Volume 7 Chapter 1 Part4 (1/2)
11/15/1998
17:58
You and I walked back from school together on a major road's sidewalk as the winter gas lights began to turn on.
”Do you think thoughts are real?”
”If I thought they were…would that thought be real?”
When I answered you, you groaned a little, wrinkled your well-formed brow, and tilted your head.
”Y'know, thoughts can be tricky, so let's set them aside for now. …Now, memories: those were real at one point.”
”Well, yeah. Memories are when your thoughts get outside.[1] You could call it a real thoughtful ejection.”
”Then where do those memories 'get out' from to become memories?”
Hmm. Where do they get out from? Your ears or your b.u.t.t sound like some unpleasantly realistic options…
But before I could decide, you circled in front of me and asked another question.
”You were thinking about them getting out from some place really dirty, weren't you?”
”Sorry, I hadn't gotten that far yet.”
Before I could actually say that, you used your skill as a Tokyo Special Duty Officer to elbow me in the gut. Oww, what the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing to the Vice Chancellor's precious belly? As I grew angry, the gas lights lining the sidewalk starting sending out their night-colored lights.
Our surroundings were illuminated by the winter-exclusive darkness and the smell of winter filled the area.
I rubbed my stomach and looked forward where the North Wind was walking from the other side of the road with his black hair fluttering behind him.
As he pa.s.sed us, he saw where I was rubbing my stomach and spoke.
”That's not where.”
Author Comment:
Commenting on this stuff is pretty difficult, but try to follow along.
Anyway, all of Layer 1 is what I wrote well before the serialization began. I think it might have been a year before. I wrote fifteen pa.s.sages and the ones that didn't fit here were put in other parts of the story. That's why these ones feel a little different from the rest of the story. The t.i.tle story was the only one I wrote after we decided to serialize this.
The t.i.tle story had the Tokyo-ish layout of the gas lights, the North Wind, and the night. At the start, I wanted to make the night and the wind be artificial things. In the ill.u.s.tration's background, you should be able to see a number of things attached to the gas light.
02/19/1999
5:05
It was still too early in the morning to be called morning, but the science room (where I was to have my memories erased) was full of life.
”Okay, let's go. Let's erase my memories with your machine.”
I stroked the brand new scar on my cheek and ignored the several black shadows moving around me. I was speaking to the Professor whose bespectacled eyes were looking out the large window where the morning sun was rising in the dark night sky.
”I hate to have someone my own age surpa.s.sing me. When it comes to bodily modifications, that is.”
I nodded and glanced toward the child-sized black shadows rus.h.i.+ng around me.
”Look at them and you'll die. The odds are 100%.”
The Professor did not even look back as he said that, grabbed one of the shadows behind him, and tossed it to a corner of the science room.
I suddenly realized there was bread in my hand and a gla.s.s of mineral water in the Professor's.
He looked back and took a sip of the cold-looking water.
”I will accept with no doubt whatsoever that there's something wrong with your head. There always is, after all. And I understand you wish to implant yourself with one of my Science Club's special Psyche Outer devices because your circ.u.mstances require you to erase your memories and emotions.”
”Yeah, I've got some dangerous memories and thoughts. …Oh, but can you leave the happily embarra.s.sing sort of perverted memories?”
”I'll focus on erasing those first. The odds are 90% they're harmful.”
”…You don't hold back, do you?”
”Then I should probably go to sleep so I won't talk anymore. Goodnight… Ahh, I'm so full.”
Don't react so quickly, you idiot. I ate the bread, punched the Professor with plenty of energy, and then asked a question.
”Is there some kind of problem with implanting the Psyche Outer device?”
”Yes: where to implant it. The human body is pretty tricky. It ain't easy.”
The Professor tossed aside another of the shadows. The night sky outside switched to morning and the sun rose straight up.
He set the gla.s.s down on the table next to him, so I grabbed a shadow behind me and threw it.
Suddenly, the science room filled with water up to ankle height.
”Huh? That was supposed to put away the gla.s.s.”
”You fool. This is why we refuse uninvited guests. It's going to be like this for forty days and forty nights now.”
”Unlike the middle school science room, this place really does like to act all important, doesn't it?”
”Let's get back on topic.”
”Sure.”
