ABYSS┇Sea of Trickling ■ | Chapter 4
Sep. 6th, 2023 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Season: Winter
Scenario writer: Akira
Characters (in order of appearance): Souma, Kaoru
(Present day. Marine Biology Clubroom)
Souma: —and that was as far as I got to witness.
Kaoru: Yeah, I don’t know if it’s that my ability to understand is low, or if your explanation was just that bad, but yeah, I don't get it at all.
In short, just what was it all about? A looong time ago, you met strange kids at someone’s funeral?
Souma: Ahh…no, I forgot to mention their names. I’m pretty sure the children I encountered were Shinkai-dono and Mikejima-dono.
Kaoru: Ahh, right, those two were childhood friends or something.
Kanata-kun used to happily go on about how “Mikejima did this, Mikejima did that,” so there was a time where I used to get a bit jealous.
There’s nothing I can do even if I’m jealous, though. It’s not like I can win against the time they spent together.
Souma: Mhm……There was a possibility I could have also been in a similar position, but we kept missing one another.
Our family isn’t usually the one dealing with matters regarding Shinkai-dono’s household to begin with. If Mikejima-dono is full-time, we, Kanzaki, are part-time.
Kaoru: I don’t really get it. I was right, your explanations are pretty bad, Souma-kun.
Souma: No, you’re just dumb.
Enough of that, it doesn’t matter right now…… What’s important is this urn (temporary name) that hit my head just a moment ago.
Kaoru: Ahh, right. Is that really an urn?
Souma: I’m unsure. Earlier, I gathered up my courage and opened the lid to check the contents.
Surprisingly, it was empty inside. The ashes and remains of the Buddha were not contained there.
Kaoru: Oh, I see. Thank god. Not that I found it gross or anything—
—but I don’t even want to begin to think about how I could’ve spent three years in the same clubroom with the bones of someone I don’t even know.
Though…well, yeah I still don’t get it. So then what’s up with this vase?
Souma: It’s still unknown, but I think it’s connected to Shinkai-dono’s family.
Look here, it’s his family crest—or, I’m unsure if you can call it that, but there’s a symbol engraved that indicates that they are who they are.
Having this engraved makes it disrespectful for those of another family, or rather, humans, to use it.
Kaoru: You say that as if Kanata-kun isn’t human.
Souma: I don’t know how much you know about this, but Shinkai-dono’s household is different from what you would consider an ordinary household.
Us Kanzakis and Mikejimma-dono are subordinates to that same unusual Shinkai clan.
I would like you to understand that relationship first.
Shinkai-dono is like the lord, and we are like his vassals.
Kaoru: Right. Our place is also quite old-fashioned, so I know such anachronistic relationships still exist today.
Although, ‘cause we’re modern-day kids, we end up thinking it’s absurd. For some people, that kinda stuff is just too much.
And that’s the part where, well, we have to respect at the very least, even if we don’t understand it.
Souma: That’s the correct way of approaching it. You say good things sometimes, Hakaze-dono.
Kaoru: Oh, Souma-kun praised me. Is it gonna rain tomorrow?
Souma: Stop fooling around. ……Anyhow, this is quite a peculiar coincidence.
Kaoru: What is? Can you please not speak so archaically all the time?
Souma: At the time, there was a similar controversy.
A controversy where ashes and remains, what was left of the deceased, should have been stored inside, however—when the lid was opened, it was empty.
It may merely be a coincidence, but it oddly overlaps.
Kaoru: Hmm? Just when I thought it was a locked-room mystery, was it actually a corpse vanishing trick?
Souma: What are you talking about?
Kaoru: I’m in a mystery drama, you see.
Souma: Fufu. You end up drawn to the role you’re playing for work whether you like it or not. When you work as an actor, you end up becoming emotionally attached to your role and it ends up becoming a part of you.
I’ve also had a familiar experience. Just the other day as well—upon returning home, a coarse line from one of the roles I played in a movie just came out of my mouth.
My mother and younger brother exclaimed in fear, “Our oldest has become a delinquent!”
Kaoru: That’s cool and all, but we’ve gone pretty far off topic?
Souma: You’re right, excuse me.
