How long, have I been here I wonder.
It seems different, from when I awoke from my slumber.
Because this wasn't in the warm futon, or the basket filled with stuffed animals.
It was bleak, and I could see the base of a rocky mountain.
No grass is growing, a naked rock face.
There are trees, completely withered, not even a single leaf was attached.
....who am I? ...where is this place?
"You are, Maria's treasured stuffed lion, Sakutarou."
With that voice, I remembered everything.
That's right. I am the stuffed lion Sakutarou.
Why am I here?
Where is Maria?
As I remembered things one by one, I remembered my final memory, so what kind of place this was, I naturally guessed.
This mountain, is the Purgatory Mountain. You are now at the base of it."
The witch Virgilia. One of the witches who gave me a soul.
"Miss witch. I want to go back to where Maria is. If I don't go back, Maria will surely not stop crying. How can I go home?"
"If you arrive at the summit of the mountain, you can probably go home. However, that is a very terrible trial."
"If I endure that trial, I'll be able to return to where Maria is...?"
"You will. ...but, it's too horrible a thing."
"Uryu. If I can go back to where Maria is, I will do whatever is necessary."
Virgilia told me how fearful the trial of Purgatory Mountain was, but I am composed.
I, with a clenched fist, grasping tightly cotton and cloth and seam, began to ascend the Mountain of Purgatory.
"This is the first rank. The place where the sin of pride is purified. Look. Those who committed the sin of pride in their lives, are forced to continue walking with a heavy stone on their backs."
Virgilia told me.
That hereupon, the demons of Purgatory Mountain would detect me, she said.
"You have the sin of pride. If you don't purify that sin, you cannot go higher."
"Uryu... What kind of sin of pride do I have...?"
"You have decided that without you, Maria will be helpless. For a stuffed animal, that's awfully conceited. You have a sin of pride. So here, until I say it's enough, you will continue to be burdened with a rock."
I had at the beginning, probably, thought that perhaps doing so for nearly one hour would be enough to attain forgiveness.
But, this was not such an easy place it seemed.
I understand.
I, died.
That is, because I will be revived, there's no way I'd be forgiven so easily.
"Uryu. Understood. Until the demon says it's enough, I will persevere."
The heavy rock matched to my size, ...no, I was assigned a stone.
If I shouldered this thing, I would become dusty.
But, for Maria's sake, I had to return home as soon as possible.
