NOVEL WEB Chapter 14.5: Sink V
Even my hands began to quiver along with my speech. All I could do was continue spewing out words even as the corners of my eyes began to heat up once again.
“I don’t remember bullying her or anything like that… but I said a horrible thing to her… calling her a liar and claiming what she said was absurd…”
I didn’t recall much but I probably said something worse.
“She was a good person… but one thing led to another and I ended up having a falling out with her…”
It was shortly after that that she jumped off the roof.
“I can’t think of any other reason. She was a personable, eccentric person who behaved oddly, but everyone liked her. She wasn’t harassed and her family background was normal…”
I couldn’t imagine any reason for such a person to commit suicide… Nothing else applied besides the words I spoke to her…
“Even worse, I kept running away from the fact she committed suicide because I wanted to put it behind me. All the time… I never looked back and never went to visit her grave. When I started working at that convenience store, I began to see the same things as Takenaka and the others, which made me realize that what she said was not nonsense but the truth. I called her a liar even though she was honest and I am the worst kind of person…”
I bit my lip. I felt like I was stabbing myself with a knife or something.
“I was determined to leave this type of environment when I first got your help at that convenience store, and I intended to follow Takenaka’s advice… But… I reckoned that this is my punishment for living so idly, forgetting that she even existed until now…”
It was as if she was telling me to suffer the same thing that she did. Like she was sneering at me from under her grave…
“It had all been my assumption up to that point. But… since I awakened to this power, she has been manifesting herself in front of me frequently in her after-death figure in front of me. Whenever I see her, she remarks the same thing. She still wants… to stay in this world and make me suffer, resenting me… After all this time… I want to make… it easier for her. She is covered in blood, and even in death, she is still suffering. But I can’t… figure out any other way. Apart from me staying there and going through what she went through, I can’t figure out any other way…”
If I could talk to her, I would.
What do you wish for? How can I put your suffering to rest? But there was no way I could do that.
“In my dreams, she dies over and over again in front of me… I am sure I will be having that dream again today… Even though I want to do something for her, I couldn’t help but be afraid of it… The thought of it makes me realize that in the end, all I care about is myself… I hate it.”
Regardless of how many times this struggle was repeated, no exit was in sight. On the contrary, the bottomless swamp would seize my feet and sink me…
“Hyuga… right?”
“Huh, why do you…”
“Because you were calling that name all the time while you were having a nightmare. All this time, you have been burdened… with the idea that it was your fault.”
“She… still has yet to rest in peace… surely.”
“Takenaka, please. I know it’s self-serving. But I can’t do it myself… I can only ask you to do it for me. I want to do something… about her, Takenaka, if you can, please… about Hyuga…”
About Hyuga…
“Can’t you please save her…?”
If there is anything you can do, anything at all that you can help her with, I pleaded in rapid succession.
I didn’t wish to see her like that any further. Her pain must be excrutiating, and she must still be suffering.
No doubt when she emerged all bloody like that. I was certain of that.
“Please, please…”
Watching my frantic state, Takenaka remained as cool and collected as ever. After asking me to look up, he announced with a slightly apologetic look on his face, “The odds of me being able to resolve this at this point in time… are probably fairly low.”
Takenaka then proceeded to explain why.
“I am not an expert in that kind of thing, aside from Ayame… Even if I could drive away the evil spirits that wandered into the convenience store… I think it would be difficult to make her rest in peace when she appears at your doorstep.”
Usually, with the help of Yagura, the spirits are driven away. Even if I could drive her away, it would be impossible for me to liberate her soul from negative emotions and lead her to the afterlife.
Indeed, such an extraordinary feat was not that simple to pull off with the exception of Ayame and Yakumo. Even Takenaka, despite his supernatural powers, was an ordinary person.
“I apologize for my inability…”
“Oh no, please don’t apologize. It’s me who can’t resolve the problem on my own…”
When I was about to say so, Takenaka continued to speak.
