#heisei cataclysm

[voca-song-a-day]

Today's featured song is: "Heisei Cataclysm" by Zips feat. IA! (cw: violence, and video contains flashing imagery)

(Also, today is the 12th anniversary of IA's release!)

[heiseidominantation]

Heisei Cataclysm Collection of Commemorative Messages

Mini Character Illustration / Heiwa

Have you enjoyed the novel version of Heisei Cataclysm?

All of the works that I gathered this time were wonderful, and I was very conflicted about choosing only a few, but I chose ones that really hit me.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest. I look forward to working with you again if I have a chance!

Draft: Zips

Congratulations on the release of the Heisei Cataclysm Novel Anthology!

I'm very excited about this book, which is packed with HeiPro and HeiPro stories from many people.

Thank you for your continued support.

-Fujino Kou

I'm sorry I can't write well!

Congratulations on publishing!

I hope that everyone will be active in the future ♡

-Siomidu

Congratulations on the release of Heisei Cataclysm!!!

I'm really happy to be able to illustrate this wonderful story

I hope you enjoy it and read it!!

-Heiwa

Afterword.

This time, I was honored to be in charge of the illustration of the Heisei Cataclysm Novel Anthology.

-AREN

Thank you very much!!

I'm very happy I won a contest this time.

Thank you very much!

I was able to get a fair value for the lyrics written in a song about a great girl, and it was very glorious, I'm still thinking about it.

I wrote it with a view to not compromise the image of the high tempo and stylish songs.

It would be great if the readers would enjoy it.

I'm a little bit of a gun shooter, and I'm a good player.

-Keseran

Nice to meet you, I'm Tachibana Fumi.

Thank you very much for reading my humble novel.

Everyone is drawing a wonderful dark fantasy that fits the world view of "Heisei Cataclysm," so I thought, "It's okay if I'm alone." And so I went for a "Bright Story" (?).

I hope you enjoy it.

I write many other things on "pixiv", so if you don't mind, please go and check them out.

-Tachibana Fumi

Thank you very much for choosing my poor novel as an excellent work!

Zips-sama, B's-Log Bunko Editorial Department, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who has read it.

I really enjoyed listening to HeiPro's songs and connecting it with my delusions!

I was thinking about the fun daily life of Dominant… but I couldn't put it in because I thought it would be five times as long.

-Sakana Kana

Hello, my name is Uzuki.

It's a story of Heisei Cataclysm that I thought about in my own way, but I really enjoyed writing it!

I didn't expect to be able to participate in the anthology project, so I was very surprised.

I suspected that I was dreaming like Haku, so I tried to pinch my cheek several times.

It hurt (lol) I hope the charm of the enemy characters and mysterious settings may be delivered to everyone's good fortune!

-Uzuki

[thezanyarthropleura]

The Not-March Ones (2 of 5)

And now, finally, just as we go into overtime after spending nearly a whole month reviewing eight of the other films, I present a discussion on Giant Monster Gamera, the original Gamera film and the first of the Showa era. The Japanese original was released on November 27, 1965 and will celebrate 58 years later this year.

There are two Americanized versions of the film: Gammera the Invincible, the original US cut which features additional American-filmed scenes (this is the version used by Rifftrax in a full-length episode recently uploaded to their Youtube channel) and Gamera, the infamous Sandy Frank’s later Americanization which is just a straight dub of the original Japanese film without the added scenes (this is the version used in the classic MST3K episode). The Gammera the Invincible version is a double-edged sword, because while it adds some creeping sexist guys in the additional scenes, it removes a creepy one-sided romance in the main cast. It also doesn’t rename Toshio to ‘Kenny’ or any of the other characters renamed in the same manner, and has different dialogue for the ending, omitting that weird last jab of misogyny thrown at Kyoko which is mild but iffy in the Japanese original and overtly insulting in the dub that became the Sandy Frank version.

So, let’s talk about the overall portrayal of Yamamoto Kyoko, and see how this movie really feels about women, since it’s the earliest one we’re going to cover:

An assistant to Dr. Hidaka, Kyoko functions as his radio operator, plane identifier, artifact holder, and timekeeper, all while wearing the coolest cool-cat pair of shades of all time (unfortunately she only wears them in the first scene). Other than that, she really just feels ‘along for the ride’ throughout the film, but you can say that about most of our main characters – the military does just about everything important, our lead trio of Hidaka, Kyoko, and photographer Aoyagi tag along and watch. Both single-M versions of the film end with Dr. Hidaka cheerfully recommending that Kyoko either take a break from or give up her own studies entirely, to act as Aoyagi’s muse instead, and do keep in mind, at this point she’s shown about zero interest in Aoyagi’s advances. This honestly sours the whole film, and as such I much prefer Gammera. Our sole other woman in a significant role is Sakurai Nobuyo, older sister to the young child of the film, Toshio. Nobuyo acts as Toshio’s guardian in place of his deceased mother, and shows her worry for him throughout the film, however also frequently contributes to his abuse, even if one might argue she’s mainly deferring to his father and teacher on the matter.

By far my favorite scene in this film is the first time Gamera comes ashore after fleeing his awakening in the arctic. By this time, Gamera has been missing for long enough the human characters assume he may have died as a result of the radiation from the plane crash that awoke him. To the surprise of the unsuspecting world, however, Gamera emerges from the sea near a small, remote settlement, makes the slow climb up a hill toward the lighthouse at the top, and as said lighthouse shatters and crumbles, makes the decision that a single, heartbroken and abused soul doesn’t deserve to die young, even when hundreds of other people are about to be killed in destructive cataclysm – yes, we’re still talking about Gamera! It’s a real scene, go watch the movie!

Other than ‘Gamera is the bae over bay kaiju,’ the main takeaway here is that this establishes Gamera’s status as ‘friend to all children’ which is more solidly defined in future films. From the get-go, he’s not just another destructive monster, he can think and make decisions either on an emotional level, or about guilt and culpability if we take into account the Heisei trilogy’s continued implications that he may blame humans for the damage they cause to the Earth. This first film’s establishing moment, though, is very close to my heart, because Toshio is heavily coded as neurodivergent, with a special interest in turtles, and what happens in the film, from his perspective, is effectively that his special interest has manifested as a giant monster that crushes the home of his abusive family while specifically sparing his life. Seriously. In some versions of this, we get Toshio’s older sister and father, who shunned his interest in turtles only moments ago, forced to agree with his summation that Gamera saved him because “he knows I like turtles.”

The subtitled original Japanese version of this film establishes what is, in my view, a critical piece of lore information: that Atlantis stretched all the way to the Arctic Circle, and also that multiple Gameras were said to have lived there. This author further postulates that (*continuity goggles on*) many of the Atlantean-Muan military engagements occurred throughout the Bering Sea, with the Atlanteans crossing the north pole and using the Bering Strait as their accessway to attempt a conquest of Japan. Japan is established in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris as some sort of Mana center, and I’ve previously suggested control of Japan was the primary motivation for the Muan-Atlantean war, and thus the reason for so many Atlantean-related discoveries to have occurred in the Pacific Ocean. I further suggest now that an outpost in the Arctic Circle was established as a Gamera production facility, consistent with the Black Tortoise (Genbu)’s association with the northern compass direction in the legend referenced in Gamera 3. It is unknown how or why, but thus made somewhat more reasonable that the skeletons of the other produced Gameras ended up in an underwater graveyard near Okinotorishima. Perhaps they were covertly placed there in hopes that they would revive from or otherwise interact with Japan’s Mana?

(*continuity goggles off*) Unfortunately, the rest of the movie isn’t quite as interesting or meaningful as what I’ve covered so far – it subsequently devolves into Gamera attacking place after place, and the military coming up with one plan after another to try and stop him, until they ultimately settle on sticking him in a rocket and shooting him into space (in an ending quite prescient of one major source of the film’s later continued fame). This is the result of conflicting driving forces behind the production, with Director Noriaki Yuasa seeking to establish Gamera’s character as a hero of children while also still needing to fulfill his assigned mandate from Daiei of creating a city-crushing monster to compete with Toho’s Godzilla. What none of this really excuses, however, is the fact Toshio’s role for the rest of the movie is to get himself into more and more dangerous situations while trying to see Gamera, requiring others to put themselves in danger to save him, creating conflict over whether we’re really meant to sympathize with him (he is, after all, the origin of the unfortunate, offensive “Kenny” stereotype of children in kaiju films being more annoying than helpful).

If one would prefer an in-universe explanation for why Gamera might go on a destructive rampage in his first film, in contrast to the later ones, here I present three (*continuity goggles back on*) hypotheses, some of which may overlap.

Gamera is simply trying to restore his own energy, hence why he keeps going after fire. This is what is presented in the film itself, and is likely the canon explanation, with the only question left being why he seems to not care about the destruction he’s causing and the lives lost.

Gamera knows Gyaos is going to awaken soon, and Gamera 3 style, is in full ‘ends justify the means’ mode to power up and prepare. Despite being intended as separate continuities, the other versions of Gamera all tend to follow the Heisei’s may he awaken with the Shadow of Evil prophecy (we may just not have spent enough time with Toto for this to happen, and that film specifically establishes the Gyaos rivalry in its opening scene). While Showa Gamera is shown to be awakened by accident, it’s still possible he was already close to being ready to emerge and the nuclear incident simply jumpstarted the process.

Gamera is still reacting to something that happened before he was frozen in the ice, possibly an environmentally-destructive action taken by whatever civilization was present at that time – and which may have intentionally frozen Gamera in the arctic to get rid of him. Either that, or he’s reacting to the nuclear incident itself, and later learning about Toshio’s abuse only fuels his disregard of human life.

Abuse warning for how Toshio is treated by his teacher and family in the beginning of the film, which, as mentioned, bears enough parallels to shaming/punishing a neurodivergent child for having a special interest that I have to assume this was the filmmakers’ intent despite likely not possessing the words to describe it. This is immediately followed by Gamera appearing on scene and saving/sparing Toshio which seems to shock some sense into his parents. There’s also a scene later in some versions of the film where another child takes advantage of Toshio by throwing the rocks he’d gathered into the river, but another adult in the scene calls out the other child and defends Toshio.