”Now, the reason I started laughing evilly in the middle of the alchemy lesson during Third Period two weeks ago was…”
”That topic's too far back, idiot. Just go back to the implant location.”
”Oh, right. I'm guessing you don't want it in your b.u.t.t, your crotch, or the tip of your nose or finger or whatever, right?”
”Of course not. Besides, I'm not letting my b.u.t.t or crotch influence my emotions and memories.”
”I see.”
He nodded and tossed aside another black shadow. A refres.h.i.+ng smile immediately came over his face.
”I just thought of a great spot! The odds are 80% you'll be surprised, so don't you worry!”
Without bothering to hear him out, I threw all of the shadows within reach to redo that.
Author Comment:
While this is supposed to help explain things, I think I'll try not to give any of the answers directly. I'd like to make an excuse by saying part of Tokyo's charm is how I decide what I'm doing with it in real-time. Really, I guess you could say I was trying to make something where everyone who read it would have their own unique feelings about it.
I think that might act as a hint if you're ever a little confused.
The reason the protagonist is having the Professor erase his memories will be provided later. And the black shadows each handle their own form of creation.
02/19/1999
5:59
Now, it was time to erase my memories.
After all, I just had too much stuff that would be a bad idea to remember. People often say it's better to remember things, but the mind of a second year in high school was as sensitive as the final hair on a bald old man's head. Even as a member of the Chancellor's Officers, killing someone was just too much.
Beyond my closed eyes, I heard the Professor as he got to work.
”Your memories won't be completely lost. All I can do is seal them. Is that okay?”
”It doesn't really matter.”
”You just answered, didn't you? Looks like don't have enough anesthetic. It's injection time~”
He stuck me with the needle. …And wasn't that an awfully leading question?
Well, whatever. …Um, what had I been thinking about?
Had I forgotten? But it had only been a second ago. Wow, did I really have amnesia?
”I'm going to randomly draw out the fragments of the past inside you and then seal them. Your life will be zapped before your eyes. Enjoy that until the surgery is over.”
I could hear someone's voice. But what were they talking about? I wasn't sure.
Still, I was worried about you. To you, I was…yeah, I was pretty sure I had destroyed someone important to you recently. I didn't know what that meant though. Not anymore, anyway.
The next time we met, would you be able to understand me when I didn't understand myself?
Author Comment:
Once, my friend actually had the anesthetic not kick in before surgery. The doctor made a bad pun, so my friend made a tsukkomi. Without another word, the doctor gave him some additional anesthetic.
02/08/1997
6:15
It was a chilly morning and the sound of cold water swam through the air. The morning did not even have a scent.
I arrived at the school first thing in the morning with my exam ticket in hand. It was the large high school behind my middle school. I pa.s.sed through the relatively deserted front gate and walked along the front road that spiraled up to the school. It was a normal school, so walking straight in would likely take me to the office where I could present my exam ticket.
The leaf-color of the roadside trees had been peeled off by the morning frost and the bricks below my feet were dyed brown. A few of the colors were plastered to the bricks. They were childishly plastered on like cheap stickers and they would likely have to use solvent to get them off come spring. …It looked like winter was going to drag on this year.
When I looked up, I saw a white line of frost cut by at a little above eye level as if to block off the road. Needless to say, frost wouldn't pa.s.s through the air for no reason.
The line of frost was supported by a colorless and invisible destiny line extending right to left between communication poles.
It was a pretty low-quality destiny line, so whose was it?
”Seiyah!!”
With a sudden shout, some wind pa.s.sed by me and instantly cut the destiny line overhead.
I saw a girl in a ponytail standing tall below the faint frost about to vanish from the morning air. She had rolled her exam ticket into a tube and held it like a sword. She looked back toward me.
”You there. Please do not tell anyone about this. …Everyone has their issues before an exam.”
”And are you planning to cut through every last one of your issues this morning…?”
Author Comment:
I guess you could say this is where the main story begins.
Snow Character shows up right away and you can read the school's name on the left side of the ill.u.s.tration.
10/11/1998
9:50
It was the second day of the athletics festival and that meant a boy-only swim compet.i.tion. The large outdoor pool was packed full of boys.