As I was saying earlier, it seems as if Shinkai-dono’s goal at the time was to meet the body of the deceased.
Kaoru: But that same body ended up vanishing? Something like that?
Souma: Yes, so it seems. It appeared when Shinkai-dono and the others opened the coffin and took a peek, they found that no corpse had been laid there to rest.
Naturally, those around made a huge uproar.
And not only did they suspect Shinkai-dono who secretly went to see the body, but even I, who was close by at the time, was suspected as the culprit.
On top of being severely chastised and interrogated, I was also forbidden from roaming outside for a while.
Of course, because of that, I lost contact with Shinkai-dono and the others, whom I didn’t get to interact with much in the first place.
Kaoru: No way, no matter how you look at it, isn’t that way too harsh? I’m sure you guys weren’t the culprits, and even if you were, it would've just been something done by children.
Chastisement? That’s terrible—way too old-fashioned.
Man~ The older the household, the more frightening the fathers. ‘Cause they’re from a time when the patriarchy was still up and strong. I get it, I get it– my place’s the same.
Souma: Fufu. Perhaps we have more in common than we thought, surprisingly.
Had I realized this sooner, we could’ve had quite the things to talk about.
Kaoru: Right? Maybe I could’ve spent more of my time like a regular, ordinary high school student, having fun bad-mouthing parents and teachers.
Souma: I can’t believe you’d speak ill of your parents! I knew it, I can’t get along with you……!
Kaoru: You’re so difficult…
Souma: Anyways, enough of that. I’m simply going to defend my father for a minute. There was a good reason as to why my father was so angry with me.
At the time, the body that disappeared was that of a person revered as a living god by a certain religion.
Kaoru: A religion, huh…… I’ve vaguely heard that Kanata-kun’s family is more or less something like that.
Souma: So you only know of it vaguely. Well, it’s probably not that interesting a story to hear in depth.
Regardless, keep that point in mind, since it saves me the trouble of explaining. Bluntly put, this wasn’t simply a matter of a body disappearing.
A god had disappeared. Our pillar of strength.
So it was only natural that it caused such an uproar.
To make matters worse, an even more unusual incident arose shortly after—
Season: Winter
Scenario writer: Akira
Characters (in order of appearance): Souma, Kaoru
(Present day. Marine Biology Clubroom)
Souma: —and that was as far as I got to witness.
Kaoru: Yeah, I don’t know if it’s that my ability to understand is low, or if your explanation was just that bad, but yeah, I don't get it at all.
In short, just what was it all about? A looong time ago, you met strange kids at someone’s funeral?
Souma: Ahh…no, I forgot to mention their names. I’m pretty sure the children I encountered were Shinkai-dono and Mikejima-dono.
Kaoru: Ahh, right, those two were childhood friends or something.
Kanata-kun used to happily go on about how “Mikejima did this, Mikejima did that,” so there was a time where I used to get a bit jealous.
There’s nothing I can do even if I’m jealous, though. It’s not like I can win against the time they spent together.
Souma: Mhm……There was a possibility I could have also been in a similar position, but we kept missing one another.
Our family isn’t usually the one dealing with matters regarding Shinkai-dono’s household to begin with. If Mikejima-dono is full-time, we, Kanzaki, are part-time.
Kaoru: I don’t really get it. I was right, your explanations are pretty bad, Souma-kun.
Souma: No, you’re just dumb.
Enough of that, it doesn’t matter right now…… What’s important is this urn (temporary name) that hit my head just a moment ago.
Kaoru: Ahh, right. Is that really an urn?
Souma: I’m unsure. Earlier, I gathered up my courage and opened the lid to check the contents.
Surprisingly, it was empty inside. The ashes and remains of the Buddha were not contained there.
Kaoru: Oh, I see. Thank god. Not that I found it gross or anything—
—but I don’t even want to begin to think about how I could’ve spent three years in the same clubroom with the bones of someone I don’t even know.
Though…well, yeah I still don’t get it. So then what’s up with this vase?
Souma: It’s still unknown, but I think it’s connected to Shinkai-dono’s family.
Look here, it’s his family crest—or, I’m unsure if you can call it that, but there’s a symbol engraved that indicates that they are who they are.
