ShinSekai Yori:Part 4 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Mamoru suddenly ran away from home, it was still the middle of a frigid February.

When Mamoru's father went to wake him after lighting the "RisingStove", nothing in particular seemed to be out of the ordinary. But, when Mamoru never showed up at his seat for breakfast, his farther went to check on him again, he seemed to have vanished from the bedroom and was nowhere to be found.

I heard that he left behind a note on his desk saying simply "Please don't look for me." Since the dawn of history, this was perhaps the most common message left behind by people running away, and also quite likely the most meaningless nonsense.

"What should we do?"

Maria said with frost on her breath, in a voice that seemed like she was about to cry. Her hat with earmuffs had become pure white with frost or snow, and with even her eyelashes frozen, she looked quite pitiful.

Maria and Mamoru's houses were on opposite sides of the town but, I knew that they met up before heading to school every morning. It seems that because Mamoru never showed up to meet her today, Maria got tired of waiting and went to his house. Hearing the circumstances from Mamoru's constantly flustered father, Maria begged him to refrain from revealing this to anyone else before heading off to consult with me.

"This isn't over yet. We've got to go look for him.

At that moment, I had been in the process of untying the Hakuren #IV's mooring rope. If Maria had come just a little bit later, I think we would have ended up passing each other without meeting.

"Lets find Satoru and go follow Mamoru's tracks together."

"But, won't people get suspicious if all four of Group 1's members are absent from school at the same time?"

Technically, Ryo too could be said to be part of Group 1, but for now he was essentially part of Group 2 in every way that matters. As Maria said, the mass absence of Group 1 would go beyond mere suspicion and without a doubt lead to an immediate investigation.

"I understand. We should go to class for the moment. Aren't 3rd and 4th periods free study today? It should be okay to secretly leave school at that time."

Since that day was a Saturday, Zenjin Academy only had lessons in the morning.

"However, there's absolutely no way we'll be able to make it back in time for home room."

"It should be okay to think about an explanation later. Lucky for us, we also have a genius-level liar in the group. Anyways, for now we just need to find Mamoru immediately."

This winter seemed as though it would be mild at the beginning but, as January came to an end, we were hit by a severe cold wave from the mainland resulting in record low temperatures. After the heavy snowfall that happened last night, the entire surface of the town had been transformed into a snowscape. I didn't know what direction Mamoru had gone but, preparing for travel through heavy snow, I put my put my well used Nagaita(LongBoards) aboard the Hakuren #IV.

My arrival at Zenjin Academy was just the slightest bit late, but I managed to slip into the classroom without catching the Solar King's eyes. Maria informed him that Mamoru was absent because of a cold and did not appear to draw any suspicion.

First period's class, titled "Human Society and Ethics", was a terribly boring lesson. While trying our best to conceal our feeling of running out of patience, we intently waited on the passage of time. The moment the Chime indicating the end of the lesson sounded, Maria and I caught Satoru and explained the situation to him.

Second period's Mathematics was to me, difficult enough to cause quite a headache. This time though, the number of nervous students should have increased to at least three.

And, for the long awaited third period, free study was conducted as groups, even allowing them to go off campus as necessary. But as the three of us were leaving the classroom together, a single obstacle appeared.

"Hey. You guys, where are you going?"

Ryo said while facing Satoru and deliberately avoiding meeting my eyes.

"Isn't this Free Study?"

Satoru said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yes, and I asked where you were going for it didn't I? I'm part of the same group one as all of you after all."

"Aren't you always doing things with group two instead?"

Maria, said irritatedly.

"But, for the time being I've become a part of group one. Besides, didn't I always do things together with your group in the past? Although I still don't really understand how things came to be this way......"

Having trapped himself in the inconsistency of his circumstances, Ryo's thinking seemed to be going in circles.

"I get it. I get it. My bad. I still haven't explained it have I?"

