The little girl, Mutsuko, gazed intently at Yuichi.
They were sitting on the porch of a classical Japanese house out in the country. It was the house they had lived in when Yuichi was still a small child.
It was nighttime, but the porch was brightly lit by the gentle glow of a full moon above.
It was late summer. The hum of the insects was noisy around them.
“Mom and Dad won’t make it.”
Yuichi didn’t understand what she meant, but being a child, he assumed it must be something lethal.
If his awesome big sister, who knew everything and could do everything, said so, it must be true.
But that was no reason to just accept it.
“Why not?” Yuichi asked.
“Some day, there’s going to be an explosive change... a catastrophe. Mom and Dad won’t be able to handle it. Adults never can. They aren’t equipped to deal with drastic changes in their lives.”
Yuichi screwed up his face, tears streaming down his cheeks. It was too much. The thought of never seeing his beloved parents again was like a clamp pressing down on his heart.
She continued in somber tones. “I know it hurts to hear it, but I can only tell a certain number of people. So I chose you.” She clearly wasn’t joking.
“Yori... What about Yori?” He looked back through the gap in the sliding door at their little sister, Yoriko, sleeping wrapped in a terrycloth blanket.
“Yori... she might not make it, either.” Mutsuko choked the words out.
“No way! How can you say that? She’s still so little! That’s not fair!”
“...I just don’t think she’ll be able to take it...”
“Don’t worry! I’ll beat up that stupid cat... that stupid cats-trophy thing! I’ll protect you and Yori and Dad and Mom and everyone!” Yuichi took a bold leap off the porch, throwing a fist into the air as he swore his oath.
Mutsuko’s eyes filled with tears, moved by his brave promise.
“Yes... That’s right. It’s not like me... I’m not the type to freeze in the face of despair. Okay! Leave it to your big sister! I’ll make you...”
And that was when he woke up.
“That was... a dream, right?” He thought he’d been remembering something, but it vanished into a mist the moment he woke up. The memory was now fuzzy, a million miles away...
He sat up and looked out the window. It was still dark outside.
He’d been tossing and turning in bed for hours, but he must have finally gotten to sleep. Now that he was awake, it was no good. He couldn’t get back to sleep. He instead headed out into the hallway, walked up to Mutsuko’s door, and knocked. She was the only person he could talk to about the cause of his insomnia: his “sight.”
Part of him expected her to be asleep already, but she answered the door right away.
She was in a Chinese outfit known as a pao — commonly referred to as “kung-fu clothes” — which she was apparently wearing as pajamas. “Is it time to talk about big sister fetish games?!”
“No! And why do you even want that?”
“Well, I’d be worried if they were little sister fetish games.”
“It’s neither!”
“Oh, well. Come on in!”
She beckoned him in, and he took a seat at the kotatsu once more. The room was as cluttered as ever.
“Hey... remind me what ‘catastrophe’ means?”
“It’s a mathematical theory. It’s used to describe orderly systems disrupted by abrupt chaotic phenomena. It can also refer to a disastrous change in an otherwise everyday life... Is that what you came here to ask me?”
“Oh, no, that’s not important. I came to ask about... what did you call it, my Soul Reader? I’m starting to see even weirder things...”
Yuichi described his first day at school.
Of course he left out his encounter with the “Serial Killer,” Natsuki Takeuchi. Her claim that she would slaughter everyone at school if he talked about it weighed heavily on him. And given what had happened at breakfast that morning, he had his doubts that Mutsuko could keep a secret. There was no way he could tell her.
“Very interesting!” Mutsuko’s eyes shone.
“Er, could you please not call it interesting?”
“So the labels changed?”
“Yeah. At first they all just said ‘Classmate,’ but then they started changing to stuff like ‘Ace Striker.’”
“And then your eyes started to hurt, and you started picking up scary stuff like ‘Zombie’ and ‘Vampire’? Any aliens, time travelers, or psychics?”
“Nothing that strange just yet...” Though he couldn’t pretend an alien was that much stranger than zombie.
“Well, you might see them soon enough!”
“I really hope not... So, does that tell you anything?”
“Good question. From what you told me before, the words seemed to represent something about a person’s relationship to you, but...”
“I can’t see what ‘Witch’ and ‘Vampire’ would have to do with me.”
Sure, “Big Sister” and “Friend” described relationships to Yuichi, but most of the labels didn’t fit that scheme at all.
“I see... that means we’re in Act 2! You’ve leveled up and reached a new stage of your abilities! But as for what the labels mean now... Hmm, I wish we could get a broader sample... It’s almost like the content of their soul... Their personality or something...” Mutsuko was drifting off into her own little world again.
“Hey, stay with me.”
“Oh, sorry. So, what does my label say? Same as before?”
“It still says ‘Big Sister.’”
“What the heck? Could you at least give me a more interesting label?”
“It’s not my decision!”
“I’ll think over what Soul Reader means... but be careful, okay? You might start seeing things some people would rather keep unseen. And if they know you can see them, they might come after you.”
Yuichi gulped. He couldn’t help but think of “Serial Killer,” Natsuki Takeuchi.
“Come on, like that would happen. It’s not like they’re really zombies or witches, so why would they attack me?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Huh? Well, society couldn’t function with all those weird creatures around...” He tried to say it to convince himself, but the words felt hollow to him.
“Really? I figure they could make it work, so long as they all lived incognito.”
Natsuki had said something like that, too. Without sight like Yuichi’s, who would ever know?
“Well, it’s probably nothing to worry about. As long as you don’t tell anyone what you’re seeing, the people hiding their identities won’t have any reason to come after you!”
Yuichi was stunned into silence. Natsuki had already come after him, and she knew about Soul Reader...
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. Got it. I won’t tell anyone.”
Yuichi headed back to his room.
It was a long time before he got back to sleep.
A few days had passed since that first day at school.
Yuichi had come to class, as usual.
He looked around the desks. The labels were still the same.
“Dating Sim Protagonist” and “Dating Sim Childhood Friend” were joined at the hip, as usual. “Serial Killer,” “Vampire,” and “Fake” were giggling about something. “Anthromorph,” the rich girl, was being fawned on by the groupies that had already clustered to her. The unsettling “Witch” was gazing at “Witch’s Beloved.”