In summation, I like this movie primarily for Gamera’s establishing character moment, as well as the positive/empathetic depiction of Toshio’s likely neurodivergence, despite the awkwardness with which the film treats his character from then on. That said, the majority of the film still falls back into a standard “how do we defeat the monster?” movie, and after the lighthouse scene, the idea of Gamera having any character outside of being a destructive kaiju who eats fire isn’t really expanded upon again until the sequels. And then there’s also the misogyny. I rank this one somewhere in the middle of the Showa films, there being a few others that I undoubtedly prefer and also, a few from which I can’t find as many things to like as I do from this one. Interestingly, our two main women Kyoko and Nobuyo do get a significant interaction that states they’ve been in contact offscreen, as Kyoko invites Nobuyo and Toshio for a brief visit at what seems to be Dr. Hidaka’s office after the lighthouse is destroyed and they decide to stay in Tokyo while it’s rebuilt. So there’s actually some basis for a wlw ship in this film, who would’ve guessed?

Enjoy this movie with Cape Cod kettle chips and waffle pretzels.

[kabutoraiger]

IDIOT

[okaajira]

Godzilla vs Gojira Headcanon

So as most of you know (or so I assume/hope anyway), In the PS3/PS4 video game “Godzilla The Game”, the “secret final boss” is Godzilla 2014, or G14 as I call him. As well, you are able to play as G14 in different game modes, at least on the PS4 version (again, I assume you can). 

Given the nature and origins of G14 and Gojira, I’ve often had this thought that more than one Gojira exists in the same universe.

I somewhat recently wrote a Crossover Fanfic spawned from a couple dreams I’ve had, which features G14 appearing int he world of Kantai Collection, since I’ve always been amused by this idea, but one final part of the dream sequence was that a second, more Heisei era Gojira appeared after a few admirals had set up recon teams to keep track of G14. So this spawned the idea of the bolded text prior to this paragraph.

So as it simply states, I headcanon that G14 and Gojira exist in the same universe at the same time, since they have origins that span across several million years. Gojira was a dinosaur that was either mutated or awoken (depending on the lore you go with) by the atomic bomb drops and subsequent tests of the 40s. G14, however, was a preexisting “Alpha Predator” of a time all but forgotten, though typically only woke up because of these tests but never actually acted on it for the longest time after it was attacked. He’s ancient, powerful, and mostly passive unless actively attacked, just staying in his own lane otherwise.

Now, in the final area of the video game mentioned above, you play as a Burning Gojira, the one from Godzilla vs Destoroyah. Given the sheer destruction, growth, and general chaos that you cause prior to this final “secret” fight, of course it would get the attention of the alpha predator and have it defend the world it lives in, thus “Restoring balance” as per its assumed role. So when the two clash, it appears as though Burning Gojira wins the fight, but in the end, he’s frozen and driven back into the ocean to prevent the impending cataclysmic meltdown. Now, of course, fighting a much younger, more spry, and supercharged subspecies of itself, G14 is of course easily overwhelmed despite being no less powerful himself, so perhaps, after all of this, he eventually leaves and oversees the “calming” of Gojira’s unstable state.

So TL;DR, the two exist in the same universe, at the same time, but almost never interact due to their roles in the balance of nature. One is a super ancient balance restoring force of nature that teaches us that nature shall not be leashed, the other is a chaotic neutral “Embodiment of Destruction” that keeps humans in their place, reminding us that we are not as all powerful as we think we are.

[superstargregory]

Chemical emotion, kagome kagome, calalini, iNsANity, young and beautiful, worm eaten psychedelism, heisei cataclysm, plus boy, death should not have taken thee, other side of paradise, pork soda, take a slice, despacito, eepoch, i have a boy, cupid.exe, devils swing, love is full throttle, marie luise, the opening for save me lollipop, story of evil, abstract nonsense, lost ones weeping, electric angel, pet me, romeo and cinderella, bad stuff happens in the bathroom, stereotype song

jesus chris  t,,, 

[linzolle]

Whose replacement am I?

[vocaloidquotes]

When people say that a fandom which causes drama all the time is ‘such a kind fandom’

[desert-locust]

Heisei Cataclysm

[juichi-bey]

Heisei Cataclysm [IA]

[heiseidominantation]

Heisei Cataclysm "The Beginning of the End" (Uzuki & Heiwa)

Since when had she been afraid of sleeping?

Even before she went to bed, she strongly hoped she would wake up.

As soon as a minute or a second, she hoped that the cruel dreams that she kept dreaming about every night would end.

※

"...Ah!"

A vast consciousness resembling drunkenness became vivid in her mind. 

Shaking her eardrums was the shrill metallic sound of blades colliding violently with each other. The smell of iron penetrating her nasal cavity was so dense that she couldn't help but cover her mouth with her hand.

Again…

Tokido Haku gazed at the strange sight unfolding before her eyes. On the roof of the abandoned house overlooking the decaying buildings…

Under the slightly chipped and distorted moon in the night sky, a boy and a girl, who were still innocent, were scrambling for each other's lives with their dripping knives in their hands.

"You're as stubborn as ever, Rei!"

The girl with a smile on her lips rolled up the hem of her scarlet dress. She kicked hard on the ground and fluttered through the air, holding many knives inside her skirt between her fingers and releasing them sharply in a flowing motion. The boy who was attacked by white-edged rain over his head avoided the attack by rolling on the ground many times.

"Don't worry, Sakuhi. I'll stop being so stubborn right now."

The boy, who sat up on one knee, threw his knife at the girl who had just landed, expressionless. The blade, glittering in the moonlight, cut through the soft white skin of the girl's black shirt under her dress. The spout of blood stained not only the dry ground, but also the neat face of the girl, distorted by pain and hatred.

"Sakuhi" and "Rei". It was a long time ago that she found out these were the names of the two people who killed each other. Haku understood very well that this nightmare was a real nightmare. Because she had been dreaming every night of bloodshed that drove her crazy since she was in junior high school.

In last night's dream, Rei stabbed Sakuhi to death. In her previous dream, she remembered that Sakuhi strangled Rei with both hands. Although the means and places were different, the boy and girl who she only knew the names of filled Haku's dreams with the smell of death whenever night came.

"Just stop it already, both of you!"

If things went on like this, one of them would die as usual. Haku's bitter cry disappeared without reaching Rei or Sakuhi. 

It was always like that… She could only stand by and watch the two people kill each other in her dream. She was the only spectator who was shown this mad stage where she wasn't allowed to interfere, let alone touch.

"Why do you keep doing such sad things?"

Sakuhi had long, pure white hair reflected in one side of the darkness tied in two at a high head position. On the other hand... Rei's jet-black hair, which seemed to blend into the darkness, bounced slightly above his shoulders. Their hair and gender were different, but their appearance made them look like twins. It looked like they had a pair of red and blue odd eyes, which were different from each other on the left and right. And it was no wonder they looked like that. For they were truly two people.

"I don't understand! Why do you have to fight "yourself"!?"

The reason why they fought. That was the meaning of their "existence". 

Originally, Rei and Sakuhi seemed to have been one person. In the past, the surprising fact was revealed in a murderous battle that was shown to the point of disgust. Two personalities that lived in one body. One of them was embodied by someone's power, and the two were at odds over the only place.

—Because there should be no two people in one world…

People shouldn't kill others. 

A tear fell from Haku's cheek at the extraordinary act of killing each other. At the same time that the drops had sprung on the ground…

"I can't bear to lose to you!"

The groaning Sakuhi struck Rei with her bare hands, regardless of the opening of the wound on her shoulder. Rei used his arms to ward off the wind and thrusted his fist out. He readily accepted the kick, which had been delivered, with the palm of his hand.

"Too bad for you. This is it...!"

Rei, who was holding Sakuhi's thin ankle, shook her delicate body to the edge of the roof without a fence, and felt no hesitation at all. Sakuhi, stepping on her backside, leapt back into the darkness of the night. Young red and blue eyes oozed with despair. A flexible hand stretched out for salvation cut through the empty sky... 

For a while, and after a while, from the distant earth, she heard the sound of a ripe fruit crashing.

※

"—Ah!!"

A scream crept deep in her throat, making a twitching sound. Haku, who sprang out of bed, grabbed her chest, which was beating violently, as if it were after running at full speed, from above her pajamas.

"...What the hell is this? Every day, every day…"

She took a deep breath to adjust her shallow and fast breathing. The quiet night sweats that she felt all over her body were unpleasant, and wrinkles naturally formed between her eyebrows. She pressed her forehead to smooth out the wrinkles, and Haku muttered.

"What was I dreaming about?"

The worst wake-up of the morning. She was sure she had some kind of dream, but she didn't remember it at all. This phenomenon had continued since she first became a junior high school student. It was creepy, and she gradually became afraid of sleeping. But the body was honest, and at night it naturally seeked sleep. Haku, who was seized with an inescapable drowsiness, always prayed.

If it's a dream that I forget when I wake up, don't show it to me tonight.

"...It's no good, I can't remember today either."

When her breathing and heartbeat were in order, Haku let out a small sigh and went down from her bed. She seemed to have forgotten to draw the curtains last night. She stretched as long as she could with the bright morning sun shining through the window. When she looked at the alarm clock on her bedside, it was earlier than usual.

Since it was Sunday, I wanted to sleep a little more…

There was no point in turning off the alarm function. Haku, who somehow felt like she had lost time, shook her head and changed her mind.

What am I thinking? If I have time to sleep, I should spend as much time as possible searching!

When she headed to the wardrobe where she was storing her clothes, she pulled out a suitable shirt and skirt to change into, and put a thin hood on top of it. Haku stood in front of the mirror standing by the window.

After combing her hair as a whole, she knit the long neckline into two with a familiar hand. To wrap it up, she held the left side of her bangs with her favorite white hairpin and she was done.

"Okay, I'll do my best today too!"

