Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko:Volume1 Chapter6
Aliens of the City
Status: Incomplete
50% completed (estimated)
The price of five Youth-Point was hospitalization.
My right arm that held the handlebars were bent to a point where even Yoga masters would be shocked as we pounced the sea. The elbow that took the hit snapped in half.
And it was no simple broken bone. Apparently I spend so much of my daily calcium supply that the bone wouldn't heal.
After what happened, we had serious trouble just getting back to the shore. Amazing how neither me nor Erio drowned. Half way home, my elbow was hurting so much that I was on the verge of breaking down. This was my first time experiencing such intense, yet laughter-less sea bath. What can I say, the sea of spring was colder than I imagined. Because of the lack of kindness and calcium, I think I should have eaten the fishes swimming around and ate some Paracetamol from ten years ago to replenish lost nutrition. (TL Notes: Common over-the-counter drug for pain relief and fever reduction. Commonly sold as Tylenol in US. Apparently in Japan, an old commercial slogan was “half of it is made of kindness.”)
Like fishes or shrimps before being fried, I was covered in sand after climbing onto the man-made beach. Clothes drenched with sea water weighted me down, and the way back could be summarized as 'horrible.' Gravity's counter attack dominated me.
The bicycle was, naturally, gone in the sea. In the turbid sea, the shadow of the bike that went the opposite direction of space bobbed. If the local residents saw it, I bet we'll be reprimanded for illegal dumping.
“…...”
Thus, I lost my means of transport. The straw of hope Erio gripped onto slid away.
…Was there a point? Rather than a query, it was more of a feeling of self-reflection that swayed in my heart.
Just like evil adults who divulged the truth when it should have been a part of a growing experience for kids to realize the nonexistence of Santa Claus, the ephemeral thrill was ensued by bitterness and self-questions that I could not answer.
The Erio who fell from the basket earlier than the bicycle and I into the ocean was unhurt. However, she cried. I don't know if they were the tears of fear, despair or physiology; I merely held her hand.
While thinking about the annoying taste of water in my mouth, I clenched my jaw, dragging my right arm and Erio to somewhere that we can call for an ambulance. While trotting, I didn't have the strength to take care of the bangs covering my eyes; the only thing going in my murky head was the repeating 'haircut next weekend.' Incessantly, I meditated 'barber, barber, barber, and then a hair salon.' Like the eights channel back home, the paper that is my heart was imbrued black. The me then probably wasn't thinking properly, but rather on mechanical autopilot.
Otherwise I would have talked more with Erio, saying more words weaved with encouragement, censure, love and hate.
Ever since our landing, I had been silent, and eventually let go of even her hand.
My life in the hospital ended after two weeks, and I went home with a right arm in cast. Golden week ended already, marking the beginning of a world permeating with the May Disease. Even I was infected by the air, occasionally hanging my head and eyelids. (TL Notes: a phenomenon that occurs in Japan after April when graduation and entrance exams are over. Since Golden Week is around the beginning of May, many experience a feeling of disappointment or unaccustomedness to a new phase to their lives.)
There's still Erio and Meme-san back home. Even if the direction is different, the toil I went through after meeting this pair of mother and daughter was definitely not lacking.
Ah~ My arm itches. I wish I could just not give a damn and scratch it.
As I stepped out of the hospital, the illusion of pressure change overwhelmed me; as if quickly dragged out of the sea, I almost passed out on the street. Paper bag filled with clothes rustled, substituting the cries of cicada and struck my eardrums.
The heat difficult to detect in the hospital sent me to a daze.
I walked toward the Taxi stand while flicking my since-then longer bangs upward.
Give me some happy memories — give me some energy for today! I ruminated, finding more nutrition than one. Awesome.
… Oh yeah, Ryuushi-san and Maekawa-san visited me when I was hospitalized!
Though I walked on a rope thinner than the weaker-than-expectation piano wire, perhaps the flag I planted for them exists still.
Erio, however, never came.
“Mornin', Mako-chan!”
I went into full alert, thinking it was the attack of Meme-san.
Ryuushi-san stared, wide-eyed. Just finished with school, she wore the school uniform, with her pack, helmet and a large enveloped under her arms. Her hair may be flatten by the helmet, but the devil of adorableness was alive and well.
Perhaps this way suits her better (spoken with vehemence).
“Oh, was that too endearing?”