Satoru patted Ryo's shoulder in a soothing way. The lack of even the slightest fragment of intimacy here made the idea that these two could ever have been lovers seem unimaginably absurd.

"We met up earlier to discus our free study subject however, you weren't around at the time Ryo. The result we decided on from everyone ideas was to investigate the crystallization patterns of snow."

"Crystallization of Snow? What's with that? No matter how you look at it, isn't it too childish? I remember using that as the subject of my winter project back at Friendship Elementary."

Although Ryo could tentatively be called our childhood friend, rather than attending Harmony Elementary like Satoru and I, Ryo had gone to the same Friendship Elementary as Mamoru.

"Because of that, we are investigating what can be done with the addition of Jyuryoku to the project. Since we already divvied up the rest of the work, would you investigate the snow around the rear yard of the school building Ryo?"

"Investigate, how exactly am I supposed to go about that?"

"To start with, you can look at some of the snow crystals under a magnifying glass and sketch the patterns. It would be best to get at least a hundred patterns. After that, sort those patterns into a few rough classifications. Finally, choose a few patterns and experiment to see if you can use Jyuryoku to transcribe a pattern onto all of the snow piled up at a single location."

"But, won't some of the finished crystals start changing shape while I'm working?"

Ryo said doubtfully.

"Yes, That's it! Really, that is the most important point of this free study subject."

Satoru smoothly replied.

"You got that? Most solid materials are made up of some kind of crystal right? So, if we are able to use Jyuryoku to transform a water crystal without dissolving it, I wonder if we will be able to freely modify the physical properties of most other solids consistently later on."

"hmmm......"

Ryo said in what seemed like admiration. Not seeming to have any kind of immunization at all from Satoru's plausible sounding horror stories, Ryo was accepting this easily. This made it seem even more unimaginable that he could have done much together with us.

"Is that it? I'm in charge of the area behind the school building right?"

Yeah, please. The rest of us will be investigating the front and other areas. Oh, that's right. Once you've started the investigation, absolutely do not allow yourself to be interrupted. If you do, you'll need to redo it from the beginning."

"I understand."

Smiling clearly, Ryo headed towards the rear of the school building.

"You're Evil."

I complimented Satoru from the bottom of my heart.

"What? Did we even have any other choice in this situation?"

Leaving from the school's main entrance without hesitation, we headed towards the harbor. Amidst air that was cold enough to make my ears tingle where they stuck out from beneath my hat, a light snow was again falling.

For the time being, Satoru needed to return home for a while to collect some essential equipment. Maria and I headed towards Mamoru's house riding the Hakuren #IV. Because the water temperature was much higher than that of the air, the area above the waterways was fogged with dense steam like an Onsen. Scattered here and there about the water, at places where we didn't divide it using Jyuryoku, it was greedily broken by the advancing bow. Although we were still in the city center, it felt as though we were just like an ancient ice breaker ship crossing the Artic Ocean.

"Do you have any idea what reason Mamoru might have had for running away form home?"

Maria pondered my question for a time.

"I don't know...... But, he may have been moping a bit recently."

Hearing it said, I realized I too had the feeling that it was certainly true.

"Why? Did something happen?"

"Nope. At least not anything particularly serious. It seems I was the only one who even noticed."

"Go ahead and say it."

"He's been unable to perform well in classes related to Jyuryoku. And it wasn't as if these techniques were all that difficult. They should have been quite easy with Mamoru's abilities. The problem was that, because he is the type of person who always thinks pessimistically, after a single failure, any future attempts became hopeless."

"Is that all?"

He would go as far as running away over that kind of thing?

"Yeah. He was troubled by the fact that he received special instruction from the Solar King as a result of it. ......Because of that, I may have jokingly said that a NekoDamashi might come for him. However, his face went ghastly pale, as though he were absolutely certain that it were true.*

If that was really the reason, then I might well be partly to blame as well. It was possible that talking about the children who had disappeared from the class may have been a bad idea after all.

