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natsuhikoshidou · 6 years ago

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INVISIBLE CH.2 - UNBELIEVABLE PHENOMENON (PART 2)

Part 1 | Chapter 3

"Aren’t you just colluding with those friends of yours to bully me? Don't you think that kind of friendship is dirty?"

Fourth period the next day was study period. According to another teacher who only came at the beginning of class, the middle-aged female Modern Japanese teacher had caught an out-of-season cold. As most people would be, Grade 11 Class 5 were delighted to find that out.

"Be quiet, alright?" the young male teacher said as he left, but it was a futile request. Both the Grade 11 Class 4 and Class 6 classrooms were empty, as they were having gym together. Though it was still pretty noisy even if you went out into the corridor, nobody found them, it was like spring break had come early.

The students began to act as they pleased. On the desks there were people coming together to talk, people who started to take their bentos out, people who began to pick up lunch early, people who studied diligently, people who slumped over and napped on their desks, there were a number of people who took candy out from somewhere and began to eat it.

But in them, there was no Maki Tamagawa. Whether she was late or absent, nobody at the present time knew. Only God knows, I guess you could say.

Though last night Souhei barely got any sleep, strangely he wasn’t drowsy. Looking forwards with a glance, he saw Hijiri amusing himself playing cards with several people. Then, he told himself to stop looking. Don't pay any attention to him. He couldn’t repair his relationship with Hijiri, Souhei probably didn’t even want to anymore in the first place.

When Souhei tried to pull a paperback book out of his bag, he moved his chair a little and, from behind him, a voice went "Aah".

It was Mizuguchi from the handicraft club. Below the desk, what looked like a work-in-progress bead accessory had scattered about like sparkling grains of sand. It seemed like something inconvenient happened with the vibrations of Souhei moving his chair.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Souhei looked under his desk, then at Mizuguchi.

She glanced her eyes towards Souhei and said "No, it’s fine", then returned her gaze to her fingertips again.

It seemed like a necklace that Mizuguchi was making, but even though it was covered in decorations it was elegant, it looked like a Christmas wreath. It was epic.

Souhei opened the paperback he was reading and tried to immerse himself into the world of the novel. It was an adventure novel written by an American author. A story where the hero is a sniper discharged from the marines, while he does various sniper missions, he gets wrapped up in a conspiracy with a mysterious organisation. Usually with an easy to understand story like this, he could smoothly enter in this world, like soaking in a bathtub, but today he couldn't. No matter which way or how many times he read the page he was on, the letters were just letters, and he couldn’t imagine it in his head. This was the first time this had happened.

Souhei realised he was irritated. But it wasn’t because of the book. In that case, what was it because of---.

"Tamagawa-san!" A voice said.

He raised his head, Maki Tamagawa had just come in from the front door.

"Mooorning, everyone!" he saw her hand fluttering in a casual stride. She put her bag down at her desk by the window.

Souhei sighed deeply and tried to go back to reading. It was hard changing the gears inside of him. He had to make that transition somehow. But Maki Tamagawa didn’t let him.

"Heeey, Souhei. Talk to me!"

Souhei tried to ignore her, but since she was so persistent he had to reply.

"...What?"

Maki Tamagawa propped her hand to her mouth, like she was telling him a secret story she brought her face close to Souhei.

"How did yesterday go? Did you get along well with Hijirin?"

Souhei glanced his head up.

"What about Hijiri?"

"Well, Souhei's always looking at Hijirin. Maki-chan noticed"

He slowly closed the paperback, and tried to replay her words in his head once more.

"...You were watching me?"

"Yeah" Maki Tamagawa said with a satisfied smile. "You were watching Hijirin ‘cause you wanted to be his friend, right?”

"What the heck are you talking about? Yesterday--"

"Sooo, I put Hijirin and Souhei together. How did it go? Did Souhei's wish come true?"

His head was at standstill, but immediately he began to understand. I get it, that’s what she meant. It must have all been her plan. Souhei slowly nodded twice.

"Was it granted? It was, wasn’t it?"

He noticed Maki-chan’s smile further approached a full bloom.

"...It wasn't granted."

Though his voice was small, he spoke in strong, barbed tone. Maki-chan made a face like a child whose toy was taken away.

"...Souhei?"

"My wish? I didn’t wish for that. If I did have a wish, it would be this --- Go away.”

He didn't intend to retract what he said. Souhei, who finished speaking, glared at the girl.

The downhearted Maki Tamagawa left the classroom. Souhei opened his book again without seeing her off, and tried to concentrate on reading this time. However,

"Oi, Shima"

Souhei heard a familiar voice and raised his head. Hijiri stood before his eyes. He and the class looked at him like he was roadkill.

"...What?"

"What did you just say to Tamagawa-san?" Hijiri said.

Looking around all the eyes in the class had poured onto Souhei. They were all full of hostility, so much that it was like a hornets nest. Hijiri stood before them, he seemed like a hero standing up against the cancer of the class.

"I didn't hear what you were talking about, but what did you say? That's the first time I've seen Tamagawa-san looking so sad."

"...So?"

"Don’t ‘so?’ me. Could you seriously fix that attitude? I told you already. Be more kind when you're around Tamagawa-san."

At Hijiri's way of speaking, Souhei became hot like iron from the pit of his stomach to the tip of his head. He had no more patience. It was like the dark muddy substance gathering inside of him overflowed all at once.

Souhei stood up and opened his mouth

"Since everyone gets angry when me and Tamagawa-san talk I was being as quiet as possible, but I guess there’s something else I’m doing wrong now?”

"Think before you speak. Girls won't wanna talk to you with that attitude." Hijiri said. His tone as if those 8 letters together were a burden.

"Hey, could you stop butting in on things don’t concern you? Also I don’t have time to argue with you." Souhei said.

"You don’t have time?" Hijiri spoke mockingly. "That's why you're hopeless. If you never have time for anyone then you’ll never get any friends--- you haven’t made a single friend since that day.”

The muscles in his face twitched. When Souhei heard Hijiri words, he understood well that he’s come to a place that he can’t return from anymore. The Hijiri Aota standing before his eyes wasn’t his childhood friend. He was a rival.

"I don't have friends? You wish you could decide that for yourself."

"Don’t be stupid" Hijiri shook his head. "I know most things about you. In this classroom? There’s no one. You'll always be alone."

Souhei shouted out.

"Well what about you?"

Hijiri nodded hard.

"Of course I do. I think everyone in Grade 11 Class 5 is my friend. Apart from you."

"Heh." Souhei smiled too. Not a single thing about his smile felt pleasant, but he forcibly raised the corners of his mouth.

"Aren’t you just colluding with those friends of yours to bully me? Don't you think that kind of friendship is dirty?"

Hijiri's face became red.

He said it. Souhei gloated deep down. He felt like some percent of his accumulated rage was spat out. Hijiri was pretending to be righteous. Souhei took that onto his side, and fought back with it. But it was when he thought that.

Thud. A shock from his nose spread, Souhei's face was thrown backwards.

--He hit me!

By the time he realised the second blow was coming. But Hijiri's left arm just cut through the air. His big swing destroyed his balance and dragged Souhei down, the two fell to the floor together.

Shrieks came up from around. But they sounded muffled like were separated by glass.

"You asshole!"

The burning-up Hijiri trying to straddle him, but Souhei wouldn't let him. Instead he threw his hand on Hijiri's shoulder, struggling to hold him down. In the scuffle, Souhei took some close attacks on his face and stomach. But in return Souhei hit somewhere on Hijiri's body with his clenched fist and knees.

But it probably only lasted a few ten seconds.

The two were broken apart by several male and female students at the place where they jostled.

Souhei looked at Hijiri's battered body. The shoulder part of his white shirt was slightly torn, his left eye was slightly swollen.

Souhei was also wounded more than enough. Though he didn't know the specific places, there was no doubt that a lot of blood was flowing from his nose. Because it was so much, it was unclear whether it was from his left or his right nostril. Also, he finally noticed from the commotion of his surroundings. On his left arm, blood was also coming out from around his elbow. Red blood flowed down his arm and was dripping from his fingertips. Even though there was lots of bleeding, it didn't hurt.

Souhei looked down at the space between him and Hijiri. At the scene was a collapsed desk and chair, scattered stationary had fallen down, it seemed like one of them got caught up there. But when he looked down, he saw that something else that looked like grains of sand was scattered around there.

"Ah!" a single girl called out in a shrill voice and pointed "That's Mizuguchi's!"

"Mizuguchi's...?"

"That's awful"

"Didn’t she say it's a work in progress?"

"She was gonna give it to her mother for her birthday-"

At the place where Souhei and Hijiri fought, there was the necklace Mizuguchi was working on earlier. But anybody could tell it was broken. Whether it was synthetic thread or wire, Souhei didn't know the name, but the string the beads were stuck through was torn up in the middle and the decorations collapsed too.

Mizuguchi came forward. She folded her knees, and picked the debris off the floor in silence-- in that moment, Souhei saw it. A single drop of blood dripped from the necklace, and dropped onto the floor. Mizuguchi noticed this and her body drew back in shock.

Souhei felt the line of sight, raised his head and met eyes with Hijiri. His expression remained mostly unchanged and he looked at him with a sneer. Then he opened his mouth.

"Apologize to Mizuguchi. That's your blood."

Souhei was lost for words. You're so arrogant, it wasn't on purpose-- he tried to say, but was hindered by the surrounding voices.

"Blood? What? What do you mean?" A girl said.

"Take a good look. Mizuguchi's thing is soaked in Shima's blood." Hijiri said. So it was. On the classroom floor a puddle as big as a quarter was beginning to accumulate, that’s where the necklace had fallen down.

"Woah, seriously?" "Eeh, that’s the worst..." "That’s kind of gross, another person’s blood" "Mizuguchi, are you ok?"

The crowd moved their mouths as they pleased. The atmosphere felt like it had been muddied, Souhei looked around at his surroundings. Nobody tried meet with his eyes, he realised their hostility was entirely directed towards him.

---Wait a second. Hang on.

"Oi, Shima this is your fault." finally Hijiri said.

Souhei hurriedly opened his mouth.

"Hijiri, you're the one who punched me first!"

Surprisingly Hijiri didn't retort. As if he was waiting for Souhei’s words, he nodded strongly.

"I am guilty. Mizuguchi, everyone, I'm sorry for surprising you.... Shima and I just had a little argument. We’re both guilty for fighting with each other, and I take responsibility."

Even though he should already be composed, as Hijiri took deep breaths, that’s what he said.

Souhei couldn’t close his opened mouth. I'm done for! Souhei inferred from the mood of his surroundings that he was defeated in this fight with Hijiri.

All his classmates kept silent, they were probably waiting for his words of apology. Hijirin apologized so you do too- that's what they were obviously thinking.

Souhei approached the sitting Mizuguchi.

"Mizuguchi-san, I’m really sorry..."

He bowed down. He knew that he was the one who soiled her necklace with his blood. Souhei stared straight down, Mizuguchi, saying nothing, shyly lowered her face, then gulped her breath.

She was crying. Just like her broken necklace was picked up from a dump site, she picked at it with her fingers.

Mizuguchi's watery eyes slowly turned towards Souhei. Souhei tried to apologize one more time, but the girl's small lips quickly moved.

"Just... Disappear."

After that, another girl took Mizuguchi out of the classroom. Hijiri was advised by his classmates that he should go to the school infirmary, but he declined.

"It's not a big deal, I'll be fine. More importantly you should go, Shima. Your bleeding still hasn't stopped."

Everyone seemed to look at Hijiri with admiring eyes, like he was a hero of justice. Souhei went to the school infirmary in silence.

The middle aged female school nurse looked surprised at Souhei's face, and asked about the situation while rolling a bandage. But he didn’t know how to answer. He washed his head in the infirmary's wash basin, wiping away his nosebleed, which now resembled dry mud.

He smiled when he saw his face reflected in the mirror, he looked just like a wrestler.

