Starting to feel somewhat miserable, I focused on keeping quiet and listening to what Kousuke was saying.
“And then,” he was saying, “you see, that’s when Kurashima came up and asked us for directions.”
So that’s where you walk into the picture, Kurashima, I thought. That guy is so suspicious, basically because he’s a completely unknown entity from our town’s perspective.
Kousuke snorted; it seemed like he also couldn’t stand the guy. “He says he’s touring the country on his bike. I have no idea why he’d come to such a remote town as ours, though. It’s a hard place to get into, and a bike would conversely make it even more inconvenient.”
“There was probably just something that he wanted to see, I guess,” I said. “Either that, or he just got lost.”
“Yeah, he might have been lost, now that I think about it. He did come and ask us for directions— but no, he also seemed like he was looking for something... I really can’t tell. I didn’t talk to him much, either.” Pursing his lips, Kousuke started to tap his foot; he was clearly frustrated.
“That Kagamimori,” he grumbled, “she probably fell in love with him at first sight... That girl is really easy like that, apparently.” So then, Kagamimori decided to personally guide Kurashima around. After all, she’d have nothing to do once she returned home, anyway. “But I wanted to stop carrying all those bags,” Kousuke was saying, “so in the end, we split up there and I headed for the storehouse in the mountain.”
“Storehouse? In the mountain?” I asked, latching on to this small detail.
Kousuke explained it vaguely: “The Kagamimoris have a storehouse in the mountains. I say ‘storehouse,’ but it’s more like a mountain cabin... So we’ve started leaving the stuff we buy up there. Apparently that girl is going shopping without telling her parents,” he sighed, “so the storehouse is where she secretly hides the stuff she’s bought.” It sounded like a complaint, but he moved on: “I mean, the mountains surrounding the town are all owned by the Kagamimori group, so it looks like Kagamimori owns that storehouse, too. Apparently there was a time when Kagamimori looked through a bunch of her family’s albums and old records in their house’s storeroom and stuff. She occasionally finds stuff that’s convenient for us to use, so we just go ahead and use them as we please.”
“Is that so?” I mused. “So, in other words, you also know about such a secret space— one that sounds especially important to Kagamimori.”
“It’s not like I could help it,” Kousuke objected. “That Kagamimori buys so much stuff at once that there’s no way she could carry it all herself— not that she would, anyway. I also don’t want to have to climb mountains carrying her shopping, but, well, she completely has it in her head that I won’t betray her... I’ve been acting like her humble servant this entire time for that, after all.”
“Yeah, I get it,” I teased. “Thanks for the hard work, servant boy.” The heat that I’d gained from the shower is all gone now; my body has gotten chilly. How climate works in this strange alternate dimension is unclear, but it seems that it’s getting close to winter. If the sun keeps setting and it keeps getting colder, I can see me catching a cold.
I sneezed, but I don’t think Kousuke caught that because he continued talking: “And that’s how I ended up separating from Kagamimori. She probably went with Kurashima, guiding him wherever he wanted to go.” This time, Kousuke did seem to notice me sniffing, because he started acting worried. “You alright?” he asked. “You’re not really on the tough side, so be careful.”
“The unhealthy person who smokes shouldn’t be talking,” I retorted. “I’m fine, just feeling a little chilly after that shower... Anyway, I have a question.” It was kind of embarrassing to have him worry about me like this, so I changed the subject. “So Torii-san wasn’t with you guys today? It feels like she’s always hanging around you, though— at least at school, anyway. Oh, but it’s not like you guys are particularly close or anything, right?”
“Well... That Kagamimori, it looks like she hates Torii-san, after all.” He spoke like it was somebody else’s problem, even though he overlooked all the bullying going on against her while Utena was around. It’s like he chose to let her die— well, I’m the same, though.
Distance doesn’t matter. While knowing that there was a poor girl being bullied, we didn’t even think of helping her. We’re both guilty, but Kousuke does have his position to consider: nobody can defy the princess of this town.