Close the door first, then apprehensively poke the dying dude on the street to see if he's alive. Ryuushi-san seemed to visit me with the same cautiousness.
“No, perfectly O.K.” If that someone was a certain aunt, I will shout, 'don't call me that.' People are realistic like this. Since I am in middle of a rebellious phase, it is my obligation to reject my guardians. I explained to myself.
“Oh! S'that so?”
Swoosh! With a dextrous and exaggerated motion, Ryuushi-san opened her pack and put on the softcap with both her hands. She messed with the edge of the hat, adjusting the angle. She sat down after filling the unfilled (please excuse my skill with words) hat. The way she put things on her knee and skirt was so adorable.
Put me there too. No, I mean let me sit there too. Did my brain rust from drinking too much sea water?
“What's up? With the hat I mean.” In some way this counts as QBK. (TL Notes: 2006 FIFA, Japan vs Croatia. In the final, crucial moment of the match, Yanagisawa Atsushi missed the chance for a goal. His famous line afterward was 急にボールが来たので "because the ball suddenly came.” QBK is an acronym of the phrase)
“Oh~ hahaha~” Ryuushi-san intentionally covered up with a manly laughter; her level of embarrassment was just right. She grabbed the hat down, just to the point where her eyes were hidden. She looked around bashfully:
“Cuz my hair's all messy. The wind went woosh, my helmet went squish, and the sweat went sticky. I tried to fix it in the hospital's rest room, but I can't get it all fluffy! I can't get it like bread!”
Ryuushi-san played with her shoulder-length, coffee-colored hair, as if defending the reason of her hat. Agh, dammit, I want to feel her swaying arms~ As I cordially looked at her, I suddenly realized.
Ryuushi-san's uniform had changed season, and she is now wearing summer outfit.
“Is it weird?” She grasped onto the hat, looking at me with upturned eyes. This devil of adorableness seems to have the innate ability to nail people's penchant. Not with a needle, but with her finger, she poked into my heart.
“Not even! Girls look good in anything, it's amazing.”
“The hat fits me? This is a guy wear though!”
“It totally does, I almost thought you were a boy!”
“Wha! Really now~? Can I punch you?”
Ryuushi-san brandished her fists with a smile.
Her knuckles were round like a child, looking very soothing.
“Seriously, you are so cute.” I finally stopped concealing and said out loud.
Ryuushi-san's shoulder jumped; her hats almost flew off. “U-uwahh~! Wahh~!” Screeching with a sound like a monkey, she expressed her freak-out of both inside and outside.
Patients in the same room mostly gave me a 'what is this?' and 'how annoying' look, but what do you people want me to do? Tell her to get in the bed? The argument is very enticing, but it's too early for a sexual harassment charge.
Just let me wish for a life of missed opportunity!
“I-I'm not that cute! N-not even close! I'm so plain that two guys rejected me during my first year!!” Your nervousness is giving away some personal information!
If I let Ryuushi-san be, she might divulge a few more secrets. However, she might end up becoming the incarnation of a monkey and begin stampeding in the room like a chimp in the zoo. In the end, the rotting carcass of his lover was carried to his arms… I hope things will never come to be like that, so I have to calm her down.
“Sorry, was that creepy?”
“Y-yeah! Super duper creepy!”
“...My bad.” I thought she was going to say otherwise from the way our conversation was going, but the impact was unexpected.
How many years has it been since I've shallowly apologized like that?
Ryuushi-san seemed to have also realized the implication of her words; she waved her arms about and added in some intense denial:
“No, no! Not really! Yeah, you aren't up close!”
“So I am from a distance away...” It might be better getting called trash.
“Awuwah~” Ryuushi-san dug her grave even deeper, probably already reaching the mantle. Her voice stopped abruptly as she hugged her hat and spun her head inside. I wanted to clap my hand to see how she'd react to the sound.
Finally recovering, she proposed with a charming visage that emitted warmth:
“May I start over?”
“You may.”
“Then, cough cough!” Ryuushi-san only made the sound without movement. It was kind of half-baked. “These are copies of notes my notes in class. Midterms are coming up!”
She picked up the brown envelope and fanned the air about.
“Wow, thanks!” I thanked her as I browsed through the notes inside. Though I didn't understand a word in the articles, just looking at those curly characters was enough to satisfy me.
If this were Meme-san's note, I'd only cower at the undecipherable writing and use it to test my grip strength.