Wanting to go home early now, he left school before lunch break finished.

"I'm home."

He opened the door to his house and was welcomed by the sound of tapping on a keyboard. Because the sound was louder than usual, he wondered if his aunt was feeling on-edge today. Her mood’s usually expressed through her typing.

Like a ghost, Souhei passed right by and went into his bedroom.

He finally noticed he was standing in his apartment, the memories of the way home were vague. How did I walk until here? Do I walk faster while I’m thinking? Maybe I wasn’t thinking of anything, I'm not sure. And then, similar to his head, his heart became empty.

Nothing is going well. Without doing anything else, Souhei went sideways under his futon, and intense drowsiness came and caught him like an avalanche.

Come to think of it, last night he barely slept. But if he closes his eyes now, time will jump forward, and it might then be time to wake up and go to school again. If he could, he never wanted to go back there again. Originally he should be using this time to study for his exams, but doing something like that at a time like this would be--

When he opened his eyes the room was in total darkness. The clock showed 8pm. He had been asleep for over six hours.

No, he wasn’t sure if he should be happy for completing six hours right now. In any case he was just happy that it wasn’t morning, Souhei rubbed his eyes.

He opened the sliding door and his aunt was sitting at the table in front of him.

"You're awake" his aunt said. She turned around and flinched, then peered at Souhei's face "What happened to your face?"

Crap, he though, Souhei stroked his own face.

"Well, I, I got hurt on my bike..."

"How?" his aunt creased her eyebrows and approached him.

"I bumped into someone."

Souhei corrected himself with a bored tone.

"Are you hurt?"

His aunt's eyes looked towards Souhei's left elbow. Souhei held it down "It's nothing serious" and shook his head. He didn't actually have any major injuries.

"Have you gone to the hospital?"

"I went to the school infirmary and they said it was fine. I'm fine, really."

Souhei forcibly tried to end the conversation.

"What are you mad about?" His aunt said.

"I'm not. Nothing's wrong."

"…Please, just tell me how you got those injuries.”

"I told you already! I just fell off my bike."

"You really are mad, aren’t you?"

Suddenly his face got hot.

"I'm not mad!!"

His aunt’s body jumped at Souhei’s shout. When he sensed that slight movement, Souhei was in a panic. He felt a horrible sense of guilt. The kitchen was full of silence, like the deep sea. Just the sounds of the clock were heard in this room of the house.

-Why am I so useless?!

Whatever the reason is, I don’t have any reason for shouting at my aunt. I hate myself for that, he thought.

Souhei couldn't bare the silence and leaped into the kitchen. He thrust his worn out sneakers onto his feet in the entrance hall.

"W, wait a second! Where are you going at this time of night?!"

His aunts voice echoed on his back, but he didn't turn around. Souhei left the apartment. Of course outside the sun had fallen and it was complete darkness. The municipal housing falls asleep early.

Sure, he can run out, but he had nowhere to go. Souhei didn't have any friends he could stay with. Just walking wherever he pleased, he realised he had come to the outside of the station.

There were lots of cars and crowds of people leaving from the station, around him was full of lights and various sounds. Salarymen going home and groups of what looked like college students, but they could also be high school students.

They moved their legs quickly and in uniformity. They probably have a destination. I do not. So that 'I' thought he definitely couldn't call out to them.

"Souhei?"

Reflexively he turned around, Haruka was standing there. She was in uniform. Souhei was severely surprised.

"Wh, what are you doing here?"

"That’s my line… huh?” Haruka’s smile turned to surprise. "Huh?! What happened to your face?"

I ended up seeing another person I didn't want to see. If she knew the person who inflicted these injuries, there’s no doubt that she’d be stricken with grief. I’d never want to see that.

"My bumped into someone on my bike..."

"On your bike? Are you ok? There’s bandages on your arm…”

"I'm ok. It's absolutely, not at all a problem."

Souhei forced a smile. But Haruka made a face like she was about to cry, like she was the one who was injured.

"It looks really painful."

When she said that she held out her hand. Although Haruka’s hand was on the verge of touching his face, Souhei took her hand.

"I told you it’s ok. They’ll heal if you leave them be."

"...Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Souhei was still holding Haruka’s hand. Her hand had a comfortable cold. Her fingers were slender and smooth like porcelain. He wanted to hold her forever if he could, but Souhei let her hand go.

"I'm sorry. It looked like it hurt. It wouldn't be good if I touched it"

Haruka withdrew her hand and smiled in embarrassment. "Anyway, what are you doing at this hour?"

"I’m going... To the bookshop. What are you doing here, Haruka?"

"I went to a public prep-school class."

"...You’re going to prep-school?"

"Right. Is that strange?"

Souhei shook his head. "It's not strange. Does that mean you’ll be going from now on?"

"I wasn't sure what to do, but after having a look at today’s lesson I’ve decided. I’m going to go.”

"Really.”

That's ok, he thought. It won't be necessary for him and Haruka to revise at the library.

He asked Haruka about walking home alone from here.

"Isn't it dangerous?" Souhei said.

Right now it's around nine o'clock. When it’s bright around Hachiougi city there don’t seem to be many problems, but the back-alleys either side of the road are lined up with arcades, pachinko shops and other suspicious shops under the eaves, apparently there isn’t great security there. Also at there’s been some uproar about molesters at certain times in this neighbourhood.

"It's fine. I've lived in this town since I was young. Hey, are you free tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Yeah, I'll be free... after school."

"That’s great. Then we'll meet at the usual spot again. I want to go study at the library."

"Huh? But..." Souhei raised his voice automatically. Is it ok for us two to meet, those words didn't leave from his throat.

"What's wrong?"

"Well... what about Hijiri-"

"Hijiri? What?"

Haruka turned her head to the side.

"-Ahh, no, I'm sorry... It's nothing." Souhei hurriedly shook his head.

"You're weird"

On that note Haruka departed. Although she said they could go home together, as it’s the same way back for both of them until halfway, Souhei declined for the appropriate reason. When he told her again and again to try and go down the brighter path, Haruka left off with an “Understood.”

-- Thank you.

Souhei wanted to express his thanks. In the end he couldn't ask about her relationship with Hijiri, but asking about it was pointless. Besides, even if they are a couple, she wasn’t excluding the left-out-Souhei. Asking him to study together wasn't a lie. So, there was finally something he realised. This thing filled his head. He should have realised earlier.

-- Everything would be better if I were gone.

When Souhei realised that fact, he felt sick of his own foolishness until now. Haruka only cared about him because he’s her childhood friend. His aunt left her company in order to bring him up, but even now it’s still hopeless. The fruits of Mizuguchi's labour going to waste, making the atmosphere in the classroom turn bad, and becoming a victim of bullying wouldn't have happened in the first place if he wasn't there.

-- Right. I'm the cause for all of this.

Straight down north of the station road coincided with a river. A comparatively large Class A river. Souhei, wandering without a destination, came to his senses when he came to the bridge above the river. Because the town lights couldn't reach under the bridge it was pitch black, he just listened to the sound of the water swaying to and fro. But the bridge was quite far from the river surface, anybody passing by could tell that.

The words "Disappear" from Mizuguchi echoed in Souhei's head. They became a single drop, their wide ripple reached a deep place in Souhei’s body. Right. I should disappear. Souhei’s stinging heart felt smooth and silky.

If I jumped from here I wonder if it would be easier for everyone-- when he thought that, it fell to his feet. In the light of the streetlamp it reflected sparklingly.

Souhei's eyes widened as he saw the object.

Why is this thing here? It was the cube he saw from the shrine from a while ago. He tried to pick it up, it looked the same as when he found at the shrine. It didn't make sense.

'Do you have a wish?'

"-What?"

A voice - It was Maki Tamagawa's voice.

Where are you? But he was the only one on top of the bridge. The only other thing was the cars coming and going on two-lane road. Nonetheless, the voice spoke like it did back then

'You finally decided'

"...Huh? Maki-chan, where are you?"

'Here.'

"Where?" What on earth do you mean by ‘Wish’?

'I'm here"

"...Here?"

Souhei lowered his gaze towards the cube in his hand. It was slightly hot. Like the warmth of a small animal- then it gradually grew - it grew more and more hot - and then-

"--Woah, hot!"

It burned up hotter than he imagined, Souhei couldn't bear it and shook his hand.

"...Ah, Aah!"

The cube that shot out from inside his hand crossed over the fence and fell underneath the bridge in the blink of an eye. At once it mixed into the dark, he didn't even hear the sound of it landing. As Souhei looked down at the darkness below he was stunned.

-- What happened just now?

-- What was that voice? An auditory hallucination?

He continued to listen to the sound of the smoothly flowing river for a short while.

In this impossible to understand situation, his feelings completely withered away. Souhei returned back to the front of the station. There were slightly less people in the crowd than earlier.

He began to feel down when he thought about his aunt, but Souhei walked on his way back home. However,

"- Woah!"

He collided with a large person in front of him.

"E, Excuse me!" Souhei said in a hurry. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Huh, what?"

It was a man in his thirties wearing casual clothes. He grandiosely wiped around his chest with both hands. Alongside him was a woman who looked to be younger than him, yet she wore heavy makeup.

"Really, excuse me."

Souhei was a little offended at the man’s gesture, like he wiped away dirt.

"Was that a cat? Or a crow?" The man said. "I can’t see that good, but I feel like something really came at me.”

"Excuse me?" Souhei said.

"Oh no. Did something hit you? I didn't see it either" The girl grimaced.

"Umm..." Souhei sheepishly raised his voice towards the two.

The large man didn’t lend an ear as usual, he pulled up the T-shirt that Souhei bumped into face-first, and bought it up to his nose. He seemed to then sniff at it.

"I dunno. Kinda sweaty, isn’t it?"

"That's just you. It’s fine. Let's go"

When the two rapidly walked off, Souhei quickly stepped out the way.

"Uhh, I’m sorry…"

He was being polite, but he tried to speak loud enough they could definitely hear him. Regardless of that the man didn’t turn around. What rude people, he thought.

There’s no reason for them to ignore me.

But then, another person bumped into Souhei from behind.

"Woah!" Souhei lost his balanced and fell to the ground.

"Ouch..." A voice came from behind him. "Ugh, what?"

When he looked up, an office woman was standing there. As she looked around restlessly at her feet, she brushed her left leg with her hand. He thought it was a similar gesture to that man’s from before.

"Was it this?" as the woman spoke, she reached her hand out to an illuminated bar sign beside her which had large letters written on it, ‘All items 200 yen’, "Ughh!", crash-- she gave it a kick. The sign made a loud noise and shook. The office lady’s heels made a click clack as she walked past Souhei, still on the floor.

Souhei stayed stiff on the spot and thought. Something wrong, right now something strange is happening – and I’m the only one who hasn’t noticed what. Unable to comprehend the situation, all he had was a sense of nervousness, like a man-eating shark was waiting underwater for him.

He carefully stood up and glanced at the bridge, there was a bar with a glass window there. It was regular old dark glass, but thanks to its tone it was difficult to distinguish the inside, as a result of that when you looked at it from the outside it accomplished the role of a mirror.

He tried to look at it casually, but his instinct might actually have been screaming for him to watch it carefully. When he finally realised the abnormality in the world reflected on the glass, Souhei became petrified.

-- Am I going crazy?

When he averted his gaze from the glass window, Souhei turned around behind him. A group of boys and girls who seemed to be college students were walking on the other side of the road. They were noisy and probably drunk. Souhei endured his restlessness, and observed them intently. Then the moment they came behind him, Souhei turned his eyes towards the glass again.

They were reflected in it. As they should be. The mirror reflected the world correctly at any point in time. Because inverting and projecting whatever’s there is its role. 4 boys, 5 girls - there's no mistake. This glass window was normal.

-- Then why isn’t my body being reflected!

Souhei thumped on the glass with his fist. For some reason the glass window wasn't reflecting his body. The only thing it reflected was the students behind him and the streets. He's never heard or seen a phenomenon like this before. He surrendered before this optical illusion that seemed to bend his brain.

