sinnesspiel | Shiki Novel Translations 6.6

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Shiki Novel Translations 6.6

Specks of light dotted the western mountain. Voices mingled calling out 'Ooi!'

"Man, she's not along any of the roadways," said Tashiro as Yuuki wiped his sweat. The mountain nights were cool but as expected when climbing up and down the slope, it got hot.

There were limits to searching with a hand light within the village. Following the forest paths, pushing through the surroundings and coming back lead to many repeats but there was an uneasiness that they hadn't searched enough.

'Ooi,' came a voice from very nearby on the mountain, and for a moment, Yuuki anticipated good news but the voice that replied back was tinged with disappointment.

"This's, it's not gonna work out unless we give a full blown mountain hunt. Let's regroup around the Maruyasu lumberyard."

Hirosawa sighed and climbed back onto the forest path, Yuuki following suit. It was only one block of mountains surrounding a small village, and yet trying to find a single person amongst that made one realize, the mountains really were broad.

Fatigued as they were, while hobbling down the forest path, Tashiro and the young man walking with him came to a stop. It was a monk from the temple. He was called Ikebe, if he recalled. He was just approaching the Kanemasa house.

"What's the matter, Ikebe-kun?" Hirosawa asked, Ikebe turning to face him with a complicated expression.

"I wonder if anyone in this house has seen Megumi-chan. Wouldn't it be better to ask them?"

Hirosawa blinked. "At this hour?"

"Yeah," Ikebe smiled, embarrassed. "The Madame at the temple was talking about it to Takami-san. Maybe there's a chance she met the people from this house, and couldn't she have forgot the time, like."

"But,"

"And we can't just say ''at this hour' can we, since Megumi-chan was seen climbing the hill? In that case, they may have seen her."

That is true, said Hirosawa making a complicated expression himself as he looked up at the dark house. Yuuki understood Hirosawa's bewilderment. Since they'd moved in, the inhabitants hadn't shown themselves. It looked like those who lived there had no intend to proactively mingle with the villagers. With high fencing that couldn't be peered through, together with such a closed off house, it was thought that the new inhabitants wanted to draw a line between themselves and the villagers. Calling on such people at this hour to ask about a little girl's whereabouts, however proper, was cause for indecision.

"Shall we try?" The one to say this was Hasegawa. "You're absolutely right. They may have seen her, at least. If that's the case, they may know which direction she had gone, or something along those lines. If Megumi-chan is injured and stranded, what's important is finding her every bit sooner as possible."

That's true, Hirosawa nodded. Yuuki and the others approached the tightly closed gates. On the side of one gatepost pillar was a side door, and on the side of that an intercom was visible. ---Yes, even if they were intruding and waking somebody, all that they needed do was speak over the intercom, so doing this much, in case of an emergency, was bound to be forgivable.

As their representative, Hirosawa placed his finger on the button. While looking over the faces about him, he timidly pressed the call chime. Twice, three times, and the fourth time there was an answer.

"Yes."

"Uhm---I'm sorry for disturbing you late at night. There's something we'd like to ask, but," Hirosawa conveyed briefly that a high school girl had gone missing and that they were wondering whether they had seen her.

"One moment please."

The voice on the other end of the intercom sonded young. A number of people in the village had said they'd caught sight of a young man in about his mid twenties, so it was said so, it must have been him, Hirosawa thought.

After a bit, the side door opened, Hirosawa faltered. The one who appeared with a flashlight in hand was the man of the rumors.

"Thank you for waiting."

"I am sorry again. At this hour."

"No, no. ---It's just, I'd asked every member of the house but, it seems nobody has seen the young lady."

Is that right, Hirosawa sighed.

"That she had climbed up this way is certain?"

"Yes. The last time she was seen, it was when she was climbing this hill, it seems."

Is that right, he said stepping outside and closing the door, smiling at the blinking Hirosawa. "I was told by the master to help. They must be worried, he said."

"No--that's," Hirosawa said, dismayed. "To have you do that much for us would be,"

"No. This is the sort of thing we must ban together for. Ah, I am called Tatsumi!"

"I am Hirosawa. I'm sorry for the trouble. Thank you very much."

Tatsumi smiled. "But I may only get in the way. I'm not very familiar with the lay of the land around here, so please instruct me in what to do."

The group split up to split their coverage of the mountains. Yuuki had merely been following Hirosawa and the others. At some point he ended up in a line with Tatsumi and Ikebe, because it was clear they were the only ones unfamiliar with the mountains.

"Ah, is that the way to the temple?" Tatsumi said to Ikebe, shining his light on the surroundings. "The other day, I had met the fellow named Muroi-san. He was just coming out of the Ozaki clinic."

"The Junior Monk? Heh?"

"You did not hear about it?"

"Yeah. The Junior Monk is the type of person who wouldn't gossip about things like that at all.

Tatsumi smiled. "He was indeed a mild man."