If Maria and Tomiko-san's criticism were correct, than Mamoru's mind was far weaker than mine.

I was suddenly hit by the feeling of a terrible chill along my back.

"A chain always breaks from the weakest link......"

"What?"

Maria asked doubtfully in return. While responding that it was nothing, I tried to settle the confusion within my mind. Just now, I felt that a chilling idea had risen into my mind but, no mater how hard I tried, I was unable to grasp it's true form.

Kunugibayashi(Oak Grove) village where Mamoru's home was located was at the westernmost side of the city. During this season, the cold breeze coming directly at us off the river was quite harsh. By the time we arrived, I had completely lost all sensation in my face.

After tying the Hakuren #IV to the mooring pillar, I threw my rucksack over my shoulders and put on my Nagaita(LongBoard) snowshoes. They were a design that combined the strong points of Telemark Skis, conventional snowshoes, and the link/loop snowshoes of ancient Japan.*

On the back side of the boards, are attached what look like countless curved spines which lay smooth when advancing, but act as a brake when moving backwards. Using this, one can walk normally on level ground, while also being able to progress by skating. With the proper stance, feet shoulder with apart and a firmly held center of mass, Jyuryoku can be used to propel one along. Ascent is not a problem, and on level ground great speed can be achieved. The problem is actually moving downhill. Braking by continuous use of Jyuryoku can cause serious mental fatigue, so descending by the use of skiing techniques is much easier.

Still wearing her normal shoes, Maria was floating along like some kind of fairy.

Arriving at Mamoru's home, we searched the surroundings for any remaining footprints. We were nearing the limit of how long a person's tracks could be followed after their disappearance, but the heavy snow seemed to be working in our favor.

"Hey, could this be it by any chance?

What I found, rather than footprints, was two stripes that could have been left by the tracks of a sled. And, judging by their narrow spacing, it seemed to have been a children's type.

"Riding the LongBoards was not one of Mamoru's strong points. In fact, he's almost completely unable to use them."

"It seems that he left dragging the sled that he used back at Friendship Elementary. Moreover, look at the depth of these tracks. He must have piled quite a lot of luggage onto it."

Running away with only the luggage one could stack onto a children's sled, was not a good method of going about it, but I would say that it was indeed a very Mamoru-like idea.

After waiting for a short while, we could see Satoru's boat coming down the waterway at a reckless speed.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Do you know which way he went?"

As he stepped off of the boat, I could see that Satoru was already entirely dressed out in equipment for trekking through the snow. His LongBoards were longer and wider than mine, and that made walking in them more demanding, but allowed him to move across a still body of water even better than if he were a water spider.

The three of us continued to follow the tracks of the sled. Although Mamoru had a three hour head start on us, traveling on a children's sled fully loaded with luggage, his ill suited choice would limit his speed dramatically. If managed to avoid loosing our way as we traveled, I expected we might be able to overtake him in about two hours.

The sled tracks leading from the back of Mamoru's home continued parallel to the street for a little while but, after a ways veered right and headed up a small hill.

"It seems as though he did this in an attempt avoid the public's gaze."

Satoru said.

"Not even trying to erase the sled's tracks with Jyuryoku is Mamoru-like indeed,"

Maria replied from overhead.

"But, I wonder why he didn't use a boat?"

I had voiced the same question when we had started looking. He had much more experience in boats than sleds, and could maintain many times the speed while carrying far more luggage.

"Is it not because he wanted to avoid being seen by anyone?"

I had thought that this seemed to be the greatest reason after all. However, there may also have been more too it than that. Moving along waterways and rivers, fleeing would be easy, but that advantage also applied to any pursuers. I guessed that Mamoru might have thought it better to cross the Holy Barrier at a mountain pass than a river.

The snow that had let off for an hour began lightly falling again. We picked up the rate of our pursuit. Satoru and I moved along opposite sides of the sled's tracks, gliding across the top of the snow. Maria brought up the rear, covering 40 to 50 meters at a time with repeated long gentile jumps. This method was much easier than continuously floating.