Souhei bravely jumped out in front of a man walking nearby. He was white haired and wore glasses, a cowardly-looking elderly salaryman.

"Please stop! St, stop..., Please stop!"

He quickly avoided him in order to escape a third collision. The man walked away without changing his pace. Souhei felt himself approaching the brink of despair. Yeah, there's no doubt about it-- other people can't see my body... No, that’s not it. It's not just that they can’t see me. The glass didn't reflect me either -- essentially, I've disappeared.

He had a sudden thought. Did I somehow die? It also seemed like they couldn't hear Souhei's voice. The clothes he was wearing on his body - as far as he could tell from the mirror - had also disappeared.

Did he actually jump into the river before and succeeded in suicide, but not realise he died and became an earth-bound ghost*?

All of a sudden, Souhei kicked a garbage bag piled up by his feet. The bag was extremely light, it rolled further than he expected. As the trash inside scattered around, someone walking close by recoiled, “What was that!?”

Souhei automatically went to hold his chest. He hasn’t died. It isn’t that he became a ghost either. He could still touch objects, when he thought hard about it he fell to the ground.

-- Right.

-- I've become an invisible person.

(* There isn't a specific English translation of this word but essentially it's a type of ghost which is bound to a specific physical location, usually the place where the death occurred.

透明人間 (toumei ningen) - invisible person --- a gender neutral term for the concept of the ‘Invisible Man’ in the west: someone that you can’t see but that can still physically interact with the world. Other rules such as their clothes and voices seem to vary from story to story.)

Chapter 3 -->

#why is hijiri such a little bastard hsjhsdfkhdkhs #kemu #kemu voxx #panvoxx #PANDORA VOXX #invisible #インビジブル

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hababa · 6 years ago

Note

question, is riina's name riina shima as in souhei shima but she simply doesnt use the family name, or is it riina as in she replaced the shima family name with riina and doesnt have a / chooses not to use a first name?

her last name/family name is shima (like souhei shima) so the first one is correct! i think legally her full name is riina shima but because she was raised by different people she “abandoned her name” (as youichi says) and just chooses to go by her first name with everyone... bearing in mind that in japanese its common for people to call you by your last name if you dont know them well

#Anonymous

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habaart · 9 years ago

Photo

when in doubt draw panvoxx boys looking morose

#yuuto hashidate #souhei shima #natsuhiko shidou #riku #pandora voxx #kemu #natsuhikos hair is so bad holy shit please #get a hair cut pleas.e.

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natsuhikoshidou · 6 years ago

Text

INVISIBLE CH.3 - UGH, MY HEAD HURTS!

Chapter 2 Pt2 | Chapter 4 Pt1

In the morning, Souhei opened his eyes to the floor of the shrine. The green that spread out in his vision surprised him when he opened his eyelids, he quickly got up.

"- Ow..."

There was a dull pain in his shoulders and knees. Each and every one of his joints felt warped like a disentanglement puzzle. The shrine pedestal was made of stone. It wasn’t a suitable bed. He had memories of sitting here in a daze until the sun came up, but it seemed like he fell asleep before he realised it. Souhei endured the pain and stretched.

There’s a danger since there’s a lot of people in the city, but on the other hand I can’t go back home – I wonder what I should do. There was nowhere else Souhei could think of apart from the secret shrine.

Souhei held his right hand above his head. To him, it was simply his hand. The sun shining through the leaves fell upon it, it really was there. He started to doubt that everything might just be a bad dream.

At night the copse really was just a jet black clump, but even Souhei, who was well acquainted with it, felt intimidated stepping inside. He stepped inside timidly, naturally it was darker than the outside. After waiting intently he was gradually able to vaguely see the outline of the shrine, but he felt like it looked different from normal lurking in the dark of the night, it was kind of ominous. Souhei though it was a shame he couldn’t see the body of his friend, it’d be nice if Othello were here. Come to think of it, I wonder where she spends the nights, Souhei didn’t have a clue. Maybe she has a bed somewhere else --- Souhei wasted time as he thought about that.

But now that it’d become morning and he’d stopped running away from reality, he couldn’t help but think about it --- why have I turned into an invisible person? And what should I do now? However when he tried to think a sigh spilled from Souhei ‘s mouth. His current state was like he’d been tossed out naked into the middle of the desert. He didn’t understand anything, but there was obviously nothing he could do.

What on earth should I do? Why did this only happen to me? Souhei held his head as he sat on the pedestal. Nobody could see him, his voice didn’t reach anyone, and on top of that, would people forget he existed one day?

All of a sudden he heard a sound of a truck running like the roar of a beast from far away. After that, he heard a sound like a bike letting out a metallic scream, and then he immediately heard it go into the distance. It seems like the world is peaceful again today. If things were like normal, it would be time for him to go to school. He should have been part of the world, spinning like normal. But now he’d fallen out of its complete structure. No matter if the single gear known as Souhei Shima falls out, the giant clock doesn’t stop moving.

School – When Souhei thought of that, he remembered Hijiri. He just didn't want to go to school anymore. His classmates now only harassed him for fun. It wasn’t like they had some kind of reason from a really long time ago anymore, right now they just bullied him because they wanted to --- they’re barbaric people for acting so simply. On top of that, Mizuguchi’s “Disappear”. When he remembered that he felt a hole open up in his heart.

However, Souhei’s thoughts changed.

If nobody could see him any longer, couldn’t he behave however he wanted in the classroom? That thought popped up in his head.

He should be able to watch the classroom without being harassed. Why? Because he's now an invisible person. Hijiri and Shiroyama and Sawai, nobody will be able to see his body. It’d be good to check what that meant, wouldn’t it? Souhei was just purely interested, he realised he had already left the shrine.

He wanted to walk as little as possible in the city. Souhei entered the park and walked in the direction of school.

Slightly regaining his composure, Souhei thought to himself, I'm glad that street from last night was pedestrian only. If he didn’t realise he was invisible and carelessly jumped out in front of a bike, in the next moment he certainly would become a dead body. He wasn't sure if he should be glad that people bumped into him.

Hachiougi Park wasn't very populated. It’s probably because it was a weekday morning, in spite of that he caught a glimpse of people visiting for walking and sports here and there.

First he had to make sure. Souhei jumped out in front of various people like he did last night.

"Umm..." "Excuse me." "Hello." "Please listen!"

The last one came out in a desperate shout. The peoples’ gazes penetrated Souhei's body, but their focus met with something far away.

Souhei started to feel creeped out when he saw their eyes. As he watched their backs walk off, he began to harbour only a delusion, maybe the abnormality here is these people and not me. However once he checked the kiosk’s glass window and the surface of a pond, he confirmed that the abnormality really was him after all.

It wasn't a dream after all - a dry smile spilled upon his lips.

Souhei left the park in a shiver, it was peaceful compared to the town last night. There were no crowds of people, if he concentrated on going down the sidewalk for now then there was no worry of being run over by a car. All that was a danger was people or bikes appearing from behind him occasionally.

He walked along the national highway, once he was almost at school, he saw a figure jogging and coming closer towards his direction. The walking path wasn't wide. Approaching him was an about 70 year old small-built man, with the way he ran, his training clothes and from the fact he looked like he was clenching his fists, you could tell from a glance that he was a person that was used to exercising to terrifying lengths.

Souhei stuck to the outer wall of a private house, his back on the left side of the walkway to let him pass through. The muscular old man passed by the tip of his nose at a speed Souhei couldn’t imagine from just a glance. He let out a sigh in relief, but when Souhei tried to walk off, that old man appeared again from behind.

When Souhei noticed the sound of footsteps he quickly tried to leap back, but a severe pain traveled from his left toes.

"- Ouch!"

The old man's feet stopped dead. But there was no way it could be that Souhei’s cry reached him. "Did I step on something?" as he arranging his breathing, all he did was check the bottom of his shoes. Why are you running on such an annoying route, Grandpa - Souhei glared at him with teary eyes. Thanks for doing a U-turn in the middle of the road.

"You stepped on my foot..." Souhei tried to say while enduring the pain, the man stretched his Achilles tendons with an unknowing expression. He couldn’t notice the boy crouching over behind him.

His toes seemed fine somehow. Luckily the old man was built small. While he saw that form run off again, Souhei fully understood the weakness of invisible people. Invisible people or existences like them had made an appearance in some of the novels he’d read until this point.

In those stories, people who make their bodies invisible or when machines which have been turned invisible are used in combat they’re mostly portrayed to be in a pretty advantageous position.

But reality’s so different-- Souhei wanted to shout. I’m so weak like this! If there was a threat he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to demonstrate its maximum potential. But right now all he wanted to do was go to school.

It seemed to take a considerable amount of time. When Souhei finally managed his way to the school gate with his confused body, he only just got in at lunch break. He peeked inside, a group of uniformed freshmen were having fun at soccer on the school grounds. It was the group he usually happened to see.

When he tried to go towards the school building, a soccer ball rolled to Souhei's feet. His gaze rose, a single male student was running over to collect the ball. In today’s summer heat, he was covered in dust and dripping with sweat. He ran over as he said “Sorry, my bad”. Naturally those words weren’t directed towards Souhei.

He was a little hesitant, but Souhei tried something out, he extended his right foot and raised only the tips of his toes, the kick couldn't kill even a fly, but the ball reversed its course.

"-Huh?" the male student stood still in shock. With a face like he couldn't believe his senses, he returned alone with the ball, his gaze wandering back and forth at the space where Souhei was standing. He looked like he couldn’t comprehend it.

The other students behind him were the same. "Hey, did you see that just now?" "That was the wind, right?" "Like it returned on its own" "Did it just make a kicking noise?"

With a side-glance to the group of confused freshmen, Souhei left the scene. They had a variety of reactions, but it wasn’t like anybody tied it to the existence of invisible people from that much.

Souhei crept into the Grade 11 Class 5 classroom from behind the door. He was awfully nervous every time he came in here. His breathing became rough, and his heart was so loud it was like it had sprouted up in his ears. Nobody’s going to look over here any time soon, he thought.

About half the students were remaining in the classroom, they were either in the middle of eating lunch, or those who had already finished eating were engrossed in chatting. Nobody looked at Souhei. But that was no different to the way he was usually ignored.

Hijiri Aota was also sitting down in the seat in front of the window, talking about something with his friends. He never really moves from his seat. Since his friends generally gather to his seat from their own seats, he doesn’t have to. What are they talking about right now? His curiosity piqued, however �� even though he could look straight over there - Souhei couldn’t go over to where Hijiri was. He was lost for what to do because the classroom was so cramped. His classmates formed a groups of several people, they scattered about the classroom like islands floating in the ocean.

If one of them stuck their arm out a little, innocently, because they felt like it, for no particular reason, then they might touch Souhei’s body. If that happened it would be a disaster. It wouldn’t be anything like the rolling soccer ball that changed its course. Narrow spaces are really quite dangerous for invisible people.

But since they were scattered around like this, Souhei realised that Maki Tamagawa seemed absent for whatever reason. It would be livelier if she were here, it’d be a big crowd.

Guess there’s nothing he could do about that, Souhei climbed up the lockers at the back of the classroom. The white steel lockers were allocated to one student each, the Grade 11 Class 5 lockers were two rows stacked on top of each other. They weren’t even waist high. It was difficult to position himself, but Souhei got himself to hold his knees on top of the lockers. It’d be more comfortable if he could dangle his legs, but there were two groups chatting nearby. He didn’t know if they would lean over to him at some point, so he couldn’t let his guard down.

There’s so much that I have to do now I’m an invisible person- it started to feel a little too much for Souhei. He’d done all these unsightly things, collapsing in the middle of the city at night, clinging to the path’s wall at midday, having his feet stepped on. It wasn’t like anyone was watching, but it was still starting to get ridiculous. Anyway, he's decided to immediately jump down from here and try to run away at full speed if his existence gets exposed.