"That's right. If it was me, I'd spread it all over right away though. At the end of the day, I'm a Hachigoro at heart."

"Is there any News Value to spread with that?"

"Oh, definitely. Everyone in the village is extremely interested, you should know! I mean, your fine house is rather strange, and since moving all the way out here they haven't stepped out even once, have they? So with that, what kind of people are they, and the like, is everywhere."

"It isn't that we don't come out at all, but. I see, that's what it's come to, huh?"

"To put it bluntly, it's thought that you're avoiding the villagers. I mean, I was completely surprised when Tatsumi-san stepped out like this!"

"Avoiding? Why is that?"

"Yeah, well, since moving in, you haven't come out at all. There's that tall fence, and the gate's always shut up real tight."

"Really?" Tatsumi blinked, as he murured. "Maybe in that case, it was not good to move in without giving greetings anywhere. We hadn't been into the habit of socializing with our neighbors much, so it really just never crossed anyone's minds."

"Oh. Well, then." At Ikebe's response, Yuuki laughed.

"That's how it goes when you live in the city. Unless there's a notice going around the neighborhood, you don't usually even know your neighbor's faces, and if you live in an apartment you don't even have that much. You leave the gates closed and even during the day time you lock your doors. Out here though, even in the middle of the night, everything is left open and unlocked. In the beginning even I was a little reluctant to get used to it, myself."

"Yuuki-san also moved in from the city?"

"That's right. That's why, even if knew from the start that that's how it was, I was reluctant. Somehow, I just couldn't stay calm about it, so I would end up locking up the front entryway. Though to start with our house never even had a lock on the back door."

"Heh?"

"It was like---like I'd left the gas oven on somewhere, it felt like. It took about half a year for me to get used to it."

"So that's how it is, huh?" Tatsumi nodded. "I'll have to report that when I go back. I don't think anyone's thought about that at all."

"Though I don't think it's anything you have to force on yourselves. But, isn't it boring? Bored up in the house all the time like that."

Yuuki nodded, too. "You've finally moved all the way out here after all. You can leave the house without locking the doors, know everybody in the neighborhood, easily come and go helping each other out. ---That is the greatest thing of all about small societies like this."

"Isn't it just?" Tatsumi nodded with a smile, and Yuuki devoted himself to the search. It made him uneasy to get too caught up in small talk, and in doing so some distance had been put between themselves and Hirosawa and the others who had started on ahead. While hurrying his feet, he thought to himself that even with such a difficult move in, the family wasn't really all that strange.
---All it is is what it is, as was so often the case.

Maybe because they had closed their mouths and were hurrying ahead, they were able to overhear another nearby search group's conversation.

"Man, this is really eating up all kinds of time."

"It'll be great if we find her, but. I don't think I could deal with finding her already en route to Buddhahood."

Without thinking, Yuuki looked towards the forest. Through the spans of dark underbrush and thicket, the flashlights couldn't be seen. It seemed there were two or three but he couldn't tell which people precisely they were.

"Sure hope we don't. Anyway, ain't she probably just out fooling around somewhere? Come tomorrow, she'll just come back with a bland look on her face."

"She just might. It is the Shimizu girl, ain't it? That girl likes to show herself off. Makes you wonder if she's not getting it on shacked up with some guy."

"If she's just shacking it up that'd be for the best, though. I mean, they're saying just recently the old people up in Yamairi were killed off, weren't they? I just hope that freak's not still hanging around somewhere."

"Those were natural deaths, weren't they?"

"I've got to wonder about that. Just before that there was that thing--the little boy from the Maeda household, wasn't it? There was a hit and run on him, wasn't there? Things ain't as peaceful as they used to be, even in this village."

"I don't wanna say this too loud but, I personally think we might just get this over with faster if instead of searching the mountains we arrested Ohkawa's boy and asked him where she is."

"More like Kanemasa. After all there is a young guy with them, isn't there? Couldn't he have dragged her into the bushes out here?"

Yuuki came to an immediate halt, turning towards Tatsumi. Tatsumi pointed to himself with his index finger, a comically dumbfounded look on his face.

"Yeah, yeah! There's talk that the car that did a hit and run on the Maedas was the Kanemasa's car, you know!"

"Now hey, you, didn't the Junior Monk from the temple have a talk with them?"

"No matter what else is going on, I don't think that one's true."

"I gotta wonder. In the first place all the folks in the village are always treat the temple a little too special. Even with the Shimizu's daughter, we can't be too sure. I mean, that Junior's past thirty already and still single, you know."

"The temple has another one on the younger side, too. Couldn't it have been him?"

Yuuki was somehow too ashamed to keep walking. He waited for the voices to move far on ahead. Tatsumi and Ikebe stopped, as if waiting for Yuuki. The sounds of others pushing their way through the underbrush grew distant, until Yuuki let out a secret sigh of relief.

"....Please don't think we're all like that."

