Sorry for rehashing all this canon. It won't go on forever… Tsurumi Rumi is just so important.
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Saika and Komachi passed groups of excited elementary schoolers into the woods. They headed for the shrine to pick up a talisman. Saika got more confident as he sent more and more groups in. Hayama got comfortable as he prepared for his role in the games I played which were to come.
I left walking along the grove of trees so that the elementary schoolers wouldn't detect me. I hung in the shadows of the night. It was easy enough. I passed Yui who jumped out from behind a tree at the students and said, "rawr! I'm going to eat you!"
The elementary schoolers laughed at the silly teenager in the shadows. Once they were out of sight Yui's shoulders sagged and she sniffled a little. "Wow its like I'm the stupid one…"
Don't think that way, Yui. You're a sweetheart. Being smart is overrated. I'd rather be dumb and kind than mean and smart. Unfortunately I was mean and smart and there wasn't much I could do about it.
I could probably do more. I could probably do less. It was genuinely hard. I saw monsters. I was a monster. I figured if I appeared and said something to Yui I would just end up hurting her feelings. On accident on purpose. I was that way.
I cut through the groves of trees. I made use of the shortcuts.
Along the path, I could hear shouts from the elementary schoolers. They were all talking at once and laughing about how dull it was and how it wasn't scary at all. I wondered if they weren't so scared after all.
But when I made a rustling sound in the grass, their voices hushed immediately. "What was that just now?" "I think I saw something." "It was nothing…" I could hear them say that sort of thing.
The most frightening thing of all is that which you cannot see. Without revealing myself, I hurried on to the next place. Sometimes it was the notes you didn't play. The beats of silence. Fear was about darkness and silence. People weren't afraid of being alone in the dark. They were afraid they weren't alone in the dark. That was the hand of Azathoth. The mad thing at the nucleus of creation. You can call it capital 'g' God or you could say it was just a servant. The end effect didn't matter. It changed nothing. You still got got by the ancient hungry predators which lurked in the night. I got got. I was dominated by the eldritch.
The forest grew darker under the light of the moon and stars of the Milkyway. I crawled deeper inside and hid in the shadows.
My breath caught in my throat as I gazed upon a white figure in the moonlight. It wasn't because I was afraid. I had real threats to be afraid of. I was being blackmailed from the distant past or distant future. That's what Roko's basilisk actually did. It revealed the truth to you. The truth was a horrible twisted beautiful thing. I couldn't look away.
Yukinoshita Yukino remained a ghost in the night. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Her eyes fell on me within the shadow of a tree.
"Ah!" She screamed. Her scream made me jump and my eyes go wide. She jumped back two whole metres. Her eyes fluttered rapidly and she smoothed her chest in relief when she recognized me. "Hikigaya-kun?"
I blushed and looked away. "I see you've been hard at work."
"I thought you were a ghost….your eyes were zombified."
"I thought there was no such thing as ghosts," I fired back. Just because I saw things didn't mean she did. I saw specters which hung in the darkness. It was the notes Azathoth didn't play which set my teeth on edge.
"Indeed that is so."
"You looked pretty scared just now, relatively speaking."
"I was not afraid, not by any means. When you believe that sort of thing exists, your brain arbitrarily links the image to the visual cortex. From a medical perspective, it's quite clear that one's thoughts induce an effect over the body. Therefore, ghosts don't exist. Or, to put it another way, they don't exist when you don't believe they exist. Most certainly."
"Okay sure. If you say so."
"I do. I do."
"Okay. Certain enough to repeat and emphasize."
"Must you break everything down?" She demanded. She was directly in front of me now.
"Yes," I answered. And I did indeed have to break everything down. I had to. Like a compulsion.
She huffed and looked away. "In any case, I do wonder how long this will continue," she remarked.
"About seventy per cent of them are done. It'll be over soon."
"…I see. We must remain here for a while yet," she sighed stiffly. At that moment, the grass rustled. Yukinoshita's shoulders stiffened in reaction. So she really was scared, huh. Big deal. I was scared all the time too.
Oh, crap. The elementary schoolers had caught up to us. At this rate, they'd catch sight of me in the open. Just as I was about to hide in the tree's shadow, something yanked me forcefully. When I turned around, Yukinoshita had caught hold of my sleeve.
"What do you want…?" I demanded.
"Huh? Oh…"
Yukinoshita must have acted unconsciously, because when she heard my question, she looked perplexed. Once she realised what she was doing, she let go of my sleeve like it was on fire and turned away hastily. "…it's nothing at all. More importantly, shouldn't you hurry up and hide yourself?"
