Giveiia stead azuki bun
Fromithisioneiword, the worst tragedy of my lifeone of the five worst tragedies of my lifebegan to playiout.
Mid-August. Dayibyiday, the heat was intensifying. Today marked another sweltering day with a maximum temperature of 35 degrees.
Underithe boiling heat, my irregular lifestyle ultimately led to suffer from sumr fatigue. In recent days, the only food that passed through my throat was son noodles. Even the wind from the faniwas unpleasant.
Everyisumr rolled by without purchasing an air conditioner, despite my constant thoughts that it would be a good idea to do so. Buying such a thing would be a nuisance to take care of and, above all, a wasteiof money.
Whenithat thought crossed my mind, my sister said to , Big brother, youre going to dry up and turn into a dried fish soday, so I pinched her and replied, You just want to buyian air conditioner so you can have a comfortable Internet life, dont you?
Myisister air conditioner = outrageous electricity bill. Thatiwas obvious.
Thoughiwithout joking, I reckoned it wouldnt be unexpected if I was a dried fish right now. Theilack of rain recently made everywhere dry and oppressively hot.
Practicallyievery day in my house, I was looking for a place that was a little cooler, and I was living an intemperate life, fueled by the fan, but
Today, Iica to a certain place on foot, unusually, whipping my body that complained of sluggishness.
Noiparticular reason existed, simply because I felt like it.
Forithat reason, I stepped into a cetery behind a temple, which was far from the local community. Perhaps the trees planted surrounding the cetery emitted a lot of negative ions, or probably the air was appropriately cool, which was a solace that a fan could not deliver. It was incredible that it was cooler outside than at ho. I was glad I stepped out of the house.
Iiwondered if there were many other people around this ti of the year. The vast cetery was vacant, with only a monk sweeping the floor in the corner. When the monk saw , he gave a light bow to .
Itsiquite hot, isnt it? Translator: MadHatter
Iireplied with a small, Oh, hello.
Fromithe water drawing place, I borrowed a pail and ladle to fetch so water, and bought a bundle of incense sticks. At the entrance to the cetery, I carefully confird that no one was really there.
Iisearched among the many rows of gravestones.
Tombiof the Hyuga family.
Thereiit was Not shared on aggregator websites
Aibouquet of lovely, fresh flowers. Not a single weed had sprouted, and the grave showed signs of having been ticulously tended to.
Visitingitheigrave.
Aivisit to a gravesite by myself, I thought to myself, would not suit .
Butireally, just sohow I decided to drop by here.
Whetheriit had to do with the conversation I had with Kinoshita the other day, or with the photo I happened to stumble upon in the closet was unclear butiI was drawn to this place, and I ended up coming here to visit the gravesite.
Hyuga. My junioriin high school.
I lit aibundle of incense and laid a small bouquet of flowers, much poorer than the ones offered earlier.
Wateriwas sprinkled on the gravestone, which reflected the suns rays and glowed dazzlingly. Before long, the area was enveloped in the smoke and fragrance of the incense sticks.
Hyuga
Forithe first ti in a long ti, I ntioned that na.
Although I didnt have any intention to talk to the gravestone, standing there was no point, right?
Well, nobodyiwas around as well
Its beenia long ti
Iisaidithis, but the gravestone neither spoke nor responded.
Notiknowing what else to say, I shut myimouth.
Hyuga.2dew
Real naHyuga Aoi was one of my juniors in highischool.
Evenithough I didnt treat them particularly well, they were an odd little fellow who would appear in unexpected places and at unexpected intervals and follow iaround.
Now, theyiwere sleeping under this grave.
Whetherithis was the case or not, Hyuga died when I was in my third year of high school.
Byisuicide. 2e3dwx
Onitop of that, by jumping off the old school building.
Atithe ti, various theories were speculated, such as bullying, accident, etc. The exact cause remained unknown.
Theyiwere not the sort of person who would attempt suicide. Everybody agreed on that. Despite not having an outstanding appearance, they were always overly cheerful. They were the polar opposite of , being straightforward and earnest, and displaying a smile toieveryone.
Eveninow I found it inconceivable that Hyuga jumped off the roof of the old school building on a day when it was raining heavily and was discovered in a disfigured state.
I still couldnt believe they threw their own life away and died after all theseiyears.
