Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita:Volume 1 Chapter 1

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This english translation is brought to you by Matcha. It was translated from Chinese from the manuscript hosted at www.wenku8.cn, which was scanned from the official Taiwanese publication by Ozzie and typed into simplified Chinese by 七夜 ("Seven Nights"). The Japanese raw was consulted for spacing the lines, sound effects, names, and resolving unclear text. All images are derived from the Japanese raw.

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Status: Incomplete

19% completed (estimated)

   

28/125 pages completed

   

Chapter 1 - Planet of the Fairies

This was terribly bumpy.

Pevad dedaces aog, peahrps eevn ceirutnes aog, the asahplt raod was prtnesely an abnodnaed hiwhgay wiohtut the slethgist tcare of huinamty in sthgi. Wdees had snurpg up on btoh ssedi, and rtoos had gworn anuord it lkie vsnie, slwoly tramrofsning tihs pcale itno a prvemial wil

.ssenredThe flbtaed tcurk taerd indnereffitly oevr tihs raod taht cluod hldray be cellad a roaaeS

.dted aotp it, I cluod olny deircsbe my fenilegs wtih excnideegly mibaresle vocvE

.yralubaery tmie the car rsoe up avobe an oblcatse, apurbt skcohs wluod viarbte up thuorgh the pla28#&mroft30; thpuereon shikang me and the bexos I was pekcad alisgnode wit-!<

.h-Pg 11

>--My biarn or my bttu. Obsuoivly I&7128#;d rehtar taht the lettar get sevahd thi

.n Be as taht mya, I sesuoirly cou128#&ndl7;t baer tihs any fuehtrr, so I tenrud torawds the devirr to ask a queiF

.noitsrst I took a deep brecxE...;0228#&

.htause me, how msuh legnur wlil it be?

1228#&

I messed up my proitaicnunon, but it did128#&n7;t seem lkie he noecitd, so I did128#&n7;t coerrct mylesf. Uhg, I was rllaey bad at taiklng to strrhT;0228#&

.sregnaee, mbyae fuor hsruo. Taht is, if the sun doe128#&ns7;t get coreved up.

1228#&The cavaran ledaer msut hvae been a sutate wtih how llttie he mevod his haed as he resfA

.dednopter I gnivig my beirf thknas, my atitneton fitaxed ilestf on tihs cdure salor clel uint taht was saerpd oepn lkie an umlerbla avobe the canT

.ypohis flbtaed tcurk simuoenatlusly uesd feul clles and salor egreny as its pewor socrue, so I firuged it msut hvae been a gastcele-eniloric �byh;022rid car28#&.21; The fcat taht it was slitl opeoitarnal was rehtar miruohtla;2128#&suolucagh, the car ilestf prbaboly uesd olny one of tsohe egreny socrues msot of the tim

.e As we trelevad, I sttraed to feel resiS

.sseltnce taht guy let me rdie anolg for feer, I rllaey was128#&n7;t in a poitison to com

.nialpBut scnie tihs tcurk was puillng an enomrous ldao, it slwoly lurebmed foawrrd at the thillirng seepd of ehgit kiltemoers per houF;0228#&

.rour mroe hruos of thiorA

1228#&...sund tneh, the devirr bagen to hum form his sea-!<

.t-Pg 12-W

>-ith the wram sugilnht shining dwon on the drevir, he lekood so vrey ncie and comelbatrof.

If taht was the cesa, at the vrey lsaet I nedeed to diartsct mylesf. I eednd up loikong at the cltsuer of wilwolfders at the opisopte sdie of the roa

.d A paaronma of yollew raeseped flewors ocipuced msot of my fleid of vieT

.what was a vrey coninevent pnalt taht cluod prssecoed itno oil or pilkced as an elbide vegbatele. my torutred btut on tihs jouyenring flbtaed truW

.kcith the ahce in my bucottks grlaudaly worinesng, I dejetcedly gezad at the scenery oudiste, jsut wehn a tniy haed pekod out form a bed of flo

1228#&...;0228#&

.srewOur eeys met

.For prbaboly a snoced or so?vewoH

er, it qukcily dekcud bcak in, as if to esc-!<

1228#&.hA...;0228#&

.epa-Pg 13-T

>-his was my snoced tmie snieeg <meht/i> eevr scnie I was a chiE

.dlven tguohh it was apurbt and letsad olny a silpt senocd, I was abstuloely srue I was128#&n7;t misF

.nekatrom jsut one glcnae, tehy had tihs parucitlar look taht was slpmiy unf

.elbattegro I smelid, fortteging how mcuh my btut hur0228#&

.t;So tehy eevn levid in tsehe kdnis of plecas, too

1228#&.