Having this engraved makes it disrespectful for those of another family, or rather, humans, to use it.
Kaoru: You say that as if Kanata-kun isn’t human.
Souma: I don’t know how much you know about this, but Shinkai-dono’s household is different from what you would consider an ordinary household.
Us Kanzakis and Mikejimma-dono are subordinates to that same unusual Shinkai clan.
I would like you to understand that relationship first.
Shinkai-dono is like the lord, and we are like his vassals.
Kaoru: Right. Our place is also quite old-fashioned, so I know such anachronistic relationships still exist today.
Although, ‘cause we’re modern-day kids, we end up thinking it’s absurd. For some people, that kinda stuff is just too much.
And that’s the part where, well, we have to respect at the very least, even if we don’t understand it.
Souma: That’s the correct way of approaching it. You say good things sometimes, Hakaze-dono.
Kaoru: Oh, Souma-kun praised me. Is it gonna rain tomorrow?
Souma: Stop fooling around. ……Anyhow, this is quite a peculiar coincidence.
Kaoru: What is? Can you please not speak so archaically all the time?
Souma: At the time, there was a similar controversy.
A controversy where ashes and remains, what was left of the deceased, should have been stored inside, however—when the lid was opened, it was empty.
It may merely be a coincidence, but it oddly overlaps.
Kaoru: Hmm? Just when I thought it was a locked-room mystery, was it actually a corpse vanishing trick?
Souma: What are you talking about?
Kaoru: I’m in a mystery drama, you see.
Souma: Fufu. You end up drawn to the role you’re playing for work whether you like it or not. When you work as an actor, you end up becoming emotionally attached to your role and it ends up becoming a part of you.
I’ve also had a familiar experience. Just the other day as well—upon returning home, a coarse line from one of the roles I played in a movie just came out of my mouth.
My mother and younger brother exclaimed in fear, “Our oldest has become a delinquent!”
Kaoru: That’s cool and all, but we’ve gone pretty far off topic?
Souma: You’re right, excuse me.
As I was saying earlier, it seems as if Shinkai-dono’s goal at the time was to meet the body of the deceased.
Kaoru: But that same body ended up vanishing? Something like that?
Souma: Yes, so it seems. It appeared when Shinkai-dono and the others opened the coffin and took a peek, they found that no corpse had been laid there to rest.
Naturally, those around made a huge uproar.
And not only did they suspect Shinkai-dono who secretly went to see the body, but even I, who was close by at the time, was suspected as the culprit.
On top of being severely chastised and interrogated, I was also forbidden from roaming outside for a while.
Of course, because of that, I lost contact with Shinkai-dono and the others, whom I didn’t get to interact with much in the first place.
Kaoru: No way, no matter how you look at it, isn’t that way too harsh? I’m sure you guys weren’t the culprits, and even if you were, it would've just been something done by children.
Chastisement? That’s terrible—way too old-fashioned.
Man~ The older the household, the more frightening the fathers. ‘Cause they’re from a time when the patriarchy was still up and strong. I get it, I get it– my place’s the same.
Souma: Fufu. Perhaps we have more in common than we thought, surprisingly.
Had I realized this sooner, we could’ve had quite the things to talk about.
Kaoru: Right? Maybe I could’ve spent more of my time like a regular, ordinary high school student, having fun bad-mouthing parents and teachers.
Souma: I can’t believe you’d speak ill of your parents! I knew it, I can’t get along with you……!
Kaoru: You’re so difficult…
Souma: Anyways, enough of that. I’m simply going to defend my father for a minute. There was a good reason as to why my father was so angry with me.
At the time, the body that disappeared was that of a person revered as a living god by a certain religion.
Kaoru: A religion, huh…… I’ve vaguely heard that Kanata-kun’s family is more or less something like that.
Souma: So you only know of it vaguely. Well, it’s probably not that interesting a story to hear in depth.
Regardless, keep that point in mind, since it saves me the trouble of explaining. Bluntly put, this wasn’t simply a matter of a body disappearing.
A god had disappeared. Our pillar of strength.
So it was only natural that it caused such an uproar.
To make matters worse, an even more unusual incident arose shortly after—
