Sinnesspiel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sinnesspiel) wrote2015-01-02 09:39 pm
sinnesspiel) wrote2015-01-02 09:39 pm
Shiki Novel Translations - 3.6.2
2
As soon as Akira returned home from school he changed clothes and went to the mountains. Hurrying straight for the forest road, he went towards the Hashimoto family gravesite. It took guts to set foot in the graveyard but the skies were still lit. All the same, somewhere in the mountains was the quiet sound of a motor. The sounds of someone working.
With all of those factors in his favor, Akira stepped into the graveyard. Motohashi Tsuruko's grave was just as Natsuno said, put back together as if nothing had happened.
"The sotoba front and the stone too...." While looking at the surroundings, Akira went around the sotoba frontpiece. Looking at the stones and ground around it, there were three white rocks, drawing out a thirty centimeter triangle. If that was still in place, then... But.
"Nii-chan is cool." Even though he was alone, he wanted to say it. Just with the placement of some pebbles, he'd made a surveilance system, which was amazing. If somebody did--if they came to dig up the grave, they wouldn't notice something like such little rocks, right?
"He is the guy Kaori owes her life too and all."
He saved Kaori when she was attacked. At that time, Akira was completely cowed and couldn't move. If Natsuno weren't there, surely he would have been the one attacked next.
As he thought, he left the graveyard with the sense of having handled a big responsibility. He flew down the slope of the mountain as if something were pushing him from behind. All he did was go to the graveyard and confirm the state of the grave, a trivial thing, but this was a big deal, Akira triumphantly convinced himself. It was surveillance, a very important thing!
Natsuno went to the high school in Mizobe, so at most he could get back just before the sun fell. If the sun set at about five thirty, you could even say he couldn't be back by then. So when Akira himself said that he'd go out and do surveillance, Natsuno said "I'll leave it to you." Being reminded to careful enough, stopping once the sun set and giving up for the day, without wasting any time after confirming it and leaving the mountains, made it feel good, like he was assigned to something all the more important, so to be told "I'm counting on you" on top of that was even better. He was useful to Natsuno he thought, which somehow or another left him feeling proud.
Saying that nothing was out of order today, Akira returned home brimming with a sense of achievement. Kaori has just changed into her normal clothes and stepped outside.
"Welcome home," Kaori said as Love came out of his dog house. "How was it?"
"Nothing out of order!" Akira said, slightly puffing his chest out.
Kaori looked around before asking. "....The grave?"
"Just like Nii-chan said, it's been put back. But the markers haven't been moved."
I see, Kaori said with a breath. With Love in tow she started towards the community center. Akira followed after that abit only to stop and turn around as he remembered, hurrying into the house and calling to their mother in the living room.
"I'm going out to walk Love with Kaori."
"You mean Onee-chan, don't you?" his mother said, giving her usual petty complaint. "Be sure to be back by dinner."
"I know, I get it."
"You don't get it at all," she said with an audible grimace, to which Akira mentally stuck his tongue out at her. She was the one who didn't get it. How could those things known as moms be so insensitive an carefree? They acted like something was no big deal and then got in the way of those thing. Akira sometimes had to wonder if his mother didn't understand that there was an order to things.
"We'll be back by dinner. ---If someone comes in while I'm out, don't let them in."
"I heard you this morning. Tell them you're out and to come again, you said?" his mother Sachiko said, leading into a topic as she folded the newspaper open to the TV listings. "Akira, did you get into a fight with somebody?"
"That ain't it." Turning to leave, Akira mumbled to himself 'But I guess you could say that.' If she was asking about a fight, it might just have come down to one. It was true that Akira and the others had an enemy.
Hurrying back to the road, Kaori and Love were waiting. As Akira hurried to catch up, the two turned together towards the community center.
"What's wrong?"
"I told Mom what to do again."
"That's dumb," Kaori said sounding frustrated. "If you push it too many times, Mom's going to think it's weird isn't she?"
"If we don't keep pushing it, she'll forget right away. She thinks bringing in the laundry or throwing out buckets of old water are m ore important than anything we have to say."
That might be true, Kaori nodded.
"Nii-chan went through the trouble of calling to tell us, so it's gotta be majorly important. So I'm gonna keep pushing it."
"Yuuki-san..." Kaori murmured. "I wonder why he did go through the trouble of calling to tell us that?"
"He just remembered it, right?" Akira said but he wasn't really sure himself. Something was off about Natsuno. Or at least Akira got a weird feeling from him.
"He asked if we had any visitors, didn't he?"
"Yup."
"Does that mean that somebody came to Yuuki-san's house then, I wonder?"
Might be, Akira said looking to Kaori. "But that's something we'll know when we ask him."
Kaori agreed to that with a nod. That was certainly true but. --What was this? This vague premonition that wouldn't let her settle?
With Love in tow they went around to the community center. There were a few kids with a soccer ball just coming off of the grounds. After that the area was calm and quiet.
Lately, you don't see many people, Kaori thought. Normally at this time she would catch sight of some kid or another playing alone at the corner of the lot playing with a ball but lately she didn't see much along those lines. While kids used to be around until the sun set, as long as they could see the ball, but not anymore. Come to think of it, maybe it was because their mothers had told them to come back around that time for dinner. It wasn't the case for Kaori, but Akira almost always seemed to be late for dinner.
Lately it was lonely in the village. Especially in the evenings. Thinking that as she sat down on the bench on the corner of the grounds, the lot seemed impossibly wide with only herself and Akira there, leaving her feeling even more forlorn.
Taking off Love's leash, he went around the empty lot freely the same as yesterday. Picking up smells here and there, as if he were searching for something.
Natsuno came just as it was on the brink of getting dark. Walking with a dispirited gait, Natsuno put his bad down on the bench as if it were all very tiring.
"Nii-chan, the stones weren't moved." Akira reported triumphantly. Natsuno only said 'that so' sitting down on the bench as if exhausted.
"Yuuki-san, what's wrong?"
