Kishi Yuusuke 1 Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations SECTION ONE: SEASON OF YOUNG LEAVES Chapter 1 Sometimes at night, after the surroundings have quieted down, I lounge in my chair and close my eyes. The scene that comes to my eyes has always been the same. A fire burns on the Homa altar as the Temple lingers in the darkness. Orange sparks sputter as if to interject with handclaps in the deep, resounding recitation of the mantra. Every time, I wonder why it is always this scene… Twenty-three years have already passed since that night, when I was twelve years old. Much has happened since then… things more sad and fearsome than what I had previously imagined to be possible. Every belief I had held until then should have been completely undermined, without exception. But I wonder, why is it that my first thoughts are of that night? Was the hypnosis I was subject to that powerful? Even now, I sometimes feel that I haven’t yet escaped the throes of the brainwashing. ===== There is a small reason why I have decided to note the details of this series of events now, of all times. Ten years have passed since that day, when much turned to ash. There is not a great deal of meaning behind the number of years. That said, with a sort of irony, doubts about the future have started to grow, just as the mountain of issues regarding the new establishment were solved. My exploration of humanity’s past in my spare time has only served to reaffirm the fact that humans, no matter how many tears are shed in convincing them, forget lessons as soon as the worst has come and gone. Of course, no-one will ever forget that day; those feelings beyond words, that oath we swore that the tragedy might never be repeated. I’d like to believe no-one will. However, in a far-off future when peoples’ memories of this have faded away, perhaps our foolishness will allow us to repeat those same mistakes. This is a feeling I cannot shake.
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[Aidoru] Shinsekai Yori (From the New World) - Chapter 1&2
[Aidoru] Shin sekai Yori (From the New World) - Chapter 1&2
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Transcript
Kishi Yuusuke 1
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
SECTION ONE: SEASON OF YOUNG LEAVES
Chapter 1
Sometimes at night, after the surroundings have quieted down, I lounge in my chair
and close my eyes. The scene that comes to my eyes has always been the same.
A fire burns on the Homa altar as the Temple lingers in the darkness. Orange sparks
sputter as if to interject with handclaps in the deep, resounding recitation of the
mantra.
Every time, I wonder why it is always this scene…
Twenty-three years have already passed since that night, when I was twelve years old.
Much has happened since then… things more sad and fearsome than what I had
previously imagined to be possible. Every belief I had held until then should have been
completely undermined, without exception.
But I wonder, why is it that my first thoughts are of that night?
Was the hypnosis I was subject to that powerful?
Even now, I sometimes feel that I haven’t yet escaped the throes of the brainwashing.
=====
There is a small reason why I have decided to note the details of this series of events
now, of all times.
Ten years have passed since that day, when much turned to ash.
There is not a great deal of meaning behind the number of years. That said, with a sort
of irony, doubts about the future have started to grow, just as the mountain of issues
regarding the new establishment were solved. My exploration of humanity’s past in my
spare time has only served to reaffirm the fact that humans, no matter how many tears
are shed in convincing them, forget lessons as soon as the worst has come and gone.
Of course, no-one will ever forget that day; those feelings beyond words, that oath we
swore that the tragedy might never be repeated. I’d like to believe no-one will.
However, in a far-off future when peoples’ memories of this have faded away, perhaps
our foolishness will allow us to repeat those same mistakes. This is a feeling I cannot
shake.
Kishi Yuusuke 2
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
Thus, I picked up my pen and started work on the rough draft of this memorandum, but
many times I have stopped in puzzlement. There were places, here and there, where
my memories have become full of holes… and the important specifics are lost to time.
I sought help from the people involved in those times, but it seems that the holes in
peoples’ memories are reinforced with fabrications. I was surprised to see that shared
experiences were sometimes manifested in differing accounts that together formed an
inconsistent dialogue.
For example, the reason I was able to find the Faux-minoshiro on Mount Tsukuba was
because I was wearing red shades, having damaged my eyes just prior to the event.
This, I still remember in vivid detail, but Satoru, for some reason, proudly proclaims
that I hadn’t been wearing such a thing. What’s more, his words seemed to imply that
it was he who had found the Faux-minoshiro. That wasn’t true at all, of course.