Souhei began to observe them.

"I went to that shop the other day" "Huh, you finally bought it" "That's sooo interesting" "I wanna get a bento" "My mom said to me" "At the cinema on Sunday" "No way, seriously?" "I wanna go do karaoke" "I downloaded it" "You studying?" "When’s the release date?" "I'm so sleepy" "That's super interesting" "Maybe it's broken" "I’ve been watching a bunch of TV" "You got it pierced?"

Every voice filled the classroom like hot water.

Souhei was simply surprised. He always escaped to the world of books, trying to block out as much of the surrounding sounds as possible, but they let out all kinds of words one after another, he found it so strange, as if they were hiding their voices somewhere.

Even if that’s the case, isn’t it weird? - Souhei derided at himself. As they chattered lively in front of him, not a single one of them could see him. But it wasn’t like how they ignored him until now. They literally couldn’t see him. When he thought about that, he was overcome with an incredibly strange feeling, one that mixed and cooked together with a bit of loneliness and a sense of superiority.

However, Souhei’s thoughts were interrupted when his ears picked up a conversation nearby.

"Doesn't look like that guy’s coming today."

"That guy?"

"Shima."

"Oh, yeah."

It was a girl with short hair in the volleyball club and a girl with shoulder-length hair in a loose perm. Souhei remembered that the two seemed a little distanced from the other groups of female students. Now, the two's gazes pointed towards an empty chair. It was Souhei's.

"Guess yesterday really took a toll on him." The perm said.

"Could be. I never thought he'd punch Aota back." The volleyball club laughed. "But still, I'm kinda glad he didn't come today."

"Waddaya mean?" the perm spun her hair around her finger and tilted her head to the side.

"Don't you think the mood in the classroom gets all bad whenever that guy's here? They all end up totally ignoring him, so the mood starts to get like we can’t talk to each other about it, you know?”

"Yeah, I get you."

"Pretty tiresome, isn’t it.”

"Yeah, yeah."

"I literally couldn't care less about Shima. But having bullying going on in class makes me feel really bad.”

"Yeah I totally get that."

"Well in the end, I guess it’s fine if he isn’t here.”

"Yeah yeah, I know."

The two girls' conversation ended there. The salt and pepper haired math teacher finally came, fifth period must be starting. The talking voices that the classroom was full of until then seemed to evaporate and disappear, the workers began in silence. There were only the scratching noises of pens, like the cries of summer bugs from outside.

Strangely he wasn't sad. As he watched the quiet space, Souhei actually started to feel content. It really was true. The class works better if I'm not here. That gossip I didn’t want to hear wasn’t wrong, I bet they’re glad that I’m absent- That’s what Souhei tried to convince himself.

He got up from the locker without making a noise. Fortunately because of today's heat the door at the back of the classroom was already open, Souhei’s departure was easy. When he left to the quiet corridor Souhei turned around, threw his gaze towards his own seat, looked at Hijiri next, and then looked around the whole classroom.

Goodbye. I'm not coming back here again. This isn't where I belong.

Once he left the classroom, Souhei's feet naturally went towards his home.Since the walking path was overflowing with dangers as it was before, it took a considerable amount of time, but somehow he managed to get here before the evening in one piece. Souhei wondered if his aunt was concerned about her nephew who ran away from home and hadn’t been back all night. He couldn't imagine it.

Souhei raised his hand to the doorknob and tried to turn it just a little. So it wasn’t locked then. It’s normal in the Shima residence not to lock the door if you're at home. The moment Souhei opened the door his nerves wracked. When the steel door is moved quickly then it’ll make a noise depending on how much you open it.

Souhei went inside without making any noise somehow and took off his sneakers. You could say that was so he wouldn’t make any noise, but he felt just like a burglar as he held them in both hands.

His aunt was on the left hand side of the corridor. Kazuho Shima's back was turned to her nephew who was now like a ghost, she currently tapped intently at her laptop keyboard. The sight of her working was no different than usual. Not a piece of her seemed either mad at her nephew who unexpectedly spent the night away, nor worried about the fact that she didn’t currently know where he was.

Actually, his aunt seemed to have made more progress than usual with her work since last night because he hadn’t come home. That’s what Souhei thought as he looked around the messy work room. Of course, when his aunt’s home alone, then nobody else is there to make noise. Aside from being able to concentrate on her work, it also means she won’t have to hear vegetables being chopped and the fire on the stovetop. That must be what she was talking about when she said “Be quiet” a few days ago.

Clack clack... clack clack clack... He concentrated on the sound of his aunt's fingers dancing, Souhei stood on the spot for a short while.

It was an irregular sound, like rain beginning to fall. Occasionally she would put her hand on the mouse and move it, correcting the geometric pattern displayed on the monitor. She did that over and over again.

"Aunt."

No response.

"Aunt." He now said in a slightly bigger voice. "I'm sorry, Aunt. Sorry that I shouted yesterday..."

His aunt was silent.

"I’m not coming back here again… So, from now it’s just like you wanted it..."

His aunt concentrated on her work.

"...Well, bye."

Before Souhei left to the outside of the apartment, he noticed his aunt's typing today was slightly quieter than usual. She probably wished it was always this way.

The world was fine.

Once Souhei learnt that him not being at school or at home was making things work more smoothly, he experienced a feeling of satisfaction that resembled something like acceptance. At some point, nobody will realise that he was here anymore. That’ll become natural. No, if everything about his body disappearing goes well then it might even be obvious that he shouldn’t have existed here in the first place. Maybe his life until now was the abnormal thing instead.

Once evening approached, Souhei returned to the secret shrine. Like this morning, Othello still wasn’t there. You could call this his only safety zone, seeing that no other people were there.

He sat on the shrine pedestal with the shrine to his back, and Souhei curled himself up like a pupa. What should I do now - where can I go - what can I do - what do I want to do - I don't know. He simply just felt like he was forgetting something. Once he finished seeing how things were for his aunt and his classmates, for whatever reason he felt a sense of discomfort in a corner of his brain. He got the impression it was something important.

After flicking through the pages of his memory for a bit, Souhei suddenly remembered and stood up.

"-Haruka. Right, we were going to meet..."

She invited me to study together at the library after school tomorrow. The meeting place was the same park bench as usual. Souhei’s legs were already moving before he had time to think.

Souhei ran through the park. He continued straight ahead while he watched the tennis courts and gateball field on the right, they darkened in the density of the trees that grew thicker. There was a paved footpath that seemed like it’d cut around them, but Souhei didn’t choose that, he instead leapt into the copse. He plunged forwards, tripping over the roots and thickets of the trees and shrubs. It was hard to run through but luckily he didn’t have to worry about bumping into other people. If he ran through this then he should come out around the bench.

Will Haruka be waiting? They didn’t decide on a time last night, but the girl’s high school that Haruka goes to and the high school that Souhei goes to have the same closing time. “Once school’s over let’s meet here”, Souhei remembers Haruka saying that to him a year ago. After a few weeks they came here from their separate schools--- She was the one who contacted him to meet after a while. After which, this became their rule for when they meet.

What time is it now? He didn’t know. But Souhei guessed that around two hours had passed since he went to school. It's ok if she's not waiting. That’s what Souhei thought as he brushed aside a twig that jumped out before his eyes. There’s no need for her to wait. Because I can't even look face-to-face with Haruka anymore.

However, when Souhei recognised the place thick with even more bushes, he caught a glimpse of her body between the trees. She was a little while away, but the body that was sitting still on the bench was without a doubt Haruka Kurisawa.

-Why?

He realised while he got his breath back. Why is she waiting for me? Hurry up and go home. As he worried, Souhei drew closer making as little noise as possible. But since there were broken branches and blades of grass on the sole of his shoe it made it difficult to move quietly.

There was no reason for him to get closer in the first place. However, when he ended up looking at her one more time, the two feet that supported Souhei’s body couldn’t help but stop. As he stood between the trees – and tried to change his angle – he saw the figure sitting next to her when he looked over once more.

"...Huh?"

It was Hijiri next to Haruka.

As he bore a confused face Souhei couldn’t take his gaze away from them. It looked like Hijiri was talking about something as he sat next to Haruka. He knew that from looking at his mouth. Haruka seemed like she was listening to him in silence. He couldn’t hear their voices. It was irritating. The image of the two sitting close together was like a scene from a movie.

Souhei was agitated. Calm down. They're dating. It isn’t weird for them to meet each other. Actually, it’s weirder for Haruka to meet with me, isn’t it? Calm down. There’s no reason for you to be upset over something like this. Besides, I'm glad that Haruka isn't alone. It'll get dark soon. Hijiri will be able to walk her home.

I can feel my heart getting restless in my chest, please just cut it out already - Souhei strongly tried to tell himself. There's nothing you can do about this. You shouldn't peep on them. If Haruka’s happy then it’s fine, right? You're in the way, you're pathetic, you’ve already lost your only childhood friend – it was when Souhei tried to remove his gaze.

Until this point, Haruka, who had been looking over at Souhei, abruptly turned her head towards Hijiri. It happened in that moment. Hijiri also turned to the side and met her gaze, suddenly leaned forward, the distance between them shrank, and then---

Souhei tried to turn his face away quickly, but it was too late.

He saw it. He saw that moment. The inside of his head turned stark white.

Without returning his gaze to the two, Souhei immediately turned back the way he came. He had to get away from there no matter what. What would end up happening if he stayed there? He ran out from the thickly grown shrubs, once he ran away from the park, Souhei just ran without looking in front of himself. Whether it was by bike or by truck, he didn’t care if they hit him. The kiss-scene burned into his eyelids wasn't going to vanish no matter what he did.

He didn't want to go to the park, or even the shrine nearby. All he wanted now was to go far away.

Souhei ended up trying to run down an alleyway near the train station. For a few hours he hid himself in a tight gap between two buildings, he couldn't do anything in that space except bite his nails.

It was a desolate alley with no people. Cars rarely passed by here at night. Both sides of the road were lined up with small multipurpose buildings with offices and the like inside. There weren't any spectacular shops or restaurants here. Naturally, everywhere here had their shutters down. He knew the time was coming up to 10 o'clock. On the other side of the street there was an old book store that had already closed for the day, he saw a clock sitting inside the store.

I won’t be sleeping rough for the rest of my life will I? Until I die? Without ever speaking to anyone ever again?

Souhei's whole body trembled, he spontaneously imagined himself as a person drifting afloat an open sea. Never finding his way anywhere, and not a single person coming to find him in the 360 degree view spread out before him --- he didn’t like the truth, but that was the state of despair thrust before him.

Imagining something like that in the middle of a town full of people, what an ironic story.

Whatever the case, Souhei was now completely exhausted. There was a convenient space under the eaves of the building, finally at the limit of his patience, Souhei ended up settling down there. He lay his back heavily onto the ground, it was like a liquid known as ‘fatigue’ was overflowing out of every pore on his body. It coiled about his neck, shoulders, arms and legs, his whole body became heavy.

I don’t care what happens anymore, just let me sleep like this - when the body left by the shutter closed it's eyes, his ears picked up a small voice.

"---Meow"

It was a faint echo. Where did that come from? Something’s trying to attract attention. That cry he remembered might possibly that of his friend’s. Once he understood that, Souhei opened his eyes again and looked at the sky, and saw something strange there.

It was a clock tower.

It was built up standing tall and prominent from the roof of the multipurpose building lined up the opposite side of him. Faintly illuminated by a light from below, as if it were emerging up, it had a strange atmosphere about it. That unrealistic sight reflected in Souhei’s eyes. Yeah, I must be dreaming, Souhei stared blankly at it.

"Meow" he heard again.

No, this isn’t a dream yet. Souhei straightened his neck out and rubbed his eyes. "... I wonder what that thing is?"

For whatever reason there were no hands on the clock face. You couldn’t forget its shape, even if you only saw it once, any yet he didn’t remember it. He was just about to guess that it could be a new building, but why would you build something new that stood out so much in this alleyway? And on top of that, the clock tower itself seemed quite well aged.