She smacked her cheek to cheer herself up, and picked up the bag hanging beside her study desk. As she did so, her eyes were drawn to the photograph stand on the table. What was displayed was a family photo. Her parents, herself, and her little brother, who disappeared shortly after taking this picture, were all smiles. Haku gently caressed her younger brother's smile with her thin fingertips.

"Wait for me, Rei. No matter how many years it takes, your big sister will find you."

※

Years had already passed since Haku's younger brother, Rei, disappeared. Having submitted a search request, the police were still looking for Rei. But Haku didn't want to leave her precious brother to others. Even for a short time on her way to school, she always looked for Rei. On weekends, she went not only to neighboring towns but also to other prefectures. Although Haku continued to search for her younger brother, who suddenly disappeared, she wasn't alone. Her kind-hearted friends wouldn't let Haku be so reckless.

"You shouldn't do this alone. If you're looking for him anyway, more people would be more efficient."

"That's right, Haku, we're friends, so you have to rely on us more."

"O-Of course! If you ask us to do anything… I-I'll lend my strength and help you, too!"

Three of her classmates said that and went out to search for Rei. 

Her parents began to persuade her to leave it to the police now, and their presence supported Haku's heart. 

But I can't just stop for my own convenience.

Haku, who left home earlier than usual, was standing at a bus stop near her house. Taking her smartphone out of her bag, she opened an SNS app that connected her friends. Then, she tapped the screen lightly and typed in a message.

Let's see... "I'll be free today. Let's make sure to enjoy Sunday"… And send.

The app she used as a means of communication allowed her to exchange sentences within a community.

—Heisei Snipers.

That was the name of the community that all of her companions gave through trial and error. Next to the name of the creator, Haku, was an icon with the words "Leader".

"This is cool, isn't it!? Doesn't it seem like a secret organization?"

One of her friends pointed to the leader's icon and said so.

Since then, Haku had deliberately acted like a leader of a secret organization when writing messages. If she wrote her own messages, she would have written something like "I'm sorry for taking up your time". The leader character was well received among her companions.

Come to think of it, didn't Rei like to play hero too…?

Immediately after posting the message, she suddenly remembered. 

With the same bright red eyes as herself, Rei would look forward to watching the squadron's show every week early in the morning on weekends. Of course, it was common that they played hero games together.

I was the villain monster, and Rei always knocked me down, didn't he?

He would punch her with his small fist and she would fall down with an exaggerated groan. Sometimes she pretended to be beaten, and while Rei was off guard, she would tickle him and fight back. 

Back then, they were just ordinary siblings you would find everywhere. Now that they were separated, she realized that their "ordinary" at that time was "special".

"Oh, I know!"

The Heisei Snipers' activities were to search for Rei, who was missing. So once Rei was found safe, she would hand over the leadership position. He was her younger brother who longed to be a hero. She was sure that he'd like it. Then they would all decide on a new course of action.

Until then, I'll be the leader instead…

Hurry up and come back.

At the same time that Haku wished in her heart, the bus arrived. 

The destination was a station in the city area. The others were looking in the neighborhood, so she was going to go to the next prefecture for the first time in a while.

If I run into everyone, I'll be in big trouble.

If her companions found out that she was looking for Rei alone, she would be scolded in three ways, and it would be hard for them to forgive her. Nevertheless, she would like for them to grow their wings on weekends.

When the passenger door opened, she went up the bus step lightly. Haku's voice, thinking of her friends, was drowned out by the sound of the door closing without reaching anyone.

※

Ugh... I'm pathetic.

Sitting on a park bench illuminated by the west eye, Haku shrugged her shoulders. Before leaving the house, she declared to her brother in the photo, "I'll definitely find you," but today's search had ended in vain. It was time to go home, but her legs hurt from walking too much. She still hadn't found any clues, and not only her body but also her mind was getting heavier.

"Hey, Onee-chan?"

"...?"

When she was deeply drooping and depressed, her sleeve was pulled modestly, and she looked up slowly to find a little boy was staring at her right next to her.

Rei...?

The boy and her brother were seen overlapping for a moment. However, such hallucinations soon dissipated. Rei disappeared when she was about the same age as the boy in front of her. It was impossible for the future to come back as it was then. As much as Haku had grown, Rei had gotten older.

...I see.

Haku suddenly realized why she couldn't find Rei. Haku had remembered Rei as if time had stopped and they were still young. She knew in her head that people grew up, but she didn't seem to follow the essential feeling. Anyway, all Haku had been following with her eyes during the search were little boys.

It's too late to realize that now.

Once again, she sighed at her lack of worth. 

"Hey, Onee-chan, what's wrong? Does it hurt anywhere?"

The boy peeped anxiously into Haku's silent, self-loathing face. At last, Haku came to her senses.

"Oh… I-I'm sorry. Onee-chan here was just a little dazed."

"Are you okay? Do you have a fever?"

"Thank you for your concern. But don't worry, because I'm full of energy."

She said, "Look!" and, although it was awkward, she smiled and made a lump on her arm. Then the boy replied "It's true!" with a cheerful smile. As they laughed with each other, she heard a woman's voice from afar.

"Oh, my mom is calling me."

When she looked at the entrance to the park, she found a woman pushing a stroller. The woman was beckoning for the boy's name.

"I've gotta go home. Bye bye, Onee-chan!"

"Yes, take care."

Haku also looked back at the boy who started running with an innocent wave. 

Then, a man of unsteady steps appeared from somewhere and stood blocking the boy's way.

What's with that person?

The man wore a worn-out top and bottom jersey and had unlimited hair and a beard. He was wearing sandals, but his right one may have come off in the middle. His eyes were out of focus, and he kept muttering something in his mouth.

The boy stopped and stood still in the strange atmosphere created by the man. He was a kind boy who worried about Haku's depressed self and talked to her. She decided to take him to his mother before he got any more scared. 

But the moment Haku got up from the bench, something shone in the man's hand.

What he pulled out just now was…

Looking at the man's right hand, Haku suddenly felt her spine freeze. It was a big survival knife that the man was holding tightly with his tough hands. The blade glittered as if it were looking for blood, reflecting the setting sun.

This isn't good...!

She immediately searched the side pocket of her bag and took out the object she was looking for, and ran forward forgetting the pain in her leg. At the same time, the man muttered to himself, with a thick strange voice, and began to wave his knife around.

The boy stood like stone and was unable to move. For the man who barked like a mad beast and raged, he was a good target.

"STOPPP!"

The little body trembled with fear, sooner than the man's deadly blade was shaken down. Haku, who pushed the boy away, threw the bag in her left hand at him with all her might. Luckily, the bag hit the man in the face, and his hand holding the knife stopped for an instant.

Now!

Without missing a moment's opportunity, Haku narrowed her distance from the man at once. And she felt free to thrust a large syringe of blood-red medicine into the man's side, which had just been taken out of her bag. Thick needles, which were different from medical ones, easily penetrated his clothes and reached his skin. When the medicine was injected at once and the needle was pulled out, the man fell to the ground and fell down.

I-It worked…

She kicked the knife away from the man's hand and Haku breathed out a sigh of relief.

"...O-Onee-chan…!"

When she was called back, she saw the boy looking at her, trembling. The boy's mother was about to change her face and run. Haku, whose tension was broken, laughed weakly.

"Onee-chan here beat the scary old man. It's all right now."

She told him as gently as she could, and the boy's face soon became distorted— And then he burst into tears with a loud voice.

※

"Today was a disaster…"

Haku, who was washing herself in the bathroom, naturally let out a sigh from her lips.

She was supposed to have gone looking for Rei, but she got caught up in an unexpected incident in the park she stopped by on her way home. The boy's mother reported it, and soon after, several police officers came. She was prepared to be questioned, but the police officer, who checked the man's condition, simply released Haku by nagging, "Don't be so reckless".

"That man was definitely suffering from "heart erosion"."

Heisei was a peaceful time that had nothing to do with conflict. There was no hunger, nor were there houses burned by war. People's lives were getting easier and easier because they were blessed with high-performance civilization. Everyone wanted a peaceful life. It was thought that no happier time would come. 

...Until a disease was discovered.

The name of the disease was 〔Heart erosion〕. To put it literally, it was a disease that ate your heart until your mind was worn out.

"I'm glad I didn't forget to bring a sedative for self-defense."

The injection Haku gave to the man who was upset was a sedative exclusively for cardiac patients. If the red medicine was poured into the body, even patients with terminal heart erosion could be instantly incapacitated. It was now becoming common in this country to carry sedative syringes for self-defense.

"And yet…"

After Haku washed away all the bubbles in the shower, she soaked in the bathtub.

"I heard on the news that the number of patients with heart erosion was increasing rapidly these days. Is there any reason for it?"

Someone said that a pleasant era would murder people. In most cases, emotional contact occurred when people who were less immune to conflict continued to be exposed to intense mental stress. When inferiority, suspicion, living conditions and working conditions became closely related, a great researcher was enthusiastic about it on a TV program.

"What is peace, anyway?"

People suffered from heart erosion and tried to hurt others even if they lived in a life that had nothing to do with conflict. Even in a world named after peace, there was a danger of being suddenly threatened like the boy she met in the park.

"Maybe because it's peaceful, that's why a fight happens."

When she thought about it, she didn't know what was right and what was wrong—...

Haku, who sank her mouth in the tub, bubbled with helpless thoughts.

※

After returning to her room and drying her wet hair with a towel after taking a bath, Haku picked up the photograph standing on the table. Her heart creaked dangerously at her brother's smile, who she couldn't find no matter how much she looked for him.

I wonder what Rei looks like now?

With the photo frame in her hand, Haku stood in front of the mirror stand. Photographs and mirrors were the same as herself, who grew from the past to the present, and Rei must have been the same. When she thought about it again, she felt more attached to it than ever before.

"Rei, where are you now?"

Her only precious little brother. She wanted to see Rei grow up and smile. She wanted to take pictures with her whole family and live together under the same roof.

"...I want to see you…"

She expressed her thoughts swirling in her heart as if she were spitting blood. 

The next moment, as when a pebble was thrown into the lake, a ripple spread on the surface of the mirror reflecting Haku's image.