I was using my authority as Vice Chancellor to monitor the scene and the Boss was using his authority as 2nd Special Duty Officer to capture any escapees as we both sat on the poolside. He wore his usual work outfit and gazed at the pool with his pompadour and sungla.s.ses.
”It's a nice pool, but there's nothing too exciting here. …Are the girls using the indoor greenhouse pool?”
”Snow Character is guarding the place with her sword, so things might be more brutal there than here.”
”What about Senpai? Is he with the 1st Special Duty Officer?”
”Yeah. She just sinks in the water, so the two of them are folding printouts together in the student living room.”
As soon as I said that, an impressive splash flew erupted upwards with a deafening noise. I used my wonderful fist to punch back the boy who came flying toward me with the splash and then I sighed.
”Looks like the male Heavy Knight diving compet.i.tion has started.”
A black transport plane pa.s.sed by in the sky above and an eight meter Heavy Knight jumped down from the back end.
The Heavy Knight made one, two, three, four spins before its waist armor panels detached and it entered a tailspin.
”Oh, the accident makes that one Difficulty C. This one's gonna be big.”
”Will the pool be okay?”
”It'll be fine.”
”What about the students?”
”They'll live.”
A splash rose into the air. The boys at the landing point were blown away like leaves.
”Oh, look at them all flying. Told you it'd be big.”
”Oh, this ain't good. The idiots that were blasted away are trying to crawl off and escape. I'll go hit 'em with my car.”
He was back soon.
”Sigh, running them over wasn't as exciting as I thought. Wanna play some kinda game?”
”Your games always get way out of hand. I prefer the peace we already have here.”
I looked up into the sky to see another transport plane. This one dropped two Heavy Knights at once.
”Synchronized diving, huh?”
The Heavy Knights in the sky played cla.s.sical music that was influenced by the Doppler Effect. The song was the ever popular Fourth Movement of Beethoven's Fifth. The two of them danced and spun around hand-in-hand to match the music.
”And then they collide and enter a tailspin~”
”What's their score?”
The electronic display on the opposite side of the pool said Normal, Normal, Good, 10, Extra Good, Normal, and High. That averaged out to a 5.
It was a pretty strict judgement. I looked up into the sky again and saw another transport plane flying in.
The blue sky beyond the plane fluttered up a little to reveal its pure blue lining.
”The real autumn sky will be here before long, won't it?”
Another splash erupted into the sky.
Author Comment:
Just like the athletics festival in the Osaka game, the athletics festivals in Tokyo - or rather, in the City World as a whole - seem quite exciting. You need to be eighteen to get a Heavy Knight license.
Now, in the original publication, the Boss spoke in the Kansai dialect, but I changed that to standard j.a.panese after the serialization began. It felt like an unnatural way to establish his character.
12/19/1998
13:25
It was your birthday, so I decided the two of us could celebrate it together.
School was off thanks to the tests, so I jumped down from my home (the fourth story apartment) and went to your house. I ran west on the road alongside the railroad to reach the pharmacy near the station.
The field next to the railroad had been recolored for winter and someone called out to me as I ran alongside it.
”Hey. You understand, don't you?”
The voice behind me belonged to a somewhat more mature version of myself.
”Save it until we eventually meet. I don't want to see myself yet.”
With that response, I tripped the other me without even looking back. I heard a light scream and detected a metallic scent as if something had sc.r.a.ped against steel behind me. I looked back and didn't see anyone there, so I shrugged.
After running to the pharmacy, I for some reason found a ponytailed girl with a wooden sword standing behind the counter.
It was Snow Character. She was playing with Daitarou, her pet white fox, but she looked annoyed as soon as she saw me.
”You are far too late. …Everyone else is already here.”
”What, was everyone thinking the same thing? Don't copy me like that. …And what are you doing?”
”I don't much like hanging out with people, so I'm looking after the pharmacy for her.”
”Then can you give me a drug to make me smarter? Things never seem to work out for me.”
Snow Character held Daitarou in her arms as it begged for food and she gave me a rare smile.
”Sorry. I had the same thought and bought them all up a moment ago.”
Author Comment:
A conversation with the other ”me”. A few more of them will show up, but I think this kind of existence is something that (both fortunately and unfortunately) everyone has. And no, I'm not talking about multiple personalities.