“If there's anything ya don't get, just send me a text. Well, I'm not the smartest, so I'm not exactly the most reliable.”
“Not at all, you are my only support, sensei!” I jokingly spoke, concluding with a little banter.
As the laughter fade, her face changed.
Ryuushi-san placed her fists on her knees, finally asking the real question toward the bed. Her voice was very slight, as if words made of sand:
“So...”
“Hm?”
Her hesitant eyes and lips moved up and down. Ryuushi-san was looking for a way to peek into my heart.
“Hm?” I don't like burden, so I gave her the chance to keep speaking.
Perhaps effective, the question that led Ryuushi-san hesitant quickly appeared onstage.
“Were you planning to kill yourself when you jumped into the sea?”
Ah, I see. So she heard about what I did.
“Nah, that wasn't the intention.” I denied there and then, leaving no room for misunderstanding.
At that time I pedaled to soar in the blue sky for my own survival.
My goal wasn't anything as grand as space, but I sure gave it my all.
“You might not know yet, Niwa-kun, but a while ago, there was someone who did exactly what you did. She started spouting nonsense because she got hurt… I'm super worried!”
“Um… Sorry for making you worry.” Cough cough, but I only did that because I was worried for that girl too!
Only if she learned her lessons in the second challenge.
“Since it was real scary near the end though, I did prepare to die.”
“Don't die! Absolutely no. Um, the person who's dying may not care, but the people left behind would definitely be sad. It's the worst if you take those sadness lightly because you can't see it.”
“You're right. Ryuushi-san would be sad too.”
“Of course! If Niwa-kun died, the entire school will cry.”
“hahah, the opposite is more likely.”
“No way~ I won't let ya make that kind of record!”
Ryuushi-san puffed her chest out confidently. She probably wasn't conscious of it, but for the person in question, hearing her assert like that kind of flustered me. Why did I have to be a high schooler who fears serious topics?
As long as it isn't someone who is mistrustful of people, most people would asses Ryuushi-san as someone who doesn't hide her emotion.
But then again, it is entirely impossible to see the entirety of someone's heart.
The human heart is tantamount to the existence of aliens: the location of it unknown, and it's depth abyssal.
Erio wrapped herself in futon, perhaps at least seeking equivalence in appearance, and tasted the fruits of defeat. She wanted to become an existence of 'unknown.'
Though her blockheaded cousin proved to her that she was a city girl of pure Earthling breed.
“Oh yeah. Are you a cellphone activist, Niwa-kun?”
“I don't advocate anything; I celebrate both Christmas and New Year. Wanna exchange number?”
“Lets!” Rustle rustle, Ryuushi-san took out a neon pink cellphone from her pocket. The power was off, probably because she's in a hospital.
“I don't have mine right now, could you write it down for me? I'll call you after I'm released.”
“Ok~” She took out her pencil pouch, and even mischievously pretended to roll her sleeve up.
Everything was so smooth, it's great. The conversation between me and Erio wasn't even on the level of a hamster wheel. But those memories seem to have been purified by the sea.
I recalled the endless horizon when I flew with Erio; I looked up.
“…...” I saw something at the entrance.
My melodrama was cut before it ended. Even the life of a dragonfly lasts longer than you!
A natural malice with no intention to visit struck.
“Transfer student, feeling bored?”
Maekawa-san, a uniform enthusiast, used coming to hospital as an excuse to dress up as an eggplant. I definitely didn't mistype nurse (ナス) with eggplant (ナース), the indigenous Indian fruit belong in the Solanum genus.
“Yo!” From the stem of the purple costume, she greeted with arms that penetrated the fruit.
For me and Ryuushi-san, time indeed stopped for two seconds; the patients sharing room with me also turned into unseasonal icicles.
The clear sky deeply embraced us… I attempted to escape with a scenery description, switching the entire background. I take back what I said earlier. There are things girls can't wear. If the person changes into something else, I'm not going to help making more excuses.
Because of the lack of reaction, Maekawa-san (or eggplant) tilted her head:
“Huh… Not funny? I chose nurse and eggplant because we're in a hospital...”
“Please don't explain the joke.”
The sea of spring already lowered my body temperature. If forced to listened to anymore of this, the audience I may end up cringing with cheeks burning: having someone explaining an unfunny joke humiliates even me.