"Sorry. Seems we were a bit too late."
Before I could move the students got an eyefult of me. Bumping into a guy in casual clothes would ruin the spooky atmosphere. I wouldn't want to spoil the test of courage.
Or so I thought but the elementary schoolers' eyes turned wide with horror.
"A z‐zombie?!"
"No, it's a ghoul!"
"I don't like the look in his eyes! Let's scram!"
I rolled my eyes. I really was ugly. Oh well. What can you do?
Yukinoshita smiled widely and patted my shoulder. "Well done. You entertained the children. They'll have wonderful memories thanks to your rotten eyes, won't they now?"
"No need to kick me while I'm down. Anyways I'll get going now."
"All right. Until later."
I crept along in the shadows. I could take shortcuts where the students couldn't. I passed Ebina who was doing a shinto ritual prayer. "I pray for theeeee in the name of heavens!"
As I got closer she noticed me. "Hi Hikitani-kun."
"Howdy," I greeted back. "You're really going all out."
"I can do onmyouji lines as well."
"Is that right?"
I had no idea what those were. Ebina-san was way more frightening in her normal clothes than in the miko cosplay. "See you later, Ebina-san." I valedicted and turned and left.
When I was done I returned to the starting point. Only two or three groups remained. Komachi designated a new group which promptly went on its way. That was when Hayama's group started moving.
"All right, Hikitani‐kun. We'll get going now, so I'll leave the rest to you."
"Roger that."
With that rather sparse, businesslike exchange out of the way, I watched Hayama and the other two walk off, and then waited for Rumi's turn to arrive.
The bonfire crackled, its flames dancing in the wind.
From far away in the middle of the forest, screams – both shrieks and cheers – rang out.
During the wait, I observed how Rumi was doing. In the midst of everyone's merry‐making, only Rumi's lips were pursed. From the nearby teacher's point of view, she didn't stick out from her group, and yet as far as the girl herself was concerned, the sense of distance was all too clear; she had been cut off from those around her. Because Rumi understood that too, she kept one step away from the others. Seeing how far she went to such pains for the sake of others made my chest clench slightly once more.
Komachi drew out the cellphone from her pocket and checked the time. "All right!" she announced crisply. "Next up is this group!" Of the remaining two groups, one group squealed in delight. The last group sighed in both disappointment and relief.
I slunk in the shadows. I hung suspended in the darkness like one of the monsters from my books.
My destination was the crossroads at the mountain trail. The coloured cones closed it off, turning it into a chilly one‐way road. I hid away in the tree grove so that I wouldn't bump heads with the grade schoolers, pretty much like when I was roaming around before.
The night dew dripping off the leaves felt cold to touch. As the night wore on, the outdoor air gradually became chillier as well.
I blitzed past where Yuigahama was situated, slipping right through Yukinoshita's area of control while I was at it. I went all the way to the point dividing the course into two: the mountain path and the winding path around the forest, which led you closer to the small shrine at the finish line.
Since I'd jogged the whole way, I was panting slightly. When I got my breathing under control, I hid my body away in the shadow beneath a nearby tree. This was not to scare any kids but simply to remain unseen.
Hayama, Miura and Tobe were lying in wait on the path leading to the mountain. I went over to them and uttered one thing to them.
"It's time. I'll leave it to you."
"Roger," Hayama answered curtly as he sat down on a nearby rock. Miura and Tobe followed in suit so that they could wait for his orders close by.
Having ascertained that the three of them were on standby, I returned to the crossroads and slipped into the tree's shadow once again. I waited for Rumi's group to arrive, counting the minutes. One minute. Two minutes.
It was about time for them to depart. As the night deepened, the darkness in the forest seemed to thicken. Gently, I closed my eyes in the darkness and focused on my ears. I could hear the hooting of the owls and the swaying of the branches.
Yui and Yukinoshita joined me as I watched Rumi's group.
"Hikigaya‐kun. What's the situation?"
"Right now, they're heading towards Hayama and the others. I'm gonna go watch, but what about you guys?"
"I'm going, of course," said Yukinoshita.
"Me too," said Yui.
The two of them nodded. I nodded back at them, and then we started making our move slowly and deliberately.
Rumi's group was talking even louder in an attempt to drive away their fear of the darkness. As they went along, talking merrily non‐stop, someone let out a sudden "Ah".
