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itsuki-minamy · 2 days ago

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"SIDE GOLD"

CHAPTER 5: TIME OF HUNGER (Part 4)

* List of Chapters

Translation: Naru-kun

He struck his jaw from above and below, crushing him.

With their exit blocked, the contradictory lines of force have nowhere to go and release their power on the spot.

After a moment,

The upper half of the giant monster's body was torn in half.

Kokujoji screamed as he saw his thick armor, hardened by fear, shattered.

"Who are you, human?"

(I'm hungry...)

It's not just about answering the last mystery left from the battle so far.

"Come with us! We hope you can come with us!"

(I want someone to connect with...)

He never gave up on his ideals and threw himself at them with his hand outstretched.

"With just that you should be able to do it too!"

(Very scary, very scary.)

The essence of existence,

The negative power it carries,

The intention behind the "Slate" that was sent out,

Even though he understood everything, he still extended his hand.

However, the "Colorless King" never took it.

++++++++++

He was not born into a particularly good family.

However, they were a decent family because they could work every day and earn a living.

However, after he was drafted into the army, only bad things happened to him.

After going to war, scary things were added to the unpleasant things.

Still, it was better while fighting.

After the country lost, it became hell.

The entire unit surrendered, but they were not allowed to return to their homeland.

They were put into freight cars like cattle and transported to the far north.

There was nothing, there was nothing, just the detention center.

There they made him work.

They wore short shoes that broke easily,

They huddled together in a tent that didn't even have a floor.

They survived each day on bread crumbs, salty soup, and millet porridge.

They were made to work until they were completely exhausted.

Anyone who was hurt died.

Anyone who destroyed something died.

Those who did not have enough nutrition died.

Those who were exhausted died.

Some even decided to commit suicide.

Some died while trying to escape.

He could not even move the spoon.

"I'm hungry... give me... that..."

There were days when he desperately asked for help and managed to survive.

Everyone was desperate to work,

Everyone was desperately trying to survive.

But, if that were not enough, he was beaten.

A committee was formed that advocated a democratic movement.

The United States loves war, the Soviet Union loves peace,

He started shouting something like this.

If I cut wood, trim it and load it into my car, I can earn a living.

That was all he needed.

But, if that were not enough, he was beaten.

Soon, some of them began to act out a hair-raising court case.

Exposing reactionary elements, making self-criticism and mutual criticism,

He started shouting something like this.

If I cut wood, trim it, and load it into my car, I can make a living.

That was all he needed.

But, to top it off, he was beaten.

In those days, something very important happened...

Human beings were worn out.

And then how much time had passed?

The man who brought his former superior officer to trial,

The guy who wrote a letter of thanks to a Soviet leader,

Thanks to having people like that in the same workshop, he was able to return home.

Before returning to Japan, he was going to join a certain party,

"Participate in the revolution in some way."

A big shot forced him to make a promise, but he forgot everything on the evacuation ship.

He was very happy to be able to return home alive.

However, as soon as he arrived at Maizuru, he was arrested.

The people who were with him ran away, leaving him alone.

"Where did you go...? Don't leave me behind..."

His body had already deteriorated, so he couldn't run away.

Apparently, among the items left behind by those who fled were some suspicious books and documents.

Suspicion of redness, etc.

Was he a spy too?

The occupation forces interrogated and beat him, but he didn't understand anything.

He was escorted to Yokosuka,

When he was about to die, he was thrown into a support center in Uraga.

In the end he didn't know what was wrong and what was forgiven.

After a while, the support center was closed and he was expelled.

He wanted to return home, but since he was arrested immediately after landing, he had practically no documents.

Demobilization certificate, repatriation certificate, etc.

There must have been something there, but there was nothing he could question.

He didn't know where the people who took him were.

The man who was shouting on the street corner that he would let them go home somehow resembled the committee member.

So he was too scared to come closer.

Maybe they would betray him again, like they did some time ago.

They might label him a traitor and leave him to his fate.

So he was too scared to come closer.

He survived with what he had left and what they gave him.

In the end he got there.

Sometimes he picked up trash that other people had thrown away,

There were also scary creatures hanging around, so he couldn't get out.