"If you want to see your brother that much, I'll let you see him."

It was neither her father nor her mother that spoke. Haku's shoulders shook greatly at the third party's voice. The voice was coming from the mirror.

There, where Haku was seen until a while ago, was now a different person who looked very similar to her. The cloak with a red cloth clasp and the short hair on her  shoulders were the color of a crow's wet wings. She lifted only one side of her mouth, and laughed sarcastically.

Who is this person?

Not only the clothes and hair color, but also the atmosphere was different. Still, the crimson eyes staring at her, the red pin shape that held the right side of her bangs, and above all, the appearance of her face was very similar to that of Haku's.

"Time is running out."

The person in the mirror slowly turned her muzzle toward Haku. Before she could feel fear, the trigger was pulled, and the dry gunfire sounded in the room…

"So, enjoy your final reunion!"

Haku's consciousness quickly receded with a voice of hateful joy.

※

"—Ugh!"

Haku kneeled down on the spot in the shock of compulsory awakening.

I was… shot just now, right?

A mysterious figure suddenly appeared in the mirror. The black muzzle she held made her spine tremble. She looked around to see if there were any scratches—

"It's okay. It's just your "consciousness" that flew this way."

She thought she was alone, but…

A voice came from an unexpected close range, and Haku looked up as if she had been played.

"Ah…"

"He" stood quietly in a dark space that stretched forever. As soon as she saw it, the memories of the dreams that she had in her mind came back to life. 

With a sharpened knife in his hand, the boy and the girl who killed each other, the boy who killed himself countless times, and the boy who continued to be killed by the other, stood in front of her.

"N-No way…"

Why did she forget it in the real world? Why didn't she notice it in her dreams? The brother, who Haku had been searching for for years, was reunited with her every night in her dreams.

"Long time no see, Nee-san."

When the boy smiled softly, Haku's vision oozed and became blurry. Although he grew taller and his voice became lower, her instinct strongly appealed that he was definitely her younger brother.

"...Rei…!"

When she spoke his name in a trembling voice, she was so moved that tears fell from her eyes. Rei's blue left eye, which gently looked at his crying sister, slowly changed to the same red color as his right eye.

"Nee-san, we don't have time. Listen carefully to what I'm going to say."

There was a slight creaking. Next, every part of the space cracked. The cracks that ran like spider webs spread throughout the space.

"There are two areas in this world, the Surface and the Reverse. I was kidnapped by the people of the Reverse World and used as the 〔Key〕 to invade the Surface World."

"Eh…?"

"The place where Sakuhi and I were killing each other, and where we are now, is my spiritual world. It's not real, so even if I kill her, she won't die, and she can come back to life as many times as she wants. Instead, every time Sakuhi or I die, negative aspects accumulate and the dark magic of oversized killing that we do is used to be launched."

"W-Wait a minute, Rei!"

She couldn't understand what he was saying. Haku tried to appeal for time to organize her head, but Rei shook his head slowly.

"Sakuhi disappeared earlier. I'll soon be wiped out, too."

Rei's body glowed palely when he said so. His eyes had already changed to the same crimson color as Haku's.

"No! We finally met...!"

Even though Haku reached out at once, Rei didn't even try to hold his sister's hand and just laughed softly.

"I'm glad I got to see you at the end. Thank you."

The words of thanks were words of farewell. From his feet to the tip of his head, Rei's body instantly became a particle of light and faded away, and at the same time, the cracks that spread throughout the space broke away…

"Rei—!!"

Haku woke up with her own bitter cry. As in her dream, she was reaching straight out in tears in real life…

"T-This is…?"

She blinked several times while lying on her back on the floor. The burnt ceiling collapsed, and the red moon in the night sky was visible. Haku, who jumped up in a hurry, was shocked enough to stop her heart from seeing the unbelievable scene.

"What the hell happened here…?"

She wondered if a bomb or something exploded. Most of the walls, as well as the ceiling, were blown away. The desk was filled with rubble, and the mirror cracked on the side of the mirror— the room was abandoned before she knew it. It was transformed into a castle.

This was the same dream where Rei disappeared, so was this also a bad dream?

It was when her mind went blank and Haku forgot to breathe.

"That's weird. Why are there survivors when it was done so flashily?"

From overhead came a low, sullen voice. A young man in a dark green combat suit stood on the beam of the ceiling, the only one who had escaped collapse. He was carrying a rifle with a long barrel lightly in one hand.

"Are you a monster or something? Even if you managed to live through this, you wouldn't be able to escape injury!"

The young man complained selfishly, comparing the misery of the groin with the unharmed Haku, but with a simple self-contained "Oh, I know!", he set up the rifle with Haku in his eye.

"It's my job to destroy the people around here— but you're an interesting fellow!"

The young man proudly spoke to Haku, who was speechless and stunned.

"So why don't you come to 〔Dominant〕? If you refuse, it's goodbye forever!"

He waited for 3 seconds. The young man laughed invincibly, peeping into the scove of the rifle with one eye, like a wild beast who enjoyed hunting.

The day Haku met her beloved brother again and experienced her second separation…

The peaceful Heisei era had come to an end.

(To be continued…?)

[kabutoraiger]

How about Tsukasa and company meeting the OG Kabuto crew? What would Tsukasa think of the hopper bros? Cook off between Tendou and Kaito or would they trade recipes? [And btw do you know why Decade is so short? Weird way to commemorate 10 years of heisei]

that meeting is one never meant to happen bc we all know some sort of cataclysm would unfold due to tsukasa & tendou in the same room. but it’s fun to think about nonetheless. 

yusuke & kagami would definitely get along & commiserate. tsukasa thinks the hoppers are hilarious. and i take daiki to be a more casual “knows how to do all the basics really well” type of chef so i’m not sure he’d be on tendou’s level but i’d love to see him try to beat him.

and decade was cut short on purpose bc they were trying to reset the airing schedules, basically. it was decided that it wasn’t really working having both rider and sentai start and end at the same times of year. mostly due to toy marketing n such i believe. so by cutting decade they could start having new riders begin in the fall instead. which has turned out to be a better way to do things i think but it’s still a bit tragic that decade had to take the bullet for it.

[nannva]

ヘイセイカタクリズム　じっぷす　feat. IA

[reichan-zima]

Heisei Cataclysm pitched owo

[vocaloid-song-a-day]

Name: Heisei Cataclysm

Vocaloid: IA

Producer: Zips

Nico Upload Date: Dec 26, 2012

[heiseidominantation]

Heisei Cataclysm "Drowsy Disconnection" (Sakana Kana & AREN)

[Saturday, December 14, 20XX at 8:00: A Drowsy World]

My mom didn't come back yesterday either. When I had examined the living room, the bedroom, the Japanese-style room, the closet, the toilet, the bathtub, the refrigerator, the washing machine, and found no trace of my mother, I began to eat.

When it came to meals, I've been eating slices of bread left on the table with butter and jam. The moment I ate sticky oil and fat, I would feel sick, but the hunger of waking up beat it out. There were two slices of bread left. But they might get moldy before I finish eating them.

I tied the strings of my sneakers roughly and went out in a fake fur jacket. The reason why it was too bright outside the window was that the snow piled up late at night and reflected sunlight all over the place.

It was a dead quiet residential area. The sound of the door-hanger was so loud that it scared off the birds flying around it. I held my breath and headed for the park, a five-minute walk away. 

I made room to sit through the snow on the bench. It was the first time since I was born that it was snowing so much in Tokyo.

The weather and the news were all over the place. Over the past few years, the weather had been abnormal almost every year, hot or cold, rain or no rain.

We were all quite used to it, and the announcer's tone of reading the prepared manuscript with a "No Abnormal Weather Death" once in a hundred years, sounded like white noise. 

The mountains of snow, melted by the sun and sparkling with drops of water, seemed to still allow cold time to flow inside them. I put my hand in the snow and made a snowball about the size of a rice ball. My wool gloves, which weren't waterproof or anything, were already damp and cold just from making one snowball. The snowball worked well. It was heavy, cold, and solid in my hands. It was my handmade weapon. When I put it right in front of the pliers, I felt reassured and made snowballs one after another. I made a lot of them so that I would be okay in case I got attacked. Two and a half dozen of them.

It was reaching the time when the winter sun was about to rise to its highest altitude. When I had become exhausted, I hung my wet gloves on the back of the bench and laid down on a bench that wasn't so wide. As the snow absorbed the temperature, the strong sun continued to shine on me and the snowballs. In the fold, I slept for a while.

I was awoken by an unpleasant dizziness, like a rat rumbling about in my head.

…?

Dozens of eyes were on me in the slightly angled sunlight. Streamlined green ears and empty red eyes. Snow rabbits. A platoon of snow rabbits, all turned to me, were lined up in front of the bench.

"...!"

What came to my mind was eerie anger.

Who made these? And for what purpose? 

There must have been someone who was messing around while I was in my own world and wanted to mock me behind my back. The snow rabbits kept looking at my confusion with innocent eyes. I couldn't stand being looked at like an animal in a show-house. I trampled the snow rabbits with the bottom of my sneakers. The rabbits, made of fragile crystals, lost their shape surprisingly quickly, and became mud-mixed clumps, stained with dirt and clinging to the ground. Their southern leaves and red fruit eyes were buried in the snow, and even though they lost their bodies, they were staring at me. I destroyed all the snow-rabbits in good faith, and left the park without turning a blind eye.

It was a strange woman who greeted me when I got home. She was wearing a long-sleeved black T-shirt with a lock-like print. Her hair, which seemed to be deliberately shaggy, had a creepy color like potatoes that had dropped iodine. There was a lot of jumbled metal hanging down from her leather pants. No matter how you looked at it, everything about her was completely different from my mother, who was supposed to meet me at my house. I could see the glare of her eyes from her bangs, which covered half of her face. I felt like a small animal stared at by a natural enemy, so I hurriedly closed the door before the woman's hand reached me. She was across the door, and I staggered back, feeling that I might be attacked just by touching the door. I retreated a few steps and bumped into the gate and heard a loud crash. I crouched down on the spot. 

