Kara no kyoukai:Chapter04 01

This place is dark, and the floor is pitch black.

When I realised that the only thing around me was the darkness I accepted the fact that I was dead.

I'm floating in a sea with no light or noise. Naked, without any covering, the human being called Ryougi Shiki is sinking into the depths.

There's no light here. No I suspect I never fell in the first place.

Since there's nothing here.

It's not just that there's no light, there isn't even any darkness. Since there is nothing here nothing is visible. THere is no meaning to the concept of falling.

Inside the 「　　」within which even form is meaningless, just my body keeps sinking. The naked me, I'm a poisonous shade which makes me want to turn my eys away. Because everything 「here」 bears such a poisonous aura.

"--- This is death."

Even the sound of my muttering seems like a dream.

Then, I observe something like time. Time has no meaning inside「　　」but I become able to observe it.

As naturally as flowing water, as grossly as putrefaction, I am just counting the time.

There is nothing here.

Even if I keep continuously looking in the distance I can't see anything.

Even if I keep waiting continuously for something I can't see anything.

It's very nice and peaceful.

No --- Since nothing has meaning, just 「being」here makes everything perfect.

This is death.

The world which only the dead can reach. The world which the living cannot see.

But, I'm still alive ---.

I thought I would lose my mind.

For 2 years I sat there in the midst of the concept called death. Rather then observation, it was closer to the struggle of battle.

With the arrival of morning, th hospital slowly comes alive. The footsteps of the nurses traversing the corridors and the noise of the patients waking up and going about their own business is repeated manyfold. Compared to the silence during the night the bustle of the morning makes me feel like I'm at a festival.

For the recently woken me, the riotous noise is too much.

Thankfully, my ward is a privat room. It's noisy outside but at least inside this box it's calm and quiet.

Not much later, a doctor comes to examine me.

"How do you feel Ryougi-san?"

"--- Well, I'm not really sure."

At my emotionless reply the doctor shuts up as if he's perplexed.

"... Really? At least you seeem calmer than yesterday. It might be troubling for you but I'll explain your current siuation. If you don't like what I'm saying, don't hesitate to tell me."

I replied to the docor's words with silence. Because, I don't have any interest in such an obvious story.

I think he mistook that as a sign of acceptance.

"In that case I'll make it brief. Today is the 14th of June 1998. You - Ryougi Shiki, were involved in a night-time traffic accident on the 5th of March 2 years ago and was brought here to this hospital. The accident involved you being hit by a car while on a pedestrian crossing. Do you remember?"

"..."

I don't reply. --- I don't know that sort of thing. The last image I can take out from that shelf called memory is that of my classmate standing dumbly in the rain. I can't remember anthing like how I got into an accident.

"Ah, it's alright if you can't remember. We think that just before you got hit by the car, you realised the danger and tried to evade it. Thanks to that the injuries to your body weren't serious.
In return we suspect that you received a hard shock to your head. You were already in a coma by the time you arrived at out hospital, luckily your brain itself wasn't injured. So the reason you can't remember is probably the confusion brought about by being in a coma for two years. It should only be temporary, as during last night's examination we didn't find any abnormalities in your brain waves.

Your memorie should slowly come back, but I can't guarantee that it will definitely happen. First and foremost the very fact that ou recovered from your coma state is a miracle in itself."