"It's nothing for Yuuki-san to make such a face about. An outsider is just that," Tatsumi said with a forced smile. "All the more for staying so strangely indoors. It really would have been for the best had we gone around giving greetings."

"Even if you went around introducing yourselves, you would still be seen around as outsiders...." Ikebe breathed a sigh. "To start with, the villagers are basically family, after all."

"That is how it goes." Speaking with an intentionally flippant tone to the two, he bowed his head. The tendency of the village to exclude foreign substances as a matter of course was something Yuuki was all too personally familiar with.

Ikebe laughed. "Once we find Megumi-chan, her parents will be put at ease, and we'll have proof to clear our names. --Let us go!"

The angry voices shouting out 'Oo!' went on into the night past three in the morning. Hearing 'I found her!' Yuuki and the others pushing their way through the thicket looked up. As they looked around for the source of the voice, Hirosawa and the others came hurrying back from a nearby slope.

"It was from that way!"

Yuuki and the others headed in the direction indicated. Yuuki himself had completely lost his sense of where he was but according to Hirosawa, Yuuki and the others were apparently fairly far north of the western mountains.

"Far ahead of here is a narrow mountain stream, and across that is the northern mountain. The one with the temple."

So they were right where the northern and western mountains crossed. Going down the slope, it seemed to come out to a cove like area where the Maruyasu lumberyard isolated the terraced fields.

The lights from within the village mingled, along with the voices of the people. From here and there and there and here the sounds of the underbrush giving way was heard, people coming to gather round. Hurrying along after Hirosawa and Tashiro at the front, at last the place where the lights gathered together could be seen. There was a difference in level about one person's height tall, and beneath that in a hollowed out place the people gathered.

"Did you find her?"

As Hirosawa came running, a man wearing a fire brigade happi coat turned to face him. "She's here. ---Right here."

"Is she hurt?" Hirosawa asked, the man cocking his head.

"At least it doesn't look like she is."

Yuuki who had come running was also able to see the girl being helped up by so many people. She didn't look to be injured, but she was entirely limp.

"Hey, you're Megumi-chan, ain'tcha? You okay?" A middle aged man who helped her up gave the girl a shake. Someone's voice called out: "It'd be better not to shake her too much!"

"Wouldn't it be best to call the Ozaki Doctor? She might've hit her head."

"Ah... That's true."

Just as the middle aged man spoke, Megumi's eyes opened. The lights gathered around were brilliantly bright, so she raised her hand to cover her eyes.

"You're conscious? Are you okay?"

To the surrounding questions, Megumi nodded. She seemed out of it somehow but she didn't look to have any injuries.

"How do you feel? Can you stand?"

When spoken to, she gave a somehow mindless, slow-witted not. Gripping the hands offered from right and left, somehow, she was able to stand.

"Thank God," came a relieved voice. With the men's support, Megumi staggeringly started down the slope.

"If she can walk by herself, I guess there's nothing to worry about," Hasegawa said, Yuuki letting out a deep sigh. If noting else, it was good she was safe.

"She must've fallen off the ledge, huh? Just glad we found her, honestly." Tashiro gave a broad smile and Yuuki nodded. Boisterously relieved sighs and smiling voices flowed back into the village, people coming down from the mountains in groups of twos and threes.

When Ikebe returned to the temple, it was after four, and the light from the office next to the temple living quarters was still on. He quietly opened the entryway door, standing ont he dirty floor as he tried to brush off the mud and scraps of grass clinging to his jeans when, perhaps having heard him, Seishin came.

"Welcome home. I am sorry for having put you through the trouble."

Spoken to by the assistant head priest, the younger Ikebe bowed his head. Ikebe couldn't hate that nature of Seishin's. While he was ever mindful of having reserved manners no matter how long he had known someone, which could make him thought of as constrained, it was much better than him treating people overbearingly.

"How did it go?" Seishin asked, worried. The assistant head priest stayed up late often enough but today he may have been up waiting on Ikebe.

"We found her."

"Ah, that's good. In the mountains after all?"

"Yes. Just at the ledge in the back yard of Maruyasu. It appears she fell on the slope or something along those lines; she was unconscious when we found her."

"Is she all right?"

"It seems so," Ikebe said, sitting on the ledge of the entryway. He spoke while taking off his leather boots. "When she was called, her eyes opened. She seemed kind of lifeless, but as far as injuries, it looks like she didn't have any, and with a little support she was able to walk down the mountain."

"Ah... that's good."

Thinking whether 'good' could be said or not made Ikebe remember Megumi's state. Megumi seemed absent minded. With a gaze seemingly unfixed, her gait while walking, even supported, was unnatural. The state of having had a terrifying experience, like heart hadn't sobered to the experience was what it looked like.

"I wonder if something happened?" While listening to Seishin's question asked with a voice from the bottom of his heart, Ikebe thought of complicated matters, getting the mud off of his shoes.