"Wait a minute!"

Maria shouted from behind me. All of us came sliding to a halt.

"What is it?"

I asked while slowly heading back. Maria was squatting in the snow at a spot 4 or 5 meters off to the side of the tracks.

"Look at this. What do you think of it?"

What Maria pointed at was a set of footprints left behind in the snow. They were oblong in shape, but too slender to have been left by a man, bear or monkey. If forced to guess, I would say they looked like the prints of a Rabbit, but they were too large for that and, their arrangement was not that of jumping with both feet at once, but the alternating pattern of a human like stride.

"Probably, BakeNezumi......"

Said Satoru, sounding out of breath as he looked over my shoulder.

"BakeNezumi? What would they be doing in this kind of place?"

"Why would I know that? But it really couldn't be anything but hunting right?"

"Hunting?"

I felt what seemed like a sinister premonition at the sight of those footprints.

"If by chance that were the case, this might become an awkward situation."

"Why is that?"

"Take a good look at those footprints. Don't they continue to travel along parallel to the tracks left by the sled?"

However you look at it, there was nothing they could be doing but following Mamoru's tracks.

The two sets of tracks stamped into the snow gradually led us towards a very lonely place. I surmised that making progress through newly fallen snow would been difficult. Before long, we approached the bottom of a steep slope. It seemed as though he had begun climbing the slope simply because it was preferable to the snow drifts.

"That guy went and made this kind of absurd ascent in a children's sled..."

Satoru said as though amazed.

"Seeing this, I wonder if Mamoru might unexpectedly be the kind of guy who knows no fear."

Or, it could also have been that he had been driven by something even more frightening, creating an unimaginable situation on both sides.

We too climbed the slope following the sled's tracks but, as the powdered snow blew away to reveal bare sheets of ice, the LongBoards began slipping and it often seemed as if we were about to fall. Without the help of Jyuryoku, I would likely have long ago tumbled head of heels down the slope.

The slope continued, meandering through a large curve. Along the way, the ravine below the cliff grew steadily deeper. I thought that it would be nice if Mamoru's sled too had quickly climbed across this area but, on the way, slantedly growing trees seemed as though they were trying to hinder our progress. As we advanced further, the surface of the slope changed into a rugged gully with exposed rocks scattered about. At this point we were forced to decide whether to continue as far as we could, or to turn back the way we came but, in the case of one riding a heavy sled, it would be quite difficult to change course even using Jyuryoku. It seemed that Mamoru might have fallen into a sticky situation without realizing it. And because of that, it seems he had no other choice but to recklessly continue advancing.

"Hey, I can't see the tracks from the sled any more. Do either of you know where they are?"

I said as I came to a halt along the slope, but Satoru too was shaking his head.

"I don't know. Having a fair amount of weight, the sled's track remained visible up to here even on top of the Ice Sheet, but......"

"I'll take a look from above."

Making huge jumps like some kind of grasshopper, Maria ascended the steep slope like a balloon.

"We've been lucky that the tracks have remained visible this far."

While supporting my body with Jyuryoku in order to avoid slipping down into the ravine, I followed the rough scarring along the top of the ice.

With my fingers, I noticed the sensation of something different in the snow, a rock. Because it only just barely projected from the slope, it could not easily be seen by the eyes but, rather than an ice sheet, the spot was smooth exposed solid rock. It seemed to cover an area about three and a half tatami in size.*

Blowing away the thin layer of powdered snow with my Jyuryoku, I discovered what looked like scratches made by metal running roughly through the center of the rock face.

"Mamoru! Take a look at this!"

Skillfully turning about on the slope, Mamoru came to a perfect stop at my side.

"Look here, do you suppose by some chance that Mamoru's sled......!"

As I said that Maria descended towards us from higher up the slope.

"I couldn't see any kind of tracks from above. Moreover, I don't even think it's possible to continue ascending from here."