"......Not enough sleep." That's what Natsuno said but he seemed like he had more problems than being tired.
"Yesterday, did something happen?"
As Kaori's question, Natsuno suddenly looked up. "Like what?"
"I mean, you suddenly called Akira, didn't you?"
"I pushed my mom on it like you said." Akira said again proudly, earning a glare from Kaori.
"You be quiet. --Nee, why did you call us like that? Yesterday, did something happen?"
Natsuno couldn't answer. Resting his elbows on his knees, he stared fixedly at the ground. In the twilight, Natsuno's expression was obscured.
"....Just some stuff." Natsuno finally answered, looking up at Kaori. "Hey, did Shimizu--" he started to say, only to immediately look down. "No, ..... It's fine. It's nothing."
"What is it?"
Natsuno shook his head. He gave a faint, dry smile. "Akira, anyway, be careful. It'd be better not to go out at night. If you do have to go out at night, bring something to protect yourself."
"Like a bat?"
"Even that's better than nothing. Or like a cross or a charm. I dunno how much good it'll do, though."
Got it, Akira agreed meekly.
"So, did you decide what we're gonna do?"
After being asked that, Natsuno gave another strange pause. "...There's nothing we can do is there? Until the weekend."
"We're not doing anything until the weekend?"
"It's more like we can't, isn't it? By the time I get back from school there's not much time left before sunset."
"That's true enough. Will that work? Being that leisurely about this."
"There's no choice is what I'm saying. Anyway, we'll be watching the grave---and keeping note if anyone else dies. That said more than 'if' here lately it's about who from where exactly that died."
"Hey. I was thinking, like. How about we try telling Megumi's dad and mom that Megumi's not there, what do you think?"
"I thought of that too. But, how are we supposed to say it? Are we just gonna say straight forwardly that when we tried digging up the grave there was nobody in it?"
"Mmmm... There's that, too."
"Could we write an anonymous letter, I wonder?" Kaori tilted her head. "There's nobody in the grave, we'll write into a letter and drop into their mailbox."
Akira looked at Kaori in annoyance. "Something like that'll just be seen as a prank, isn't that obvious?"
"That's true, but.... But, if they keep coming, it might strike a chord, right?"
"It might, I guess."
"We'll do it until it does."
"That'll take a while. It seems like it'd take long enough that they'd find out we were sending them before they did anything else."
That's true too, Kaori said with a sigh.
"We're limited to how much we can do with just us. Especially since like Yuuki-san said, we're at school. If the adults don't do something, I don't think anything will help. We have to get them thinking that something's wrong."
Kaori looked to Natsuno for agreement but Natsuno was slouched with his head hung.
"......What's wrong?"
"Nii-chan, what's up?"
"......I didn't get enough sleep, I told you that," he said without raising his head, voice cracking.
"You all right?" Akira asked, to which he nodded. He lifted his face.
"Sorry. I'm going home for today," he said, standing up, taking a step as if seized with dizziness from rising.
"Nii-chan, you all right?"
Kaori called for Love. "Come here, Love. ---Akira, let's take Yuuki-san home. He's tired."
"No.... I'm all right."
"No you're not. Nii-chan, you're in a cold sweat. Let's go, Kaori." Akira said, taking Natsuno's bag. Kaori put the leash back on Love's collar and moved to the front.
Yuuki heard a girl's voice calling out 'excuse me' as if a repeat of last night. Wonderinf if it was the same thing again, Azusa in the kitchen turned and made an uneasy face.
Stopping Azusa from going towards the entryway, Yuuki went himself. Opening the door, it wasn't the girl from yesterday but a girl about fifteen or so standing there gasping for breath.
"Uhm, are you Yuuki-san's father?"
Yuuki nodded, even while having an unpleasant feeling. It wasn't that the girl before him was unpleasant. It was because it was like a trace copy of exactly what he remembered happening yesterday.
"Yuuki-san, ---Uhm, he's over there. Please come with me."
The girl looked distressed. But all the same, Yuuki still harbored that unpleasantness.
"Who are you?"
"I am called Tanaka. Uhm, Yuuki---No, I'm an acquaintance of Natsuno-san's."
"I've never heard of you."
The girl seemed hurt by his tone for a moment but she immediately pointed behind herself. "Yuuki-san can't move. Anyway, please come with me."
Yuuki furrowed his brows. The girl went ahead of him opening the gate, gesturing across the road. Distrustful as he followed her, he could see a form crouching across the road, and a young boy crouching over him with a dog.
Thinking that it was true with surprise, Yuuki hurried out. The young boy raised his face in a daze.
"---What happened?"
"Nii-chan seemed sick, so we were walking him home but this was as far as we could get.
Yuuki reached for his son's arm as if to pull him up, but Natsuno pulled back as if against it.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"...... I'm dizzy ......"
Anyways, stand up, Yuuki urged sliding his shoulder under his son's arm. The girl took Natsuno's bag and the dog while the young boy supported Natsuno from the other side. As they returned to the entryway, Azusa was standing petrified.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. ---Is it anemia?" Yuuki asked as he settled his son onto the entryway step, when he suddenly had a secret start. No, he thought. Shimizu and Mutou's faces flashed through his mind.
Azusa took off his shoes. Yuuki tried to support his son again when Natsuno waved his hand.
"I'm all right. I can walk on my own."
Ignoring that, he took his arm. Stopping Azusa with a glance, for the time being he took him to his room. Taking him to the bed, Natsuno collapsed onto it by himself.
"Are you all right?"
"......I'm fine. ......I'm beat."
"Do you hurt anywhere?"
Yuuki peered at his son's face. His already pale face was now clearly lacking in complexion.
"I just got vertigo. I'd been feeling a little bad since last week?"
"Since last week?"
Yuuki nodded meekly.
"Let's have the doctor of the Ozaki's come over."
"I don't think it's that big of a deal, though," Natsuno said, sounding as if his breathined had picked up, even while calm. "Like, I can't get to sleep lately."