"That's something we can't be sure of, as Megumi-chan herself didn't say a thing. Even if you spoke to her, she seemed inattentive, or like she was spaced out. Once she's home, slept, and calmed down, they could try to ask again."

Ikebe stopped short in his answer.

The village was small. At some point, that conversation would become a rumor, one which would probably come back through the temple. Ikebe who came into Sotoba from the city, was unpleasantly familiar with the narrowness of the "society" of the village.

(Even though he's a good person....)

Ikebe thought. Towards the assistant head priest, Ikebe held unconditional good will. Yet, there were people saying strange things. Just like before when the child was hit, he couldn't help but wonder why.

Honestly, thought Ikebe, suddenly remembering a rumor he had overheard. He stole the faintest side glance at Seishin's profile.

It was a rumor he could certainly never ask Mitsuo or Tsurumi about. Was it really true? Maybe the reason the villagers looked upon him so strangely was----could it be because of that?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

H-huh? Huh? What about Seishin?? Are they thinking of him as a pedo?? What strange rumor do they mean? I get it he seems otherworldly at times, but???

I assume the rumor Ikebe's wondering about pertains to the scar and his suicide attempt. Though they do casually accuse him of kidnapping and raping a high school girl essentially for being "old" (and Tatsumi and Ikebe in the same breath for being young), and we know there are rumors of him covering for a hit and run, etc. so rumors abounds for the poor guy.

Edited 2013-10-20 13:18 (UTC)

8D - makes sense. I forgot, the temple must have been aware of his suicide attempt...

Wow people sure are nasty.

Aaaaand this is the nasty side of the village. I like how before they were all about how the village is one big family and peaceful and an awesome place to live, but little by little we get to see the little interactions that establish all the villagers as less than perfect individuals, this is another reason why I love how the book focuses on a wide range of characters that help establish the setting the way the anime never did. It's shocking but realistic how disrespectful the characters are, especially to those they're outwardly nice to like Seishin. Still, it's also absolutely hilarious. He's climbing da mountains, he's snatching yo villagers up. Hide yo kids hide yo wife~

I don't even like Seishin and even I had to wince and go "Damn, that's cold" when translating the line of casual rape accusations.

Don't go in the bushes, someone might grab ya. Don't go in the bushes, someone might stab ya... The novels are inspiring a whole new Shiki soundtrack over here.

Seishin is many things, most of them not good, but he's definitely not a rapist... although he does like younger women!

The Sounds of Sotoba: a Compilation.

Is the upcoming chapter really scary? You should post a really frightening section for Halloween! Vampires are a Halloween must-have.

The next sub-chapter's a little creepy, it'll probably be out in a few hours. The one coming out Halloween week, not so much, I'm afraid. It's a bit long too, so I don't think it'll be a two-sub-chapter week, though the one after that has Sunako's first appearance and some excerpts from Seishin's novel, which seem appropriate. 'Tis the season, I'll see what I can pull.

at this rate I will not even be surprised if people think that Seishin is gay too. His being unmarried even at 33 and likes to hang out with Toshio, when he's generally a loner? People do find them weird together, and maybe not only for one reason. They do have wild imaginations. And with the way Seishin is strange, being delicate and feminine to a degree... I will not be surprised.

Makes you wonder how Toshio reacts when these rumors about Seishin reach him, if anyone's got the gall to talk like that about his relatively well known best friend in front of him.

That Seishin starts going over to the hospital, which doubles as Toshio's house, to stay the night several times is not gonna help those rumors...

nah, not to mention that... Toshio has relatively unhappy marriage that I'm sure the people there have known to an extent.... God knows how many "what ifs" situations have they been thinking. Maybe those people are also even wondering about Toshio and Ritsuko? Aaand other unmarried young nurses?

Toshio might be like "Heh? Wtf?" and then be lolololololollll but perhaps will sometimes use the rumors just to annoy people... And Takae (how mad she will be) and Seishin will be like "sigh don't drag me into whatever is this, not again"

I wonder about Toshio and Ritsuko. Or rather, I don't actually think anything is meant to be going on, but it would please me if it were or if there were actually anything to wonder about. Sadly, I know Ritsuko deserves better... She really is the type of girl to just make the doctor some sandwiches while he's working overtime without any strings attached. Granted, who could expect his wife to make him dinner when he's spending the night with another man whose company he clearly prefers... But Ritsuko will still at least try to get him to take his feet of the table, and keep him from drinking beer during office hours. She's a vision of loveliness, neither being a pushover or too docile. She takes Natsuno's dismissive attitude without so much as a blink, genuinely fond of and worried about him. She loves her mother and boyfriend but ultimately refuses to cave to pressure to wed for their sake. She has a real knack with people without seeming glib. Anime Tohru has impeccable tastes (novel Tohru isn't really aware of her existence at this point).