Among them,

He couldn't move his body anymore.

He was hungry.

He wanted some food.

But he was scared.

What could he do?

He didn't know.

He was hungry.

Everything would be fine, he wanted it.

But he was scared.

Next,

He might die.

But he wanted it.

But he was scared.

"Help me... I'm hungry... I'm going to die..."

His voice didn't reach anyone.

That was all.

Too scary. Too scary.

++++++++++

It had been about an hour since the monster disappeared.

At dusk, the Kings finally arrived at the epicenter of the incident.

The sea breeze smelled of fish and the dock was dilapidated and messy.

"I never thought someone like him could figure it out from just an insider's point of view. This is also that sword... oh, wait."

Otono stumbled on the unstable walkway and Kokujoji had to help him. He insisted, uncharacteristically, on showing him around on foot and laughed sheepishly beneath his bandages.

"I'm sorry, my lord."

"What?"

Kokujoji made a short trip back.

It wasn't a suitable place for a pleasant conversation.

These are so-called floating settlements, with boats of all sizes populating the shoreline, from houseboats consisting of flat barges with cabins on top, to small boats with tents and even floating barrack-like structures.

Originally, the railway line only reached as far as the mouth of the Sumida River, passing through Tsukishima and Kachidoki, but after the war it continued to extend southwards, absorbing overworked workers, homeless people and even thugs. This was part of the image of the time.

They visited near the southern end.

It was an area like a pontoon bridge connecting the area to a small island off the coast.

The vast, desolate area is a collection of dilapidated shacks that could disappear on a stormy night.

It was dusk and the shadows on the boat were deep. The area below the gangway is also submerged in stagnant darkness, filled with the sticky sound of water. The small island in front of them was half submerged in water, surrounded by a field of tall reeds and rushes, and not a single light could be seen from the windows. It is rumored that this place, commonly known as "Ashinaka", is conveniently used as a meeting place for illegal transactions.

Without paying attention to the suspicious terrain, Unno took the lead with two or three boats.

"Is there some guy hiding in a place like this, brother?"

"Yes, he always came from the south and returned to the south, that was what I felt every time I saw "Mushikui". I was sure that he had taken the form of a snake and crawled out."

On the other hand, Otono, who has a small and unreliable gait, calmly replied.

Nazumi, who was watching from behind, summarized the information he had heard so far.

"The truth is that all the shapes we faced were just the outstretched hands or swollen mouths of the "Colorless King", and he himself had been here the whole time... Though it's hard to believe at first."

"Maybe that's so. Most of the energy was being used to explode, but it felt like a small fragment was being sent far away."

Beside him, Iku muttered as she hopped on the rotting bow of the ship like a small bird.

Skilled at grasping the structure of things, she combined her own experiences and sensations, Otono's explanation, and Nazumi's interpretation to get a rough idea of what the "Colorless King" was like.

"He was so afraid of the power he had consumed that he was reluctant to accept it. He was very hungry."

Sadness made her small, hunched back even rounder.

Nazumi added more information.

"In other words, while as a living being I desired it, as a human I rejected it. The power he had consumed while he was the monster "Black Cloak", was probably only enough to sustain his life, the bare minimum."

In the twilight, a brief moment of silence passed.

"The others who were devoured only had their lives nibbled away, so it was a waste of their lives. But then we got serious and punched him, and he was the one who was knocked out first."

Unno spat in disgust.

"Even if he hadn't fought us and had reached the sea... this entire pier would have been destroyed, wouldn't it? I wonder why he was starving and suffering."

Otono was pouring out his kindness as he said that.

"Unlike us, the "Colorless King" wasn't capable of holding a proper conversation. All we knew was what we felt when we first met, and there was no way to know anything more than that. Nor was there any way to know what kind of "King" he was."

Nazumi was sad that he hadn't found a solution.

"What I felt... is a poor boy who can't be with anyone."

Iku was concise and used few words.

"I was very afraid of the bonds that came with power."

Then Kokujoji spoke with a sad look on his face, squeezing the hand that had been denied to him until the very end.

"But human life is based on connections. If he is alive, then I am still..."