Yuuki stared attentively at that wryly smiling face. How did Doctor Ozaki put it? Anemia, and then dulled emotions. Like it was hard to communicate. Almost like another person. ---Weren't those what he said the major characteristics were?
"I feel bad but I can't get any rest. ... I guess I'm beat after all, with this and that."
"This and that?"
"Yeah. ... Tohru-chan, or the Murasako's Masao. If I try to rest, I just keep thinking of those kinds of things. I think I might be in bad shape myself, too, but."
Yuuki let out a breath. At least he wasn't seeing any strange behavior like what Toshio had been saying. He did look like he was feeling sick but it was clearly different from that.
Definitely---Yuuki thought. Lately, Natsuno had been strange. This morning, when he woke up, everything in the house was closed and locked up, and Natsuno himself had said he'd been the one to do it. It wasn't impossible, he thought. Natsuno was at that age, and it was the first time someone he'd really known had died. And even worse was it was continuing, people his own age dying off. It'd be more strange if that didn't have an affect on him, and it must have been affecting him more than Yuuki or Natsuno himself had been aware of.
"...... You all right?"
"Yeah. I'll try hard to sleep."
"Wouldn't it be better to be seen by a doctor?"
"If I can't sleep tonight either, I'll see one. If I do, he'll give me some kinda of medicine. But Dad's White Horse'd work too," he said with a smile, and so Yuuki smiled too.
"Don't get ahead of yourself."
Turning out the light and leaving the room, he saw Azusa trying to peer into the room with a worried face.
"......How is he?"
"Seems he hasn't been able to sleep. He seemed like he was fine but what happened with Tohru-kun must have been a shock.
"......My," Azusa murmured, then nodded. "That's true. They were such good friends."
"Aa. Doesn't seem like we'll need to worry. He said so himself that if he can't sleep tonight either he'll go to a doctor."
I see, Azusa said with a relieved seeming breath. When the two returned downstairs, the two children in the entryway were standing with worried faces in the entryway. They couldn't see the dog tied up outside. His voice was faintly fawning.
"I'm sorry about that. Thank you."
"How is Yuuki-san?"
"Seems like he's not getting enough sleep. ......Anyway, come inside."
At Yuuki's words the two looked to eachother, then nodded lightly and stepped in.
"Let's see, Tanaka-san, you said it was?"
"Yes. I am Tanaka Kaori. This is my little brother Akira."
"Are you Natsuno's classmate?"
"No. I'm a grade beneath. Uhm, Megumi was---a girl named Shimizu Megumi was his classmate. I'm her childhood friend."
Aa, Yuuki murmured.
"Do you know Shimizu-san?"
"Yes. My mom and Megumi's mom are friends. My house is near her's too, and we're one year apart, so I was good friends with Megumi, but."
"I see...... It's too bad about Megumi-chan."
Yes, the girl nodded, hanging her head.
"I'm sorry for the trouble, but thank you. You saved him."
The two returned after having tea. In a few words, the two had said that they were walking their dog when they'd met with Natsuno, and when talking to him he'd seemed sick so they'd tried to help him home when on the way Natsuno crumpled over, they'd said. Kaori's demeanor seemed familiar with him, and Akira's even more so. Yuuki showed considerable surprised at hearing him called "Nii-chan." Natsuno wasn't fitting in with the village but somewhere along the time he'd ended up with regional bonds, finding a place to belong, Yuuki thought.
Leaving the entryway of Natsuno's house, Akira let out a heavy sigh. Kaori likewise let out one. Even though he was so cheeky, Akira was shy around strangers. Especially in regards to adults. That was why Kaori had to be the one to engage in the pleasantries, and it was extremely tiring.
Taking up Love's leash, they started towards the house.
"Naa... Kaori," Akira started in with a quiet voice, his eyes cast down. "Do you think Nii-chan's all right?"
"Didn't even his father say that he would be all right?"
"That's right. ...Said he wasn't sleeping."
"He said that before too when we met him. He said that he'd lost somebody close to him. If that's the case it's only natural, isn't it? When Megumi died, I couldn't sleep for a while either."
"Mm."
"But... in this village, lately, there might not be anybody who hasn't lost somebody close to them," Kaori said, thinking once again that this situation really wasn't normal. Why wouldn't any of the adults call it out as strange, Kaori thought, finding it mysterious. "Yuuki-san's father doesn't know but... there's also what's going on with Megumi, with that man, a lot of things are happening......" Kaori remembered Natsuno's pale face.
"...... Is that all it is?" Akira asked, making Kaori tilt her head.
"Is that all?"
"Why did Nii-chan make that phone call yesterday? Asking if there were any visitors, like. You said it yourself. Wouldn't that mean there was a visitor at Nii-chan's place?"
"Ah...... Yeah."
"Megumi might've come again, don'tcha think?"
Kaori's eyes widened. "...... Stop it."
"Nii-chan's condition might be because of them, huh? Megumi or---that guy who got hit at the grave--somebody."
"Stop it!"
Akira looked up. "I saw it. While you were going to get Nii-chan's dad."
"Saw what?"
"His neck. ---Right around here," Akira said, pointing to the base of his own neck. "When Nii-chan was crouching over, I saw it. You've been bitten by bugs in the summer and gotten swollen marks, right? There were two of those there."
Kaori stood stiff upright. "...... No way."
"I think someone came for revenge. That's why Nii-chan called us. To warn us. ---Kaori, what'll we do?"
Kaori tightly gripped the lease. Even if he asked her that, of course Kaori didn't know what to do.
With all of those factors in his favor, Akira stepped into the graveyard. Motohashi Tsuruko's grave was just as Natsuno said, put back together as if nothing had happened.
"The sotoba front and the stone too...." While looking at the surroundings, Akira went around the sotoba frontpiece. Looking at the stones and ground around it, there were three white rocks, drawing out a thirty centimeter triangle. If that was still in place, then... But.