This onee-sama is failing to realize the plunging of her authority. Not even — Maekawa-san herself looked really satisfied. Speaking of purple mascot, isn't there one in McD*nald's?
“This was a costume for a part time job I had. The manager gave it to me when the store closed down.”
I wanted to lock Nasu-san into a cupboard. You actually wore this all the way through the road in the city, the hallway and the hospital? This isn't the same era as the Super N*ntendo age. Your equipment will reflect on the outside, so I'll give you a piece of advice: put your gallantry and valor away, and live an earnest life with normal clothes!
“So Maekawa-san is this kind of person...”
Ryuushi-san shot a rigid glance. As her body recovered from frigidness, she spoke with a pitying voice.
“Mhm.” Maekawa-san, who is in many way off the rail, was unwavered, and proudly nodded.
“So I suppose you're here to visit Niwa-kun?” Eh? Ryuushi-san looked scary.
“Why else would I be here?” Maekawa-san was also scary in a different way.
My social circle doesn't cover eggplant's who'd pay me a visit.
An eggplant she may be, Maekawa-san is still a girl. The other person may be a girl, but is also Ryuushi-san. To be honest, I haven't done any good deeds today, yet there were two girls who paid me a sick visit. Rather than joy, I felt uneasiness. Am I going to die soon?
“Hmph~ Since when are ya so chummy~? You don't even~talk~in~class~”
Oh boy, Ryuushi-san… is she jealous? No way! But she sure is observant of what me and Maekawa-san are like in class.
I'm not going to be overly self-conscious: it might cause some damage for both parties later~
In contrast to my enlightenment, Maekawa-san turned into an idiot.
“Because me and the transfer student spent a night together.”
“ 'Huh?' “ Maekawa-san successfully froze time again. Especially for Ryuushi-san, who seemed to have lost much to the thief of time.
She even forgot to blink, like someone else was wearing a Ryuushi-san costume.
“Hold on, jokes like this could damage my reputation...”
“Guuwah~!” Look at what you've done!
Perhaps the recoil from the earlier pause, Ryuushi-san's time accelerated all of the sudden. Blood boiling on her face imbrued her cheeks and eyes; if a pulse were taken from her delicate wrist, the doctor would probably mistakenly say, 'are you suicidal?'
“A night is an evening! Pitch black!”
No, uh, really — night in the city isn't exactly pitch black unless specially made.
“I've been wronged — she made this up! I haven't had lessons that tempting yet!”
“What do ya mean tempting!” Ryuushi-san went berserk to a point of no return.
“Dammit, Kibo-nengu! My school life is done thanks to you!”
“Oh, I was thinking that all the time we've met in the evening adds up to a night~”
“This isn't like lottery in a market! Don't combine them!”
The nightmare brought by the purple devil worn my spirit down; their argument intensified as if they were on the opposite ends.
Me and Ryuushi-san were spitting alien language at the latter half of the conversation.
Before I realized, the primary substance of the storm, Ryuushi-san, had already left without me know. The only one left was the striking eggplant woman and a high schooler who's hospital life from now will blamed for various things.
“Your boring and depraved hospital life had just been visited by a refreshing wind!”
Maekawa-san summarized the entire event as if narrating for a nature travel program.
“You mean a storm? The buildings and culture are all blown away.”
“Didn't think Ryuushi was going to have that great of a reaction — our love meter is exploding.”
“It isn't! And don't call me Ryuushi!”
The target of gossip quickly turned back into the room to deny the rumor, and then ran away again.
“Is she the transfer student's familiar?”
“I don't even know the number of her summoning medium...” Because of a certain eggplant's meddling, I didn't get it.
“You guy see each others every day anyway, do you even need it? Alright, time for me to take this costume off. It's too hot.”
As if the cousin of a Gibbons ape, Maekawa-san deftly unzipped the zipper on her back. The eggplant shed. The nurse was inside! Only if the development was so sweet. Since I didn't tell anyone, I won't commemorate it as some memorial day. The Maekawa-san on this inside didn't transform, donned in normal uniform.
“As expected, you're better as a uniform cosplayer.”
“This isn't cosplay — it's my profession.”
She lazily say on the folding chair and crossed her long legs. Seriously, her legs were so long, it wouldn't be surprising if her ancestors were wooden horse craftsmen. It's also surprising how my brain thought of something like this.
“Transfer student, I heard you jumped into the sea? Planning on reincarnating into a member of the fish?”
