Saru (Before) - The Night I Saw Shooting Stars
Here's a story from a year ago: I[1] saw shooting stars.
A whole lot of them, and boy, they were beautiful. It's called a meteor shower, I think.
This town's in the countryside, so there aren't that many lights on at night. That's why it was just... so, so beautiful!
I spent a whole hour[8] staring at the sky.
No, nothing romantic -- I was alone. If you[2] were with a girl, would you be looking at the sky the whole time? I know I wouldn't.
While imagining what kinda guy he'd be, I counted the days left on my fingers and waited. Well, I started counting at the beginning of the month, so I didn't have enough fingers, though.
Use my toes...? I never thought of that. Still wouldn't be enough, though. What, you think I'm that much of an idiot?
Okay, let's get back on track. Today's the 25th of July. He'll be here soon.
"But senpai, why are you asking me for advice?"
What? No, that's not what I'm looking for. And I don't need help calculating the number of days left, either. You think I'm that much of an idiot?
Anyway, what were we talking about? Your teasing really threw me off. Oh yeah, oh yeah. The transfer student.
If you ever meet him, make sure to be friendly to him, alright? That's my request from me to you.
Whoa, I didn't notice it was already evening. By the way, did you know that the sun sets an hour later here than in Tokyo?
"Don't be such a show-off."
What's that "show-off" mean?
You know I suck at English. What? It's a city slang? That's just as foreign as English to me.
"You really can't tell them apart?"
You really gonna ask me that?
You've been kinda harsh on me these days. Still salty that I ate nothing but meat at that yakiniku party? ...Huh, no? Then what's your problem?
"Whatever."
C'mon, don't be like that. And wait up! The hell did I even do?
What? The transfer? A guy, yeah. Well, the only survivor of that attack was a boy, so that's how I knew. He's the same age as me, too.
Now you're back and walking next to me? What the hell? You afraid of the dark or what?
You know, we should find us a few more baseball club[5] members. I'm the only member because you're the manager, and I won't be satisfied with just playing catch all the time.
That's one of the hard parts about being in the countryside. Maybe we could've gunned for Koshien[6] if the Kegai didn't exist...
Well, can't have everything we want in life, I guess.
"We can try inviting the new guy."
Oh yeah? Well, that's not a bad idea, and if he does join, we'll have plenty of opportunities to make friends, but... I'm not sure I want to use baseball as an excuse for that. It's just like how I dislike the idea of using baseball bats as a weapon. So if you see someone suspicious in the middle of the night, don't go swinging your bat around, alright?
Now don't worry. I'll make some other improvised weapon for you to use[9].
Ow-- hey, stop it! Why're you getting mad now? I don't get you sometimes... Of course I'll defend you! But really...
You might be stronger than me, you know?
Oh, gimme a break.
No, I'm not trying to be cool. I swear, whenever I talk to you, the convo's always stuck in the same place...
"That's fine, too."
The hell?
Look, I just... don't want bad things to repeat. Especially my failures.
"Why must you be friendly with him?"
Ah, well...
You see, I did a bad thing. To that transfer student. We've never met, we've never even seen each other's faces. But I did do a bad thing.
"What exactly did you do?"
C'mon, you gotta understand that I don't wanna go into detail about it.
"You think you can get away with keeping stuff from me?"
What the hell!?
You've been getting more and more pushy, year after year... Keep that up, and you're gonna beat the Kegai in five years!
Oh c'mon, you better not swing that bat at me!
Hah...
Okay, okay, I'll talk. But once you know, you better not pretend you don't know, alright? We'll be in this together.
...You really just nodded before I even finished asking, huh? Well, that's fine.
A year ago, I saw a meteor shower[4].
It was super beautiful, so of course I was happy. Must've been smiling ear-to-ear. Thought it was a sign of good things to come, too.
Well, it wasn't a good thing.
Turned out that meteor shower was actually a space station[7] breaking apart, its pieces crashing down to Earth.
I was...
I was smiling and laughing like a dumbass the whole time, not knowing that I was watching his family being killed, his home being destroyed.
That's why...
That's why I must be friendly with him, even if no one else will. No one's telling me to do it -- I decided this myself. I'm not a guy who smiles at others' misfortune. I gotta prove that before I can bring myself to move on.
What's that look for? C'mon, let's be on our way.
Thankfully, it won't be much longer. My fingers are enough to count the remaining days now.
Chapter 2 Character Profiles
↩[1] Saru (Kunihiko Sawada)
Member of the baseball club. Quite good at looking after others.
When he was in elementary school, he was called "Saru" or "Saruda" because of his tree-climbing skills. Sometimes he is still called by those nicknames.
He is not keen on studying because he wants to find a job to ease the burdens of his widowed mother.
First-person pronoun used: Ore
↩[2] Manager
Unnamed. The only other person affiliated with the Ashihara Nakatsu High School Baseball Club.
Idolizes Saru, and usually calls him "senpai."
First-person pronoun used: Watashi
↩[3] Transfer Student
Considered the sole survivor of the space station incident.
Officially transferring in September, but he'll also take supplementary classes during summer vacation.
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Chapter 2 Footnotes
↩[4] Meteor Shower
They typically occur in the autumn, but the one Saru saw was in January.
Term refers to the phenomenon in which space debris entering the Earth's atmosphere burns and emits light due to the intense air pressure as it falls at a high velocity.
↩[5] Ashihara Nakatsu High School Baseball Club
Currently has one member and one manager.
Rumor has it that the manager is refusing to accept new members.
↩[6] Koshien
Abbreviation of "Zenkoku Kōtō Gakkō Yakyū Senshuken Taikai," Japan's National High School Baseball Championship.
The tournament was put on hiatus this year due to frequent Kegai attacks.
Still, Ashihara Nakatsu High School's baseball enthusiast (yes, singular) practices hard every day, dreaming of competing -- and believing that will be held again someday.
↩[7] Hope International Space Station
A space station in name only. Functionally a spaceship.
Initially, no survivors were found, and all inhabitants were pronounced dead.
Said to have been built to escape from the Kegai.
Also said to host the development of technology that transcends time and space.
Additional Notes: Saru said he saw its destruction "a year ago," but it was actually a little under eight months ago. He's not good with numbers.
↩[8] "A whole hour"
Actual meteor showers typically last several hours.
↩[9] "Some other improvised weapon for you to use"
Saru actually does make one afterward with a piece of timber and some nails.
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