Succumbing to this feeling of helplessness, I asked a rather useless question: “Why is Torii-san even being bullied, I wonder?” There probably isn’t any reason for the bullying. At best, it’s probably something like she’s gloomy or dirty or creepy... There just needs to be a small excuse for people to start hurting other people; the weakest one in the group will be the one to get harassed.
In any group. It’s probably the same in adult society, too. People live in groups, so it’s inevitable. There’s no choice but to behave so as to not get involved and expose your own weaknesses, in order to live.
Kousuke probably didn’t want to talk about this subject either— his tone was vague when he said, “It’s probably like that saying: ‘excessive cuteness multiplies hatred hundredfold...’ No, that’s wrong, it’s because Torii-san has everything that Kagamimori lacks, so she hates her.”
What does that even mean? I wonder. Utena is this town’s princess; a young lady from a rich family. There’s probably nothing in this world she couldn’t have, and he’s saying that Torii has what she doesn’t? I wonder what it is, but I can’t imagine it. Maybe it’s her height or something? Utena is small.
“Well anyway,” said Kousuke, “I was planning on meeting up with Kagamimori after I dropped off her stuff, because I was gonna get her to treat me to some good food as a reward.” Just like that, Kousuke went back to the previous topic, so I couldn’t pursue my train of thought.
It’s a difficult topic to talk and to ask about, anyway. But somehow, I’m really curious about it, although it has nothing to do with the larger goal of escaping this alternate dimension. I’m probably just curious about Torii because I can sense a juicy story.
“We had a meeting point,” he was saying, “so I left the mountain and headed to where Kagamimori should have been waiting. You know there’s that temple, right? A small one, near your house.”
“Oh, that’s not a temple, it’s a shrine,” I corrected him. “But no one’s managing it any more, so it’s basically a ruin. Delinquents use it as their hangout, so I wish they’d demolish it already. But we played there often when we were little... It’d be kind of lonely to have that place be gone.”
When I started talking about something else, Kousuke made a scary face. He was staring fixedly at me.
“W-what?” I stammered. “Kousuke...?”
“Sorry— Uhh, it must be my mistake.” Kousuke made a weird face, like he swallowed something that wasn’t quite chewed enough.
“That temple— shrine, I mean— it burned down. There was a fire; location wise, your store was in danger, too. I was really worried.” He asked me if I was ok.
I was bewildered. Certainly, that shrine was located just behind my house. If there was a fire, my house would be in danger, too. But if there really was a fire, there’s no way I would miss it.
But I had been nodding off, because I was so bored while minding the store... That’s why for a while, in the beginning, I thought this was all a dream. I don’t remember the moment I wandered into an alternate dimension. There’s a possibility that I was sleeping, so I didn’t notice the fire.
“I was also worried about Kagamimori, because she was supposed to be waiting at the shrine,” he said slowly. “She’s a slow runner, so I thought I would need to save her... After calling the fire department, I ran around and went into the shrine from where the fire was weakest. Now that I think about it, that was really dangerous, though.”
Certainly, it would be; if you’re not wearing any fire fighting equipment, entering a fire is basically suicide. You’d probably just pass out from the smoke before burning to death.
“I was just running around in the smoke without much thought... I passed out, and the next thing I knew I was here in this alternate dimension. That’s why I really thought this place was like heaven, or hell.” That idea wasn’t completely impossible, and the thought gave me the chills.
Kousuke tried to do something unreasonable, and fainted either from suffocating in the smoke or breathing in noxious gas before being burned to death. Meanwhile, I was sleeping without a care when I was caught in the fire and died.
That might be the case.
Although, the fact that either heaven or hell is set in an amusement park doesn’t mesh well with my knowledge... No one knows for sure what happens after death, because there’s no living person that’s ever actually experienced death.
I’m starting to wonder if this is life after death, instead of an alternate world out of some fantasy novel. If that’s the case, I doubt that we can escape at all.