I thought the neighbors would come out to see what was going on because of the loud noise, but no matter how long I waited, there was no sign of anyone else passing by. In the closed bathroom window, a black shadow appeared for a moment and disappeared immediately. If whoever was in there caught me, I would be killed.

But while I was away from the front door, the silhouette came out of the house, assimilated into the darkness, and my fear became a greater fear, not knowing when the figure would come upon me. As I was about to scream, I kept staring at the front door, clutching the hem of my fur jacket like an astronaut holding onto the handle of a weightless spaceship. 

I've been having delusions about my mother's dead body lately. If I've been having delusions about my mother's dead body, then maybe this person was a delusion too.

If I opened the door again, maybe she would already be gone like smoke. Otherwise, I would be killed. But even the thought of being killed was just a delusion. 

While I was crouching in front of the gate, the sun had set and it became dark.

I had to choose between going home, going to the park where the rabbits were waiting, or going to the city where there were a lot of dangerous incidents. 

I was tired as if I had been crying for an hour. I stood up, as if it were nothing, and shook off the drops of water at the bottom of my jacket, and opened the front door. There was no one there. Not that person, or my mom.

Thud.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.

I heard light footsteps from the second floor, where nobody was supposed to be. I had hoped the sound of footsteps on the first night were me hearing things. 

The sound of footsteps the next night were light. 

The sound of footsteps the next night after that were nothing more than the grin of a Cheshire cat that mocked me.

The next night, too. And the next night after that, too. 

One night after another, one night after another, one night after another, one night after another, one night after another, one night after another, one night after another, one night after another, one night after another, one night after another.

And the next, and the next, next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next.

A thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. 

The footsteps grew louder.

—Whose footsteps was I hearing?

[Sunday, December 15, 20XX at 8:00: The White Girl]

As I thought, my fears didn't exist once I woke up. That person and my mother, who was dead with her internal organs scattered all over the room, were all just a delusion. But my mother didn't come back yesterday either. So I checked the living room, bedroom, Japanese-style room, closet, toilet, bathtub, refrigerator and washing machine, but found no bloodstains. 

I wanted warmth in the cold house. I thought I saw a black cat. The neighbor's black cat used to come to the garden. I wish the cat would come and see me again. If he came, of course, I was going to invite him into my house.

The bread on the table was spotted green and blue. I opened the jar of jam, but the sweet smell only burned my heart.

I decided to go out without saying anything. The door latch was as cold as if it had been in a freezer, and I almost got frostbite just by touching it with my bare hands for a moment. I realized that I had left my gloves on the park bench. I didn't want to go back to the park when I thought of those rabbits, but I couldn't touch anything with my cold fingers.

My feet followed the same path as yesterday. The sky was gray in a mixture of colors, like a brush-washing bucket of paint. 

I picked up the gloves that were on the ground. They were a little unreliable to survive the full winter, and although they were thin cheap gloves for wool, fortunately they weren't torn or frayed. Only a little bit of dirt was on them, but it was no problem. It was fortunate that they had fallen on the ground without snow. 

Around the bench, the remains of the snow rabbits remained as they were yesterday. The bench was located a little far from the promenade, and there were no signs of being trampled down by others.

"…!"

On the rough ground, there was a shadow of a lump of snow. And there stood a beautiful snow rabbit. The surface of the white fuselage was slightly melted and small, but both the green ears and red eyes remained the same as they were when they were miraculously created. I thought I had broken everything yesterday, but if there was anything left, I felt something of an attachment.

It survived.

A genocide. And it was the only one to survive. But, within days, it would melt into the sun and disappear. 

I thought of making another snow rabbit with the scattered southern leaves and red fruit. I looked into the shade of a green tree looking for as beautiful snow as possible. 

This is...?

They were a pair of gloves different from my own. This pair of gloves were thrown on a clump of snow. There was no trace of any other footprints in the vicinity of the pliers. In other words, the owner of the gloves was likely to be the creator of the snow rabbits.

Would they be sad?

There was only one snow rabbit left. There was a white pompom on the glove, which looked like a rabbit's tail.

"Ah…"

I heard footsteps stepping on the snow and looked back. Standing with her eyes wide open was a girl about my age in an ivory coat. From the gray background, the girl seemed to be floating.

"Did you break them?"

"..."

I didn't know what to say or whether to answer, so I just stood there staring at the girl.

I was afraid of her reaction to finding out I broke the rabbits. I was sure she would hate me, and I was sure she would be afraid of me. I thought that if I gave her her gloves, she would quietly walk away. But I couldn't move as if time had stopped.

The girl's eyes were red. They were the color of the southern sky. The girl acted unexpectedly in front of me, who was acting like a fool. She fluttered past me, sat down on the bench, and held out her right hand after rummaging in her coat pocket. 

There was a nostalgic, tickling smell in my stomach. It was a pork bun. My head was filled with hunger, and I hadn't eaten anything since morning. I could see that my mouth was dripping with thirst. The girl split it in two and offered me another steaming one.

"Want one?"

I didn't have to go back to my house that day. For the girl, who too had no parents, and was as kind as a goddess, said she would let me stay at her house.

The girl, who stood in the bathroom only once in the middle of the night, must have noticed that I was crying in the futon laid in the living room, but she said nothing.

And I was fine with that. The girl and I had just gotten to know each other, and I didn't really want to be seen crying.

The next day, when I woke up in the evening, my eyes were red and swollen like a snow rabbit, but the world I saw was so bright and vivid that I couldn't believe what had happened the day before. The weight of the tears that I shed so much that my pillow was soaking wet were the weight of my heart leaning toward madness.

[Wednesday, December 18, 20XX at 16:45: We Don't Have Names]

"Twilight Romantics!"

"That doesn't make sense. Rejected."

"Dangerous Enchanters!"

"Absolutely not."

"Tomatsuri City Angels!"

"Are we on a rampage?"

"JC Paradise☆"

"Horrible."

"Rainbow Dreamers?"

"You're just saying anything now, aren't you?"

"Infinity Dragon Knights!"

"Where's the dragon?"

"Sheesh… Then what kind of name do you think we should have, Akari?"

"Was that really the kind of discussion we were having in the first place?"

After school. At the Mnemosyne coffee shop, Akari and I were staring at each other across the table.

Even though junior high school students like us were taking over a box seat by the window, only ordering all-you-can-drink jasmine tea and making a fuss, Sana-san, the only clerk aside from the owner's grandpa, was polishing glasses at the counter without saying anything.

It's because he has a big heart ♪ ...No, not really.

Well, I guess it's because there were no other customers. Besides, even if we asked him to do so, there were only two people in our group who were mainly talking. Me, Amemiya Lislette, also known as Liz, actively proposing our team name, and Mitsuoka Akari, who was holding her chin in amazement, rejecting each suggestion with a single stroke. Repeatedly.

The other two were Tokido Haku, who was usually quiet, and today's first new customer— Fuyuto, a boy who didn't talk much aside from with Haku.

Well, Fuyuto-kun might be nervous since it was his first time meeting anyone other than Haku. And that was a recap of the situation.

"You should try coming up with something then!"

I crumpled up the back of the test sheet that I had spread out on the table to come up with an idea and threw it across the box seat.

"Ouch!"

A dark voice rose, and a golden head appeared from behind the backrest. 

Oh, I could see it, I could see it. The blood vessel mark of anger. By the way, this guy was Kamise Kyou.

""Our team's name, Glorious Celebrities"... Seriously?"

"I don't remember hanging out with you guys! If you're playing detective, do as you please, but do it away from me!"

...I was told earlier that this wasn't a bar.

"Oh, Kyou, isn't it? You didn't attend class in the afternoon, so you were reading manga here, right? See, all of us but our guest Fuyuto, are girls, so we might need a boy's helping hand."

Right? I asked him with sparkling eyes.

"Tsk…"

Kyou clicked his tongue with a vicious look and turned his eyes back to the manga sequel he was reading. 

Don't forget to shift your body to a position where you won't be attacked by my waste paper.

"Geez~!"

When I glanced at Akari, she seemed to be paying no attention to our daily conversation, and was looking out the window and stirring her tea.

Kyou-kun~? I'm asking you to support your love, you know? Really!

Well, maybe that's also why I'm trying to make them laugh. I'm conscious of things like that.

"Back to the discussion."

Look, Akari brought me back to the topic.

"I don't know why the topic became about naming the group, but... I want to make sure if Fuyuto-kun's mother is alive or dead."

The two silent ones in our group nodded solemnly.

—They really do look alike.

When I first heard that Haku was taking care of an unidentified boy at home, I thought Huh? I can't believe this! I have to stop this! and a flame of half justice and half jealousy burned in my heart. But when he was brought in front of me, and I was told about Fuyuto's strange experiences, I no longer felt that way.

This kid looks like he could be her younger brother.

I think it's easier for people to believe that they're close to each other if they're lied to. I couldn't bring myself to hate someone who looked like Haku. The fact that Fuyuto was one year younger than us may have also been the reason why the sense of crisis was getting lighter. 

As expected, if younger people rely on you, then it's natural to think you should do something to help, right?

"I may be repeating things, but to sum it up, first of all, Fuyuto-kun came home from school and found his mother's body in the living room."

I felt that the lights in the store were getting darker. The sound of Kyou turning over the pages of his manga sounded like white noise. When he talked about this, Fuyuto had slightly hazy eyes. If I looked straight at him, something in my heart may have been destroyed.

"I immediately called the police, but by that time, the body had already disappeared. I thought it was a prank, and that was it. But my mother didn't come back that day. ...That was the only time I had ever seen her corpse."

Fuyuto looked dissatisfied. Akari continued.

"Well? He told himself many times that it was a delusion, and he doubted himself many times. But his mother didn't come back on Tuesday. The next day, too. And one day, when Fuyuto came back from the park, a stranger was at his home."

"They were wearing black clothes, and had long hair."

"Fuyuto-kun thinks that they killed his mother, though there's no basis for it."

That's right. ...I can't explain, but it looked like someone who did that."