Somewhat out of stubbornness, I started interviewing as many people as I could think
of, attempting to put together the various odds and ends of their memories. During
this process, I was made aware of a certain fact: There was not one person that had
twisted their memories in a way that would cast them in an unfavourable light. With a
pitying smile, I wrote down this new discovery on the foolishness of man in my
notebook, but it then occurred to me that there was no reason to exclude myself from
this law. Viewed from another’s viewpoint, I must also be twisting my memories to suit
myself.
Thus, I must note that this memorandum is my account of the matter, and it may very
well be a story twisted to meet my own needs for self-assurance. This is especially
important when one considers the fact that our actions may very well have caused the
death of so many later on. Conscious or not, a motive for doing so exists. That said, I
am prepared to dig up my memories and deal with my emotions in a sincere manner, in
order to describe with as much accuracy as possible the specifics of these events.
Further, by mimicking the techniques employed in ancient novels, I wish to recreate
what my emotions and thoughts were at the time.
Kishi Yuusuke 3
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
This draft is written on non-oxidising paper purported to last a thousand years, with
non-fading ink. When it is finished, I shall put it in a time capsule and bury it deep
underground, without showing it to anyone (perhaps I may show it to Satoru, to get his
opinion on the piece). I am planning on making two separate copies, and leaving only
three to the world.
If, in the future, something similar to the old establishment is revived, and there comes
a society where all documents are censored, the existence of this memorandum must
be kept a secret. Taking that into consideration, no more than three copies can afford
to exist.
That is to say, this memorandum is a long letter addressed to my comrades a thousand
years into the future, whence it shall be apparent whether we ourselves have changed
in the real meaning of the word, and have been able to embark on a new path.
=====
I haven’t introduced myself yet.
My name is Watanabe Saki. I was born on December 10, year 210, in Kamisu Town 66.
Immediately before I was born, the bamboo groves said to flower only once in a
century, bloomed. For three months not a drop of rain fell from the skies, but summer
brought snow, and every conceivable meteorological anomaly occurred with regularity.
On the night of December 10, the world became enveloped in a pitch-black darkness,
when many witnessed a flash of lightning, lighting up a dragon covered in golden scales
swimming through the clouds…
…That was precisely what did not occur.
Year 210 was an exceedingly average year, and like all other babies born in Kamisu
Town 66 in that year, I was very average. It must have been different for my mother,
however. When she became pregnant with me, she was in her late thirties and felt that
she would not have any more children in her lifetime. In our times, this would be
considered a very late maternity.
What compounded the problem was the fact that my mother, Watanabe Mizuho,
worked as a librarian, a crucial occupation. Her decisions shaped the future of the town,
and sometimes lives were even at stake. Taking part in pre-natal training while coping
with the pressures of her job must have been a considerable hardship for her.
Kishi Yuusuke 4
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
At the same time, my father, Sugiura Takashi, was the mayor of Kamisu Town 66. This
was probably a pretty busy job as well, but at the time, the job of a librarian carried a
far heavier burden than that of the mayor. That hasn’t changed now, of course, but the
difference probably isn’t as considerable as it was back then.
My mother went into labour in the middle of a conference on how to classify
newly-excavated documents. This was over a week earlier than was expected, but since
her waters had broken, she was immediately transferred to a maternity clinic on the
outskirts of town. It was only ten minutes later that I first saw the light of day.
However, by a stroke of bad luck, the umbilical cord had wrapped itself around my neck,
and I could not even cry. The delivery assistant was a young person for whom this was
his first job, and he almost fell into a panic, but luckily the umbilical cord was easily
removed, and I was able to take my first breath of oxygen into my lungs and produce a
healthy cry.
Two weeks later, at the same maternity clinic, another girl was born. This girl was
Akizuki Maria, and she would later become my close friend. Maria was not only
premature and breech-born, but like me, had the umbilical cord wrapped around her
neck. She was in a much more delicate state than I was, and was virtually in a coma
upon being born.
Her delivery assistant was able to deal with it in a calm manner, having had experience
with me. They say that if he was slower to remove the umbilical cord by even a small
amount, she surely would have died. When I heard this story for the first time, I felt
much joy in the fact that I had indirectly saved my friend’s life… but remembering it
now, my emotions are mixed. If Maria had not been born into this world, so many lives
would not have been lost…
Kishi Yuusuke 5
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
Let’s get back on topic.