Curiosity and drowsiness came faintly. Souhei stood up like a thread tied up inside his body was being tugged at. Then he tottered over to the backalley.

There was a space between one building and another, Souhei came and stood before that pitch black gap. The first floor of the old book shop was installed on the building to his right, on the left was a similar multipurpose building. If he went in that space it seemed like he’d be able to reach the bottom of the clock tower. He also felt like the small voice was echoing from inside there. Souhei took a deep breath through his nose, and slipped into the gap.

The back alley filled with a dense darkness, he could barely see anything. The air of the moist night chilled over his skin. It also seemed like all kinds of trash had fallen to his feet, you couldn’t take a single step without stumbling.

Why do I still care about this place. I was so exhausted, I should’ve just let it be – he thought, but he couldn’t help caring about the clock tower and that voice. That being the case, Souhei decided that once he finds out the truth of what’s happening he can try and go to sleep.

"Meow"

He heard it again from deep in the dark. So it really was here. He felt like it wasn’t too far away.

"...Othello?"

Souhei was half-sure it was her. He wasn't confident enough to distinguish it from another cat's cry. But once he heard that dear sound he remembered her.

The cramped path in the valley of the buildings was becoming complicated.

"Huh?" He turned right only once after going straight down and looked up, and the clock tower had been positioned behind him before he knew it. He must’ve passed by it at some point.

He turned straight back and walked for a bit. When he looked up again,

"...What?”

The clock tower was still standing behind him. Where on earth was it built? After going back and forth through this long back alley, Souhei suddenly found a single light shining through the darkness.

It was a multipurpose building's wall.

When he concentrated his eyes, he could see a crack like a rising dragon on the smooth wall, it rose up about twice the size of Souhei from the ground. The light was coming from this.

Can I see inside the building? If I can then that’s a terrible construction defect. Souhei put his face close to the crack in curiosity.

He instantly felt a force pull him forwards. A force with no resistance, like his body was being grabbed by a huge hand. Souhei thought he was going to collide with the wall. However Souhei’s body was sucked in much deeper, deep through the crack in the wall.

He had no time to scream.

Chapter 4 -->

#invisible #インビジブル #kemu voxx #kemu #PANDORA VOXX #panvoxx

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natsuhikoshidou · 7 years ago

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Invisible Ch. 7 - This Thing, That Thing (Summary)

souhei meets an old acquaintance

Read Chapter 6 | Read Chapter 8

Souhei proposes to Haruka that they should move their meeting place to the secret shrine. This is because it probably looks weird to other people when they meet. Luckily Othello isn’t there, so Haruka’s glad.

Haruka asks Souhei where he’s staying and reaches out to grab his hand. She says it’s because she can’t see him, so she knows where he is if she does this.

Souhei tells Haruka that ‘it’s a city where invisible people live’ and ‘it’s hidden in this town’. He also says that they’re pretty self-sufficient, Haruka says it’s like a town from a fairy tale.

Haruka then looks down, and asks Souhei to come back. She wants to look in his eyes and talk to him again. Souhei’s glad that Haruka said that, but then says he can’t.

When asked to elaborate, Souhei tells Haruka that everyone is doing well without him, and that he only made things uncomfortable for the class and his aunt. Haruka shows no response, but when asked by Souhei, she explains that the police told her about the bullying. She apologizes for not doing anything. He also tells Haruka about his relationship with his aunt.

Haruka suggests he goes back once more and sees the situation for himself: "Though you won't get a full explanation... maybe auntie and school won't be in accordance to what you think."

Back in the Invisible City, one day when Souhei was having a walk through one of the barns in the city, he saw a cat out of the corner of his eye. Wondering whether this was a normal occurrence, he goes to <<JIRO>> to ask Jirou and Shibata.

They say that a dog managed to get inside once, but Shibata and his skateboard friends led it back outside; It happens occasionally.

Thinking about what Haruka said and wandering around the city, he then sees the cat again. It has black and white fur and a red ribbon around its neck- it looks just like Othello.

When Souhei approaches it, the cat then runs off. It runs off inside a building where there are things laying around all over, but the real thing that catches Souhei’s attention is a staircase that leads underground.

Souhei goes down the stairs, his guard high. He remembers that Shibata told him about a well in the corner of the city, so maybe this is that. As he remembers that, the stairs open into a large space.

The space looks like a 50 meter pool. In the inside of the open space, some adults are drinking alcohol, dozing on mats and playing shogi. The atmosphere reminds Souhei of the rooftop; it’s likely this is a meeting place for adults in the city.

He can see Othello going down a path on the other side and follows after him. Down the dark path, there’s various items laying about. One item is a glass cup that Souhei almost stands on, but he places it in a corner so it’s not a danger.

Othello hits a dead end. When Souhei calls out to him, he’s hit with shock: there’s a man there.

The man looks old and tattered: his hair is unkempt and messy, his clothes are ragged, his skin is wrinkly. Right now he’s petting Othello.

Souhei calls out to the man. He gets up slowly and looks at Souhei, his face looks thin and his eyes are smokey. For some reason, though, there was something about this man that Souhei remembered... though it was impossible.

"Why are you... over here? There's nothing here."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came here a little while back. Is that your cat?"

"It's a similar cat to one I used to take care of in the outside world... Um, it might be rude to ask something like this... how long ago has it been since you came to the Invisible City?"

The man's muddied eyes looked at Souhei. Though they hadn't even exchanged a few words of conversation, already the man's stamina looked like it was at the bottom.

His breathing was disjointed.

"Pardon me. Saying something like that on a first exchange..."

"...It's strange. I don't remember every detail, but I think at least ten years have passed."

Souhei's breathing became disordered. I should check this instinctively, he thought.

As he thought that, the name of the person floating in his head left his mouth.

"...Are you, Youichi, Shima-san?"

The man's shoulders moved in shock.

There's no way it can actually be that- as he thought that on the one hand, a long time ago, Souhei's memories -who gazed at the photograph placed on his desk- were screaming.

The man in front of you is your father, they said.

"You're Youichi Shima-san, right?".

The man cleared his throat loudly once, and spoke.

"...Who are you?"

"I'm..."

Souhei spoke.

"I'm Souhei Shima..."

In the space of a moment, the man's eyes opened wide. The peeled open whites of his eyes were dirty and yellow, but now they seemed to be dripping and falling with water.

"....So, Souhei...."

The man raised his neck, his mouth which soon began to drool moved shakily.

"Is it.... really you.....? Are you really Souhei? What- Wh, why are you.... here? Aah, why....."

This man is Youichi Shima! His huge structure crumbled with a gigantic noise, Souhei heard from behind his ears. The legs that supported his body while he was conscious now seemed to become weak. What the hell is happening? Shouldn't you be dead? Why was I able to meet my father in this place?

Holding down his shaking body, Souhei opened his mouth.

"W, what happened? You died... even though I heard you had died...."

Youichi Shima didn't hear, but was only groaning "Aah" and "Uuh".

Before his eyes became bright red.

"-What happened!" Souhei raised his voice, Othello jumped off, and ran off somewhere.

"Please tell me!"

Youichi Shima put both his hands on the ground, and rubbed his forehead against the ground.

"I'm sorry..."

"...What?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, honestly..."

"P, please stop! Please answer my question!" Not understanding at all, Souhei felt like heaven and earth could be turned upside-down.

Raising his head, Youichi Shima spoke nervously.

"Since...Since my body disappeared, who has been taking care of you...?" "...My aunt." "Kazuho- right, I told her I had died. I thought that was fine. It certainly was... I didn't want to bestow my strange wish onto you. It was the correct decision..."

His tone of speaking earnestly while nodding was much more irritatingly bestowed onto me.

"Why are you in the Invisible City...?" Souhei asked.

But Youichi Shima shut his mouth. His gaze fell to his feet like he was embarrassed.

Souhei felt like he wanted to grab him by the collar.

"-Please answer me!

Suddenly, thud- that hard sound rang out behind him. Souhei reflexively turned around.

The path shining in the thin fluorescent lamp was empty.

Souhei turned around to his father again.

"...What happened?" "I became tired..." "Huh...?"

Youichi Shima continued speaking.

"Back then, when I lost my wife, your mother, I was alone... I couldn't raise a child alone... I was tired."

Souhei slowly shook his head.

"What..." What's this man saying?

The man before his eyes closed his eyes shut tightly, like he was enduring pain, and spoke.

"It was like I was being crushed..... before long I couldn't handle my job... but, you were still alive..... Even so I somehow kept you for several years, but I really just couldn't hold on any more... when I felt like that...."

-You mean you became an invisible person?

Souhei held his tongue with as much strength as he could muster, and thought. He was saying he raised him for several years as a baby, but in the end he abandoned him- then he turned into an invisible person, that's what he means?

Did his aunt create that story? So that he wouldn't know the truth? That she brought up this person's son until now?

He understood why Youichi Shima wanted to apologize. But he shouldn't get something like forgiveness.

Souhei finally exploded.

Gripping his father's rag-like clothes, in those muddy eyes, his own close-by son was reflected.

"You! You don't understand anything like responsibility! Abandoning your own child, you troubled your family! How long have I suffered... why the hell did you... do that? What kind of person are you? I can't forgive you for something like that!"

Souhei rudely let his hands go. Anger and shame were running around the inside of his head, he seemed like he was about to cry. However, he couldn't cry in front of this man. Souhei endured it.

"Responsibility...." Youichi Shima muttered. "You're right. I have a responsibility. But it's no use. I'm a useless person..."

His father rubbed his forehead against the ground again, he spoke loudly.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry.... it's truly inexcusable! I'm bad..."

-A man like this is my father...

Looking at his body, which didn't feel that it's pride had been broken, Souhei was dumbfounded.

He was driven by the impulse to tread on the back of his miserable head, wanting to crush his nose into the ground. It would definitely make a satisfying noise. However, he couldn't bear watching his body cry out and try and escape. If he saw his father like that, he'd rather die on the spot.

Aah, speaking of that, he suddenly remembered. The photograph of the hot spring somewhere. When he looked at the photograph that captured that man, it gave him daily encouragement- he remembered that and found it hilarious, now he wanted to laugh. How stupid- he thought. Arbitrarily, he wanted to make up the image of his father in his head. He was playing hopelessly alone.

Souhei chuckled, and before he knew it Youichi Shima raised his head and muttered.

"You should leave the Invisible City." "...Excuse me?"

A cold voice came out that surprised himself to an extent. Youichi Shima seemed to flinch too, and was silent for a short while.

"What? Is there something you want to tell me?" "...I'm telling you, if you just came, then you should leave right now. This city isn't a paradise." "...Do you plan to tell me about yourself, apparent-father?"

However, Youichi Shima continued talking, nevertheless.

"This isn't a good place for people. You'll surely regret it."

For a moment, every feeling inside Souhei gave off sparks again.

"-Bullshit! You're only talking about yourself! If you stayed in the outside world, I would have been completely fine in the first place, you know? Or do you regret it? I've had enough of you being such an idiot! Everything is your fault!"

Souhei took a deep breath. As the whirled up dust was about to calm down to the ground, a long silence passed.

After a short while Youichi muttered a little.

"I'm sorry..."

Don't say that any more. He turned his face down again, like he couldn't look at his son's face anymore.

Like a shellfish sinking in the ocean, he didn't move.

It's over. That's what Souhei sensed. The conversation died here.

Leaving this dirty cellar basement, his lone, miserable father, and his similarly miserable son.

Souhei turned back on the path he came. He couldn't run as his knees didn't have the power, but nevertheless he was still fast.

In any case, he was fast for a minute as he ran away from that dark place.

But where the path bent, he saw a curved piece of glass by his feet. Looking at it, worried, he realized it was the cup placed on the corner of the floor.

It had broken somehow.

-Was somebody there?

Souhei got chills down his spine.

Tomorrow morning, Souhei decides to visit school as Haruka suggested. Though he remembers it well, he feels like a completely different person visiting it.