“…I don’t know if I can resolve things, but I might be able to change the situation slightly. If you want to know the truth about why she committed suicide… it is possible to find out…”
“Can you do that?”
The part that remained shrouded in darkness and unclarified, the part that I was dying to know the most. The reason for her death… Would I ever discover that?
“How deeply can things be figured out are…”
“Please do it.”
My body was enveloped in sluggishness as I leaned forward with all of my force.
“I don’t mind the slightest detail, I just want to know why she had to die.”
“I understand. If you say so, Hakamada… I’ll do it.”
Did he sense the lack of hesitation in my appearance? With a deep nod, Takenaka agreed.
He told me there was only one thing he needed and I was to offer it to him. It was a photo of Hyuga, me and the onlookers. It was that photo taken at the school festival.
“Um, what are you…”
“I will begin ‘clairvoyance’ now.”
“Clair…?”
It was another specialized term.
“In short, it’s a process in which a person in the photo is seen through spiritual power…”
“…”
“It sounds shady, doesn’t it?”
“Oh, no, no… for the time being, please begin.”
“Yes.”
Takenaka closed his eyes and appeared to be focusing on the subject as he placed his hand over Hyuga, who was standing next to me in the photo with long black hair, bob-like bangs, and red-rimmed glasses.
I stretched my neck out a little to observe him.
Oh… On a summertime psychic program special, I saw a scenario when a psychic was operating in a similar manner. At the time, I thought it was a farce, though.
Takenaka sensed something and opened his eyes.
“She died about… a month after the festival?”
“Heh, ah…”
What a shock… Even though I didn’t say anything. How did this person figure it out… or rather, this was what was called “clairvoyance”.
Apparently, he could indeed see through the pictures.
“Amazing…”
“No, I simply learned this by watching others.”
“Learning…”
Learning by watching others… Excuse me, I had to take my words back. You were already above the average person, Takenaka.
“Where did you learn all this?”
“My grandfather showed it to me a long time ago… He used to do psychic photography and psychic evaluation of relics… I can only concentrate my mind and trace memories to a certain extent… so I can’t do much about it.”
No… that was a big enough deal at that point…
For the next several minutes, Takenaka focused his attention on the photograph. I wondered if the events of that day were vividly unfolding behind his closed eyelids.
“…”Translator: MadHatter
“What have you found out?”
“That’s…”Not shared on aggregator sites
When Takenaka removed his hand from the photo and I asked about it, he looked as if he was reluctant to elaborate.
“I could grasp what kind of person she was… but I couldn’t get a clear understanding of what was going on because there was too little information in this photo…”
“I see…”
“Anything more… If there is anything that can exclude a wide range of…”
Saying that, Takenaka looked at me.
“Hakamada.”
“Y-Yes…?”
My body was complaining of feeling sluggish. I lay down on the futon and covered myself with a light towelket and drowsiness immediately swept over me. With the lights off, the room was dimly lit but not pitch-black.
“Are you certain about this?”
I shook my head vertically again for the umpteenth time.
“It’s fine.”
“No matter how much I claim it’s only for the sake of observing, I might still end up noticing things you don’t want me to. To be peered at by others would also be undesirable.”
“I don’t mind, it’s fine.”
Even my puke had to be cleaned up by Takenaka. What was there to fear from him now sneaking a brief peep into my head? Plus, if this would clarify the mystery of Hyuga’s death, I didn’t really care.
With these words, I closed my eyes.
“Your consciousness will be connected to the photo and I will send you to your prior recollection. Please relax and be at ease.”
Even without being told, my body was already weakened by sleepiness, and my eyelids were already straining against my eyeballs. The cold hand of Takenaka touched my forehead.
Was it due to the presence of somebody by my side?
It has been a long time since I have fallen asleep with such a feeling of security.
What would happen to me from now on?
Before I could ponder the question deeply, I slipped into the world of a dream.