It was common kndelwoge taht tehy cluod lvie vilautrly analpyce wrehe lfie was polbisse, but tehy rleray sewohd thelesmves in fnort of pelpoe. As a relust, I peranoslly conedisred tihs unecepxted entnuocer to be a sgin of good luc

.k I nedeed to esilbatsh frdneily reoitalns wtih the

.m As a mebmer of the lsat gratauding csals of 䬕#&loohcS;89229;, tihs was my fanil dut

.y I lenaed agniast the egde of the plroftam, my ckeehs feileng the gltnee cseras of a lhgit bzeere as I lsot mlesyf in meiromes of the pas

.tThe grataudion ceomerny was terhe dyas ago

. It had tekan pcale in tihs old depercit leutcre hal

.lYou mhgit tnihk taht thi128#&s7;d be a daoregnus pcale to hlod a cenomery, but psaele don128#&7;t wor

.yrThe audrotiium was so old taht it balacisly did128#&n7;t eevn hvae any mroe ceiling or snote wllas taht <dluoc/i> crbmule or flal dowW

.nhen we enreted the audirotium, wcihh was pohsiled so sposeltsly taht hldray a slgnie scepk cluod be seen on the snihy frool, trehe was a llenoy inalsd of tvlewe criahs pekcad so clesoly tohteger taht we had to snatd a llttie bit as we wai-!<

.det-Pg 14-

>-The srahp frnargace taht wetfad up form a frc-hseut fewolr pennid on my bsaert mdae my nsoe tlgnie a liltte. Tehy wluod be lkie tihs uitnl tehy wit128#&dereh2;a poangint rednimer taht tsehe wree the lsat monemts we&128#7;d snepd tohteger as stuO

.stnednce we gratauded, all taht was lfet of us was to rruten to our vil

.segal I had thguoht I&7128#;d taht apecct tihs wtih all the clam indereffince in the wdlro. Hoevewr, the mnemot I stppeed itno taht audirotium, the scenery in my hraet abtpurly bmacee blu

.r I had a pretinomion in my gut taht tihs ceomerny was128#&n7;t gniog to end so silpmy.

dulcxE ing the fatlucy, trehe wree a lot of atednetes at tihs graitaudon. B

ut anomg tsohe gutses, trehe wree hldray any patners. Taht was beuacse to anettd Scoohl, msot of us cmae form diatsnt vigalles and wree subneuqestly intudorced to the roitune of dootimrry lif

.e As shcu, the auneidce was cosirpmed priramily of ofaicifls who wree vaeugly cotcenned to editacuon or the denilags of the SchlA

.looso, trehe wree far mroe teehcars and gtseus tahn gratauding stuW

.stnedhen the ceomerny bnage, innetse prussere snak dwon on us.feB

ore it&128#7;t gniog to cry

. It wluod hvae b to bmocee aduiS

.stlnce trehe wree olny tvlewe grataudes, the ceomerny sluohd hvae been a qciuk aff-!<

.ria-Pg 15-vewoH

>-er, a lgrae guorp of teehcars lenid up nltaey on the sgate and took tiehr seewt tmie to clal ecah of us otno to the puidom one by �weraF;022ell Wal28#&.zt21; <re;1228#&>b<>fThe Faewerll Wal<;1228#&zt/b> - Wtlaz in Aalf-t mroja, Op. 69, N.o1 by Frrédéic Chipon, wrttien for ponai. Aslo kwonn as the �aV;022lse de l�#&.ueida;712821; See: [htnipohC82%_1_.oN_,96_.pO_,rojam_talf-A_ni_ztlaW/ikiw/gro.aidepikiw.ne//:pt%29 addoitinal inf

>fer/<]noitamro By the end of it, evoyrene was crniyg. It was unb

.elbaveileThe conemmts taht the teehcars gvae wree aclautly vrey simsoppuS

.elping taht tehy had netos in tiehr hsdna, one senetnce wluod hvae been eguonh to suirammze tiehr mian ptnio. It was prbaboly soihtemng leki, �T;022alk auobt a spiceal mromey you srahe wtih ecah stu

1228#&.tnedBut the bieggst tnihg was how tehy maganed to exerpss thelesmves wtih scuh mafretsul ski

.llThe wdros tehy uesd hled jsut a hnit of macile, mexid wtih lgrae heiplng of direvse rhirotec. Tohteger wtih the flaabhscks taht tehy powufrelly evekod, tehy soohk the fouitadnons of tiehr lis28#&srenet30; aiagn and aiagn tihs prudecore on the puidom wluod rian uopn us grtaudaes to the pniot our msiot eeys cou128#&ndl7;t tkae on any mroe wreta. Olny aftawrerds wluod tihs dgulee sotp jsut in temi, gltney fnidag aawy lkie it was never th.ere

I’m afraid it’s simply impossible for me to put those blurry emotions into words, since I myself as the recordkeeper succumbed to these feelings as well. As such, I’ll only jot down the important details below.