"Maria! This is terrible!"

As I explained what we had found, Maria's face, already pale from the cold, seemed to loose what little color remained to it.

"Then, Mamoru slipped from here...... to the bottom?"

We peered down over the edge of the cliff. We had climbed quite high without realizing it. The bottom of the ravine was about 100 meters down. If one were to fall from here, it would be beyond the limit of what could be done to protect the body with Jyuryoku, almost certainly costing one's life

"For the time being, lets head down a bit an look. Even if we assume he slipped from here, we can't be certain that he fell all the way to the bottom."

That being said, we slowly began descending the slope at an angle in excess of 30 degrees.

At a place thirty or forty meters down, the feel of the snow through the LongBoards changed completely as we walked along the slope.

"A snow drift!"

Partway down the slope was a deeply recessed area in which a large amount of soft snow had piled up.

"There's still hope. This could have acted as a cushion and stopped the sled."

"But, there aren't any tracks from the sled continuing onward from here."

Seeming to have reached the limits of her self-control, Maria was recklessly attempting to remove the snow with her Jyuryoku.

"Careful Maria. You're floating by Jyuryoku so let me handle the snow!"

I told her and, raising a sudden gust of wind, attempted to blow away the entire snow drift all at once. Satoru recoiled and shielded his face from the whirled up spray of snow.

Thought I had commanded Maria confidently, by balancing on the steep slope without the use of Jyuryoku, I too was taking a reckless risk. After just a few seconds of using my Jyuryoku to raise the wind, I felt that I should switch back and use it to support my own body.

Just at that moment I heard Maria's shouting voice and stopped the wind.

"There! Something's buried!"

Maria yelled in a bitter sounding voice. At the spot she pointed to, protruding from the snow was what seemed to be the iron leg of a sled.

"Lets dig it out! I'll handle this, so don't interfere you two."

What Satoru imagined, seems to have been a giant shovel. Scooping up a large amount of snow, he threw it away down the cliff. As most of the sled became visible, he changed to what seemed like the digging of human hands, making quick but delicate movements. After removing all of the hindering snow, he overturned the upside down sled. The luggage that had apparently been piled up on the sled was scattered about the area, but Mamoru was nowhere to be seen.

"Where? Where is Mamoru?

Maria had nearly become half crazed.

"If he isn't here, then did he fall further? If so, we've got to go help him!"

Not knowing how best to reply to her, I just looked down at the ground. Supposing that Mamoru had the time to use Jyuryoku, he should have halted his fall here. If he did fall further down from here, he must certainly have been rendered completely unconscious. If that had happened, there was already little hope of his survival.

"No, wait a minute.....!"

Satoru alone had not yet lost his composure.

"Don't you think this is strange? How could this sled have ended up completely buried this way?"

At the feel of something in his tone, a faint hope was born within me.

"Isn't that because of the freshly fallen snow?"

Satoru slowly shook his head at my answer.

"It didn't fall. If that large an amount of snow had fallen after Mamoru ran away, the sled's tracks and such would have been buried, and we would never have been able to make it this far following him."

"Then, couldn't the force of the crashing sled driven it into the middle of the snow drift?"

"If that had happened, I don't think that the snow thrown about by the impact would end up concealing it this completely."

"What are you two talking about? Mamoru is gone? And you call yourselves his friends? That kind of thing doesn't matter at all!"

"No, that's not it. ......it may be possible that Mamoru is actually safe."

We both held our breath at Satoru's words.

"That, Really?", "What do you mean?", we simultaneously asked.

"Thinking about how the sled could have been buried here, only one thing comes to mind."

Satoru said thoughtfully.

"Someone must have deliberately buried it to keep anyone from discovering it's location."

"Mamoru buried it?"

Maria's voice had suddenly become cheerful again.

"Or, it could possibly have been...... the BakeNezumi that was following him."

Translation Notes

A little under half of the chapter. Will add more as I can.

-Dusanh

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