"I see... It's hard to make sense of, but I can't fault you because the range of things that can be translated into human language is so small."

Akari, I don't know what you're saying.

"By the way… To clarify my position, I think it's most natural to think that Fuyuto's mother's dead body is a hallucination and that she can't go home for some other reason."

I fell down on the table in spite of myself.

"Hey, wait… I've listened to you this far, and that's all you have to say!?"

"Listen to me until the end. When such an occult story is introduced, I think like that first. I didn't say I wouldn't cooperate."

"Then, Akari…"

The person who leaned slightly was Haku who was sitting next to me. Akari twisted awkwardly, holding her teacup, as if to escape from Haku's sparkling gaze. She must have thought she was cutting her off. Akari continued to choose her words.

"I'm saying this, but I don't know Fuyuto-kun at all. I listened to what Fuyuto-kun had to say, and I'm not saying he's lying, but it's easy for humans to see things that don't exist. ...But I've also known Haku since I was little. And if Haku wants to look into it, then spending a little more time on this case is nothing."

"Akari!"

Haku's smile was my favorite, and I could feel my happiness floating out. It was like pouring well-steamed jasmine tea into a teacup. 

"Thank you…!"

Yup, it's kinda funny! For me, who was cooperative from the beginning, I received a normal reaction. But as soon as Akari, who wasn't enthusiastic about it, said she would do it, she received such a smile!? I didn't know how to feel.

"Of course, Liz, too."

She added to me alone, in a voice that was audible but unheard of. 

Ugh, sheesh, I feel like this is all I need… 

…I-I'm such a coward!!

[Wednesday, December 18, 20XX at 17:10: A House of Corpses]

"Twilight Romantics," "Dangerous Enchanters," "Tomatsuri City Angels," and so on. In any case, we, Haku, Fuyuto, Akari and myself, left Mnemosyne and went to Fuyuto's house for reconnaissance. We left in a hurry.

…But I invited Kyou to join us, too, you know?

"Aren't you worried about letting girls go there alone~?" I said.

And he didn't show up. 

I hope he cries and regrets everything when we're found dead.

Akari said, "It's better to be careful. You'd better have a weapon with you just in case". So I thought we should head back to the school and grab a tennis racket and a bat... But once I suggested that, I was surprised when Sana-san suddenly went down to the back of the shop and brought out a wooden sword. He seemed to be good at kendo. It was a historic wooden sword, so he said that just holding it could be a charm. There was no pattern. It was just a wooden sword for practice, but it certainly felt like it was being used in color. 

If it hadn't been for the storekeeper, he would have followed us if we had asked him to join us. I think he would be more reliable than Kyou, but since we might have to confront the killer, we just asked for Sana-san's sword. 

Kyou's an idiot.

As a result of the consultation, the wooden sword was currently being held by Haku. 

Haku has been our leader for a long time, after all! When I saw Haku holding the purple bag with a wooden sword, I couldn't help but think "This is making me feel something…!" and so on.

Fuyuto's house, the Yuzuki residence, was located in a quiet residential area, well away from the center of the city, and in a nutshell, it gave the feeling of a "good house~". It must have been a legacy of his late father, but the mother who lived here with Fuyuto and didn't let go of it may have had a fairly high-income job.

We opened the gate and the four of us clumped together in front of the entrance.

There was a murderer waiting in front of the door, and as soon as I unlocked it, we were attacked!! Gya—!!!

…Just kidding, I have an active imagination. We broke into Fuyuto's house without any obstacles. "Sorry for the intrusion", we whispered in low voices. 

An empty, wide corridor. A house with few things and no sense of life. I think I'm a bit disappointed. I was expecting a real killer, and to shout at that moment, "What Fuyuto saw wasn't a hallucination!". It's hard for Fuyuto to keep memories that may or may not be hallucinations forever.

"Solo action is a death flag."

In honor of Akari's knowledge of horror movies, the four of us stuck together and looked around the house one after another.

I mean, I was the one who screamed mainly, and Akari told me to keep it down. But I knew Akari would be the same if she just let herself scream. 

Haku and Fuyuto cuddled together like cat siblings without parents and went through the house. Haku's parents haven't lived together for a long time, so maybe that's something they can both relate to. 

We, the boys and girls, were no longer sure what to do, and sat side by side at the living-room table, as we walked about the house, which seemed spacious enough to live in together, but not spacious enough to explore.

Here, Fuyuto's mother…

It didn't feel very good to think that, but Fuyuto had been in and out of this living room even after the discovery of the body, and he had taken out a plastic bottle of tea with an unexpectedly calm face. No one seemed to feel relaxed enough to boil water for tea time, though.

"If you said you called the police when you first saw the body, you'd be looking into the Luminol reaction."

Before I knew it, Akari, who was the least enthusiastic, was in charge. 

Come to think of it, if she didn't know the culprit after reading a book to challenge the reader, she was the type of person who would go back to the beginning and read it again…

"At that time, about twenty police officers and doctors came to my house to look into it, so I think they did it."

"About six hours from the crime to the discovery of the body. If it was that short a time, it's possible that the crime was committed just five minutes before and the criminal could have been hiding right next to Fuyuto-kun. From the time Fuyuto-kun reported it to the time the police rushed in, that would be enough to gauge it."

"...I don't remember much. But it didn't take them more than half an hour."

Akari seemed to be working really hard to get the truth, but even if I participated in the mystery contest, I wouldn't be able to say anything to get to the bottom of it. I pretended to come up with a good idea without any concrete plan, and suddenly came out of the living room and looked upstairs into the stairs.

—Thud.

My eyes glued to the darkness on the second floor at the end of the stairs. I could hear a noise now. As I concentrated my attention, I heard the noise again.

—Thud, thud, thud, thud…

Behind my ears, which were about to be drawn to the stairs upstairs, Akari's voice came back to me.

"Solo action is a death flag."

[Wednesday, December 18, 20XX at 17:52: A Mystery Behind the Ceiling]

It wasn't until I turned on the light that I realized. The realm of "dusk" was long gone. Right now, it was "night". Of course, it wasn't completely dark outside the window. Since it was a residential area, you could see the lights in the windows of other houses. But it was dark, aside from the light in the house and the lamppost.

The garden of the Yuzuki residence, which seemed to have a home vegetable garden, and the sloping road where snow still lingered, were just beyond the wall with insulation, just beyond the window.

Was it always this dark at night?

Did the house next door always look like that? It feels different when I see it during the day. I can't remember it looking like this.

I closed the curtains, as if something were looking at me from within.

"Liz, you can hear footsteps, so you're searching for them, aren't you!? Don't run off!"

"Ehehe."

When I went back to the search site with a blank answer, I saw that the door on the second floor was open, the closet had its contents taken out, and the inside wall was exposed.

"Geez, now I have nothing to do!"

Even though I'm a "Mystery Stray Sheep" (I just thought up that title), I was more than capable!

...And even with the ability to investigate a capable monster, nobody could find the culprit of the footsteps? Maybe it's a punchline where no one was there, after all?

I wondered if my thoughts were conveyed to Fuyuto…

"There's only one place I haven't looked yet!"

The inhabitant of the house cried.

...And where is that place?

Fuyuto, hiding only above his neck, stood on his knees, and was rattling something on the top of the closet. We couldn't do anything about it. 

According to Fuyuto, if you removed the ceiling of the closet, it was connected to the back of the ceiling. It seemed like a small space only a child could fit in on his own, but we even opened the toilet lid and checked the inside, so we couldn't go home without checking.

"...Ugh."

There was an extraordinarily loud rattle with Fuyuto's murmur, and plaster dust fell from the ceiling.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Akari hurriedly watched Fuyuto.

"I'm alright. ...I just hit my head."

Fuyuto pulled his head out of the ceiling and held out his arms in front of us.

A black and white creature? It looked like a black ball of hair and looked up under the light. Its standing triangular ears trembled as if to look around.

"...A cat!"

It was Akari who yelled in fear. She's been scared of cats since she was a kid, after all.

"Wow…"

On the other hand, Haku leaned forward with big eyes shining in interest.

As for me, I was a cute maiden who was tickled when I heard there was a cat, but I couldn't express my feelings as honestly as Haku, so I looked into Fuyuto's hand diagonally behind her. Haku put her face close enough to the black cat and gently touched its dusty fur with her fingers.

"He's weak…"

Indeed, the cat's breathing was weak, and its fur looked lustrous and limp.

Ugh, I'm worried. I'm the type of person whose heart pricks when I see such a weak existence. Just looking at it hurts.

"Fuyuto, by any chance, was the sound of footsteps…"

"Yes, I think it was this fellow. When I opened the closet before, I went into the ceiling the day the police came."

"We need to give him something!"

I controlled the standing Haku with my hands.

"Do you have any bonito flakes here, Fuyuto?"

"We do… There's a pack on the shelf above the kitchen."

"Akari and I will prepare lukewarm water and dried bonito flakes, while Fuyuto and Haku will follow the cat. Also, there were a lot of towels in the closet, so you can make a cat bed with them."

"Y-Yes…"

On the way down the stairs, pulling the still-solid Akari by force, I heard Haku and Fuyuto talking.

"Cat-san... It was cold, wasn't it?"

"He has a name. Kuro."

"You named the black cat… "Kuro"?"

"Yeah, because I found him in my family's garden. In the clover field. Kuro as in Clover."

[Wednesday, December 18, 20XX at 18:9: A Black Beast]

According to the name Fuyuto came up with, the cat, Kuro, drank the water and ate the bonito flakes so easily that it was too light. I carefully divided the yakisoba bread in Haku's bag, dipped it in water, and he also ate it well. Kuro wanted food so much that I thought about giving him other ingredients from the Yuzuki residence, but…

"There are a lot of foods that you shouldn't give cats."

Akari's admonition stopped me. I thought I should look it up on my phone, but for some reason, our phones didn't have internet connection. I wondered if that was the kind of place this was (I thought at the time).