He looks into the classroom. It seems they’re currently in lesson. Souhei’s desk is still there in the back of the class. Naturally, it’s empty. Then it turns into lunch time. A group of people fly out the classroom door, Souhei waits for them to pass, and then enters.

Hijiri is there. He’s laying on his desk like he’s asleep. Surprisingly, none of his friends are with him. They all left.

Overhearing a conversation from two girls in the class, it seems everyone has begun to see through Hijiri’s righteous attitude; they think it was mean of him to pick a fight with Souhei.

It also seems like Hijiri has been distancing himself from his friends. He doesn’t talk in class anymore. Though, one of the girls says, if he tried to talk to her, she would ignore him. It seems like the blame for Souhei’s disappearance was all pushed onto Hijiri.

Souhei becomes confused. He thought everything was supposed to be going well since he left. But now it seems like he and Hijiri have swapped places, and Hijiri is now being isolated.

After that, Souhei goes home to see his aunt. He carefully opens the steel door and takes off his shoes. He sees his aunt working, it looks like she’s working on a cover for a book. Everything seems normal, so Souhei is about to leave when...

The phone rings. Kazuho gets up and answers- "-No, because I haven't been able to get in touch with him or anything at all. I don't have any confidence in the police."

Suspecting this is about himself, Souhei waits.

It turns out Kazuho is talking to her uncle. She tells him that ‘it’s not possible for me to contact him’ because ‘he’s gone’, and begins to cry.

"When that boy grew up, gradually, I started to have no idea what he was thinking... He wasn't a boy that spoke honestly about what he thought. Also I just had no clue how to raise him up... When I talked to him, he would just say "It's nothing" and "Not really."- it was like we were getting more distant. Speaking of which, I felt like, in the end, I really couldn't be a mother to him... up until recently, I couldn't speak to him at all either"

"...Stop." From Souhei's mouth, a wrung-out voice spilled out. "Aunt, stop."

However his aunt didn't hear it. She only conversed with the person on the phone.

"...I know. The truth is I can't get to the bottom of it more strongly now, can I? So I'm useless... I'm not his mother, I feel like I shouldn't have been so pushy until now. But, But I made a mistake... Did I tell you about what was happening in his class before? Things like the bullying, I didn't notice it at all until now... I noticed on the day Souhei went missing... He came home with injuries all over his body. Though he told me... his bike had been hit somehow.... It was all my fault."

After hearing his aunt blame herself, Souhei decides that he wants to be able to talk to her face to face. But he can’t stand hearing it anymore, so he leaves the apartment.

After standing outside for a little while, Souhei remembers somewhere else he has to go.

Today he and Haruka are meeting at Hachiougi park. She said it’s for something she had planned today. She’s already at the bench, reading a book. Souhei taps her on the shoulder, she reaches out to hold his hand.

When they hold hands, Souhei feels overwhelmed with everything and begins to cry. But he tries to endure it.

Haruka senses something’s wrong and asks him. Souhei writes that nothings wrong. Haruka says that she wants him to tell her, but Souhei feels like the time to tell her everything hasn’t come yet.

Then, Haruka turns to the path behind Souhei. “You came.”

It’s Hijiri.

"...Yo"

He had a frankly unenergetic voice. As Haruka looked like she was lost for a response, her body shifted slightly to the side.

"Sit down"

In the space between Haruka and Hijiri, who sat down, there was a space opened for a single person. Souhei stood exactly behind it and watched over the course of events.

This was also something Haruka proposed. As she said, what Souhei imagined about the state of the Grade 11 Set 5 classroom and his aunt was completely different.

After calling Hijiri here after school she wanted him to watch them, she said.

But what the hell did she want me to watch. Souhei didn't have any expectations.

Hijiri, who hung his head in silence until now, spoke.

"Let me apologize, for what I did......"

Haruka glanced at Hijiri sitting next to her, then returned her gaze in front of her.

"You haven't finished apologizing." For Haruka, it was a voice as cold as she could make it. "Sorry." Hijiri said again.

Souhei observed, they were talking about their kiss.

"That was a surprise attack." "...Sorry, really."

Haah, Haruka sighed and then was quiet. However, she wasn't angry anymore, Souhei realized. Her personality rarely had discontent for other people in the first place. You can't help what's already happened, she probably accepted it.

"Well... enough about that-" Haruka crossed her arms. "-Hey, I want you to tell me about Souhei, and the class."

Hijiri's body shook slightly.

"Tell me the truth, please?" she spoke with a remarkably gentle voice.

What is she trying to do? Watching Hijiri and Haruka alternate. She probably wants me to see something.

Souhei was agitated.

"I'm useless..." Hijiri murmured. "It's all because of what I did. I'm horrible."

Souhei doubted his ears.

"...What did you do?" Nervously, Haruka asked Hijiri.

After that, as Hijiri stumbled here and there, he revealed his behavior to Souhei. Breaking, ignoring, laughing and hurting. Then he was frank about how he was the mastermind behind those. He also revealed about the assailant's plans Souhei didn't realize, minutely in detail. Accurately.

However what Hijiri said wasn't everything. He hid several horrible actions of harassment. Confessing to all his sins to the girl he likes must be unbearable. However, it's possible that there might be things he doesn't remember.

But Souhei hadn't forgotten a single one of the things that they did to him. The assailants casually hurt a person, to the victim it's strongly etched in their mind. He wanted to tell Hijiri that.

Haruka swallowed a breath at hearing every single thing Hijiri did to Souhei. After Hijiri finished speaking, it seemed she couldn't speak for a short while.

"...Why, why did you do something so horrible?" fearfully, she opened her mouth, and spoke to Hijiri.

From the bottom of her heart, she couldn't understand his actions.

"I think it's sad that you were hurt, Hijiri. But you were Souhei's best friend, right? Weren't you talking about going to the national tournament together? So... why did your relationship turn into something like that?"

This is the story from middle school. He was hurt because of Souhei's carelessness, and suffers from light after-effects in his foot.

Hijiri was silent as he hid his face. Haruka was struck by his figure, she seemed slightly pitiful.

"...How is your foot?" she asked.

However, Hijiri suddenly spoke.

"-I lied."

"Eh?" Both Haruka and Souhei said that.

"I lied, about the after effects..."

Hijiri closed his mouth again. The noise of the water fountains became awfully loud. Like they rang inside the head.

"...What do you mean?" Haruka said.

Souhei looked at Hijiri too. No matter what he said it didn't make any sense.

"It's the truth that I can't run... It still hurts to sprint at full speed. But that's not my ankle-"

Hijiri's injury was an ankle fracture. Souhei, Haruka and the other pupils saw his cast. They clearly remembered it.

"-It's my shin. My tibia... That was a stress fracture."

Full of agitation, Souhei stirred on the spot. Bouncing, the thicket by his feet shook slightly. Haruka looked towards him for a moment, and nodded slightly. However, he and Haruka seemed to be approximately equally shocked.

"... I talked to a doctor a little before that accident. It's a stress fracture from over-training, they said. It was the worst feeling. But I thought I'd endure it and go to nationals. That was when the accident happened."

As a result of the whistle Souhei dropped, Hijiri fell over.

"The fracture was just as I wanted. I thought, it can't be helped if I have this. I thought, if Souhei's the cause, then there's nothing I can do."

"I don't understand." Haruka shook her head. "What are you talking about? Hey, Hijiri, can you go through step-by-step once more?"

Souhei also swallowed and waited for his story. Hijiri moved his body, putting weight on his back, and began his story.

"When we entered middle school I entered track and field club, do you know why?" "...Because Souhei entered it, right?" "Because you entered it, Haruka."

Hijiri spoke.

"Souhei's legs were fast. So I thought it was only natural that he would enter track and field, I thought I should enter too. If I did, I said I would become a manager with you. I thought, ok then, I'll enter too. I didn’t want to lose to Souhei. But that guy had exceeding motor reflexes, so I didn't stand a chance. So I thought I'd try a different route. I chose the 200 meter sprint, though I didn't have a particular reason...

That guy was really amazing. Since we were first years, he made it into the top ranks in city tournaments, right? I honestly thought he was amazing. I knew he had something that I didn't. So because I hated losing, I really kept at club activities and voluntary practice. I trained without ever taking a day off. But no matter what I did, I could never overtake Souhei. And then, because that guy had a kind of narrow field of vision, I took leadership. Thanks to that I was appointed as head of the club next year from senpai.

But when it became winter in our 2nd year I got the stress-fracture diagnosis. Though you know this, Haruka, it's not something you can heal from easily. But I wasn't going to give up here. I couldn't just watch Souhei's efforts without doing anything. So I thought, I'll do it. That was when I fell over."

Haruka and Souhei were silent. Hijiri continued his story.

"I thought, that can't be helped. Souhei was the cause, Haruka, you saw that moment too. It was convenient in lots of different ways."

"-Wait. What, it was convenient? What do you mean, It can't be helped?"

Haruka interjected, Hijiri breathed in slowly and at ease, and then spoke.

"I liked you, Haruka, since a really long time ago. So I entered track and field club so that I would persist, and not disappear from your line of sight. I practiced a lot to get the best results possible. But... you liked Souhei, didn't you?"

Souhei returned his gaze to Haruka. But without saying anything, her back didn't move in the slightest.

"Injured, after-effects remained from my stress fracture, I felt like that responsibility had been left to Souhei. It's fine if I can't do hard practice with this, I thought if I don't do it out of self-responsibility, that's fine. I finished, so I didn't end up becoming an unattractive guy- wasn't it convenient? I got sympathy from you. Then after all that, Souhei didn't get good results at all in the nationals. That was because he felt in debt, mentally, I'm sure. I caught up with him...

But back then I felt guilty. Souhei was my best friend. When I worried about how I could make it up to him afterwards, we went into high school together, and I thought about becoming his coach. I wanted to be a manager like Haruka. Then close to graduation, Souhei came and said to me "I can't do track and field in high school". I... just, for some reason, got angry. He had so many things compared to me. If he practiced more genuinely I felt like he would have gotten much better results in track and field, and he was smart too. Above anything else... I was always jealous of him, because you liked him, Haruka. That guy said he was giving up track and field because of household circumstances and stuff. I knew there was no reason for me to be angry... But I was super angry, and there and then I just abused him, calling him shit. And yet he always seemed to take it without fighting back, like a man. After all I still feel miserable about myself. But still, after that he didn't lose his nerve."

Haruka finally opened her mouth.

"...That's when you bullied him?"

"I didn't plan to at first. Just when I myself saw Souhei it would piss me off, so I just stayed away from him. I was glad we were in different classes in our first year. But because we were in the same class when we went up into our second year, immediately everyone around me noticed, with a little momentum they talked about my injury. Then they got mad for me... for me too... when I saw those guys getting mad, I reconsidered and thought Souhei was bad after all. The circumstances were good for me. And then..."

Hijiri's shoulders trembled. Sitting next to him, Haruka was crying quietly too.

"I ran him down... I want to apologize to Souhei..."

It was a voice that seemed to drown out the noise of the water fountains.

Souhei shed tears too, watching the two from behind.

After shedding the first tear, they simply wouldn't stop. Maybe he should be angry at Hijiri, who had hid the reality from him until now. Maybe he should beat him up. However, somehow he didn't feel mad at his best friend that confessed everything until now. If he could, he wanted to stand face to face, look in his eyes and talk to him.

But he couldn't. Now tears just overflowed, he couldn't do anything.

#kemu #kemu voxx #invisible #panvoxx #インビジブル #sorry for the really long wait lol #pandora voxx

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natsuhikoshidou · 7 years ago

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Invisible - Character Profiles

The text is translated from this poster, which was released with a special order of the book. The same pictures were used on the amazon page for invisible with some extra details, shown below.

Maki Tamagawa (玉川マキ)

A mysterious girl who appeared before Souhei. Although she has a brilliant mind, an outstanding range of abilities, and exceeds the class as a popular person in high school, for some reason she follows Souhei around.