Embraced by the plentiful nature of my hometown, I lived my childhood days in
happiness. Kamisu Town 66 was comprised of seven hamlets, scattered around an area
with a circumference of approximately fifty kilometres, with the Ropes separating the
outside world from the town.
I’ll include an explanation of what these are, as they may not exist a millennium from
now. The Ropes are a long, Hacchou-jime type festoon, with many paper chains
hanging from the rope, used to block outside evils from invading the settlement.
Children were strongly warned to never step outside the Ropes. They were told that
various evil spirits and monsters roamed on the outside, and that if a child dared to
venture outside the boundary alone, they would suffer a horrifying fate.
“But what’s out there that’s so scary?”
I remember asking my father this question one day. It was probably when I was six or
seven years old. My words might have been slightly more immature.
“Lots of things...”
Raising his gaze, my father looked away from his documents. Touching his long chin, he
gave me a gaze full of affection. Those caring, brown eyes are still burned into my
memory. My father never scolded me. There was one time that he yelled at me, but
that was because my careless meandering about would have landed me in a big hole in
the field unless he had warned me as quickly and directly as he did.
“Saki, you should already know about this. Haven’t you heard about Goblin Rats,
Faker-cats, Balloon Dogs…”
“Mum said that those were just stories, they don’t really exist.”
“Well Goblin Rats, at least, are real.”
The nonchalance of his speech shocked me.
“Liar…”
“I’m not lying. The town ordered a whole bunch of Goblin Rats to do some work not
too long ago.”
“I’ve never seen one.”
“They’re being hidden from the eyes of children.”
My father didn’t then tell me why, but I imagined the Goblin Rats were too ugly for
children to stand looking at.
Kishi Yuusuke 6
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
“But if they follow our orders, aren’t they not that scary?”
My father put the document he had been looking through on the sitting-table and
waved his right hand over it. When he muttered some spells in a deep voice, the thin
fibres of the paper rustled together and a complex pattern appeared as if it was written
in invisible ink. This was the monogram that sealed decisions made by the mayor.
“Saki… do you know the phrase ‘Judas’ kiss’?”
I silently shook my head sideways.
“It means that they’re friendly and cooperative on the surface, but they’re actually
thinking something else.”
“So they’re actually not?”
“They’re plotting to trick and betray you.”
My jaw slacked.
“Nobody does that.”
“Right... People betraying other people is absolutely impossible. However, Goblin Rats
are very different from people.”
For the first time, I felt a slight chill.
“Goblin Rats consider humans with Force powers to be gods, they worship us… so
they’re absolutely obedient. However, there’s no knowing how they’ll act towards
children, who have no Force powers of their own. That’s why we have to make sure
children don’t come into contact with Goblin Rats at all costs.”
“…But if you’re having them work on things, they’re coming into the town, right?”
“Whenever they do, an adult is always around to supervise them.”
My father placed the documents inside the letterbox and waved his hand over it once
more. As I watched, the letterbox and lid became one and turned into a hollow block of
wood painted in lacquer.
Nobody else knows what sort of image the Force wielder had in mind when using his
Force powers, thus it is difficult for someone other than my father to open the
letterbox without breaking the lid.
Kishi Yuusuke 7
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
“Anyway, you should never venture outside the Ropes. Inside it, the strong barrier will
protect you, so you’ll be safe. Once you’re outside however, no Force powers will
protect you anymore.”
“But, Goblin Rats are…”
“It’s not just the Goblin Rats. You’ve been told the stories about demons and
deed-devils in school already, haven’t you?”
I became lost for words.
We were taught stories about demons and deed-devils over and over again, with each
lesson corresponding to our level of development, so that they became deeply
ingrained into our subconscious. The tales we had been told then were but a childish
version of the stories, but they were still nightmare fuel.
“Are there really demons… and deed-devils… outside the Ropes?”
“Yes.”
My father kindly smiled, as if to comfort my fears.
“They said it was an old tale, and that they don’t exist anymore…”
“Correct, they haven’t appeared at all in the last century and a half. But you have to be
prepared for the worst. Saki, you don’t want to have a sudden encounter with the Devil
like that herb-gatherer boy, do you?”
I nodded quietly.