When Kuro was tired of eating, he fell asleep. He curled up like a black salmon and slept. Even though he was an animal, I was wondering how he could sleep so hard in front of other mammals (like us). If it was true that sleeping required physical strength, it was thought that individuals in danger of their lives wouldn't sleep like this.

"So you were just hungry. Seriously, you really worried us."

I don't really care, but Akari, that's not a line you should be saying when you're standing more than five meters away from Kuro.

As for the future of Kuro, we had little thought of any other option, and he was taken in by Fuyuto at Haku's house. Even though nothing came out of our investigation, we couldn't leave him in such a mysterious house where Fuyuto's mother had died or someone we didn't know suddenly appeared. 

It had been dark outside the window for quite some time now. We put on our coats and scarves and carried our bags, leaving the Yuzuki residence to harvest the sound of footsteps and a cat.

"I'm sorry. I think I'm lost."

It was a while after Fuyuto was walking us through the residential area that he said that. I think the three of us had question marks on our heads.

"You're lost…? But this is Fuyuto's house, right? Did you ever get lost on your way back to the station?"

Akari raised a perfectly natural question. But the three of us, except Fuyuto, must have thought somewhere in our hearts.

—Where are we? Is this really the same road as the one we took to get there…?

"I don't know why, but this road is different. I think something feels wrong."

The black cat, wrapped in a towel around Fuyuto's chest, was awake, and his triangular ears stood up as if to observe the surroundings.

"Then what should we do…? For the time being, should we go back for now?"

Haku grabbed Akari's sleeve, which looked around her at a loss.

"No, we can't go back."

"We can't go back…?"

"—There's something…"

Akari and I gasped. A low growl, like a motor noise, came out of the darkness.

"W-What is that…?"

The owner of the growling noise appeared in front of us, who had kept a close distance from each other. It was a black beast. All I could think of was a dog, but it seemed sinister for a dog, and its fur fluttered like a black flame. The growl was undoubtedly directed at us. The emotions lit up in its red eyes were probably similar to what we humans called hatred.

—And there wasn't just one. There were still some beasts behind some of the streetlights. They were glaring at us. A whirling, whirling, sound whirled along. Fuyuto hurriedly hugged the little creature in his arms. I guess he was trying to intimidate the beasts, but Kuro was a cat and his body was much smaller.

If he tried to run away… It was a scary thought.

"Well, if we can't go back, let's head towards the city center. It's not too far of a walk all the way here."

At my suggestion, Fuyuto, holding the cat tightly in front of his chest, shook his head.

"No."

"No…?"

"It feels strange here. Let's go home. I should've told you this sooner, but I don't know this area. This is somewhere none of us know."

"Even if you say that, we have to run through those wild dogs to get home, you know!? And furthermore, you're holding that cat. Even Akari can't run very fast…"

"...I'll do something about it."

The one who murmured low was Haku. In her hand, yes— she borrowed a wooden sword from Sana-san! We didn't meet the killer, but we had our weapons ready. 

...Wait, but… A wooden sword is just a wooden stick, right? It was hard to imagine that such a thing would get through this pack of wild dogs.

"You won't know until you try."

Haku, presumably trying to intimidate them, held up her wooden sword in front of the wild dogs.

Then… Huh, huh? The wild dogs looked frightened for a moment. Haku approached the wild dogs one or two steps at a time. We were looking at the wild dogs as if they were going to jump at Haku…

Haku took one more step, no, half a step toward the dogs. The rumbling became one step lower, and the dog standing right in front of her took a step back.

Huh…? This is…

By any chance, by any chance, it was really working, right? Just as I could feel hope bloom…

"It's shining…!"

Akari exclaimed in surprise. She put her hand on the vines of her glasses and put them back on her ear as if she were looking with her own eyes.

—Yes, the wooden sword was shining. A sweltering, spell-like pattern loomed over the blade of the sword. Akari's glasses also reflected a greenish light. I wondered if it was painted with night-light. Or is this what Sana-san meant about it being a "historic wooden sword that worked like a charm"? I didn't really understand it, but now was our chance!

"Everyone, stay behind Haku! Let's just run through it!"

Fuyuto immediately nodded and ran to Haku. He might have thought that he had to protect Kuro in his own way.

...Yup, those guys should be fine. I couldn't say the same for the oldest of our group, who kept her mouth open by reflecting green light on her glasses.

"Hey, Akari! Open your eyes! Wake up!"

With Akari's arm in my right hand and Haku's two bags in my left hand (I'm sensible, you know), Haku and Fuyuto exchanged glances.

…Now! Make our escape!!

[Thursday, December 19, 20XX at 1:23: Marginal Night]

It was a great night. I could hear dogs growling all night outside the house, and we couldn't connect to home appliances or smartphones.

But I think everyone probably thought that if there were the four of us (and one extra), we wouldn't be afraid.

"That was just like "The Evil Dead"."

Akari said, gloating. 

You know, if I hadn't pulled Akari's hand and helped you out of the situation, you would have been like "The Evil Dead" in parentheses, right?

We had escaped a pinch but the reminder of it was always next to us, so that's why everyone's tensions were running high. We talked about a lot of things all night. Many things like when Haku, Akari, and I first met. We told Fuyuto a lot of our memories like that. I counted my memories one by one, as if I were longing for them.

In the morning, the wild dogs disappeared. I noticed that my cell phone's signal was back. I had received a lot of calls from my parents, but if I said I stayed at Haku's house and forgot to check my phone, they would be convinced.

We parted before dawn in a cold winter when we could easily wake up from sleep, and the four of us went to the station and took a shower at our respective houses.

But that morning— We never talked about the spectacle of last night.

[December XX, 20XX at XX:XX: The White Singer]

"...Shinjuku… Riding on board, thank you very much…"

Most of the passengers were replaced at the terminal station. A pregnant woman had left, and a girl who was standing in front of her took her seat, turning up the volume of her earphones and concentrating on her smartphone screen.

…Artificial era, perfect crime, brainwashing anticipation 3 turns later…

She tapped the screen to match the beat that made her feel like hitting a drum. The white singer, "Hakua" swam smoothly through the gap between her notes dancing on the screen. She tapped on the screen at the right time, and when the combo was connected, an animation cut-in would be included and words of support would be sent.

…Even the punishment blamed on the altar…

In this rhythm game, you accumulated "fire power" to prevent the revival of chaotic beasts. That was the kind of game it was. The "fire power", which was accumulated by players from all over the country, was displayed in a corner of the screen in real time.

She forgot who recommended it to her at first, but now it was an app that was exploding in the number of users. The amount of "fire power" was also increasing to an extent that it was comparable to the beginning. On the internet forums, people were whispering, "It's about time there was a new development". Everyone was looking forward to the next step of "operation". According to Hirota's prediction, it would be something like…

Once the beast of chaos was prevented from being revived, it would somehow descend into this world. And a new song that's been added, would fight against a stronger enemy, and all over Japan... no, everyone in the world would fight together.

I'm so excited…

Hakua praised Hirota for clearing the song with a full combo with a well-made synthetic voice that couldn't be distinguished from a voice actor. The number of "fire power" rose by the amount of Hirota's score. Hirota began to choose songs that she could play with the rest of her physical strength, biting her overwhelming satisfaction.

[Thursday, December 19, 20XX at 9:05: A Chipped Memory]

"Please hand these prints to the back seat."

Class members shouted loudly in the morning classrooms where the noise never stopped. The winter sky, seen through the dewy windows, was gray and muddy, and I was about to cry. It's been cold since this morning, and I wondered if it was going to snow again.

"Liz-chan… Liz-chan? Are you awake?"

I was half in a dream, and replied with a "Hey?".

"I'm talk-ing to yo-u! Please hand these prints to the back seat~"

I was staring at the print that Nene had pressed into my hand for a while.

"Liz-chan? Is your brain rotting today?"

"No... I'm alright. I just woke up, that's all."

I finally started to move my sleeping brain in fear of her getting angry and shaking her pigtails. I took one from the bundle of prints that said, "Enhancement of school patrols," and I turned around to send it to the back seat.

"...Eh?"

There was no one there. There was no one sitting in the back seat. There was nothing on the handle next to the desk. Only that seat in the classroom was as empty as a forgotten room. My wandering gaze for help hit Mitsuoka Akari. Akari's seat was on the right side of the seat behind me, which was vacant.

"Akari, who sits in this seat again?"

"What are you talking about? Yoshikawa-san, right?"

"Eh…?"

"Yoshikawa Azumi-san. She transferred to another school last month. Have you forgotten that already? You can be really rude sometimes, you know."

I was told with half an eye as I hurriedly searched for memories.

Come to think of it, there was... No, there definitely was someone like that. She was serious, she wrote old texts with her country, but she was missing something. She had natural brown hair. And sometimes she made her own lunch. 

This isn't good! If we had lunch together, how would I forget this much? Why…?

…I mean, was this kid really there?

"Look, I'll handle the prints."

I was still stunned when Akari robbed me of my bundle of prints.

"Liz, are you okay? I hope you're just half asleep…"

"Akari, you know, what were we doing last night again?"

"Yesterday? We were texting."

"...Is that so?"

"I didn't go out with you because you said you didn't finish your English assignment. See?"

Akari's smartphone screen certainly showed Akari's text exchange with me. The timestamp was definitely from last night. 

"I don't know what Liz is saying in general today."

"Liz-chan, don't you think you should go to bed early today~? Before you make a big mistake in chemistry or physical education."

I stood up with my dizzy head in my arms, and the chair fell with a thud throughout the class. The noisy classroom suddenly calmed down. Akari and Nene, who were talking lightly, looked at me with a surprised face.

"...I'm sorry, I don't think I can do this today. I'm going home."

I put the stationery and notebook spread out on my desk back into my bag with little use.

"...L-Liz-chan, I was joking when I said that you had better leave early…"

"It's not like Nene is to blame, really. It's just that I can't do this."

I couldn't stay here for a second because I had a headache and it was too much. I didn't even check the contents, as I fastened the magnet bracket on my bag.

"I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well, so I'm leaving early."