"But Seishin, it solves that issue she has with the temple being 'above' us. As long as I'm on top."

oh yeah, I've heard somewhere that novel!Tohru isn't actually close to Ritsuko, even until his death, I believe. Also, I believe that Natsuno's manner of death in the novel will be similar to anime/manga?

Maybe, mayybeee if Seishin were born a woman, I can sort of imagine Toshio falling in love with her, but I doubt that they could be united still.

The irony is that Seishin'll actually end up being 'together' with a young girl (I lol) technically Sunako is way older than him, but still. But I cannot imagine Seishin actually loving her. Dunno. I think it will be a sympathy bond at most. (someone has analyzed about this too)

Right now Ritsuko is just a woman who works at the same place as his father, to Tohru. I don't even recall if he would be able to put a name to her face at this point. Given that some of his guilt is probably abated by the fact that Natsuno ends up alive and kicking, and even explicitly against them, I can see them wanting to make that impetus for Tohru to change stronger in the anime/manga by establishing him as having a crush on her previously.

I can see Ozaki/Seishin even with them left male having an equally strong argument in its favor, but I enjoy yaoi. Seishin being gay for Ozaki is an angle I've found well supported narratively. Ozaki falling for anyone is harder for me to imagine, and while I would solidly say Seishin is the most important individual in his life on a personal level, that's not enough for me to say it is love. If he were to be in love with anyone Seishin is a solid choice, but love isn't often that sensible, and other people as individuals seem to be fairly low on his scale of importance compared to their utility or what they represent in terms of his status and duty, so maybe a personal bond isn't what he'd fall for... Maybe in his own twisted way he does 'love' Kyouko out of utility.

All said, I'm of the personal opinion that the authoress is aware of typical fan reactions to various tropes. If she knows that some girl fans will inevitably hate the heroine if she gets the main guy, and that guys will hate guy characters that get the girls at times, and she has written as much regarding Ghost Hunt, then I assume she knows what will come from fandom when writing a complicated, angst-laden, intriguing male bond that's so central to the narrative. Moreover, it involves a tsundere hero with lines such as "don't get the wrong idea that I'm being a compassionate guy, okay?! I'm just doing my job as a doctor!" and Seishin having a semi-secret woodland path to his house, being in the habit of letting himself in unannounced to avoid his mother's ire, having the nurses throw Seishin at him to fix his sour moods... She can't not know what she's inviting. Frankly the lack of gay rumors are odd given I cannot say "well maybe it never occurred to HER, so it didn't occur to the villagers." She could have brought it up and dismissed it as something as ridiculous as anything else they come up with. Or maybe she thought bringing it up at all would fan the fires.

But then on the other hand, if she meant to go that way, I assume she wouldn't have avoided it; she's a big girl, tackling far heavier topics here than Brokeback Sotoba. She has said she's not a romance writer and I can see how that angle could overshadow things if it took any limelight.

I default to platonic assumptions, but I greatly personally enjoy reading into it other ways. All the more because, no, I don't think they'd be able to be united. It'd be a train wreck, even without the plot rifting them. But people who don't like train wrecks probably wouldn't like Shiki.

...wow. I love yaoi as well and I like Toshio/Seishin. (I avoided talking about this matter because I wasn't sure if you're comfortable with it, but you've brought it up so well I'll just do the same hahaha) I refer to them as 'my beautifully doomed ship'. Ono doesn't do happy ending anyway so I know that even if they have feelings for each other, they wouldn't be united. (another way to look at that statement)

Someone whom I mentioned before as having analyzed about Seishin, also assumed that he's gay. But she's never read the novel before writing about that. She also thinks of Shiki as about the 'fallout of friendship(relationship) between two men', namely Toshio and Seishin. And that Seishin must become a Shiki, because Toshio will not be, to finalize their going completely separate ways. It's rather amusing of a fact that Toshio is chief vampire hunter, and Seishin becomes the only one Jinrou, the strongest Shiki. (As Tatsumi and the other Jinrous die) they're clearly destined to clash ways.

This was written the 90s, back in those days yaoi didn't have happy endings, dagnabbit.

While it seems more obvious Toshio likes him, I have the easier time seeing reading Seishin as feeling something deeper for him. It may be because, as I've said, I don't really "get" Seishin completely. I understand the foundation of his moral choices from a purely intellectual perspective but on the personal side I'm less sure. I cannot possibly see a valid reading/viewing of any of the mediums in which Ozaki isn't fond of him on some level (or at least nobody has presented one to me). I don't know if Seishin likes Toshio. I don't know who Seishin likes or has liked canonically. I don't even know if he likes Sunako. I don't know if he liked his parents. I don't know if he ever did and severed it all away at the end when "the little brother everyone loved was no more" or if Abel never actually existed and he was simply putting the lie to rest after the iconic 33 years.

airlynx mentioned in our long discussions early on the idea that he hates Toshio which I had never considered. But with it brought up and discussed I can just as easily read the anime and manga and, so far, the novel, and with the interpretation: "Seishin has a gay crush on Ozaki" as I can "Seishin hates him."