Now, let me introduce the outline of the story of the Demon and the story of the
Deed-devil. This won’t be the fairy-tale version told to young’uns, but the complete
story as studied in the Academy of Enlightenment.
Kishi Yuusuke 8
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
=====
The Tale of the Demon
About 150 years ago, there was a boy picking herbs in the mountains. So absorbed he
was, in his search for the herbs, that he came upon the Ropes. Most of the herbs on
the inside were picked, but gazing beyond it, the boy found that a great amount of
herbs remained unpicked on the other side.
He had been warned by the adults to never go beyond the Ropes. If he absolutely had
to, an adult needed to be with him at all times.
However, no adult was nearby.
The boy considered this for a moment, before deciding that a little trip beyond the
Ropes couldn’t hurt. Indeed, the herbs were right in front of him. He would dash out,
grab the herbs, and come right back.
The boy carefully crossed the Ropes. The papers that hung from it shook and made a
rustling noise. At once, the boy felt very bad about crossing the Ropes. Besides the fact
that he had broken the rules, he felt a grim uneasiness beyond anything that he had
felt before.
Trying to convince himself that nothing was wrong, he closed in on the herbs.
It was then that he saw the Demon… closing in on him from a distance.
The Demon was around the same height as the boy, but its mere appearance instilled
pure terror. A rage so vigorous that its heat turned everything into ash appeared as a
swirling, burning aura about the Demon. In the Demon’s wake lay the remains of flora,
torn, exploding, burning.
All colour left the boy’s face and he backed away quickly, desperately trying not to cry
out in horror. If he crossed the Ropes and returned to the inside, he shouldn’t be seen
by the Demon.
However, at that moment, a crackle of breaking twigs sounded at his feet.
The Demon turned to face him with a blank expression. It stared at him, as if it had
finally found what it wanted to be angry at. After crossing the Ropes, the boy ran as fast
as he could. He thought he would be safe once he was on the inside.
Imagine his horror when the Demon came in with him!
It was then that the boy realised that what he had done was irreversible. He had
invited the Demon inside the Ropes.
Kishi Yuusuke 9
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
The boy ran along the mountain path, crying. Wherever he went, the Demon chased
him.
The boy ran alongside the Ropes, away from the village, heading for a mountain
stream.
Looking back, the face of the Demon was visible through the leaves. Eyes gleaming, on
its face was a smirk.
“The Demon wants me to lead it to the village.”
“I cannot do that. If I take this demon back to the village, it will probably be wiped out.”
When the boy came out of the woods, a precipitous drop appeared before his eyes.
From the depths of the valley echoed thunderous roar of the river. Crossing the gorge
was a single newly-built rope bridge.
The boy chose not to cross it, and began running upstream alongside the cliff.
Turning back, he saw that the demon had just come to the entrance of the bridge and
had discovered him.
The boy ran with all his might.
After a while, he saw another rope bridge ahead. Getting closer, the rope bridge, a
black shadow amidst the backdrop of the cloudy sky, swayed precariously, having been
long exposed to the elements.
“This bridge won’t last long” he thought. It hadn’t been used by the villagers for over a
decade and the boy had always been warned by the villagers never to go across it.
The boy carefully began his journey across the bridge.
His weight caused the ropes to creak in an uncomfortable way. The wooden planks at
his feet were mostly half-rotten, and they seemed as if they could break at any
moment.
When he reached the middle of the bridge, the ropes suddenly tensed. Looking back,
the Demon had just begun his crossing. As the Demon neared, the swaying grew wilder.
The boy took a brief look at the dizzying depths of the ravine and raised his head,
seeing the Demon closing in on him.
Kishi Yuusuke 10
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
When its repugnant face came into full view, the boy took out his hidden axe and
swung with all his might, severing the ropes supporting the bridge.
The planks of the bridge were now perpendicular to the ground, and the boy nearly fell
off, but was able to hang on from the other rope.
Had the Demon gone? When the boy looked, the Demon was also hanging. It slowly
turned its gaze to him. He had already dropped the axe. The remaining rope could not
be cut.
“What should I do?” the boy despaired, praying to the heavens.
“I don’t care if I have to give my life… please… don’t let the demon near the village.”
There is no knowing whether the boy’s wishes were heard by the heavens, or if the
tattered rope was unable to bear weight regardless. The rope bridge was suddenly
severed… and fell to the abyss below. Boy and Demon both were to be seen no more.