"Nii-chan is cool." Even though he was alone, he wanted to say it. Just with the placement of some pebbles, he'd made a surveilance system, which was amazing. If somebody did--if they came to dig up the grave, they wouldn't notice something like such little rocks, right?
"He is the guy Kaori owes her life too and all."
He saved Kaori when she was attacked. At that time, Akira was completely cowed and couldn't move. If Natsuno weren't there, surely he would have been the one attacked next.
As he thought, he left the graveyard with the sense of having handled a big responsibility. He flew down the slope of the mountain as if something were pushing him from behind. All he did was go to the graveyard and confirm the state of the grave, a trivial thing, but this was a big deal, Akira triumphantly convinced himself. It was surveillance, a very important thing!
Natsuno went to the high school in Mizobe, so at most he could get back just before the sun fell. If the sun set at about five thirty, you could even say he couldn't be back by then. So when Akira himself said that he'd go out and do surveillance, Natsuno said "I'll leave it to you." Being reminded to careful enough, stopping once the sun set and giving up for the day, without wasting any time after confirming it and leaving the mountains, made it feel good, like he was assigned to something all the more important, so to be told "I'm counting on you" on top of that was even better. He was useful to Natsuno he thought, which somehow or another left him feeling proud.
Saying that nothing was out of order today, Akira returned home brimming with a sense of achievement. Kaori has just changed into her normal clothes and stepped outside.
"Welcome home," Kaori said as Love came out of his dog house. "How was it?"
"Nothing out of order!" Akira said, slightly puffing his chest out.
Kaori looked around before asking. "....The grave?"
"Just like Nii-chan said, it's been put back. But the markers haven't been moved."
I see, Kaori said with a breath. With Love in tow she started towards the community center. Akira followed after that abit only to stop and turn around as he remembered, hurrying into the house and calling to their mother in the living room.
"I'm going out to walk Love with Kaori."
"You mean Onee-chan, don't you?" his mother said, giving her usual petty complaint. "Be sure to be back by dinner."
"I know, I get it."
"You don't get it at all," she said with an audible grimace, to which Akira mentally stuck his tongue out at her. She was the one who didn't get it. How could those things known as moms be so insensitive an carefree? They acted like something was no big deal and then got in the way of those thing. Akira sometimes had to wonder if his mother didn't understand that there was an order to things.
"We'll be back by dinner. ---If someone comes in while I'm out, don't let them in."
"I heard you this morning. Tell them you're out and to come again, you said?" his mother Sachiko said, leading into a topic as she folded the newspaper open to the TV listings. "Akira, did you get into a fight with somebody?"
"That ain't it." Turning to leave, Akira mumbled to himself 'But I guess you could say that.' If she was asking about a fight, it might just have come down to one. It was true that Akira and the others had an enemy.
Hurrying back to the road, Kaori and Love were waiting. As Akira hurried to catch up, the two turned together towards the community center.
"What's wrong?"
"I told Mom what to do again."
"That's dumb," Kaori said sounding frustrated. "If you push it too many times, Mom's going to think it's weird isn't she?"
"If we don't keep pushing it, she'll forget right away. She thinks bringing in the laundry or throwing out buckets of old water are m ore important than anything we have to say."
That might be true, Kaori nodded.
"Nii-chan went through the trouble of calling to tell us, so it's gotta be majorly important. So I'm gonna keep pushing it."
"Yuuki-san..." Kaori murmured. "I wonder why he did go through the trouble of calling to tell us that?"
"He just remembered it, right?" Akira said but he wasn't really sure himself. Something was off about Natsuno. Or at least Akira got a weird feeling from him.
"He asked if we had any visitors, didn't he?"
"Yup."
"Does that mean that somebody came to Yuuki-san's house then, I wonder?"
Might be, Akira said looking to Kaori. "But that's something we'll know when we ask him."
Kaori agreed to that with a nod. That was certainly true but. --What was this? This vague premonition that wouldn't let her settle?
With Love in tow they went around to the community center. There were a few kids with a soccer ball just coming off of the grounds. After that the area was calm and quiet.
Lately, you don't see many people, Kaori thought. Normally at this time she would catch sight of some kid or another playing alone at the corner of the lot playing with a ball but lately she didn't see much along those lines. While kids used to be around until the sun set, as long as they could see the ball, but not anymore. Come to think of it, maybe it was because their mothers had told them to come back around that time for dinner. It wasn't the case for Kaori, but Akira almost always seemed to be late for dinner.
Lately it was lonely in the village. Especially in the evenings. Thinking that as she sat down on the bench on the corner of the grounds, the lot seemed impossibly wide with only herself and Akira there, leaving her feeling even more forlorn.
Taking off Love's leash, he went around the empty lot freely the same as yesterday. Picking up smells here and there, as if he were searching for something.
Natsuno came just as it was on the brink of getting dark. Walking with a dispirited gait, Natsuno put his bad down on the bench as if it were all very tiring.
"Nii-chan, the stones weren't moved." Akira reported triumphantly. Natsuno only said 'that so' sitting down on the bench as if exhausted.
"Yuuki-san, what's wrong?"
"......Not enough sleep." That's what Natsuno said but he seemed like he had more problems than being tired.
"Yesterday, did something happen?"
As Kaori's question, Natsuno suddenly looked up. "Like what?"
"I mean, you suddenly called Akira, didn't you?"
"I pushed my mom on it like you said." Akira said again proudly, earning a glare from Kaori.
"You be quiet. --Nee, why did you call us like that? Yesterday, did something happen?"
Natsuno couldn't answer. Resting his elbows on his knees, he stared fixedly at the ground. In the twilight, Natsuno's expression was obscured.
"....Just some stuff." Natsuno finally answered, looking up at Kaori. "Hey, did Shimizu--" he started to say, only to immediately look down. "No, ..... It's fine. It's nothing."
"What is it?"
Natsuno shook his head. He gave a faint, dry smile. "Akira, anyway, be careful. It'd be better not to go out at night. If you do have to go out at night, bring something to protect yourself."