The Kings, who have had much to do with death, know that such hope is slim.

Yet even so, no one laughed at Kokujoji's naivety.

Finally, Otono turned his gaze to a ship.

"...It seems we have arrived."

It was a small, rickety vessel, with barracks on top and looking similar to a pleasure boat.

It is surprising how it does not sink with such a shallow draft and being submerged in water.

"Me first."

Unno crossed the board first, keeping a watchful eye around him.

But naturally, there was no movement, neither inside nor outside.

The sound of the crashing waves and the stench of floating garbage were the only things that decorated the hut in a gloomy manner as the twilight deepened. Everyone stood in front of the entrance, which was nothing more than a hanging straw mat.

Kokujoji and Otono had already noticed that by this time.

"......"

"Hey Iku-chan, come here."

Otono, as an adult and as a person, tried to stop the girl, but...

"It's okay, I've gotten used to it."

Iku shook her head. She could tell that too from the stench of rotting garbage.

Unno frowned.

"That's not something a child should say."

"Come on."

Nazumi encouraged without pushing.

And so, the six kings were finally gathered.

He was dead, leaning with his back against the wooden wall at the back.

The face visible beneath the long, unkempt hair was abnormally thin and devoid of flesh. The same could be said for his completely thin, rag-wrapped body. There were no gestures or expressions to suggest any kind of will. There, it was as if life had been cut short, and it was the kind of death that could be seen everywhere, a face of death they were familiar with.

The true identity of the mysterious "Black Cloak", the man who had become a monster, the "Colorless King" who had devoured a nuclear bomb and wreaked havoc, was found starving to death in the back of a completely empty room, without a single morsel of food in sight.

Iku didn't feel bad about the situation.

His appearance was normal for today's society.

"The same as everyone else."

"Ah, it seems we kings can die as humans too."

Considering his own circumstances, Otono even felt grateful for that.

Unno apologized to the man on the other side of the death he missed.

"I'm sorry, we were the only ones having fun."

"What would have been the right answer... or is this even the right answer?"

Nazumi saw death before his eyes as yet another problem piled up and needed to be solved.

After hearing the voices of everyone present, Kokujoji finally stepped forward in front of him.

He searched for the right words to say.

(Will your death not be in vain?)

It was different.

(Is it thanks to you that I was able to get this far?)

It was different.

(What would have happened if we had met before?)

It was different.

Having been drawn into the events caused by the "Slate", having prolonged a painful life and death because of it, having forced death and destruction that were never his intention, he has no intention of attributing it all to fate, or judging it in terms of right and wrong. Because facts are just facts.

The time for falsely asking for forgiveness is long gone.

He decided to be honest about what he was carrying inside.

These are...

"Why?"

All plausible reasoning was suddenly shattered by an overflow of emotion.

"Why didn't you take my hand? Why didn't you try to make everyone happy?"

What came out of his mouth was a selfish attachment to the dream he was trying to create. It was a one-sided denunciation of the other person who had not tried to create together with him the desired mystery, the desired miracle.

The other kings present looked in amazement at the distressed state of the "Golden King" when they saw him for the first time.

"If you had taken my hand, I could have taken you with me!"

The dead "Colorless King" remained silent.

But still, the "Golden King" continued to express his feelings.

"Why didn't you come with me? Why did you die alone?"

It was an angry cry that sounded like a wail.

"I don't even know your name!"

It was a wail that sounded like an angry scream.

The kings, all of them different in terms of where they were born and raised, their personalities, aspirations, ages, and occupations, all wanted to hear the thoughts... not logic, but emotions... that were conveyed in the voice of the man known as Kokujoji Daikaku.

A fierce battle between the supernatural "Kings",

Political turmoil in occupied Japan played out behind the scenes.

The manifestation of "power" that decisively changed the world.

That little feeling gained after all those twists and turns is the true achievement of that battle. Without even realizing it, it was the seed of a Fusang tree that would send out branches and leaves to future generations.

#k #k project #k side gold #kokujoji daikaku #somei chika #somei nazumi #iku #unno yutaka #todokoro suwako #tamataro okuma #otono benji

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