Souhei Shima (嶋草平)

The work's protagonist. Because his parents died, he lives together with his aunt. During middle school he fell out with his childhood friend Hijiri. He brings good will to his childhood friend Haruka.

Haruka Kurisawa (栗沢晴香)

A rare Yamado Nadeshiko (i.e. beautiful, graceful woman) girl who now attends a girl's high school. Worried about Souhei and Hijiri's relationship. Her hobby is taking pictures with an SLR. She has a cat allergy.

Riina (里稲)

A girl living in the Invisible City. Keeps her distance from other residents in silence. Her physical capability is outstanding. She has a habit of patting herself on the head.

Hijiri Aota (青田聖)

Souhei’s classmate. Bares the role in class of a handsome guy (ikemen). For some reason hates his childhood friend Souhei.

Seiji (セイジ)

The Invisible City’s leader who manages its youth. With his androgynous facial features he is charismatic and has calm resolution.

Prologue -->

#kemu voxx #invisible #kemu #pandora voxx

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natsuhikoshidou · 7 years ago

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Invisible Ch. 4 - Lead Me (Summary)

we meet riina: the best character in the book. need i say anything else?

Read Ch. 3 | Read Ch. 5 p1

Souhei fell through the wall into a city he doesn’t know. The buildings look much older and worn out than his 20 year old apartment and he doesn’t recognize any of the residents.

There were people walking around and people sitting down for drinks, it was the usual pedestrian traffic. Souhei was confused, he just came from an alleyway...

He looks at the wall behind him. There was a huge crack on it, like the one he just fell through. He's really confused and thinks it’s just a dream.

Souhei feels like he’s about to cry, like he wants to beg the person who is behind all of this to show their face so he can go back to earlier. Then, he starts feeling angry, and thinks about how there really aren’t any consequences to being invisible. He walks around the city selfishly, insolently, like he doesn’t care about the consequences for a little bit. Then, he returns to the wall and is about to try and leave when...

Thud. He suddenly feels a shock run from the top of his head to his feet, and he passes out immediately, like a scene changing in a movie.

When he wakes up, he’s lying on a futon and looking at an unknown ceiling. He can’t remember what happened, sits up quickly and is then stricken with pain. As he’s groaning in pain, he hears:

“I’m, sorry.”*

He turns around. There’s a girl sitting near him. He then realizes the reality of the situation, and asks if she can see him, to which she nods.

Overwhelmed, Souhei starts tearing up. She asks him why, and tells her that he thought he became an invisible person.

He gets a good look at the room. If him turning invisible is just a dream, he has to try and understand why he’s in this place. It’s pretty empty, the floor’s made of wood, there’s a futon, a chair in the corner, a window, a naked light-bulb with an umbrella-shaped shade, but that’s it.

The girl tells him that he is invisible, and that invisible people can see and talk to one another. Souhei still doesn’t believe it, so she turns the light on and tells him to stand up and look at his feet.

At first Souhei only notices that he’s barefoot (his shoes are by the chair in the corner), but she points out that he doesn’t have a shadow. He looks over and neither does she. Souhei then realizes that he didn’t check that detail when he was going to school and visiting home.

He looks out of the window and sees people walking around in the street. None of them have shadows despite the fact it’s midday, it’s really creepy. She tells him this place is called the Invisible City and it’s where invisible people live.

Souhei tries to leave, but when asked where he’s going, realizes that he can’t go home. He then asks about the girl, she says her name is Riina and that she lives here.

She leads him through an alleyway to get to the Invisible City. It’s cramped, dark, you have to bend over to fit in it, the floor is wet from condensation from the pipes above, something keeps hitting him but he doesn’t know what, and also the walls are filthy and peeling off.

Souhei’s talking to Riina to try and keep his mind off it. He asks why she didn’t just leave him be, and she says that she’s the one who bumped into him and also that she’s sorry.

Souhei then asks how he should refer to Riina (i.e. with her last name, out of politeness). Riina tells him that her first name is fine and that everybody calls her that. Souhei wants to ask why she doesn’t use her last name, but doesn’t.

Then an older person in a vest jumps out of somewhere and is standing in the break between the stairs. Souhei jumps in shock, but Riina tells him to keep going. When he goes past them, they stink of alchohol.

Finally they enter the outside from the alleyway. Souhei squints in the sunlight and feels the radiance of the sun, but Riina is standing still and staring at something.

It seems that people are crowding around a fight. Souhei and Riina walk towards the place. There’s no way around them.

It seems there’s a guy with tattoos down his arm and a chubby blond guy arguing in the middle. They seem to be the leaders of 2 separate groups crowding around them. When the tattooed guy throws the first punch, and the blond guy punches him back in the stomach. After that, it evolves into chaos with the two groups getting involved too.

Souhei is shaken up and notices a guy who is pushed onto the ground, straddled and is delivered a final blow. Though they look younger than Souhei, he couldn’t bring himself to stop it. There are people who are pushed onto the sidewalk, half conscious, covered in blood.

As Souhei starts feeling anxious, wondering if it’s ok to just stand and stare, he hears a cool voice from behind him:

“Are you going to stop soon?”

Though the voice wasn’t that loud, immediately the fight began to calm down.

When the boy walked past Souhei and he got a glimpse of his face, he remembered him from somewhere. He couldn’t remember who he was at all though.

When the boy went over to the tattooed and the blond guy to ask for an explanation, they began arguing again. However, as soon as he told them to shut up, they were quiet. The blond boy says “...My bad, Seiji.” Souhei recalls hearing that name before as well.

Seiji asks them to apologize now, so they won’t fight again. When they apologize, he doesn’t believe them. While they’re conversing the guy who was knocked out on the floor from earlier is approaching Seiji from behind. He looks dubious and runs up to Seiji, about to hit him.

At that, Souhei tries to intervene and jumps out to Seiji. The guy punches Souhei instead.

Though Souhei would usually be able to withstand a single punch, he hasn’t eaten in 2 days and he’s exhausted so he immediately falls to the ground and becomes unconscious.

A shadow looks over him, saying that he shouldn’t have gotten involved. At that, Souhei loses his consciousness.

When Souhei wakes up, theres a boy with spikey hair sitting by him who goes and tells Seiji. It seems he’s in some kind of bar and he’s laying on a bench. The bar is full of people sat by long tables, some of them are playing cards. By the counter there’s about 10 round seats: Seiji is sat on one of them.

Seiji comes over to Souhei. He tells him that what just happened was unfortunate and that he heard from Riina that he just arrived here. Because Souhei had only just woken up, he didn’t quite understand what he was saying.

He sees Riina sitting by a chair in the corner. She’s completely still, not interacting with anyone.

Seiji says that he removed the bandages from his fight with Hijiri because his wounds seemed cured, and asks if his wounds from the fight just now are ok. Souhei touches his jaw; it’s hurts a little, but it’s nothing serious.

But now that Souhei’s head is cleared up, he finally realizes and asks:

"...You're Seiji from <<clouds>>, right?"

He remembers seeing him from the videos Haruka showed him. The bar turns completely silent, everyone’s staring at Souhei. Seiji smiles a little:

"So you know about <<clouds>>" "So you really are Seiji- Ah, Seiji-san...?" "You don't need to use the honorific. In any case, it would help if you told me your name" "Ah, Souhei- It's... Souhei Shima." "Souhei. You're right, I'm Seiji. Indeed I'm the lead singer from <<clouds>>. Because I'm addressed as such there, you can call me that too."

After that, Seiji asks Souhei how much Riina told him. Souhei says he’s only been an invisible person for a little while, so he doesn’t know much. Seiji offers to explain to him how the city works.

He explains that when people turn invisible, they are lead, almost unconsciously, down the hidden alleyway. He says the city is also similar to invisible people’s inconsistent existent (i.e. unable to be seen but can still be interacted with physically).

He then explains to Souhei the story of the Peach Blossom Spring by Tao Yuanming to show that places like the invisible city have existed for a long time. In short, the story tells of a fisherman that found a city hidden behind peach blossoms. There, the villagers were unaware of the outside world and lived happily in their own ecosystem.

He also tells Souhei about the story of “The Stray House” in Kunio Yanagita’s anthology “The Legends of Tono”. The story tells of a woman that found a beautiful lost mansion in a mountain. When she went inside, though she couldn’t see anyone, she felt like somebody was living in there too. Seiji believes this is proof of invisible people’s existence.

Seiji explains that everyone living in the invisible city now was once from the outside world. He also says that, almost unconsciously, they were drawn towards the city. (”[...] It was like my own legs became another person's. I felt like I was being carried to that alleyway. Didn't you?”)

Souhei mentions the cube. When Seiji seems shocked, Souhei tells him it’s nothing.

After that, Souhei begins feeling bad again. He was mostly unconscious at this point.

Seiji tells Souhei that he can live in this city, though if he wants to live somewhere else, he won’t stop him.

"There is one thing I want though..." He was hesitant to ask for this at the first time meeting this person, but he was at his wit's end. If you compared a person's stamina to how much water you could hold in a bucket, Souhei wouldn't even have enough for a cup.

"What is it?" Seiji leaned in. "What can I do?" [...]

"I'd like something to eat."

Seiji brings Souhei over to the bar, where a bald guy with a beard cooks Souhei some donburi. Souhei eats it in the blink of an eye, which makes Seiji laugh

Afterwards Souhei apologizes as he forgot his wallet at home, but the chef laughs and tells him that they don’t use money in the city. Seiji tells him that there’s lots of things he’ll need to think about in the city.

After that, Seiji leads Souhei and Riina up to the rooftop which overlooks the city and they look at the city’s panorama. Souhei notices that it looks like the city is trapped by 4 walls in a square shape.

Souhei asks who made the walls. Seiji says he doesn’t know, and that the walls are impossible to climb and look like they’re completely undamaged, apart from the big crack that people are lead through. He also says that the old people here believe a God’s living in the Invisible City, and that every time a building is built the wall gets higher.

Seiji elaborates that more buildings keep getting built on top of each other in the Invisible City which is why the alleyways are dark and difficult to navigate, like a maze. Seiji says some people get lost, which seems to worry Souhei.

Souhei asks if there’s only one main road (where the fight happened earlier). There are two cliffs either side of that path. Seiji says that there are 5 main roads and there’s also a path around the circumference of the wall, which takes about 10 minutes to walk end to end.

Then his attention turns to the clock tower nearby. Seiji says it’s like a lighthouse for invisible people: it can’t be seen by regular people and it helps guide invisible people in the outside world. Souhei has a lot of questions but he doesn’t know if it’s ok to ask them.

Then, he builds up the courage to ask if Seiji is the leader of the city. Seiji looks shocked, Souhei elaborates that earlier, as soon as they heard his voice, everybody stopped fighting. Seiji tells him that he’s not really a leader, but he feels like he has no choice to lead because there aren’t many adults that work in the city.

He elaborates that it seems like all the adults do is drink and gamble for alcohol. When he first came to the city, nobody did anything.

Then Seiji tells Souhei that younger people in the city have to work in order to eat. He says the chef from earlier was called Jirou, and that there’s lots of jobs available. After a short pause, he asks Souhei to become a purveyor with Riina.

This means going out to the outside world and acquiring special items that you can’t get in the Invisible City. The Invisible City has most basic things though, there are farms, wind power stations, gas, etc.

Seiji says Riina’s job is becoming unmanageable to do herself and that letting residents leave as they please is dangerous. He then notes that Souhei was in good form earlier in the fight, Souhei tells him that he used to be in the track and field club in middle school, which delights Seiji. He says ‘you’ll catch up with Riina’, which worries Souhei a little.

Lastly, Seiji explains that they don’t have laws in the city. There is one important rule that is installed to protect invisible people’s existence:

"It's that the people from the outside world absolutely cannot learn about our existence. So that we can be completely protected." Seiji's voice was firm.