"Like a bat?"
"Even that's better than nothing. Or like a cross or a charm. I dunno how much good it'll do, though."
Got it, Akira agreed meekly.
"So, did you decide what we're gonna do?"
After being asked that, Natsuno gave another strange pause. "...There's nothing we can do is there? Until the weekend."
"We're not doing anything until the weekend?"
"It's more like we can't, isn't it? By the time I get back from school there's not much time left before sunset."
"That's true enough. Will that work? Being that leisurely about this."
"There's no choice is what I'm saying. Anyway, we'll be watching the grave---and keeping note if anyone else dies. That said more than 'if' here lately it's about who from where exactly that died."
"Hey. I was thinking, like. How about we try telling Megumi's dad and mom that Megumi's not there, what do you think?"
"I thought of that too. But, how are we supposed to say it? Are we just gonna say straight forwardly that when we tried digging up the grave there was nobody in it?"
"Mmmm... There's that, too."
"Could we write an anonymous letter, I wonder?" Kaori tilted her head. "There's nobody in the grave, we'll write into a letter and drop into their mailbox."
Akira looked at Kaori in annoyance. "Something like that'll just be seen as a prank, isn't that obvious?"
"That's true, but.... But, if they keep coming, it might strike a chord, right?"
"It might, I guess."
"We'll do it until it does."
"That'll take a while. It seems like it'd take long enough that they'd find out we were sending them before they did anything else."
That's true too, Kaori said with a sigh.
"We're limited to how much we can do with just us. Especially since like Yuuki-san said, we're at school. If the adults don't do something, I don't think anything will help. We have to get them thinking that something's wrong."
Kaori looked to Natsuno for agreement but Natsuno was slouched with his head hung.
"......What's wrong?"
"Nii-chan, what's up?"
"......I didn't get enough sleep, I told you that," he said without raising his head, voice cracking.
"You all right?" Akira asked, to which he nodded. He lifted his face.
"Sorry. I'm going home for today," he said, standing up, taking a step as if seized with dizziness from rising.
"Nii-chan, you all right?"
Kaori called for Love. "Come here, Love. ---Akira, let's take Yuuki-san home. He's tired."
"No.... I'm all right."
"No you're not. Nii-chan, you're in a cold sweat. Let's go, Kaori." Akira said, taking Natsuno's bag. Kaori put the leash back on Love's collar and moved to the front.
Yuuki heard a girl's voice calling out 'excuse me' as if a repeat of last night. Wonderinf if it was the same thing again, Azusa in the kitchen turned and made an uneasy face.
Stopping Azusa from going towards the entryway, Yuuki went himself. Opening the door, it wasn't the girl from yesterday but a girl about fifteen or so standing there gasping for breath.
"Uhm, are you Yuuki-san's father?"
Yuuki nodded, even while having an unpleasant feeling. It wasn't that the girl before him was unpleasant. It was because it was like a trace copy of exactly what he remembered happening yesterday.
"Yuuki-san, ---Uhm, he's over there. Please come with me."
The girl looked distressed. But all the same, Yuuki still harbored that unpleasantness.
"Who are you?"
"I am called Tanaka. Uhm, Yuuki---No, I'm an acquaintance of Natsuno-san's."
"I've never heard of you."
The girl seemed hurt by his tone for a moment but she immediately pointed behind herself. "Yuuki-san can't move. Anyway, please come with me."
Yuuki furrowed his brows. The girl went ahead of him opening the gate, gesturing across the road. Distrustful as he followed her, he could see a form crouching across the road, and a young boy crouching over him with a dog.
Thinking that it was true with surprise, Yuuki hurried out. The young boy raised his face in a daze.
"---What happened?"
"Nii-chan seemed sick, so we were walking him home but this was as far as we could get.
Yuuki reached for his son's arm as if to pull him up, but Natsuno pulled back as if against it.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"...... I'm dizzy ......"
Anyways, stand up, Yuuki urged sliding his shoulder under his son's arm. The girl took Natsuno's bag and the dog while the young boy supported Natsuno from the other side. As they returned to the entryway, Azusa was standing petrified.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know. ---Is it anemia?" Yuuki asked as he settled his son onto the entryway step, when he suddenly had a secret start. No, he thought. Shimizu and Mutou's faces flashed through his mind.
Azusa took off his shoes. Yuuki tried to support his son again when Natsuno waved his hand.
"I'm all right. I can walk on my own."
Ignoring that, he took his arm. Stopping Azusa with a glance, for the time being he took him to his room. Taking him to the bed, Natsuno collapsed onto it by himself.
"Are you all right?"
"......I'm fine. ......I'm beat."
"Do you hurt anywhere?"
Yuuki peered at his son's face. His already pale face was now clearly lacking in complexion.
"I just got vertigo. I'd been feeling a little bad since last week?"
"Since last week?"
Yuuki nodded meekly.
"Let's have the doctor of the Ozaki's come over."
"I don't think it's that big of a deal, though," Natsuno said, sounding as if his breathined had picked up, even while calm. "Like, I can't get to sleep lately."
Yuuki stared attentively at that wryly smiling face. How did Doctor Ozaki put it? Anemia, and then dulled emotions. Like it was hard to communicate. Almost like another person. ---Weren't those what he said the major characteristics were?
"I feel bad but I can't get any rest. ... I guess I'm beat after all, with this and that."
"This and that?"
"Yeah. ... Tohru-chan, or the Murasako's Masao. If I try to rest, I just keep thinking of those kinds of things. I think I might be in bad shape myself, too, but."
Yuuki let out a breath. At least he wasn't seeing any strange behavior like what Toshio had been saying. He did look like he was feeling sick but it was clearly different from that.
Definitely---Yuuki thought. Lately, Natsuno had been strange. This morning, when he woke up, everything in the house was closed and locked up, and Natsuno himself had said he'd been the one to do it. It wasn't impossible, he thought. Natsuno was at that age, and it was the first time someone he'd really known had died. And even worse was it was continuing, people his own age dying off. It'd be more strange if that didn't have an affect on him, and it must have been affecting him more than Yuuki or Natsuno himself had been aware of.