With a teasing tone, Maekawa-san asked me the question.
“Man, I planned on flying to the sky, but I fell because of the shortage of momentum.”
“What, so you wanted to be a bird.”
“...I aimed to fly higher than a bird though.”
At least Erio wanted to go through the atmosphere. I think.
“Hmph.” Maekawa-san swapped legs. She seemed to have seen something on me, and hunched forward with a slightly different expression. Sensing that she's attempting to see through my mind, I felt anxious.
“Tell Touwa this for me: next time I'll lend her a costume of the Greys to dress up with me.”
“...Was it that obvious?”
“Who knows.”
“Roger. I'll tell her after I'm released.”
Erio probably won't visit. Though the reason of my judgment wasn't easy to say, Maekawa-san noticed the overtones.
“She didn't make it to space? I guess Touwa doesn't qualify to be an alien!”
“Of course.”
Human progress would have stalled three hundred years ago if they could fly into space with such low cost and low effort equipment. We gambled with our lives on the scales, and managed to get a few seconds of fly-and-float experience.
She straightened her back, her jeering lips tilted at a different angle.
“Oh, on an unrelated note, lets go to the beach this summer!”
“That is really unrelated, Nee-san.”
“You can see the gill and scales that are my fish-cosplay's charm points!”
“No, I don't care about fishes other than those in Judo outfit.” (TL Notes: Reference to the antagonists in Yoroshiku Kamen, which is a fictional show in the manga Sexy Commando Gaiden)
“Bam~!” Ryuushi-san, who still hadn't gone home, came back and tackled Maekawa-san.
Maekawa-san, who has the appearance of an oarfish and the innards of a minnow, was pushed by the diminutive Ryuushi-san. “Whoa!” She stumbled onto the bed. I guarded my right arm just in time, but couldn't move her out of the way; she beautifully fell on my knees.
“Uwee~!” Ryuushi-san squeaked out of either mimicry or a representation of anger, and stuck her arms underneath Maekawa-san, forcefully pulling her out from the bed and back to the chair.
Maekawa-san looked like a surfboard model when she was being carried.
“What are you doing?” She might have said that, but Maekawa-san's satisfied smile betrayed her malice.
“Shoulder charge is now in season.”
Ryuushi-san omitted the abstractness of 'autumn of sports' and added hostility, advocating the new season's unique sight. “Beep, beep beep beep~” She even imitated the prelude of an intercom broadcast, acting out the overly-cordial sound effect:
“The beach is prohibited.”
“Why?”
Maekawa-san English pronunciation was extra crispy. Written into words, though, must be the about the same as mine.
“Cuz there are jellyfishes.”
“Huh? Jellyfish?”
“Yes~ Squishy~”
She curled her fingers, attempting to convey the sensation.
“By that you mean guys and girls can't… No, you mean I can't go with with the transfer student.”
Maekawa-san comprehensiveness seemed to be rather high — she might even be able to translate the early Erio's Japanese!
Ryuushi-san raved in the hospital, completely lost her mind.
“It has nothing to do with him — it's about guys and girls going to the beach! It's scary and its inappropriate!”
“Then according to you, what about the transfer student? He's already gone past the level of going to the beach.”
Pretending to be innocent, Maekawa-san shifted focus to my fatal injury.
“You… You've done more shameless things (ハレンチック) ?”
Her self-made word is only two characters away from romantic (ロマンチック), yet it's so much harder to use.
“What, don't you know? Transfer student is Touwa's cousin!”
Hey, didn't you promise that 'it's better to not say it'? See, Ryuushi-san froze for the third time.
Why are new problems being dug out when I could clearly see the ending?
...Ah, because it isn't a lie, I won't deny anything. At Least I won't.
It couldn't be helped if I get ostracized for it.
Because all I did was told the truth.
Even if the truth isn't the right answer, it is the only acceptable ideal I have.
And so, I destroyed Erio's delusion.
I had no plan for the afterward consultation to salvation, and I did what I did irresponsibly.
...I've already decided the course of action when I get home.
In more ways that one, I've made up my mind. Like an Enypniastes, I will expose not just my organs, but also the brain on the outside of my body. (TL notes: a sea cucumber with translucent body)
Let Ryuushi-san's home-made warmth evaporate the puddle of thoughts.
“By the way, I live with Erio.”
“ 'W-what~?!' “
Um, shouldn't one of you be aware of this? I reminisced, thinking that the process wasn't actually that interesting.