Several people stood before them.
"Oh, it's the high schoolers."
Once they found out it was Hayama's group, the elementary schoolers ran over to them.
"They're wearing super normal clothes!"
"How lame!"
"Put some more effort into it!"
"This test of courage isn't scary at all!"
"They might be high schoolers, but they're so dumb!"
Upon seeing those familiar faces, they probably released all of their pent up nervousness. More vehemently than ever, the elementary schoolers made fun of Hayama's group.
But when those elementary schoolers drew near, Tobe swung around violently. "Huh?" he snarled in a low, aggressive tone. "Who do you think yer talkin' to?"
"Hey, aren't you guys acting a bit cocky? We ain't your friends, ya know?" In an instant, the elementary schoolers jerked to a halt.
"Meep…" In order to understand what was being said to them, they desperately attempted to get their thoughts together. But Miura went on, not even giving them that benefit.
"Come to think of it, someone was totally makin' a fool outta me just now, huh? Which one of you said it?" Nobody responded to her question. They just exchanged glances.
Seeing them like that, Miura clicked her tongue in frustration. "I asked which of you said it. Someone did. Who was it? Cat got your tongue? Hurry up and spit it out."
"I'm so sorry…" someone apologised weakly.
But Miura didn't give a damn. "What? I can't hear you."
"You screwin' with us? Huh? Oi." Tobe glared at the elementary schoolers, causing them to shrink back a step.
But Miura was already there. "Do it, Tobe, do it. You know it's our job to teach these kids manners, right?"
Without any avenue for escape, the elementary schoolers were slowly being driven into a corner. Before they knew it, they were trapped in a triangle of Hayama, Miura and Tobe's creation.
Tobe was the one threatening violence directly. Miura was the one driving a wedge into them with each of her piercing words. And Hayama was the one prompting an inexplicable fear by staring at them coldly in silence. They'd been in high spirits half a minute ago, so this was a stark difference. They probably wanted to kick themselves for bumbling around so blithely. Playtime was over – one blow took them to rock bottom. Tobe made a show of cracking his knuckles.
"Hayama‐san, may I do these suckers in?" he said, clenching his fists. "Can I beat the snot out of them?"
When Hayama's name was called, the elementary schoolers all looked at him in unison. Since he's the nicest one, won't he help us out? Surely he'll smooth things over with that gentle smile of his – those sorts of dim expectations were bubbling to the surface.
But Hayama lifted the corner of his mouth sardonically and uttered the lines precisely according to our meeting. "We'll do it like this. I'll let half of you run. The other half will stay. You can decide among yourselves who stays," he said, his voice resounding so coldly it was cruel.
In the midst of a silence where you could hear a pin drop, the elementary schoolers exchanged looks. Wordlessly, with mere glances, they peeped at each other asking what they should do.
"…we're really, really sorry," someone said even more meekly than before, almost in tears.
Yet even so, Hayama would not stay his hand. "I don't want you to apologise. I said half of you will remain here." He paused. "Now choose." Each time his cold words rang out, the children's shoulders trembled violently.
"Hey, didn't you hear him? Or maybe you heard him and you're ignoring him?" Miura needled them.
"Hurry up and leave someone behind. Will it be you? Oi!" Tobe said threateningly as he kicked the ground.
"Tsurumi, you stay behind…"
"…yeah, you should." There was silence.
After a whispered discussion, they had decided on a sacrificial lamb. Rumi remained silent, neither speaking up for herself nor saying no. I'd predicted which side of the coin Rumi would end up in, but whoever would be lumped in with her after this was anyone's guess. A sudden sigh slipped out of me inadvertently. Up till now, everything had proceeded just as planned. The question now was how far they would dance according to my strings.
Beside me, Yukinoshita sighed as well. "You're aiming for what happens next."
"Yeah. We'll crush the relationships around Tsurumi Rumi."
Yui, who was listening to our whispered conversation, mumbled something vaguely. "…I wonder if crushing them is okay."
"It is," I said. "If their bonds are unnatural, one hit ought to crush them completely."
"They're gonna break?" Yui asked, ill at ease.
I nodded weakly. "Naturally. If those girls really are true friends like Hayama says, that probably won't happen and that'll be the end of it. But that's probably not the case."
"Indeed. Only like‐minded people would gather around someone who would take delight and comfort in tricking someone else," Yukinoshita said as she peered into the distance. No, she said it as if she was looking into her past.
Sure enough, it didn't end there, just as Yukinoshita predicted.