"...... You all right?"
"Yeah. I'll try hard to sleep."
"Wouldn't it be better to be seen by a doctor?"
"If I can't sleep tonight either, I'll see one. If I do, he'll give me some kinda of medicine. But Dad's White Horse'd work too," he said with a smile, and so Yuuki smiled too.
"Don't get ahead of yourself."
Turning out the light and leaving the room, he saw Azusa trying to peer into the room with a worried face.
"......How is he?"
"Seems he hasn't been able to sleep. He seemed like he was fine but what happened with Tohru-kun must have been a shock.
"......My," Azusa murmured, then nodded. "That's true. They were such good friends."
"Aa. Doesn't seem like we'll need to worry. He said so himself that if he can't sleep tonight either he'll go to a doctor."
I see, Azusa said with a relieved seeming breath. When the two returned downstairs, the two children in the entryway were standing with worried faces in the entryway. They couldn't see the dog tied up outside. His voice was faintly fawning.
"I'm sorry about that. Thank you."
"How is Yuuki-san?"
"Seems like he's not getting enough sleep. ......Anyway, come inside."
At Yuuki's words the two looked to eachother, then nodded lightly and stepped in.
"Let's see, Tanaka-san, you said it was?"
"Yes. I am Tanaka Kaori. This is my little brother Akira."
"Are you Natsuno's classmate?"
"No. I'm a grade beneath. Uhm, Megumi was---a girl named Shimizu Megumi was his classmate. I'm her childhood friend."
Aa, Yuuki murmured.
"Do you know Shimizu-san?"
"Yes. My mom and Megumi's mom are friends. My house is near her's too, and we're one year apart, so I was good friends with Megumi, but."
"I see...... It's too bad about Megumi-chan."
Yes, the girl nodded, hanging her head.
"I'm sorry for the trouble, but thank you. You saved him."
The two returned after having tea. In a few words, the two had said that they were walking their dog when they'd met with Natsuno, and when talking to him he'd seemed sick so they'd tried to help him home when on the way Natsuno crumpled over, they'd said. Kaori's demeanor seemed familiar with him, and Akira's even more so. Yuuki showed considerable surprised at hearing him called "Nii-chan." Natsuno wasn't fitting in with the village but somewhere along the time he'd ended up with regional bonds, finding a place to belong, Yuuki thought.
Leaving the entryway of Natsuno's house, Akira let out a heavy sigh. Kaori likewise let out one. Even though he was so cheeky, Akira was shy around strangers. Especially in regards to adults. That was why Kaori had to be the one to engage in the pleasantries, and it was extremely tiring.
Taking up Love's leash, they started towards the house.
"Naa... Kaori," Akira started in with a quiet voice, his eyes cast down. "Do you think Nii-chan's all right?"
"Didn't even his father say that he would be all right?"
"That's right. ...Said he wasn't sleeping."
"He said that before too when we met him. He said that he'd lost somebody close to him. If that's the case it's only natural, isn't it? When Megumi died, I couldn't sleep for a while either."
"Mm."
"But... in this village, lately, there might not be anybody who hasn't lost somebody close to them," Kaori said, thinking once again that this situation really wasn't normal. Why wouldn't any of the adults call it out as strange, Kaori thought, finding it mysterious. "Yuuki-san's father doesn't know but... there's also what's going on with Megumi, with that man, a lot of things are happening......" Kaori remembered Natsuno's pale face.
"...... Is that all it is?" Akira asked, making Kaori tilt her head.
"Is that all?"
"Why did Nii-chan make that phone call yesterday? Asking if there were any visitors, like. You said it yourself. Wouldn't that mean there was a visitor at Nii-chan's place?"
"Ah...... Yeah."
"Megumi might've come again, don'tcha think?"
Kaori's eyes widened. "...... Stop it."
"Nii-chan's condition might be because of them, huh? Megumi or---that guy who got hit at the grave--somebody."
"Stop it!"
Akira looked up. "I saw it. While you were going to get Nii-chan's dad."
"Saw what?"
"His neck. ---Right around here," Akira said, pointing to the base of his own neck. "When Nii-chan was crouching over, I saw it. You've been bitten by bugs in the summer and gotten swollen marks, right? There were two of those there."
Kaori stood stiff upright. "...... No way."
"I think someone came for revenge. That's why Nii-chan called us. To warn us. ---Kaori, what'll we do?"
Kaori tightly gripped the lease. Even if he asked her that, of course Kaori didn't know what to do.
8D
(Anonymous) 2015-01-04 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)Isn't White Horse also a brand of liquor Natsuno and Yuuki mention in the manga?
By the way, I'm rereading the translations right now. Made a vow to do it properly this time (not just reading the parts that interest me). Taking notes and analyzing certain parts. I don't know whether someone has brought this up before, and I hope what I'm about to say isn't offending, but... I take it that ordinary people perhaps cannot rebuild the destroyed hokoras/statues? If they really cannot, can't the temple folks or perhaps certain authoritative figures do that?
Just realized that I've been here for one year and few months, too. Wow, time sure flies.
As always, thank you so much for translating! That you do it so diligently and meticulously, I cannot ask for more. We will rely on you a lot this year as well!
Re: 8D
Yup! White Horse is the brand Natsuno made the same joke about in the manga.
If while you're re-reading you notice a character who's present and not in the tags, feel free to either add them or notify me! Also let me know if anyone's mentioned who's not in the big character grid, and I'll try to keep watch for mentions of where they live, etc.
I think ordinary folk could try to fix the hokora, but it'd require some stone work and wood work. Seishin didn't feel very obliged to fix the broken one he saw in Yamairi, but he mentally commented that Mieko probably made the bib it wore. So, I imagine lay folk can tend to them. Better than leaving them a mess, you'd think. But instead it seems people think 'someone' should do it without thinking of themselves as 'someone.' That's pretty believable, in the end.