"Eh? Wai... A-Amemiya-san…"

I left the classroom without listening to my homeroom teacher's hasty reply. The hustle and bustle of the morning home room was overflowing into the empty hallway.

[Thursday, December 19, 20XX at 12:25: Disappear Into the Midwinter Sky]

I was supposed to have walked aimlessly. I didn't even have an umbrella with me in the flickering snow, but I didn't feel like going home. When I saw the log of last night's texts with Akari on my smartphone, I thought I couldn't just go home. It was cleverly hidden. Someone was hiding something from the world. And I was going to wrap it up in the silent snow and pretend it didn't happen.

I found myself in a residential area separated by a wall about the size of a height. I didn't remember any friends living around here. 

...No, I think I came to this park a few times when I was little. But I've never set foot in a residential area like this.

After I turned the same corner many times, I didn't have the confidence to go back to my original path anymore. I went as I wished, and stopped in front of a detached house. It was a beautiful house with elegant creamy walls and wood-grained lines as accents. There was a nameplate that said "Yuzuki." 

Do you read it as "Yuzuki"? Well, there must have been a happy family living there.

I don't know why I thought of doing so, but I turned the door latch open and stood at the door of the house, which was a little above the ground. There was no sound. I put my hand on the doorknob and tried turning it around. It was, of course, locked.

Well, that makes sense...

It was the middle of the day on a weekday. It was no wonder that the whole family was away from home. After thinking about it, I stopped ringing the doorbell.

If the residents of this house were just taking a nap, it wouldn't be unnatural for them to say, "When I woke up and opened the front door, there was a suspicious junior high school student ringing the doorbell who had nothing to do with this house". If I kept this up, they might call the police. I felt a sense of crisis, but when I turned my back to the front door, I found a way to the side of the house. 

Come to think of it, when I saw this house right in front of me, I thought it was a layout with a garden.

It's cold...

I shuddered from the core of my body. The snow, which had just begun to fall, was gaining momentum. 

But, just a little more...

I felt it was a waste to leave, so I thought I'd just peek through a narrow path like an eel bed between walls and eaves.

"Wow..."

I sighed in spite of myself, for there was an unexpected green carpet in the snowy garden.

The distinctive shape of the leaves could be seen even by me, who wasn't particularly familiar with plants. It was a clover field.

Of course, in the cold months of December, it wasn't so lush, but it gave a feeling of perseverance. Nevertheless, the winter scene had an unexpected impact. I was so touched by the clover field that I looked for a four-leaf clover (it wasn't that easy to find). At first I wanted to go home, but it was such a simple thing that my heart felt a little relieved.

Oh...

As I tried to pass in front of the front door, I noticed that the door was slightly open.

Did they come back or was there someone inside? When I was wondering which one it was...

"...!"

My mouth was blocked as if I were being held back. The person who was covering my mouth with the ease of holding a cup ramen lid felt like they were putting little effort into their arms. The next thing I felt was warmth. It was like the feeling I had when I was taking a bath. The reason I felt like I was bathed in hot water was because the blood that came out of my throat was so different. And then all my senses grew more and more distant.

It's dark. It's cold. It's painful. I'm scared. I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared.

I felt like my body was being torn apart in the distance. Finally, at the last moment, my brain began to resist the "world" at least a little bit. It was the last moment when my senses were stretched. I finally remembered everything.

The person who was sitting behind me all the time. The person who protected me and everyone last night. The person who had a smile stuck to her face like a lingering scent. 

Why did I forget? Why did I ever forget? 

Tokido Haku. 

Even though there was only one person like her in the world.

Even though she was my favorite person in the world.

[Thursday, December 19, 20XX at 13:12: Waking Up With a Cat]

I must have been the one who had the strangest experience. I woke up alone without remembering what had happened in a strange house. I could see snow falling through the curtains of a big window. The room was heated, but cold air seemed to pour in through the window. The light coming through the window was white and bright. I could hear the sound of snow falling. It was a horrible room with extremely few objects. The inhabitants didn't seem to be very good at cleaning, and I could see the dust flying in the light. There was no furniture except a table, a chair, and a plastic shelf. There was a futon for me on the floor that felt so wide.

The first thing I thought was that I had been kidnapped (my family was barely a wealthy family), but the idea was denied in a second.

In the space between the mattress and the quilt, a black cat entered and slept peacefully, with my arms as a cushion and my stomach moving up and down in a certain rhythm.

Where's the kidnapper who kidnapped a cat?

The cat wasn't my cat... but it reminded me of the neighbor's cat, who often went into my garden and played with me, so I named him Kuro and sometimes fed him. Kuro was a very thin-limbed cat with a kitten-like heart, but when he was put on my arm, he was heavy. I tried to pull him off my arm slowly so that I wouldn't wake him up, but I couldn't. When he realized that I had woken up, he yawned and stretched once at a time, and shuddered, and walked in a light rhythm into the kitchen between us. 

I dragged myself out of the futon. It was chilly, and I put on a knit cardigan that I had placed next to my pillow (whose was this?). There was an open door between the living room and the kitchen, leading to the corridor. It wasn't such a big house. 

Just as I looked into the hallway on the left from the kitchen, I saw the front door, and the corridor on the right that led to three doors. One door was locked. The other door was the bathroom and toilet. I opened the last door.

It seemed like a girl's room. But there wasn't anything like a row of stuffed animals by the bedside, or lace curtains. Instead, there was a steel bed, a simple desk for an adult man, and a white curtain covering the window with an armrest chair in front of it. The room was a thick indigo, and that's summing it up together to the minimum extent necessary.

But it turned out to be a girl's room, as peeping out of her school bag on the desk was a smartphone with a strap, and on the wall rack were a white coat and a formal dress-like dress.

If it were a girl's room, there was one different thing. There was something leaning against the desk. A long, deep purple bag used by people of unsophisticated social standing. The mouth was folded back and fastened with a red string with a tuft. It seemed to contain a treasure sword used for Shinto rituals. The foreign object, which was so far removed from the casual arrangement around me, attracted my attention that I took it in my hand and untied it. A wooden sword with a streamlined, beautiful figure appeared from the inside. It was used, and it was candy-colored. The blade of the sword was bare, and there was no incised information to identify it.

—No. As soon as I thought about it, my eyes caught the light on the surface of the wooden sword.

...? What...

The green light, which could only be described as a sudden birth, slipped the blade like a ribbon and raised some characters. A magic spell. The moment I traced the characters with my finger... Memories that I lost at least once flowed into me.

[Thursday, December 19, 20XX at 16:56: Gather Together]

A thin fingertip stirred water and starch prepared in a glass bowl. The water and starch, which had been divided into two layers, had been stirred like a lie and became a misty liquid. Sana quickly stirred the contents of the wok and poured water-soluble starch. Chinese bean paste with plenty of ingredients for cabbage, yellowtail, shrimp and bamboo shoots. He tilted the pot and put it on the crispy side of the yakisoba, the ankake yakisoba now ready.

I scooped up the soaked yakisoba with a large spoon.

"Mm!"

It was so good that I couldn't help but groan. He was definitely better at cooking than my mother. I wanted to eat here every day.

"But are you sure this is okay? I should be paying you."

"Think of it as thanks. You helped me out. Thank you, Kyou."

"N-No, even if you say it's as thanks... It wasn't a big deal."

In the second half, my words were said with my mouth curled up. Sana was sitting across from me on the street, watching me clean up the ankake yakisoba.

"Aren't you gonna eat?"

"I'm full, so don't worry about me."

I helped Sana put a game app on his phone. He said, "I can't install this game on my cell phone for some reason," so I looked at it and it turned out he was trying to play a game exclusively for smartphones with a feature phone. It was a common occurrence.

First of all, I created an account with Sana's feature phone, put a browser that could camouflage a User agent on his laptop with Mnemosyne's equipment (until now, his role was to start Excel for accounting once a month), and then logged in with Sana's account and created an environment where he could play on his PC.

It was nothing to me, just routine manipulation, but Sana was surprised as if he had seen magic. And if I could eat such a good meal, I would continue to install browsers for him any day.

"That reminds me, Kyou, did anything happen at school today?"

When I finished eating Sana's ankake yakisoba, he asked me. 

What's with that question? It's like a father who can't find a clue to his adolescent daughter's conversation.

"Not really... Come to think of it, Liz left early in the middle of morning homeroom. But she didn't come here, did she?"

"Oh, no, she didn't. ...Kyou, do you remember the name Tokido Haku?"

"Huh?"

Then the door chimed at the Mnemosyne coffee shop, and the first customer aside from me, rushed in. A boy with blue eyes in a fake fur jacket. The boy grabbed an arm and brought Mitsuoka Akari with him. Akari, who I knew, seemed to have been forced to come here by the boy, and she was confusingly comparing us with the boy.

"Welcome, Fuyuto-kun, Akari-chan."

Sana seemed to know the boy's name.

[Thursday, December 19, 20XX at 19:27: The 〔Reverse World〕]

—Serenity, serenity broken—

Someone was singing. The melody was like a children's song. But it had ill-fated lyrics.

Just around the corner. In that twilight-filled school. On a TV that zapped in the middle of the night. Every night, in my dreams.

Someone was singing. Someone was dreaming. Someone was killing someone. Someone was having a hard time with someone. 

I want to hurt you in the worst way possible.

I want to give you a scar that won't ever heal.

Because if I don't do that, we'll soon forget.

No matter how you do it, you will soon rewind and appear before me again. Like a clock that keeps going round and round in the same place.

You were very pretty yesterday.

You were very wonderful yesterday.

Look, this is your eyeball. I'll roll it on my tongue and taste it for you. I want to decorate it with colorful organs. It's a special party, after all. 

I love the moment when I cut you apart, who everyone has cherished. Don't faint even if it's a long-lasting pain. I want to enjoy this until the end. And spread the brain plasma about.

Isn't this red dress wonderful, too?

It's a parade that repeats every night. Memories of the future hidden in my dreams. You can't leave. I can't leave.

Because I'm…

I am…

I'm (I am) in you.

—Today, I woke up from an unpleasant dream. 

One where I lost everything and found myself in the dark.