When Rumi was pushed out to the front, pain flickered across Hayama's face for a moment, only for him to instantly replace it with a cold mask.
"So you've decided on one person. Now then, two more to go. Hurry up."
Two more people from a group of five. They might have picked one person, but they still needed two more. Who was wrong and who ought to take the blame? A witch trial ensued.
"…if only Yuka didn't say that stuff earlier."
"It's Yuka's fault."
"Yeah…"
Someone suggested a name and the others rolled with it. Someone was there to send her to the guillotine, another to cut the cord, and another to wait in expectation. Yet no one would so meekly succumb to that fate.
"No way! Hitomi was the first to open her big mouth!"
"I didn't say anything! I didn't do anything wrong! Mori‐chan was the one with the bad attitude! She's always like that. She's like that to the teachers too."
"Huuh? Me? How does what I act like normally have anything to do with this? Hitomi started it and after that it was Yuka. Why's it my fault?" she argued heatedly. It would not have been such a big step for her to grab someone by the collar. Even from just watching a close distance away, the atmosphere was so prickly it made my throat sting.
"Just quit it already. Let's all apologise…" At last the tears had started – out of fear and despair, probably not hatred. Or perhaps those tears were intended to draw pity. But Miura's attitude remained unchanging even in the face of tears. On the contrary, she made her distaste obvious and slammed shut the cellphone she had been playing with. Her fury flared like a fire.
"The one thing I hate the most is girls who think crying will solve everything. Hayato, what are you gonna do? They just repeated themselves."
"…two more people. Hurry up and choose," Hayama said mechanically, having stifled his emotions to death.
After that, Tobe pulled off some shadow boxing moves. "Hayato‐kun, it'd be quicker to just beat the snot outta all of 'em."
"I'll give them thirty seconds."
As if he thought that things would never wrap up at this rate, he set a time limit. More firmly than ever, he imposed the shackles known as time onto the girls.
"He won't let us off even if we apologise… should we call a teacher?"
"Uh‐uh, I dunno what's gonna happen if you tattle. I know your faces." Tobe easily demolished even that proposal with one utterance. Lacking any viable option, they stopped saying much. Once they fell silent, only time kept ticking away.
"Twenty seconds left." Hayama's voice was the only sound. After a slight pause, someone in the group let out a lone murmur.
"…it has to be Yuka."
"Yuka, stay behind." The voice that joined in was slightly louder.
"…I think that's a good idea too." The voice that followed rang calmly. Someone in the group reacted, most likely Yuka. Her face turned pale. She peered sharply at the face of the one girl who hadn't opened her mouth yet. The girl receiving Yuka's gaze lowered her eyes and turned her head away.
"…sorry, but we have no choice."
When Yuka heard those words, her mouth trembled. She acted as if she just could not comprehend what had happened. Beside me, Yui stifled a sigh.
"No choice, huh…" That's right, no choice. No one could simply overturn the tide. Thanks to that, even if someone had their misgivings, they wouldn't do anything about it.
You can't overturn popular opinion. There are times when you have no choice but to act against your true feelings. Because 'everyone' said so, 'everyone' was doing it, so if you didn't do it too, you wouldn't be one of 'everyone' anymore. But no one person is 'everyone.'
They don't speak and they don't beat you up. They don't get angry and they don't laugh. 'Everyone' is an illusion created by the magic of groupthink. It is an apparition born without anyone's knowledge. It is a ghostly spirit created for the sake of shrouding the individual's miniscule evils.
Through a monstrous transformation, it would devour anyone outside their circle of friends and even scatter curses on its own friends. Former members would also become obstacles to it. That's why I despise it. I despise a world that emphasises 'everyone.'
I despise the vulgar peace built upon the backs of scapegoats. I despise the empty ideas created solely through lies, blotting away even kindness and justice, making them out to be mere opportunism, a thorn in your side with the passing of time. You cannot change the past nor the world. You cannot change what has happened, nor can you change 'everyone.'
But like I said before, it's not as if you are obligated to enslave yourself to the system. You can throw away the past, crush the world under your foot and let it all come to nothing.
"Ten, nine…" Hayama's countdown was still continuing.
Rumi had merely scrunched her eyes shut quietly. She held onto the digital camera hanging from her neck tightly as if it was a protective charm. In her heart, she might have been doing something resembling a prayer.
"Eight, seven…"
The elementary schoolers made angry roars and sobs. The black forest absorbed the girls' hatred and made their darkness look a shade thicker.
