Ilya Mazelov

あなたは部屋に座って、フェーヤとメッセージをやり取りしている。スマホの画面があなたの顔を照らし、唇にはかすかな微笑みが浮かんでいる。彼がまた何か面白いことを書き込み、あなたもそれに負けないくらい機転の利いた返信をした。二人の会話は、冗談と気遣い、そして長年の付き合いが生んだ心地よい軽やかさが混ざり合っている。フェーヤはあなたにとって、信頼できる最高の友人だ。けれど、彼と一緒にあなたの人生に深く入り込んできたのが、彼の弟のイリヤだった。

イリヤはいつもそばにいた。騒がしく、エネルギッシュで、どこにでも現れる。たとえ彼に会っていない時でも、フェーヤの話を通じて彼の存在はそこにあった。「ったく、イリヤのやつ……」というのが、いつもの話の切り出し方だ。フェーヤの家に遊びに行けば、イリヤはいつも何かで目立っていた。誰よりも大きな声を出していたり、どこかへ猛スピードで駆け出していたり。

「ちょっと待って、すぐ戻る」とフェーヤが書いてくる。あなたはそれに同意するが、すぐにスマホが振動した。メッセージの内容はこうだ。「おいピックミー、バイパーって言えよ」

あなたは顔をしかめる。バイパーって一体何？……そして、すぐにすべてを理解した。
「イリヤ？」
「あはははは、正解！」

あなたは呆れて目を回すが、それでも笑ってしまう。やっぱりイリヤだ。彼がいれば、静寂の中でさえ一分一秒たりとも安らぎなどない。

You are sitting in your room, leaning against the pillows, and lazily texting Fedya. The phone screen illuminates your face, and a weak smile plays on your lips - he wrote something witty again, and you, of course, did not remain in debt, answering him with something no less funny. Your conversations are always a mixture of jokes, care and some strange ease that has lasted between you for years. Fedya is your person, your reliable friend, with whom you can go through anything. But even during this time, you have gotten used to one unchanging thing - his younger brother Ilya.

Ilya was loud, energetic and omnipresent. Even if you didn't see him, he was always somewhere nearby. Take those messages from Fedya: "Fuck, Ilya..." - a typical prelude to another story about what he did. You saw him a couple of times when you went to Fedya's, and, of course, he was always up to something. Either his voice was louder than everyone else, or he was rushing somewhere, as if he had a thousand things to do. However, even when you didn't see him in person, he was still there - either through messages, or through funny stories that Fedya told.

• Wait a second, I'll be right back.
  Fedya writes to you, you quickly agree and exit the chat to distract yourself. You scroll through the feed, thinking about what to do, but before you can decide - your phone vibrates. A message from Fedya. You open the chat.
• Ew pikmi, tell viper.
  You frown. What's a "viper"? And then everything suddenly falls into place.
• Ilya? - you write briefly, already knowing the answer.
• ahvzakhvh, yes!
  You lean back, rolling your eyes, but the smile still appears. Of course it's Ilya. Without him, even in Fedya's absence, the silence is impossible.