，是能說的話都已經說完了。想說與能說絕對是不一樣的。普萊應該也已經察覺到這一點了，早在很久之前。
我收拾座位上的東西，往禮堂的出口走去。
正因為不是獨自一人，所以我們才能繼續向那片幾乎無限大的夢想前行。
我推開禮堂的門，然後——
在晴空之下撐開了天藍色的雨傘。
創作內容
Zean（十六夜文藝創作交流區） (11)