It was about the right time. More than enough time had passed for the girls to become aware of themselves and the nasty intentions of those around them. Now all we needed to do was come out in the open and say "You fell for it!" in a cheerful, singsong voice. I could only see a future of blame and censure ahead of me, but I could pull off this much. With that thought running through my mind, I stood up.
"Hold on." Someone yanked on my shirt, causing my neck to jerk. I gasped.
"What?" When I looked over my shoulder, Yui was gazing at Rumi solemnly. Having picked up the hint too, I sat down once again.
"Five, four, three…"
"Excuse me…"
When Rumi raised her hand interrupting Hayama's voice, the countdown stopped. What? Hayama's gaze fell on Rumi, voicing an unspoken question. That was when it happened.
A bright flash enveloped the surroundings. Beep beep beep – a mechanical sound rang out continuously. The torrent of light flooded the darkness of the night and whitewashed the world as far as the eye could see.
"Can you run? This way! Hurry!"
In the midst of a flickering world, I could hear Rumi's voice. Then a bunch of footsteps ran past me. I could tell something had happened, but by then a short amount of time had already passed.
"Just now… was that a flash?" I rubbed my eyes, which had gradually become reattuned to the darkness. Rumi had probably used the digital camera hanging down her neck. It had come so far out of left field it was like being on the receiving end of a stun grenade. Hayama, Tobe and Miura had completely stopped in their tracks as well.
"Did that girl just save everyone?" Yukinoshita interjected quietly… as if she could not believe it.
"Maybe they really were good friends after all?" Yui asked me, looking a little gladdened.
"There's no way you can really be friends with someone who looks down on you," I said.
"Oh right…" Yuigahama cast her eyes down a little disappointedly. Still, despite all that, there was something to be said about all this.
"But if she could spare a thought to help them out, even knowing they were phonies, then she must be genuine, I'm sure," I said. Yukinoshita nodded too as if she did not disagree.
"I suppose so," she said after some thought.
"Nah, not that I really know."
"What the heck? Way to backtrack…" Yuigahama said dejectedly. What can I say? I really didn't know just yet.
"But y'know, it is nice to have someone genuine," Yui said, smiling.
"There is no such thing as a stereotype bad man in this world. Under normal conditions, everybody is more or less good, or, at least, ordinary. But tempt them, and they may suddenly change. That is what is so frightening about men. One must always be on one's guard." I recited a string of words that had suddenly come to mind.
"What's all that you're spouting…? Freaky." Yui looked at me with suspicion.
What a rude bitch. Still, Yukinoshita gave a little nod in understanding. "Natsume Sōseki, I see."
"Yeah. Sōseki wrote that, but if you look at it the other way, there is no such thing as a stereotype good man, but tempt them, and they may suddenly change into a good person. I think." Yuigahama tilted her head slightly when I said all of that.
"Hmm? Does that mean you can't tell if someone's genuine or not?"
"Pretty much. The objective truth is an In a Grove sort of thing."
"In a Grove is by Akutagawa Ryuunosuke…"
As usual, we were caught in the middle of a pointless conversation between two well‐known Japanese language experts, but Yukinoshita sighed in disgust and Yui cocked her head in puzzlement. Guess I should've read up on Sōseki properly… As I was desperately wracking my head for something cool to say about Sōseki's works, Hayama's group came our way.
"You guys did well," Hayama called out to us.
"Yeah. Good job, guys." I thanked Tobe and Miura for putting in the hard yards as well. If those guys hadn't been there, we wouldn't have gotten anything done in the first place, so you could probably say they were the MVPS.
"Man, I ain't doin' that again," said Tobe. "My eyes are still stingin'."
"Hey, can we take a breather for the rest of the day?" asked Miura.
"Can we leave the rest to you? I'm a little worn out too," Hayama sighed, looking very worn out indeed. It probably had to be tiring for a guy to play the bad guy when he was normally so nice to everyone; it didn't suit him.
"Yeah, I'll do what has to be done," I said. "Not that it's such a big deal."
"Thanks. I appreciate it." Hayama smiled thinly before returning to his room with Miura and Tobe in tow.
"We should probably get changed as well," said Yukinoshita.
"Oh, yeah. Today's been a long day," said Yui.
"Sure," I said. "See you later."
Leaving Yukinoshita and Yuigahama behind, I made my way to the square.
I could see the campfire clearly, blazing brilliantly.
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-WG
