Chapter 7 (1/2)
This is the 7th chapter of a story I a titled “House Ephemera” (蜉蝣の家) by Hatasu shi+kishi+ma (識島果)
Thanks to Sherayuki for helping proofread this chapter
You can read the full japanese text of this chapter
See which contains a brief synopsis and links to other chapters (as they are posted)
As usual, whether I continue translating this will depend on feedback/views fro a cos I should translate
Chapter 7: Hurt by a friend
After boarding the train, I ree nuain I skimmed the first three e them
My an the day it happened
The day of my father's suicide
Less than half a year after I enteredon oodbye to this world It was all so terribly sudden I had been drinking cheap liquor at a classing from a beam in his study
I ju to the country, and by the time I reached home my father's body had been already taken down and laid out My htly to me, but I didn't return her embrace
To this day, I so in midair
A pair of legs dangling down
The dead silence of the study
Light passing through wide open curtains onto my father's back
A shadow cast onto the floor
My father in his study, completely still, like a piece of furniture
The rope, hanging straight down, soundlessly supporting ht
Each tiht that I had not actually witnessed-it was rendered in even greater detail with a deeper level of realisly like a real memory
Why hadabout that His bloated, purplish face Bloodshot conjunctiva Why would he have chosen a death which left his corpse in such an unsightly state? More i he never mentioned to his son or wife? No suicide note surfaced froanized study My father's death was completely unexpected It happened far too easily-like so a switch
In doing this, : people are apt to suddenly disappear without warning All of us walked ast a countless nuht fall into, at any time Ever since that day, my mother started to fear that I too would disappear from before her very eyes, just like my father
Once the short holiday weekend was over, as you h, I came to realize that the busier I was, the more I tended to seek out Ricardo That day, after finishi+ngfor his hotel
He was generally reading a book in some corner of the lobby or in a seat in the 24-hour cafe As to what he was doing the rest of the tiht hi hi questioned about details of his private life He never toldhe wouldn't appreciate those types of questions
Tonight I found Ricardo sitting once again in a corner of the lobby He was in thea watered-down co with a smile
Ricardo often s behind it He always seeh I actually took fondly to this aspect of hi akin to a thick, invisiblehim, perceptible even fro the truth about hi in direct contact with hih to this man
There was soht: he summoned me to his room I didn't know if there was any particular reason But it made me feel as if the distance between us was instantly reduced, and that very much pleased me
”Shall we order some room service?”
Ricardo withdrew his vintage pocket watch and checked the ti I declined; I wasn't particularly hungry nor did I want anyone interfering with our ti a mini bottle of Johnnie Walker from the minibar
”That's fine withto pay?”
”You're a student, right?” he stated matter-of-factly
”Although if you drank through the entire stock here that would be a problem…”
So I just couldn't see Ricardo as a person who subscribed to the common societal belief that students should pay for the drinks
My hands fulasses Ricardo poured the alcohol The surface of the liquid, ahts in the room The unfamiliar whiskey had an equally unfa effect, as if writing over my memories of the electric scalpel's terrible smell
I put down lass, withdrew Kokoro froazed at
”I thought about what you said It took h”
”Please share”
”A long tiht betrayal had caused K's death The older man had taken away the only person K loved, and he, betrayed and heartbroken, died after giving up all hope on life”
”So you thought it was betrayal that drove him to commit suicide?”
”Yes,” I concurred
”But, soht after rereading the story”
”Well…”
”You thought it uilt”
Ricardo raised his well-fored me to continue