One year of Shiki, eh? Not too bad. It's a little sad that we're getting so close to finished. Even as I move more slowly on it, I think we'll be finished around this time next year, besides some clean up/edits and such.
Re: 8D
(Anonymous) 2015-01-07 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)While rereading, I also reread my older replies, in a quest of 'seeing if 8D has made an ass of herself'. You two have been treating me most kindly, and I'm very grateful. I've always feared that at some point I've offended either (or both) of you, and if I have, I'm very sorry. However, I'm also proud that I don't only come to read here -- I also have made some personal growth here, of which I'm very proud of. Talking with you two was what mainly prompted that growth.
One year and few months of Shiki has been very awesome, surely this year would be as well! I hope that even when the translations are all finished we can all still talk sometimes. Whether it's about Shiki or something else.
8DDD YAY for Toshio/Seishin goodness!! Thanks so much, I'm downloading it at the moment. These two have completely took over my life. There's not a day when I'm not screaming (internally and openly) about these two. They make a good fifty percent of my tweets. It's the best feeling since I don't only ship them, I also love them individually, equally.
...uh, yeah, that's what I kinda feared. Passing responsibilities that they all should themselves bear onto other people -- is much like how real life goes. Say, if the hokoras are rebuilt, will they still affect the Shikis even when they've been invited into the village beforehand? Especially the ones originating from the village? I kinda imagine they will, and if this is true it'd be quite an irony since the villagers will actually have an easier time cornering the Shikis just by doing something so simple. That all would come to Sotoba's ultimate destruction is in a way also a result of the villagers' ignorance, all of them.
Also, I think we can safely say now that, indeed, Kyouko sleeps separately from Toshio when she's visiting. It's in chapter 8.1 -- it seems that she uses a bedroom on the second floor, probably Toshio's former room even.
(This part is half meta-ish half being wishful thinking) Now regarding his own room (a topic I'd never get tired of); you didn't specify what size his bed was, so I'm going to assume that it could be bigger than a single bed, as one possibility. Takae deliberately provided him with bigger bedroom because she knew Seishin would come by playing often, I think she subconsciously also thought of providing Seishin as well? I don't know if this is in character of her or not, but considering Seishin's status, however annoyed she may be, I think she'd feel even more ashamed if she didn't provide him with some 'goodness' in the form of being a good host. Not because she's generous or anything but because she wouldn't like to be seen as incapable, especially since these are things you can obtain using money and she has a lot of it, so --- bigger bedroom, bigger bed. I figure she'd predict that they could also play in bed. Besides, it'd be weird if a bedroom as big as his doesn't have a bigger bed. It's already implied that the bed he currently uses is the very same bed from his childhood.
((As apparently in Japan semi-double bed is a thing. It'd be perfect for two small kids I think? I lol'd when I stumbled across it the first time on internet tho, because it said that it's often used by newlyweds...))
I mean, sleepover! Hoho
Re: 8D
Kyouko reacted to the Buddhist figure from the Ozaki family butsudan, so I assume that even village born Shiki would react to village religious artifacts. Natsuno and Seishin both theorized that there needs to be some belief in them for them to work, but I don't know which side that's on or if it's actually not a factor at all. There's still a lot to look forward to.
I think you're spot on with Takae; part of the reason she moved Toshio's room was so Seishin could come in and she could pretend not to notice him so she didn't have to be socially obligated to play the good hot to him. Toshio wasn't allowed over there much because then they'd take care of him. And the fact that it says the only thing that's changed in his room is that instead of records and such he now has liquor suggests to me too that his bed is the same. It must at least be a bed sized for one adult. It also seems to be a bed-bed rather than the futon we see in the anime/manga; it gets mentioned again when Chizuru sneaks in.
It's hard to say if Seishin slept over as a kid or not... I think girls do more sleep overs than boys, but maybe my childhood was abnormal. I'm not sure Takae'd allow it. She can pretend to not know he's there fo ra few hours, but overnight? Maybe they went camping often instead... That's an excuse to be away from the house and out late at night being up to mischief. That seems up Ozaki's alley.
Re: 8D
(Anonymous) 2015-01-08 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)I like the idea that the religious artifacts can only affect the Shikis if they have some belief in them in the first place, and I think that's really the case here. While I've always thought that the reason Sunako doesn't seem to be afraid of them is because she loves God very much and even if they did affect her at first, in the end her intense feelings and faith overcame that fear. And it's also because unlike other Shikis, she didn't stop seeking/making contact with them after she was turned, so she became used to them eventually too. I wonder if eventually older Shikis can overcome their fear as well, but I think this really needs them to get used to these artifacts first.
I think this depends on the individual; I rarely did sleepovers because I wasn't a social person and not particularly close with anyone other than family. Unless you can count cousins, but even that wasn't often. The boys in my high school however did group sleepovers in a few while over the weekend. There's also a matter of doing sleepovers because you like it; if you don't, it may be because you just don't really like it, I think. I prefer my own home and bed so it's a factor. Not liking people that much is also a factor for me.
Perhaps unintentional sleepovers suit them more? Like, maybe Seishin visited Toshio in the night after dinner to do some homework together or just for lazying around reading some books, and they felt asleep. At 3 or 4 AM Seishin woke up and sneaked outside to return to the temple while musing that it happened, again. A few hours later Toshio woke up, looking that Seishin has returned to the temple and musing that he could wait at least for the dawn so it'd be a bit brighter outside. At the table when the Ozaki's were having breakfast, Takae threw Toshio a disapproving glare because it happened, again. Actually, Takae would really like to not allow this kind of thing but then it'd require her to call Toshio and then she'd have to meet Seishin too.
My Twitter? Aha, I'm rather embarrassed tho...
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Sunako must react to religious artifacts; she was certain the church wasn't really a church since she could enter, meaning things must have a negative effect on her for her to expect. Natsuno also manages to repel Tohru with a cross and I very much doubt the Mutou family is Christian.