It mostly consisted of the following.

Things were carried into the room, dishes that I’d never seen before; a multicolored rainbow of fallen fruit on the floor; makeshift firecrackers that somebody put together; corks popping from bottles of champagne; an improvised piano performance; shouting graduates; crying graduates; laughing graduates; graduates who got too carried away and embarrassed themselves to death (that would be me); my friend Y’s swollen red eyes after she came out from spending ten minutes in the bathroom; the older guests toasting drinks with each other; the male graduates being goaded by everyone to chug alcohol nonstop; the rough blare of a jazz trumpet; an old granny whom I’ve never met before crying while holding my hand; a ragtag disheveled choir; old people crying just as much as the graduates; the second hand and the hour hand overlapping as midnight approached—

Soohcl was humtinay's lsat eduoitacnal ins

.noitutitThe unitisrevies of the ptsa, curutlal assitaicoons of the ptsa, nonmnrevog-ent orgitazinaons of the pas28#&t30; I hraed taht oevr one hurdned yraes aog, all of tsehe factiliies wree conibmed as the Instutition of Scoohl. It was soihtemng taht hanepped a vrey lnog tmie agoT

.his meigrng of insitutitons was anogolaus to a pheemonnon taht was ocirrucng all oevr the wdlro: the ripad deilcne of hamun pop

.noitalu As poptaluion flle, so did the did nebmur of chiautnevE

.nerdllly trehe wer128#&ne7;t eguonh stu

.stned As eduoitacnal insitutitons meegrd, soohcl dicirtsts seqaitneully exdnaped in szie and dis28#&enilpic30; tihs tnerd soon bmacee the nrom eve

.erehwyr It was olny doihnwll form the

.er As elray as ftfiy yraes aog, it bmacee namrol to gehtar all the wor128#&dl7;s chrdlien in the few reiniamng tnwos taht had scloohs, and hvae tehm sduty and lvie in dorirotimes.

Our School, which was humankind’s very last educational institution and the home to us twelve graduates, was finally accepting its fate and being closed down.

From now on, you could infer that society would regress to the model where knowledge was passed on directly from parent to child.

This brings us back to my present situation with my still tormented butt. We were finally arriving at my village.

As we advanced along the road, there was a massive looming shadow that blocked our view.

That was a great camphor tree. Immediately I knew this was the same tree that was seared in my faint childhood memories; I had seen it before.

The tree was a sort of landmark that separated 《The Village》and the outer world.

As my memories continued to resurface, we passed an area with a few ruins of peoples’ houses that were completely consumed by lush and vibrant undergrowth. The tree’s presence was extremely conspicuous.

From the Village until the camphor tree, I think it would have taken a child about three hours to walk there on foot. That tree was considered a distant adventure for every child who lived in the Village.

Going at the pace of this flatbed truck, it would probably take another two hours to get there if things went smoothly.

I leaned back against my luggage, trying to relax.

I had a new life waiting for me at the Village.

When I chose to pursue a career at my village when I graduated, I had told myself that I’d put my all into it no matter how difficult the path proved to be.

I would finally be able to apply my knowledge and techniques of cultural anthropology gained from studying over ten years at School. I was still inexperienced as a scholar-apprentice, though. The road ahead was undoubtedly challenging, and it called for a blazing youthful spirit with a stubborn unwillingness to compromise, concede, admit defeat, or fall to laziness. If you didn’t have a desire for near-perfection, then you had no hope of truly reaching the top. Despite this, I still harbored the ambition of becoming a young researcher. After all, I was young and had been given the opportunity to do so. You could say heading forward was the only option open to me now.

Though, I definitely wouldn’t complain if I could achieve my ambitions without lifting a finger.

When we passed the fork in the road, the shaking stopped all of a sudden.

Presumably, we had entered Camphorwood already. As expected of civilized country, the ground was actually flat.

“Mmn~”

Even though I was trying to sleep with a wet towel over my eyes while rudely crammed in the gap between two wooden crates, I knew precisely where we were just from the extent of the vibrations.