All interpretations of Seishin's take on Toshio (and the village in general) fit the narrative scope. Toshio was an obligation and a terrible friend and a pain in the ass from the beginning, Seishin's done with him, he wanted to get away from all of it years ago with that attempted suicide. Or He liked/loved but grew out of it and hadn't accepted that right away. Or He *had* to leave it all behind even without an intent to "kill" or end anything in order to be himself, or in answer to a higher moral calling. Any of them fit to me. I think a romantic take is the most interesting (read: tragic), but as to which is most narratively supported, I've got nothing.

There may be different ways to read Ozaki, but they're a few shades of the same grey; he's sociopathically cold towards many but normally attached to others (my take, and I also take "people are ultimately always this empty deep down even without pressure" as a theme), or he's normally attached to others and forces himself to adopt a veneer of targeted sociopathy due to duty (brought up by

airlynx, and fits several themes--also very common in heroes of medical fiction suffering burnout).

Seishin's potential readings cover the blacks, the whites, the greys and, if you'll pardon a terrible metaphor now that we're talking gay pairings, the whole damn rainbow.

Edited 2013-10-24 08:55 (UTC)

Maybe Seishin's actually apathetic towards people? His faith in humanity is this fragile little thing, easily broken when something happens. Given his background, this will not surprise me. He seemed more fiery when he was younger though. Maybe he started off as more fiery and empathetic (heck, maybe even sentimental to a degree) but as he gets older he grows more apathetic and detached, and then develops a hatred towards the world. And Toshio is no exception to this, but the waka-sensei is still regarded as more special. Also, they've been together since birth, so habit plays a really good part on their dynamic. Liiike, Toshio may irritate him, but at the same time he still likes him to a degree, enough to stick on him at times. Maybe, liking him is some sort of habit too. (because habit is one big factor on their dynamic)

But that moment of moral horizon is the last straw. He values his values more than Toshio, so he cuts any sympathy left and goes away.

So, maybe Toshio 'actively' likes Seishin... While Seishin's feelings for him are mostly, habitual and thus 'passive'? (what kind of metaphor is this even, I'm sorry I can't do English) maybe habit also plays a good part on Toshio's part though. They've spent their whole life technically together (sans their university days) after all, so Toshio's fondness of him is also sort of habitual, but he does it more 'actively' anyway. Dunno. I'm sure it's either you or airlynx who have brought this habit theme up first. 8D

Yeah, probably me, I took that angle in the anime-manga most often. The fact that he called Ozaki first, rather than the police when in clear peril in Yamairi, was interesting. I don't know how to take it. Habit, reliance that doesn't actually preclude fondness? Just plain old straight up liking him and him being his first choice to rely on in a crisis? He wasn't going to him as a medic or a duty or as the two highest men in Sotoba who have a shared duty regarding health and death, which is how one could take him asking so much about the causes of death, if you don't want to attribute his frequent visits to social calls.

I'm glad there are Seishin fans to read into it. I'd be interested in knowing which Seishin(s) his fans see that lead them to like him. I imagine there must be some Shiki fans who just plain don't like Toshio, though I haven't met any myself. Depending on your moral views, he's a monster. In the novels, he makes a very morally dubious move long before any thoughts of the supernatural spring up (which is novel only, so I'll keep that unspoiled for now as a genuine surprise to come). Indeed such fans may favor Seishin specifically because they take the less warm and fuzzy reading of their friendship.

"Oh, yeah, he's always hated but put up with that asshole. And the whole village. Glad he broke free finally. It wasn't Seishin who changed, it was Toshio who showed his true colors enough that Seishin didn't have to humor his bullshit anymore." Like that.

'which Seishin that leads me into liking him' hmmm... I think however apathetic and hateful he may be, I'm sure he's initially kind natured and empathetic, and that he's still somehow like this inside - that's one. He isn't the type who will deliberately hurt others, that's two. At the end of Shiki though, he just loses it. I'm sure he's distressed that time, and just like everyone else - people who are distressed and cornered will usually do something unlikely. (him murdering Many have analyzed that his rescuing Sunako is a selfish act of him, and maybe part of that is apathy - caused by his distressed state and also his general apathy, also someone have said this - because he's lonely and he wants to bring someone down with him, even though Sunako wishes to just die. Maybe he's scared too - he's just turned into a monster. He doesn't want to care anymore. He sees something in Sunako which comforts him, maybe is able to relate to her in some ways as well - part of why he goes to such lengths. All of this is understandable to me, because those are also things I may end up doing should I be in his shoes.