And from then, until this day… no Demon has ever appeared.
=====
Several lessons are hidden in this story.
Even a small child should easily understand the moral that one should never venture
outside of the Ropes. When they get a bit older, they might pick up on the theme of
self-sacrifice, of putting the village before oneself. However, the smarter the child, the
more obscure the real message is.
Who would think that the aim of this story is to convince them that Demons exist,
indeed?
Kishi Yuusuke 11
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
=====
The Story of the Deed-Devil
About eighty years ago, there was a boy who lived in the village.
Despite his considerable intellect, he bore one crucial flaw. As he grew older, the fault
became clear to everyone’s eye. The boy’s pride in his intellect was such that he looked
down on everyone else in the village.
On the surface, the boy appeared to listen in school, to the adults in the village with
intent. However, he never truly learned the important moral lessons. The boy laughed
at the foolishness of adults, and began to scoff even at the ethics of life.
Arrogance sows the seeds of a sinful karma.
The boy began to distance himself from his friends… solitude became his friend, his
only companion.
Solitude becomes the seedbed of that sinful karma.
The lonely boy started to dwell more and more in his thoughts. His thoughts turned to
the unthinkable, his questioning to the unquestionable.
Sinful thinking breeds a sinful karma.
Thus did the boy gather countless sins and become something inhuman… a Deed-devil.
The village, out of fear of the Deed-devil, had already emptied. Although the
Deed-devil lived in the forest, it too emptied of life.
Whatever place the Deed-devil walked, plants twisted into unimaginable shapes,
rotting alive. Whatever food the Deed-devil touched became deadly poison.
The Deed-devil wandered this strange forest of death. It finally realised that it was not
meant to be. Going through the dark forest, the Deed-devil came upon a clearing, and
was engulfed by light. It had arrived at a deep lake in the mountains.
The Deed-devil went into the lake, hoping that the pristine waters would wash away all
of its sins. Instead, the waters of the lake quickly turned an inky black… even the waters
of the lake were corrupted to poison by the presence of the Deed-devil.
“Deed-devils are not meant to be.”
With this thought, the deed-devil quietly disappeared into the depths of the lake.
=====
Kishi Yuusuke 12
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
The lesson here should be clearer than the last one.
That said, we didn’t realise what it really meant… at least not until that day, when we
saw amidst our bottomless grief and despair, the true nature of the deed-devil.
=====
When I write of these matters, it seems that the waves of memories and emotions get
out of hand. Let us return to my childhood…
As stated earlier, Kamisu Town 66 is comprised of seven hamlets. The centremost
hamlet, and the one where the parish’s various administration facilities were located,
was the Cogon-ring Hamlet, on the east banks of the Tone River. To its north was the
Pine-wind Hamlet, which large mansions dotted the forest, and in the eastern seaside
area was the White-sands Hamlet. Directly south of the Cogon-ring Hamlet was the
Water-wheel Hamlet. On the east banks of the Tone River there was the Lookout
Hamlet with a good view to the northeast; going south, the Golden Hamlet was in the
middle of a rice-growing area, and to the farthest west lay the Oak-woods Hamlet.
The home of my birth was in the Water-wheel Hamlet. This name bears explaining.
In Kamisu Town 66, a network of several tens of waterways, carrying water
meticulously diverted from the Tone River cross the town in a grid-like pattern, and
people use boats on these waterways to get around.
People worked to keep the water clean enough to wash one’s face in, although one
might hesitate to drink from it.
Right in front of my house, also, carp of vivid scarlet and white swam, and there rotated
many of the water-wheels that gave the hamlet its name. There were water-wheels in
every hamlet, but they were particularly numerous in the Water-wheel Hamlet, and
the sight of them was impressive.
Overshot, backshot, undershot, breastshot… these are the types of water wheels I
remember seeing. Perhaps there were more. Each water-wheel was assigned a specific
task, such as polishing rice or milling wheat, thereby releasing people from the burden
of labour too mundane for concentration.
Kishi Yuusuke 13
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
The water wheel with the metal blades that was noticeably larger than the rest was the
water wheel used for the generation of electricity, with there being one for every
hamlet. The valuable electricity from it was used to broadcast messages from the
loudspeaker on the roof of the hamlets’ community centre. Using electricity for any
other purpose was strictly forbidden under the Code of Ethics.