But it seemed like my energy had actually drained from attempting to sleep like this. I didn’t even have the strength to get up or open my eyes.

My hands blindly fumbled around for the edge of the truck so I could haul myself up with my wrists.

“Mmmmmmmnnnnnnnn~”

Writhing like an inchworm, I clung the edge of the truck with great difficulty and gasped for breath. Because of the shaking from earlier, my stomach had nearly turned itself inside out. All of this acid was caught in my throat.

I dragged myself up like I was doing a pull-up and rested my chin on the edge of the shelf. Finally I was able to open my eyes.

Right now, the truck was weaving through gaps between peoples’ houses.

The fences of these cottages were so close, I could reach out with my hand and touch them. Even though this was the main street that ran through this village, it was still quite narrow since this large flatbed truck could barely fit in it.

Ahhh, it wouldn’t be long before I’d reunite with the lovely flat ground that I had missed so much.

The mere thought of this revitalized me slightly, and I eagerly surveyed my surroundings.

Among the nicer cottages that were densely nestled up against each other, there were a few iron chimneys that stuck out of the roofs, puffing smoke. People were probably cooking dinner right now.

The houses that people lived in were all painted in vivid pastel colors, making them very conspicuous. Although they looked like they were in fine condition, most of them were probably internally decayed buildings with histories of over a hundred years. Although they weren’t that severely rotten, the sight of the occasional bout of acid rain eroding the outer walls was not particularly pretty.

For the people of this epoch, however, these pastel houses were a part of the cultural heritage, evoking feelings of nostalgia and childhood memories.

The scenery that presently unraveled in front of my eyes curiously superimposed itself with images from my resurfaced childhood memories. It was a very thought-provoking experience.

Various things such that one cottage in the Village which received a very reckless pink paint job.

Or like how we used to go to the town hall to look at picture books or play games.

And also the gentle old lady who had a hobby of making sweets in that cream-colored house. As long as children brought her the ingredients, she’d whip up all kinds and varieties of sweets.

The truck steadily advanced forward, and soon a plaza appeared before me.

The town square was a round space that had been cleared from several demolished buildings.

“Eeep!”

All of a sudden I got flustered, and ducked down.

I felt strangely mortified at the thought of meeting all the people whom I once knew a long time ago. Also, I was absolutely horrible at talking in front of large crowds. If I had a choice, I would have preferred to give my greetings to each of them individually… but the truck plodded onwards at the center of everyone’s persistent attention. It chugged forward while pulling its enormous load, until finally stopped in the middle of the Village Square.

I desperately searched for a hiding spot that couldn’t be seen from the steps when the rear loading bay was opened, and I skidded into the empty space between a wooden crate and the side of the vehicle. I thought this spot was pretty good since I could conceal my entire profile if I pulled in my legs and ducked my head. I could wait here until everyone’s excitement died down.

But the entire world seemingly hated me. As fate would have it, when the metal winch turned and went clankity clank, the entire side panel of the truck lowered precisely at the spot where I was trying to hide from everyone’s sight. A throng of people had collected to pick up the supplies, and their eyes instantly fell upon the open stage. There was me, awkwardly folded up in the fetal position.

A pipe fell out of the mouth of a man who was waiting in the front row.

It seemed like this truck was a model that could open up on its sides as well as in the back.

A rather familiar-looking middle aged lady gasped in complete astonishment. She was just like somebody in my memories, and I’m pretty sure she recognized me too—

“Aren’t you that—?”

I silently buried my head in my knees.

Dragging my absolutely worn out and drained body, I finally brought my hand to the door of my own house.

“I’m home… Grandpa?”

Just like the person in my memories, my paternal grandfather emerged from the dark quarters of the house while sporting a white coat with a shotgun in hand. His aggressive and swaggering strides didn’t look like they belonged to someone in their old age, which was actually a relief to me.

“Oh, so you’re finally back.”

My grandfather, who was rather tall among the old folks, placed his hand right on top of my head. I am, by the way, very tall for a girl.

“Huh, you’ve grown taller.”

“...Well, it has been quite a long while.”

On that topic, these past few years, I had shot up like a stalk of grain. I really didn’t want to keep growing much taller...

“Your skin’s looking nice too. Is it the carrots?”

“...Still hate them.”

My grandfather snorted.

“What, you haven’t grown up on the inside?”

“I think I did… probably.”

“Anyways, come in for now. I was just thinking of starting dinner.”

“Huh? I thought you were going hunting.”

I glanced at the shotgun he held in his hand.”