One thing I cannot understand about him though - his interaction with Toshio serves as main example: he annoys him a lot but he never say a thing against it. Why? I'm pushy, rather blunt, selfish and thus demanding so I cannot understand this part of him. Toshio is his best friend, you'll assume he'll not be as reserved around him (which according to you, actually he is) Maybe though... he's a secretive person in general. If he feels like people cannot understand him, he naturally just hides from them. Also, Toshio is rather a lost cause, talking against him is just sort of troublesome, so he lets him. (though that just adds into his grudges)

Which leads me to think that Seishin doesn't consider Toshio to be as close as Toshio considers him, not anymore. He thinks he's alone. This reminds me of myself: one time I said to my close friend that I have never had best friend: his response is 'so you never considered us as close to you?' that was... Rather a blow to my head. Lolol haha I'll stop now. ...

I meant: (Him murdering Ohkawa). Lol I forgot his name.

Yet at that time he was very calm and even able to monologue his epiphany. It was rather different from whacking a guy in the head on the temple steps while escaping just hours before. Seeing him have a fairly normal panic/fear/disgust responses to other situations makes it hard for me to write off thhe climax as desperation. Given he doesn't and never has viewed the Shiki as monsters, I also wonder if he really feels any self-loathing for his nature.

He may find Toshio's "annoyances" endearing. There's actually very little to suggest he finds him nearly as dickish as I do beyond the fact that the things Toshio does are what the average person would consider annoying; we are told that he's trifflingly annoyed by him getting his article and furnishing the waiting room with it, or with pushing him to go investigate Yamairi more and walk in on another putrid corpse, but as readers we see what goes unsaid. Seishin doesn't talk or brag about his writing we're told; Toshio went out of his way to get a copy of his friend's writing, which Seishin explicitly did not present to him and very likely did not even bring up as having even published, himself. He made him go look at a body, but the fact of the matter is that his first contact, Toshio, is someone who makes him feel safe and reliable, dependable enough to push for practicality in these situations no matter how unpleasant--though, later, that "practicality" does indeed become too unpleasant... If he weren't the type to be so solid at these times, would he be his first call in a crisis? So far most of his dickishness has underscored some very personal positive sentiment. That might be why I like the pair romantically: even the non-romantic friendship is a matter of implication than explanation. A shown relationship is more compelling than a told one. I think Ono is fantastic about that even with all that we're told, in such a long, introspective work.

But that's just my view of what's shown. Right now. Ask me when I'm translating book 2 and I might firmly be back in the "was always an apathteic guy, Ningen Shikaku (No Longer Human) style" camp. That it's shown, not told, means it will be seen many ways.

The idea that he doesn't actually like him that much but is on some level in love with him is a very fascinating angle I'd love to see explored.

As for the best friend thing I once made a smart-assed remark to a chick who talked about her 'besties' and was told off with: "Best friend is a tier, not a title." That made a lot of people's relationship chatter make more sense to me, so maybe it's like that? You might've been very close but considered the words 'best friend' to indeed be a rank just as it sounds, as in, better than everything else unilaterally in terms of friendship.

Edited 2013-10-25 03:30 (UTC)

Hmm... Yes, it makes sense. Maybe when Seishin becomes a Jinrou he's already at a very apathetic state, already past his distression state. ('just fuck everything I don't care anymore' state) I'm wondering if being a Jinrou influences his mental somehow. (unlikely though) About the fear though, what I meant is mainly he doesn't know what to do with himself now that he's a Jinrou, but even if that feeling exists, it's mainly subconscious? I'm only throwing ideas now haha. Writing a meta is tiring, I prefer reading them. Hmm yes, I have never seen if he has some self-loathing issues as well.

Oh, about myself... Well, I have a weird logic. What I mean is 'best friend' in emotional sense. I don't really do emotional attachment, and I don't want to. In a way, I fear it. I see it as weakness and something scary. There are reasons why, but nooo no big stuffs happened to me. As I said, weird logic. I'm not a bad person, but I can come off as cold person. (in a way, it's the worst kind of human isn't it?) and also have a tendency to take people for granted somehow. Socially speaking, I'm also awkward and have social anxiety and that adds into the coldness feeling. People may find me as distant and unapproachable. I'm just initially emotional and feelings are tiring. So, yeah. I'm still learning to actually cherish those around me.

It's funny how differently you can interpret the characters personalities. I haven't read any further into the novel yet, but at the moment I have this theory that Toshio might be aromantic.

I'm not sure I would call myself a fan, but I really like Seishin (allllmost as much as Ozaki) and find him interesting even if I can't understand him.

I was reading the comments on this and found your apathy comparison to being that of 'No Longer Human' style, which I've read and can see, and found it definitely something to speculate about, ooh.