Every day at dusk, the same melody would pour out from the loudspeaker. The name
of this piece of music was “Going Home”, and it was said to be a part of a piece of
symphonic music that a person with a strange name called Dvořák wrote a long time
ago. The lyrics we learned in school went like this:
The Sun sets beyond mountains far away
In the sky are the stars; glitters in the night
We’re all finished with our work today
Relax we shall; rest our minds and unwind
Feel the breeze blowing at the dusk today
Let’s have fun, gather ‘round; gather ‘round the fire
Gather ‘round the fire
Through the night, the flame that burnt, a beacon in the dark
Dies down, basket cold, there is not a sound
“Sleep well, sleep tight, rest in peace”
Gently pushing us on as it goes
Let the calm and gentle hands keep us safe and snug
Let’s have fun, sleeping tight, seeing dreams of joy
Seeing dreams of joy
Once “Going Home” played, the children playing in the fields would all have to be on
their way home. That’s why a certain evening landscape comes to mind whenever I
recall this song, almost as if by nature.
The rows of buildings in deep orange. Long shadows cast on the sands by pines. Tens of
mirror-like rice paddies reflecting the dim, graying sky. Groups of red dragonflies flying
about. However, the thing that I remember the most clearly is the setting sun, seen
from the hill with a clear view.
Closing my eyes, a specific scene floats into focus. It is either the end of summer or the
early autumn. The air was beginning to grow colder.
Kishi Yuusuke 14
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
“We’ve got to go home.” said a voice.
Pricking my ears, I noticed the wind was carrying a faint melody.
“All right, it’s a draw.” said Satoru, making the kids come out of their hiding places and
start gathering in threes and fives.
Everyone was aged between eight and eleven, and we had all been playing a large
game of capture-the-flag. This was, in a way, an extension of the snowball fights in
winter. People were split into two teams that ate away at each other’s territory, with
the winner being the team that grabbed the flag standing on the other team’s base.
That day, my team was on the verge of losing, due to an early mistake by our team.
“No fair! We’re about to win!” complained Maria. She had a paler complexion than
anyone else, and in her wide-open eyes were lightly-coloured irises. What stood out
above all was her fiery red hair, which had a unique radiance to it.
“Hey you, forfeit already!”
“Yeah, we have the upper hand.” said Ryou, pulled along by Maria. By this age, she
already had the makings of a Queen.
“What makes you think we have to forfeit to you?”
Annoyed, I shot back.
“We’re winning.” said Ryou, repeating his claim.
I looked over at Satoru.
“It’s a draw.” he proclaimed.
“Satoru, aren’t you on our side? Why are you helping them?” barked Maria.
“Well, that’s how the rules go. Come sunset, its game over.”
“The sun hasn’t set yet!”
“That’s only because we’re on top of a hill.”
I tried to persuade Maria without raising my voice. She was usually a good friend, but
at times like this, she would get on my nerves.
“Hey, we’ve got to go home!” said Reiko, anxiously.
“We need to get going as soon as we hear ‘Going Home’, you know?”
“Like I said, they should forfeit!” said Ryou, repeating Maria’s words.
Kishi Yuusuke 15
Shinsekai Yori (From the New World), English version by Aidoru Translations
“Cut it out already… hey, Ref!”
Becoming impatient, Satoru called out to Shun, who was admiring the view from the
top of the hill, some distance away from the others. Next to him sat Subaru, his
bulldog.
“What?”
After a brief pause, he turned around.
“What do you mean, ‘what’? This is the referee’s job! Call it a tie.”
“Yeah. Today’s match is a tie.” said Shun, before returning his gaze to the scenery.
“We’ll be going now.”
With that, Reiko and the others shuffled down the hill. They needed to get a ride on
boats going to their respective hamlets.
“Don’t go. It’s not over yet!”
“We’re going. If we stay outside for much longer, the Faker-cats will come out.”
Maria was visibly dissatisfied, but the game fell apart at that point and ended.
“Saki, let’s go home.” said Satoru, but I walked closer to Shun.
“Aren’t you leaving?”
“Mhm. I am.”
Despite those words, Shun’s eyes were fixed on the scenery, as if his fascination had