Accidental sleep overs, huh? I wonder if Seishin would be relaxed enough around Ozaki to nod off like that. Even if he leaves early, that in itself would say something that he would just fall asleep with him. They did in the hospital, granted, but they were also completely exhausted by the plot keeping them up all night several days in a row. I wonder if they had such a hectic youth life as well?
Edit: (Re: Twitter) Kukuku. Found you. Google is a powerful ally.
8D
(Anonymous) 2015-01-13 09:02 am (UTC)(link)Well, yeah, I gotta wonder too. He's rigid enough it makes me wonder if that's healthy. He's the kind of person who'll not even pick at his siblings if he has them, and that's kind of not really normal, I'd say. I think even if he nods off, it'll just be a matter of his sleeping pose? Seishin will make sure his pose is dignified, at least. Like, he falls asleep when he's writing on a table. If he's lucky enough that Toshio is aware of it and doesn't fell asleep before him, Toshio would perhaps wake him up, and then he'll return to the temple. But then Toshio will likely also let him sleep some more, but then he'd fall asleep as well. I'd really like to think Seishin wasn't as reserved as a kid, all in all. I definitely think their youth would be somehow hectic, especially considering how many times Toshio's been dragging Seishin into stuffs. Even if he's sobered up considerably as he got older, he's still regarded as full of mischief. (Or perhaps it's more about his reputation sticking to him)
Off topic, but I want to kind of rant: as wrecked up as their relationship may be, I like how they're committed to one another. Romantic or not, they do show exclusiveness regarding one another--- I especially like these small little details which refer to this from Toshio's end. He clearly favors Seishin over other people too. I don't catch as much from Seishin's end, if we're talking about 'small little details' (which can be very powerful) excepting how often he likes to visit Toshio. Even it's a bit unclear if he does it primarily out of habit, necessity or if he truly, truly seeks him out. Perhaps I'm missing some big pictures though, or just haven't actually seen some indication of it because we just haven't got to that point yet.
My favorite part would be how easily they returned to their dynamic prior to the 12-years separation of uni studies. Usually, once people part for uni they cannot really go back to how they were before, especially if they get married. Part of this is thanks to Sotoba being a small community, I think, considering their not being the only tight childhood friends even in adulthood. But Mikiyasu, Sachiko, Hiroko, even Motoko are not as tight with their childhood friends because they're now busy with their own family. Granted, Toshio is married but I don't think it's out of love. Still, I believe that prior to their 12 years separation these men already felt somehow dedicated and committed to one another, and I don't think it's merely because they are the pillars of Sotoba and have similar backgrounds (especially from Toshio's end). If they didn't feel like this in the first place, I don't really think they'd go back to how they were even with Toshio's failing marriage. It's been three years since Toshio's return, though. Now I wonder if they immediately went back to their prior closeness right after Toshio returned? How great would that be.
Ahaha, it isn't that hard to find my twitter, indeed. Especially if you know my tumblr (as the link to my twitter is up there) most of my analysis are here, however.
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They've been back together for a few years now so that's given them some time to rekindle and also develop a new relationship. I wouldn't be so quick to write off the propinquity effect but like you said that can't be everything. Tamo's definitely out of that loop as another pillar and Ishida who was professionally involved was just kind of a third wheel Toshio manipulated and whom Seishin was exasperated with Toshio over. There's definitely a balance between them that isn't struck with anyone else, especially from Seishin's side. Toshio will talk about Seishin being naive and idealistic to Ishida but Seishin will go directly to Ozaki with his suppositions that Ozaki's just being a control freak. Seishin at least clearly sees their duties as something they discuss and share as individuals separate from just being a duty. He told Ozaki off not out of his duty as a pillar but because of how he felt about Ozaki individually I think; his exasperation with him was the same, not "you're endangering the lives of our village here!" but "Toshio, my friend, you're being a dick." The "lives of the village" aspect is more Ozaki's angle.
8D
(Anonymous) 2015-01-15 04:26 am (UTC)(link)While I think to Seishin, Toshio is more of 'an individual' than other people but given that he's a person of symbolism, he perhaps has associated him with something else, namely Sotoba itself. We discussed way earlier about whether Seishin hated Toshio or not... and probably, going with this idea his hatred for Sotoba probably bleeds onto his feelings for Toshio. He's always been in a love-hate relationship with Sotoba, something he's been struggling to understand, and I think his relationship with Toshio could reflect that. This is still quite unsupported given I've probably forgotten some key elements and we just haven't got to this part yet--- but I think to him in the end it's less about 'Toshio or Sunako?' and more about 'Sotoba or me?'
Granted, I could probably be wrong since even if it's true that he's a person who has his characters as representing symbolism, he doesn't exactly do it in real life. (the chapter says something about 'people in reality don't have meaning' and I had to cringe because I was pretty unsure whether he was being literal or not (or it could be a mix of both). I forgot which chapter though..) I just think that his fantasy habits could bleed onto how he sees things in real life, even without him recognizing.
While for Toshio, I think he thinks about Seishin more as an individual and his friend (than in seeing him as fellow pillar, or duty-bound), as shown in how often Seishin's name specifically (or things to be specifically associated with him) floats onto his mind. His affection for Seishin is specifically for him as a person, his emotional turmoil regarding him is specifically in regards to him as a person. I could probably be wrong, still.
Even now I'm still not sure about what I actually seek from this pair. I feel that I want some romance aspect, but the moment it dominates their relationship or they become exclusively romantic (that romance is everything there is in their relationship) I'm sure I'll get bored. I can enjoy romance in the surface but deep down I'm meh about it, so to me they're probably enough just the way they are... I'm probably drawn to their partnership (and all the angst) first and foremost. Or I'm probably just seeking some pleasure from all the desperation and anticipation.
x178x
(Anonymous) 2015-01-06 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)Happy New Year and Merry Christmas (if relevant)!
And thank you again :)
Re: x178x
realism