Although it’s a bit late, for now we decide to share our information.
Why, and how, is Kousuke in this strange alternate dimension with the face of an amusement park? I wanted to figure out the details of this event, as well as what his goals were for being here. If possible, I wanted to help. The fact that he was my childhood friend was part of the r—well, I didn’t really care about that sort of thing anymore.
Just leaving like this, well, I’m not really happy with that, although Kousuke wouldn’t stop telling me to escape before the park changes (or, in other words, before his map becomes useless). Even I think it would be smarter to do that. Well, at least a little. But I don’t think I’d be able to stomach leaving him behind.
Kousuke’s trying to force me to do what he says without telling me anything important. Stop being so pretentious. We’re the same age, even though you were such a crybaby when we were younger! That’s what I was thinking. Basically, I might as well have just been sulking.
“You’re so annoying sometimes...” he sighed, “not to mention that you’re still just as slow as always, Snail. Fine, fine. I’ll tell you. I know I can’t win against you in an argument.” Kousuke gave up before long, and started talking as he gazed over the lined up monitors on the wall.
“That being said,” he continued, “I don’t really understand this situation, either. I have no idea why or how I wandered into this bizarre place. Well, I have my guesses,” he amended, “but no proof.”
I nodded. And, thinking that it was my turn to share, I started explaining my side of things, although he didn’t ask. That I was working at the store, and that before I knew it I was in this park... And from there, everything I saw, everyone I met, and everything that I experienced.
Once again, now that I’m remembering, I really have just been getting continuously swept up and carried along. I didn’t really have any useful information in the end, though. Kousuke started laughing for some reason, and I felt a little offended.
“What?” I demanded. “What’s so funny, Kousuke?”
“No,” he choked out, “I just found it funny how you didn’t panic. That’s not cute at all. You know what Kagamimori was like? She screamed, and ran around, and fainted up a storm. Even Torii-san was more talkative than usual. And I wasn’t able to think properly about anything at first.”
“You three all came into this dimension together?” I wanted to know. That’s what it sounded like, although I did hear that he was together with Utena and Torii.
That reminds me: Kousuke, Torii, and Utena were all usually together at school, too. They’re all connected to each other. In fact, here the outsiders are only Kurashima and I.
Well, I do have a vague past connection with Kousuke, but right now we’re rather estranged. It’s enough to feel strange that we’re together now. Kurashima was floating even further outside this circle, although I didn’t really care too much about him.
I wonder, what is up with this lineup? How did— or rather what are— the conditions for people to be chosen to wander inside of this place? We come from a small town, but the population is still fairly high. Why was it just us? Well, there might still be other people around that we just haven’t found, though.
“No, I don’t think there are any. I can’t say for sure, but I can tell from searching through all these monitors. Other than us, everyone else seems to just be part of the faceless mob of customers.” Kousuke, looking like he had great interest in the subject, spoke as he pondered it. “I tried talking to those people several times, but...I get no reply. And it doesn’t seem like you can touch them, either; your hand just goes right through. They’re something like an illusion, or they’re not live people, at any rate. It’s like what you see in those RPGs, what do you call them, background?”
“You’re still playing video games?” I commented. Feeling lonely, I pull on the sleeve of Kousuke’s uniform.
“That’s because the selection in your store is terrible,” he told me.
While mixing in some unrelated conversation, I’m starting to gain some understanding: It looks like Kousuke realized the existence of these control rooms rather promptly, and then moved to use them. Since that time, he’s been constantly watching the monitors, and hasn’t seen any people other than us— that is, people with personalities that you can talk to. If that’s the case, then the possibility of there being any other people that have wandered in here is probably exceedingly low.
That is, if you trust Kousuke’s words unconditionally. He’s also been speaking like he has something stuck in the back of his teeth, so I feel like he’s still hiding something important.
Kousuke realized that I was looking at him full of doubt, and he let out a bitter laugh. “Stop making that scary face,” he said, “people will think you’re ugly. For now, the real problem is why we wandered in here in the first place. If we can make that clear, then we should be able to figure out how to escape...maybe.”
“Didn’t you want to stay here?” I asked.
“I’m gonna leave eventually. I can’t just live here forever.” Kousuke said, before complaining that they don’t sell tobacco here.
“By the way,” he continued, “you’ve got it wrong. It’s not like we wandered into this alternate dimension together. I don’t know about Torii-san and Kagamimori, but I was moving separately from them.” While I felt it was a bit late, he started talking about the details of how he came to wander into this amusement park: “You probably already know, but you see, I...was getting worked to the bone being treated like a servant. So today, too— is it still today? Anyway, I was being forced to go along with her on a shopping trip. You know, to carry bags. At that point, Torii-san wasn’t there.”
“So you were on a date with Kagamimori-san?”
“It wasn’t a date,” he objected, “I was carrying her bags while she shopped. It happens a lot, getting called out to do things even though it should have been a day off. I’d have to carry her bags, make sure she was happy, eat, and then I’d be sent home.”
Isn’t that just a date? I thought. Well, whatever, it doesn’t really matter. I’m not really happy about it, but I already knew that Utena had a hold on a large part of Kousuke’s life. ‘You’re working hard even though it’s your day off, thanks’ is about the only impression I had.
“But there’s not really any place to go shopping in our town, is there?” I remarked.
“There isn’t, yeah. That’s why we have to take the train and go a ways away. Whenever Kagamimori has something she wants to buy, she makes me research stores and stuff. It’s so tiring,” he groaned, “I wish I was at least being paid.”
“You’re putting in the labor so that your parents can continue to receive their salaries, aren’t you?” I said. “It’s a bit roundabout, but you are getting paid. With like your allowance and stuff, right?”
“That’s right, but...Kagamimori...that girl doesn’t do anything herself. If she doesn’t remember where the shop is and we get even a little lost her face goes red and she gets mad immediately. She also gets tired really fast, and always rests as soon as that happens. It’s really a lot of work, it kind of feels like babysitting.” Letting out a very deep sigh, Kousuke lit another cigarette.
This underground room is airtight, so it’s gotten quite smoky inside. My sight is being dyed faintly white. Coughing reflexively, I shook my head and asked: “Kousuke, what did Utena-san even buy?”
“Ahh, umm...” he hazarded. “Sorry, I made a promise not to tell.”
“I’ll keep it a secret, I swear,” I promised.
“Yeah, but... Look, I know you’re not the type to go around blabbing secrets, but there really are some complicated circumstances surrounding this, so it really is impossible for me to tell you. It really is nothing important though— it’s also got nothing to do with what’s going on now, too.”
I don’t really understand. But, well, I don’t have the right to make him talk if he doesn’t want to. Even though we shared everything when we were younger.
Hmm... He did invite me, only, into this control room and told me so much of what he found out...just for that, I really am grateful. This is probably something like special treatment from Kousuke, although we’re only childhood friends who used to be really close.
If we were family, there probably would be no secrets between us. Even if we were raised like siblings, in the end there are no bonds of blood between us.
“Anyway,” he continued, “we ended up buying a lot of stuff...and we returned to town by train. What she bought was, you know, that— so it wasn’t possible to go straight to her mansion. Instead, we went through a different route than usual.
I have no idea what their ‘usual route’ is though, I thought. Kousuke must think that I know everything he knows, because he’s leaving out a lot of small details. It is true that in the past we knew what each other was thinking even without saying anything.