At dawn
Under the futon, I was gazing at the filthy ceiling of my rundown apartnt.
Even with my eyelids half-closed, sleepiness did not set in. In spite of being worn out from working the night shift, my body denied to drift off to sleep.
Since a few days ago, no more dreams of Hyuga jumping off the rooftop had haunted . To be more precise, I tried not to see it.
The sheer terror and resistance to the dream led to an exceedingly shallow sleep, so much so that even when I was asleep, I was constantly half-conscious. Even the slightest noise would rouse in a heartbeat. This way of sleeping struck as dexterous, but of course, I didnt feel like I had slept, or rather, I didnt actually sleep at all.
It was like an herbivore on the lookout for a predator.
Fear of being in deep sleep, dread of nightmares, my brain was sending signals to refrain from a good nights sleep. Yeah no good. If I kept up this lifestyle, I would collapse another ti in the near future
A sickening slumber eventually followed, tempting to plunge into oblivion, only to be awaited by a nightmare. To divert my mind from the horror of the nightmare, I shifted my attention to sothing else.
The wood grain on the ceiling, and then onto the stains.
These days, through this process, it beca noticeable that the grains and stains on the wooden paneling inexplicably resembled a persons crying face.
Never had I noticed it before but it was right above my futon.
The wood grains were the eyes, and the stains were the wide-open mouth. The longer I looked at it, the more miserable the face beca.
Was I likewise making a face like this now?
The hands of the clock ticking. It was silent
I cast a glance at the clock before returning my gaze to the ceiling once more.
Its your fault.
A thick voice reverberated in my brain. The face on the ceiling spoke.
The one who murdered her was you.
Its eyes were as narrow as a kokeshi doll as it glared at .
You murdered her, you were the one you were the one
The sa words were spewed from the pitch-black mouth.
You killed her. Dont think you can escape. She will be coming for you soon. To put you through the sa ordeal
My body bounced up and down and the next thing I realized, I was wide awake. The hands of the clock had advanced for approximately thirty minutes.
With trepidation, I peered at the ceiling. Above was nothing on the scale of what I had witnessed earlier. rely wood grains and stains that had the appearance of a human face. I wiped my forehead with my perspiration-drenched arm. Was I half-awake?
I got up from the futon and scanned the whole room. Nothing out of the ordinary, only a filthy shabby room. Creaks sounded when I walked on the floor, and the stove was covered in burnt grease. Packing tape was applied to reinforce the window panes. A hole was made in the closet door.
Nothing, nothing was supposed to be different. So why were my eyes swirling so much since earlier?
What was I searching for? Searching? No, that wasnt the case.
Sobody was peeking at from sowhere. I couldnt help feeling that way.
It was all in my mind. Contrary to what I wished to believe, my heartbeat was progressively racing.
Hyuga
The wind chis made a sound in the absence of wind.
Is that you?
Stifling my breath, I braced myself. Blood-drenched body, bones of the neck, legs, arms, and whatever ssed-up things, I was prepared for her to appear in front of .
The following second.
Instead of what I had envisioned taking place, I was assaulted from the side by an unexpected impact.
Under my pillow, my cell phone rang and vibrated violently.
After all my bracing and heart-thumping, why on earth would you ring at this mont of all ti!?
Without any regard, I grasped the cell phone, which continued to ring in a steady rhythm, and opened it roughly. In the event that this was a mail magazine or the like, I might as well just shatter it.
My stress level may have reached its peak as a result of my ongoing ntal instability; if indeed the incoming call had been a mail magazine, I would have reduced my cell phone to a worthless object in less than two seconds.
The familiar na displayed in bold letters on the screen cooled down, only for it to bubble up all over again. Inhaling deeply, I pressed the call button and connected to the person on the other end of the line.
Youuuuuuu bastard! Ill kill you!!
That was the worst opening line I ever had to say.
It was 8:30 in the morning. Anyone would be in a foul mood and want to hang up the phone after being told Ill kill you! out of the blue, yet the caller was laughing on the other end of the line instead of being upset.
The way this laughter transford from a normal laugh to a coughing laugh. I could picture the face of the carefree, naturally curly hair guy.
Kinoshita
[Hey, Masa, have you been grumpy since this morning?]
Im not in a grumpy mood, what ti do you think it is?
[What ti its 8:30 in the morning? Good morning?]
Right. Good night.