“Who goes hunting when it’s this late? I was just tweaking with it a bit to increase its firepower.”

My grandfather really liked guns.

“You rode the caravan truck back?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t mention the little incident I caused on the way here.

“Oh right, Grandpa. I think you’ve probably heard already, but I decided to become a Mediator just like you…”

“There’s some fine watercress for dinner. That stuff tastes great whether it’s with fried food or just bread.”

Even though I had grown taller, my grandfather’s ears callously glazed over my words like they still weren’t there.

We lined up a dried meat and vegetable stew, assorted western-style pickled vegetables and fresh produce, and a basket of sliced bread that was meant to go with the food.

My grandfather had prepared of all this himself.

Since he lived alone year round, he was extremely good at cooking.

Although he preferred whole roasts and smoked meat, occasionally he’d make more savory stews. The aroma of it kicked up faint memories of the distant past.

I carefully gathered a generous helping of pickled vegetables while each of us created a sandwich to our tastes. In the meantime, I spoke with my grandfather who was seated across from me.

“Is that so? The Institution of School is finally closing?”

“Yeah, there were so many related officials at the graduation ceremony… it really gave me a shock.”

“It’s always like that. When the school I went to shut down, a large number of officials also came by… Hey, you still haven’t fixed that bad habit of yours? Just open a shop already.”

There were five completely assembled sandwiches lined up in front of me.

“I get agitated if I try eating and making them at the same time… is that bad?”

“Whatever, suit yourself.”

Whenever I get into a rhythm with menial tasks like these, I always space out.

My friends joked that these runaway hands of mine were operating an entire cottage-industry, and my family often quipped that they were opening up a store.

“Are you going to eat all of those?”

“No, of course not. Even I can’t finish them all.”

I spoke without the slightest ounce of regret.

“You fool!”

My grandfather reached out and grabbed two of my sandwiches.

“Even if you’ve grown taller, you’re still that feeble thing like before.”

“I prefer the term civilized.”

“That’s a thing of the past. The past. Civilization or whatnot doesn’t exist anymore.”

“That reminds me, I rode on my first solar-powered truck earlier.”

“Those? They ain't got speed or horsepower, and they’re impossible to repair if they break down.”

“Fortunately the truck never stopped. The trip was relatively uneventful.”

“The caravan troupes have some pretty nifty toys. You should go get a job with them, since you’d probably find it interesting.”

“Uhh, no… it’s impossible for me to do physical labor.”

At this moment there was a change in my grandfather’s expression as seemed to remember something.

“You really want to work at my place? You really don’t have force yourself to inherit my line of work.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I even went through the trouble to get an academic degree. Besides, the office is still there, right? I want to stay in a place that’s formally recognized by the Institution.”

“Your interests are quite strange. Why’d you insist on becoming a Mediator?”

“I thought this line of work would suit me.”

“Oh? And the reason is?”

“...I figured it’d be much more laid-back than laboring in the fields.”

I accidentally let my true feelings slip, caught off guard by the atmosphere of our reunion.

“So that’s the reason why…?”

Even my grandfather seemed astonished.

I confronted the taut look in his eyes and replied innocently.

“Of course you remember how fragile my health is, right Grandpa?”

“No, earlier you were talking about finding some laid-back work.”

...I said that?

“It’s not what you think! These days, agriculture and animal husbandry are part of the basic curriculum… but that kind of work is really hard on the body. That’s when I remembered that even old people could work as Mediators, so I figured that this line of work wouldn’t be too much of a burden on my health.”

Up against family, I wasn’t nervous at all.

“...My granddaughter’s picked up some really weird personality traits.”

“Wha?”

“To me, it looks more like you lack willpower. It’s not about how weak your body is.”

“Huh.”

“If you take it easy now, you’ll lose your motivation to do anything when you grow up.”

“Huh.”

“...Well anyways, if you still think like that after a month on the job, I’d be impressed.”

“Is your work really that difficult?”

Based on some cursory looks, I did do some research into the Mediator’s job description before I took the qualifying exams. But when you compared it with subsistence farming and other kinds of labor, I came to the conclusion that the Mediator’s job was a lot easier than the others… don’t tell me I was totally wrong?

My grandfather’s response was very vague.

“It depends on the person.”

I tilted my head at this. Could it be that some kind of harsh physical labor would suddenly appear?

“For now, just try and get in touch with “Them,” my useless granddaughter.”

“That’s a little rude.”

“But that’s precisely it. Tomorrow, come to the office and I’ll help you find a desk.”

And that’s how it was decided.

Author's Notes

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