People from the outside world- When Souhei heard that, he felt like all the people he was involved with until now were on the opposite shore.

[...]

Obviously it was difficult to imagine the state of when those two existences [the Invisible City & invisible people] are found out. In Souhei's head, the words "Police" and "Mass media" popped up, but he couldn't imagine the way they would move. But it would be like the world suddenly turned upside down.

After that, Seiji turns to leave the rooftop. Souhei asks what he should do now, Seiji tells hims to “go slow” and “This is the Invisible City- A city where you can enjoy your freedom."

*I paraphrase a lot of the dialog, but I think it’s important to note Riina’s speech style. She talks slowly and concisely; this is represented by a frequent use of commas. For example, when she tells Souhei that using her first name is fine, she says 「みんな、そう呼ぶ、から」- “Because, everyone, calls me that.”

#invisible #kemu #kemu voxx #pandora voxx

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natsuhikoshidou · 7 years ago

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Invisible Ch.1 - One-Way Friends (Summary)

The first chapter of the second novel in the Kemu Voxx series, Invisible, in which souhei is a sad book-reading loser whose only friend is a cat.

Character Profiles | Read Ch. 2

We’re introduced to our main character, Souhei Shima. He’s reading a non-fiction book by an English author at lunch break. It’s a sunny and pleasant day in May. Some of the people playing sports nearby are giggling at him, but he doesn’t care. The bell just went and he’s packing his stuff up and going inside.

When he goes upstairs he has no one to talk to. There are some people crowded around a desk at the back of class, with a fashion magazine, comparing someone in this group to models in the magazine. That someone is Hijiri Aota.

Souhei prepares his desk in silence. He checks he’s got everything in his pencil case; sometimes when he’s away his stuff is vandalized or gets thrown away. Making sure he’s got everything, he arranges his desk and waits. The teacher for 5th period soon comes in.

Hijiri is considered a leader in the class, both among male and female students. He’s incredibly popular and almost everyone in class is considered to be his friend, apart from Souhei. He says it’s been like that since middle school.

When 5th period is over, Souhei was walking back to class from the toilet and Hijiri was coming down from upstairs with a juice box. Though Hijiri usually treats Souhei like he doesn’t exist, he stares at him intensely in the hallway. Souhei says “Hey...” and tries to talk to him, but Hijiri walks off.

He tells Hijiri to stop, and that he wants to make up with him. He wants everyone to stop picking on him. Hijiri sneers and tells him that they’re not in lower school anymore and that it’s not something he has control over and threatens him, asking Souhei to tell him what he should do. When Souhei is speechless, he walks off with his friends. Souhei also runs back to class afterwards

After school, Souhei makes his way over to Hachiougi park. He says that there’s a leisure center and a library nearby, but now he’s waiting on a bench near the fountains as usual. Soon Haruka appears. She smells nice. It makes Souhei’s heart thump.

Souhei explains that they all used to be in the same class in middle school, but Haruka went to a girl’s high school and Hijiri and Souhei stayed in the same school and same class.

Haruka asks if Souhei managed to talk to Hijiri today. He says he tried, but Hijiri didn’t seem like he wanted to talk.

Haruka then returns a book to Souhei, saying that the lead-up payed off and that the ending was exciting.

Souhei mentions that when they were in the same class, a lot of girls looked up to Haruka because she was mature for her age and was already graceful and polite, like a Nadeshiko Yamato-type woman.

Because of a fight that happened between Hijiri and Souhei in middle school, Souhei is constantly bullied by Hijiri and his friends. Though she knows Souhei and Hijiri are no longer friends, she doesn’t know about their fight or the bullying. Souhei thought it would make her sad and didn’t want to tell her.

About a month ago, something happened that Souhei couldn’t ignore. Before he’d had eraser shavings in his locker, doodles and graffiti written on his desk and heard his classmates trying not to laugh at him behind his back. There was a letter that had to be signed by a guardian that Souhei left in his desk. When he went back upstairs to get it, he heard laughing in the classroom.

He heard the voice of 3 people, a guy with a deep voice, a girl with a high voice (both of whom he didn’t know) and Hijiri. Hijiri said that he doodled on his desk and when it looked like Souhei realised it he tried to erase it. Hijiri says that Souhei’s always been that thickheaded.

When they ask about their history, Hijiri says he’s known Souhei since primary school but he doesn’t remember much.

The girl says that there’s no way he didn’t notice the eraser shavings, and that it was a really great idea from Hijiri. When they ask what they’ll do next, Hijiri says he hasn’t thought of it yet but as long as he hasn’t got a clue bullying him will still be fun.

After hearing that, Souhei turned around in the hallway and went home. Though his face felt hot, his heart felt cold and heavy like metal.

Suddenly Haruka brings Souhei back to reality. She says, although books are nice, they are in their second year of high school and they have to study and suggests studying together with Souhei. Souhei says he’s no match for her - Haruka always had top marks in middle school - and asks if the syllabus is different. Haruka says they can help each other out then.

Souhei also notes that he and Haruka don’t get a lot of time together, so he wants to spend as much time together as he can.

Haruka asks where they should go to study. Souhei recalls the depressing state of his house. She suggests the library, as they have reference books there too.

Haruka wishes she could go meet Othello with Souhei, but can’t because of her cat allergy. She tells Souhei, a little embarrassed, about how she watches videos of cats and dogs on the internet instead.

Souhei asks if she watches them on the same website <<clouds>> uploads their videos. <<clouds>> are Haruka’s favorite band; though she didn’t care much for popular music when she was younger, she was going directly against her parent’s influences of jazz and classical music with this rock band.

However, <<clouds>> pretty much stopped posting music about 2 years ago when the lead singer Seiji suddenly disappeared.

Before they’re about to leave off, Haruka gives Souhei a picture. It’s a picture of Souhei, Hijiri and Haruka together during summer vacation in their second year of middle school.

She had a couple more pictures. Haruka blowing on a metal pipe until her face turned red, Hijiri pretending to drink beer out of a mug, the two boys sleeping on the electric train on the way home.

Haruka gave the pictures to Souhei. She told him that she gave Hijiri these pictures too. The other day she planned to print them out and put the envelope in his desk but she was clumsy and forgot, so she met him by a shrine near her house instead. They used to play by that Inari shrine together when they were in middle school.

Souhei starts panicking, though he realizes it’s not strange for them to meet. He asks if Hijiri did anything, to which Haruka tells him that it wasn’t strange, it was like the conversation they had just now. Souhei realizes that Haruka doesn’t understand his feelings for her. Haruka tells him that Hijiri was obedient.

After that, Souhei puts the pictures in his bag and they say goodbye.

Souhei crosses the road to the library. His destination is an oddly-placed and overgrown forest that sits behind it though. It’s quite dark but he follows the path to a quiet dome where there aren’t any trees. In this empty space there’s a small shrine

Because it’s quiet here, Othello usually comes here. Souhei calls out to Othello and he comes out from behind the shadow of the shrine.

Before he went to go see Haruka, Souhei went and bought some cat food at the convenience store. He opened the can and put it on the shrine pedestal, watching over Othello as he eats.

One of the options if you don’t do after-school clubs is going to the library. Souhei reads a lot anyway, so he discovered this place on a day where he didn’t know the library would be closed but he turned up anyway. Souhei has imagined bringing Haruka along to this place many times, but she can’t come because of her cat allergy.

Souhei knelt down to pet Othello. While doing so, he thought about Haruka and Hijiri’s meeting. Did Haruka laugh? Did Hijiri smile? What words were exchanged? What was the meeting like? Suddenly, he touched something hard on Othello which brought him back to his senses.

There was a key stuck underneath a red ribbon tied around Othello’s neck. It definitely wasn’t an apartment key, but it was too small to be the key to a bike or a locker. He wondered who nearby had tied this key to Othello. An idea popped in his head, and he put the key in the keyhole of shrine’s door, which was always locked. He turned it carefully and, sure enough, it opened.

There was a small space inside the shrine. There was some purple wrapping paper which piled up like a throne in the middle of the room. On top of it - it seemed like a fortune teller’s sphere - but it was actually a regular hexahedron cube which felt like it was made of metal. As nobody else was there, he picked it up. It didn’t feel like it was made of iron, it was too robust for plastic, it wasn’t made of wood or aluminium. It had the same amount of weight to a soft baseball. As he felt it in one hand, he suddenly heard:

“---------ish--- --”

He didn’t know where it came from: there was nobody around. He could only hear the sound of cars from far away.

“D--ou ha-----”

He looked around the area. It didn’t sound like it was far away, rather like it was someone whispering tenderly in his ear. He guessed it was the voice of a young girl.

“Wh-, Who is that? Where are you?”

“Do y---------ish”

“Eh? Wh, what?”

“Do you have...”

“Do I have...?”

“....A wish?”

“.....Yes?”

Souhei left the shrine to have a look for the source of the noise, but there was nothing other than the nearby road. He waited outside for something to happen, but it was in vain. Feeling confused, he turned around to go back into the shrine and suddenly met eyes with a face behind him.

He jumped back in surprise and fell over, heart beating fast in shock. It was a girl with slightly short hair, a bow tie, short gloves, stockings with holes in them, from which her pale skin poked out in circles - Souhei thought she looked kind of like a stylish stage performer. He stuttered out a “Eh, ee...? W, when did you get here?” but she just smiled down on him and asked demanded his name (several times). When he tells her, she repeats it (”Shima Soohee!”) and says she remembered. When Souhei asks about her name, she says “Maki is Maki!”

Souhei asks about the ‘wish’ she was talking about, but she says she’ll wait a little longer because it’s not clear yet, but she’ll stay close by. Souhei says that it’s getting late so he has to get home soon anyway, and tells Maki that she should go home soon too (he guesses she’s probably in middle school from her appearance). On that, he departs, Maki waving him off with a smile.

Souhei’s house is a one room apartment on the 3rd floor of a municipal housing estate. There was no response when he opened the massive steel door, just the sound of tapping on the keyboard.

Souhei doesn’t have any parents. His mother died during childbirth. He lived with his father Youichi Shima for a short while, who worked in a company that makes optical equipment (like scopes and lenses), but he was involved in a car crash and died too. Instead he lives with his Kazuho Shima -his aunt- who was typing quickly and furiously on a keyboard. The harder she types, the worse of a mood she’s in.

Kazuho and Youichi didn’t have parents either so they lived by themselves. Kazuho worked for a design company when the accident happened, but she had to resign in order to take care of her nephew who just lost his parents.

Souhei put his bag in his room and went back into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Though he’s usually quiet when he chops vegetables, his aunt shouts “You’re so noisy”

She has a single braid that goes under her right ear, her job left a good influence on her style. She looks thin and slender, at a glance it looks like she doesn’t have a single wrinkle, she looks like a housewife in her 20′s. She wore cotton knee-length shorts and a t-shirt and doesn’t wear makeup often.

Souhei saw that his aunt looked stressed and put the frying pan away, apologizing for the noise. Instead, he got out the vegetables needed for instant ramen and prepared those instead. When he served it up on the table, his aunt gave him two 1,000 yen bills and told him to get one bottle of milk and 8 slices of bread for tomorrow, as well as the usual cereal and bacon.

He explains that the situation at his house got more depressing as he got older. He was self-conscious that whereas others in the same generation as him were given pocket money by their parents, he had living expenses instead. A reason why he spends a lot of time at the library is because it’s free.

He also notes that, though he and his aunt argue often, she used to be kind and would play with Souhei when he was younger, help him with homework, read him books when he couldn’t sleep, and he would even design things for her. He doesn’t know why, but they started arguing more when he entered middle school.

After dinner he had a shower (quietly) and secluded himself in his room. Overcome with sleepiness, he picked up a photograph he kept on his desk in his room.

It was a picture of his parents at a hot spring when they were younger. His brawny father had his arms around his slender mother

With that, though Souhei should be cramming for finals, he lay on his futon and fell asleep.

#kemu #kemu voxx #invisible #pandora voxx

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