I attempted to forcibly end the call with a single yawn. In any event, the majority of the ti he phoned was spent chit-chatting over nothing essential, and he had a propensity to ramble on for as long as an elderly woman, so there was no harm in hanging up the phone early. From the other end of the line, Kinoshita abruptly halted , perhaps anticipating my next move.
[Hey, hey, hey! Hold on, hold on! Stop!!]
What the hell?
The night shift had taken its toll on .
Oh, I see. Good work. So, Masa, are you free today?]
Hey, were you not listening to ? I was just coming off the night shift. I was extrely sleepy, though I couldnt sleep.
[If youre free, Id like you to hang out with for a little while.]
Im not free, so I cant accompany you.
[Why? Youre done with your night shift, right?]
That was why you were Not good. I was type A and I couldnt read the AB guys thoughts at all.
My bad, but I dont even want to step out of my house.
[Heh. You quit your job as a freeter and beca a shut-in at last.]
Why dont you co over to my place right now, and Ill give you a good beating.
[Better yet, Masa, co to the station.]
Like I said
I didnt want to leave the house Besides, I was completely nocturnal, and I didnt want to walk around the city exposed to the sun when I was already in bad shape. No matter what Kinoshita said, I wouldnt move, not even by force.
Just tell what you want, and another ti Ill do it. I was about to say that when Kinoshita released the hook.
[Ill buy you breakfast, a terra muffin set, plus apple pie.]
.Hmmm So that was how it turned out.
In this way, I was caught by a not-so-large fish hook and ended up being the only catch.
As promised, we t up in front of the station and bought breakfast at a fast food restaurant.
So Kinoshita gave a ticket when I asked him what he wanted to do.
A change of mood.
No, no, no, what? A ticket for the train?
Where are we going?
Hey
When I asked one more ti, Kinoshita quickly went through the turnstile and down to the platform, still holding the paper bag of my breakfast.
Whats up, man, calling out all of a sudden? Where are you taking ?
Several minutes had passed since the train departed. I extended out my hand to Kinoshita to offer the paper bag while we were seated across from one another with the window ajar and Kinoshita was in a sowhat positive mood.
Thank goodness you have an appetite.
Huh?
The muffin package he had just purchased was placed in my palm while Kinoshita discreetly opened the bag and set his own iced coffee on the side table.
You know, these are good to eat once in a while.
Right Thats not the point.
Yeah?
Explain it to , the sequence is all over the place.
Kinoshita responded by playing with his own hair, curling it around his fingers, Well, Masa, since then, Ive been wondering what has happened to you.
His speech was always distinctive and he always used a lot of inverted phrases. Of all the people in our tight relationship, he was by far the most intelligent, but sothing about him was a bit loose.
I felt like you didnt seem well, so I called you.
Nevertheless, he was able to accurately predict what was on peoples minds to the point of being unnerving. What on earth did you sense in when you didnt even see my face?
Intuition?
Even if it was intuition, you were way too spot-on.
Did I guess right?
At this point, lying was not going to work with this guy.
I see, well, I thought so, and your complexion doesnt look so good either Have you been sleeping lately?
I dont feel like Ive slept.
After all, youre still seeing those things.
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What do you want now?
Translator:MadHatter
I focused on the seat at the rear of the train car. Leaning against the window, a large man was wearing a Walkman and dozing off with his mouth wide open. An elderly, frail-looking woman with her hands clasped behind her back was eyeing the man through the window pane as he rested his cheek on the glass.
As I watched, she slowly shifted her eyeballs to et my eyes. Her half-open mouth moved marginally and she blurted out sothing.
Right away, I averted my eyes and feigned not having seen her.
Kinoshita seed to have grasped the gist of what I was doing and drank his iced coffee with a troubled expression on his face.
I wonder if you can get rid of it sohow.
Thats impossible, not as it is now.
Youre not going to resign from the convenience store?
At the mont if I quit now, Im sure that guy will never forgive .
That guy Hyuga?
Yeah shes been showing up in front of lately. Nothing has changed. Still in the sa appearance she was in when she died.
Even Kinoshita seed startled by this and was at a loss for words.
Really?
Yeah, I saw her
The things that I didnt discuss with him the other night when we were having a drink, the events up to now, the incidents that kept arising, the convenience store, Takenaka, Hyuga, etc. I told Kinoshita everything.
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