Since the memory was still fresh in its raw state: it probably wouldn't be glorified unless a year of two passes! Even if that happens, the likely thing to appear is probably a short story about 'why I hate eggplant.' I'm afraid that it wouldn't change my values.
Pondering about these thoughts, I returned to my second home on a shaky taxi through the river of life known as a road. Paying the tab with the remaining allowance I had, I left the car.
Like the first time I visited here on the last day of spring break, I looked around the entire house a distance away. There wasn't any sentiment of returning to a missed home.
It doesn't matter if it's this, that or whatever, everything depends on the coming days.
The story starts here.
“...Alright, first episode's done. Please continue onto the second episode.”
Just a side note: my vision will extend to the eighty seventh episode. Everyday is like birthday.
I lightly pushed the entry door (Not like it matters, but every time I opened this door, I thought of a certain sea-food restaurant in Setagaya. (TL notes: A special ward in Tokyo. Known for it's good environment that resulted in it being one of the most populated wards)
“I'm home~” A quiet greeting.
In just a second, Erio would frantically run down from the second floor to welcome me, saying, 'welcome home, Mako-kun!' with a grin. And then I would proceed to be scared senseless and mouth agape. But the Touwa family wouldn't have such antiquated and idealistic environment. I indeed felt a nostalgically cold air.
“...Hm?”
At the entrance, paper memo and paperweight were playing again; it would appear that they have assumed that all they only needed to greet me, who was missing for three weeks, was something that isn't even alive. A Zashiki Warashi would do just fine! (TL Notes: A sort of fairy in Japanese folklore that would play pranks on the home owners. They are known to be fortuitous and a sign of wealth)
I set the paper bag down, picking up the paper weight and memo with my left hand. The meme was filled with seven rounded and oily characters: 'welcome back, Makoto.' A rainbow: she especially used a different marker for each character, making the end product look like a cheap neon sign for a pachinko parlour. For some reason, the purple-colored 'Makoto' was especially grotesque and thick. I focused, looking for the reason… I see. (TL notes: A form of arcade game usually for gambling purposes)
Looks like an experiment was performed here: red and blue were mixed to see if the outcome was purple, and the charred product was forcefully covered with a purple marker. If Meme-san weren't the one who left this message, I might have honestly thought that it was cute.
While thinking about how to deal with this one-time grip-strength testing device, I took off my shoes. “Hah??” One step into the house, I discovered the walls of the hallway and even the floor was densely covered with memos. It was as if a circuitous way of messaging like telegraphs. I picked up a piece next to my and.
'The snack in the cabinet should be expired.'
“Save it before it's gone!” Are you the devil? The enemy of Engel's Coefficient. (TL Notes: The law that the percentage of income spent on food determines the wealth of a country. The lower the coefficient – lower percentage of income spent on food – indicates that a nation is wealthier)
Also, the contents were too reflective of a certain Isono family. We don't even have enough people.
“Uh, if I crowbar it, I'd be Masuo — no, Katsuo. Erio'd be Sazae… Wakame. Meme-san is Fune...” Seriously, whatever! The future would be bleak if I set our characters here! Even I reached the same conclusion. (TL Notes: Reference to Sazae-san, a long running 4 panel manga. All family members' names are related to sea animals.)
I got annoyed when I read the second message, so I ripped each off and crumpled them. The simple task quickened; my footstep also lightened.
Destroy everything altogether using this opportunity! I followed the guidance of the notes all the way to the kitchen. The one on the basket seemed to be the last.
I only glanced at it, so when Meme-san asks me how I thought about it, I could give her a complete answer. Like a book report for summer homework, all you need is the first half of the book to begin writing.
'There's a cake to celebrate your homecoming. It's almost expired, so eat it quick.'
“Now there's something useful.”
I only listen to useful information.
I opened the fridge.
There was Meme-san.
“Eeeeck!” With no shame or pretense that no one heard, I screamed as if I received Horror News and hopped backward. Paralyzed on my butt, I scoop back and bumped my right arm countless times onto the cabinet. But mental (fear) problems superseded bodily (pain) ones, rendering me mindless of it. (TL Notes: Kyofu Shinbun, News of Horror. Debut work of Tsunoda Jirou. The protagonist receives news of death or catastrophe, which if read will reduce his life by a hundred days)
Translator's notes and references
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