People automatically assume that love and relationships are everyone's goal in life due to social expectations-- nonetheless how warped Sotoba is-- but there's a lot more to it than that I think. Seishin strikes me as someone who doesn't have 'finding relationships' to be a priority, and Ozaki being someone who kinda just came along and stuck around. I do think Seishin likes him, be that in whatever interpretation, but probably more of an obligation (AFTER his suicide attempt failed) because god knows he doesn't need even more rumours spreading if he cut ties with the only people in his life after such a thing. Wanting to bounce back and put on a face of being the Junior Monk the village idealized. Theeen as most of us know, shit went down and he was all, ah, HERE is my chance and the out I have been waiting for. (I've actually gotten into NUMEROUS heated conversations with my friend because we're always trying to figure them out, me normally taking a Seishin side, 'em the Ozaki side)

I'm not sure if he genuinely likes Sunako either, but I do think he (obviously) cares and empathizes for her. The mutual feeling of being 'forsaken by god' or other of the sort.

Turning into a Jinrou also is a rebirth, leaving the old Seishin behind along with everything he hated and able to abandon the company of the village and be alone, aside from one other who can truly understand him, perhaps. Might have never seen himself a proper 'human' in the first place, à la No Longer Human?

Edited 2015-03-20 01:22 (UTC)

I don't think love is a major factor for anyone besides Megumi.

Ozaki seems to have picked Kyouko to wave off the expectation and get on with his life. To me that suggests he had no actual drive or concern for any sincere relationship of that nature, since being married emptily would make that impossible in the future. If his mom hates his wife, she hates the idea of divorce even more, so he's kind of safe from needing to be too close with her and also safe from losing his cover.

Seishin either lacks the capacity to fake it, could get himself a beard-wife but is indulging in the way the village treats him sensitively enough not to push it, or wants something sincere if at all, can't find it and refuses to settle. The latter, the refusal to compromise on his feelings or morals, seems most consistent with his view on religion as the code of how they live their lives and God as principles by which one lives.

In that sense, I could see Ozaki as the more cold party.

But in general I think Ozaki is capable of more normal feelings; he considers Seishin's human sensitivities, particularly that perfectionism of his that he doesn't really get but that he knows. I don't think there's any doubt that he's sincerely enraged about Ritsuko. But as for most of the dead villagers, I got the feeling of them being like score points to him more than individual people whose deaths weighed on him as anything more than his duty. He seems comfortable with however much or little he thinks of people; if he's less than human, he doesn't seem to dwell on it or even be aware of it. He's himself. He'll continue to be himself, and to assert his idea of what's right. That he married lovelessly doesn't seem to be a major compromise, and that matches with the fact that he's NOT a character who will major major compromises. By that logic you could say relationships mean less to him than it might to Seishin. He, like most people, can even like a person while going against them: at no point does he ever view Seishin as an enemy or target no matter how much he lambasts his views and get pissed at him. Imperfection are fine in marriages and friendships because he doesn't need them.

Seishin on the other hand seems to need to feel he's okay. He doesn't feel the need for approval but the need to be approved of as he is, without changing himself or compromising. In No Longer Human, the protag asks why women are so good to him and he's told it's because the world is not good to women. I wonder if Seishin takes a certain solace in the Shiki in that same way: he, like them, can wallow in self-indulgent pity at being something incompatible with the world at large while also asserting his right to be in spite of that incompatibility. The No Longer Human protag treated his lovers like crap and used them as symbols more than individuals; the best example is his break down when his lover was no longer his ideal Virgin Mary figure. I wonder if Seishin likewise sees Sunako as a symbol with no real regard for her as an individual? He just wants something real and Shiki are as real and tangible an example as one can get of something that can't exist but have that drive as proper as any other living being. Ozaki might know him to an extent and even accept him despite their differences but that's because of Seishin as an individual, not an acceptance of the absolutes and values Seishin feels really represent himself; will that kind of "relationship" or "friendship" or "acceptance" satisfy a purist like Seishin?

Likewise, does Sunako actually know or care for Seishin as an individual or is he just someone else to approve of her and write poetically on themes that flatter a certain psychological-existential need of hers?

I've read this about 10 times and I can't think of anything to say other than this is A LOT of good points and a bunch to think about. Honestly, reading the comments and speculation is just as enjoyable as reading the novel -- cultural notes, too.

Oh, question! How far is the translation currently?

About to the red line in the second book. Check out the visual progress report from early in Book 2 here for the question of how much is on a page; it's more than a standard Japanese light novel since the print is much smaller and it's also double-layered per page, but probably closer to an English novel page with size 12 print, since native English prose tends towards fewer line breaks than Japanese.

The 5 volume paperback version prints at the normal print size, single layered. Those five books are broken up by 'books' in the hardcover versions too, with 1 (Crows) and 2 (From The Depths I Have Cried) labelled off in hardback volume 1, and 3-5 in hardback volume 2. The first volume of the paperback version is about 500 pages; the first hardcover book, which has book one and two but is printed smaller and with two layers of text per page side, is also about 500 pages.

Right now we're about two chapters away from the end of Book 3, which is the longest in the book.

Oh, wow. The books are huge.

Glad I came in time to be along for the ride before the translation was finished!

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Shiki Novel Translations 6.6

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