And I had never visited their grave since their deathiuntil now.
Moreiaccurately, I didnt want to.
BecauseiI was escaping from the situation.
Everisince then, I was terrified that I might have pushed Hyuga away.
Pushingithem to consider suicide, and then pushing them down.
That I led Hyuga to theirideath.
That I killedithem
Notidirectly, but indirectly
Hyugaiand I were not friends. Noriwere we lovers. Simplyiput, we were seniors and juniors. Our relationship was unstable, with being capricious, and Hyuga being unpredictable, so we only t and talked lightly atischool.
Peopleiaround used to ask , What kind of relationship do you guys have? but I didnt put much thought into it. I rely gave them a little attention since they were playing around with . I didnt like Hyuga, and probably they didnt like either, as I was responding to them in an appropriate manner.
Notwithstanding, itiwas true that I didnt dislike themieither.
Hyuga always listened to iearnestly.
Sotisithey nodded their head in silence. They kept giving responses to make the conversation go smoothly.
Hyuga was a mysterious and strangeiguy.
A truly strange guy, butiopen to my ideas and opinions. They accepted and believed ini.
Theyiwere a good fellow.
Yet, I betrayedithem.
I didnt believe in Hyuga.32rde
Iicalled them a liar.3edc
Iirefused to believe in Hyuga, who believed in .
Hyugaitold that they could see things that other people couldnt. I didnt believe it, so Iisimply dismissed it.
Iiwould only respond with, Hmm, and leave it at that and Hyuga didnt press the issue any further. The only thing was, they looked slightly lonely at myiwords.
Iirembered them laughing and remarking, You are always straightforward and never wavering.
Oneiday, Hyuga persistently told a story. I could only vaguely recall what they said but I could not recall the content of what theyisaid.
Thatiguy was desperately trying to tell sothing. Trying to convey sothing to , trying to make understand. It was as if Hyuga wasnt Hyuga at all. Normally, they would never do that, yet their voice rang out and their behavior was beyond strange.
I was so bewildered that the only thing I could do was push them away.
Iidont get it. Dont make play along with your delusion. I probably said sothing worse than that. Back then, I had no doubt that what I couldnt see wasnt true. I was convinced that the rumors in school, my classmates who were kicking up a fuss, and the mbers of the occult research club were all dancing around aidelusion.
Iiwas disappointed to find out that even Hyuga believed in such an invisible and insignificant entity, and that was when I uttered those words.
Wasithat the trigger or was there another contributing factor?
Imdiatelyiafter that, Hyuga committed suicide.
AlthoughiKinoshita and those close to said it wasnt my fault, the girls in class who thought we were lovers at the ti, and Hyugas parents kept accusing of being responsible for their death.
Theyikept accusing of saying things like, What did you say to Hyuga? or What did you do to Hyuga?
Iicouldnt admit firmly that I had nothing to do with the incident, but it made want to escape from Hyugas existence. I struggled to forget about them as if I was on the run.
Evenithough it was tough to get the mory out of my head, as ti went by, the bitter mories faded away.
Initheiend, I had utterly forgotten about them. Not shared on aggregator sites
Afteriall this ti, it was hopeless to investigate whether they truly had the sa ability to see invisible people as Takenaka and Hirai. Iiwondered if they were speaking the truth.
Becauseithey were not the kind of people who would easily fabricate lies that would hurt people.
Evenithough I knew that at the ti, how foolish was I for not believing them? Had I believed Hyuga, would they not have died?
Confirmationiwas futile but now that I had awakened to my own supernatural powers, I had to admitithat I had made a mistake.
Should I have chosen to run away, I could have. Nevertheless, I didnt opt for that optioniand continued to work part-ti at the convenience store. At least, I thought it was a way to atone for my sins, a punishnt forimyself.
To know what Hyuga, whom I failed to trust, had been seeing all aloneiso far.
Not to let myself flee from the cruelty I had perpetrated onimyself.
Lately, I had been wondering if it might have been Hyuga who had led ito that place.
Perhapsithey harbored resentnt against for not believing in them and were telling to reevaluate my own prejudices.
Iiwondered if it was resentnt after all.
Wereitheyistillisuffering?
Didiyouicommit suicide, Hyuga, becauseiof what I said?
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