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otomegmr · 3 months

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"Interspersion of light", Yomi and Juurou's after story

Now living peacefully, one day Yomi seems to have found a new ‘hobby’… It’s a story about an idle alien in late summer.

I was walking up the slope next to the hedge.

The gravel was heated by the sun, and the surroundings looked hazy, as if in a dream.

Bamboo leaves cast a shadow on one side of the road, attracting walkers.

A long and narrow path covered in shadow.

And after the end of the slope, the scorching heat continues.

I noticed an old man walking down and stepped out of the shadow.

When we passed each other, we bowed and tipped our hats.

Our sleeves brushed against each other.

It was late summer, when cicadas started to change their voices.

Having finished my 'work' before noon, I was coming back home, where he was waiting for me.

There’s a poetic word for late summer.

It’s supposed to make a melancholic impression, but today’s heat made you forget about it.

My 'work' was to go from home to the post office.

But only now have I thought that I shouldn't have underestimated this trip and should have brought a hand fan with me.

The front door was opened to let the wind in.

It passed through the gates along with me, and the wind chime rang in a clear sound.

This sound let him know that I had come back.

I took off the geta, hung up the hat, and wiped my neck, drenched in sweat, with the sleeve.

I crossed the corridor, trying to look as calm as possible.

“I’m home.”

“Welcome back.”

He was the one who told me that I should have brought a hand fan.

Yomi smiled with just his eyes and dropped his gaze back to his hands. Slowly and steadily, scissors were eating into the paper.

There was a pile of small cut-out squares scattered around the tea table.

I sat on the opposite side, and he passed me a cup of tea he was drinking.

It tasted like water with melted ice.

We lived quietly.

I earned some money by writing poems and publishing them in magazines.

Earlier I went to the post office to send the manuscript.

“How was the response?”

“They keep urging me, so they must have liked it.”

“I see. This is good to hear.”

“...I don’t know about this.”

“Is it not impressive?”

“It’s just a miserable man’s feelings put on display.”

“I am quite happy to think that your words might save someone.”

“......”

“So, when will I get to read it?”

Yomi didn’t look away from his hands.

I looked at the radiant summer garden, listening to the faraway sound of cicadas and the nearby sound of scissors.

“I’ve told you many times. These are just my words to you put together as poems.”

“Then it should be fine for me to read it, right?”

“......”

On the second glance, I noticed that Yomi’s hands had stopped. He smiled at me, his eyes narrowed.

He was enjoying the way my voice had gotten stuck in my throat after his teasing.

“Words are fish, and poems are fossils.”

“I like fossils.”

“Words are fossils, and poems are soil.”

“I like soil as well.”

“Please, don’t make fun of me… I don’t want you to ask me of this only when you feel like it.”

He put down the scissors and walked out into the corridor with a smile on his face.

“It must have been hot,” he said, and I heard his footsteps heading to the kitchen.

I took the scissors in his stead and started cutting the paper in the same way he did.

These pieces of paper with one or two dots painted on them are called piece marks.

They're printed on food and housewares packaging.

I’m not sure why Yomi started collecting them. Probably out of boredom.

“Tarou-san sent us a gift.”

I heard Yomi’s voice from the kitchen.

At the same time I heard the sound of cork being pulled out.

“It’s your favourite orange juice.”

“First time I hear about that.”

Only my uncle and aunt know about our quietude.

They live in Aoyama and don’t visit this house.

They know it would be a burden for me if they tried to get closer.

Yomi came back and put two glasses on the tea table.

How nostalgic.

Memories of my uncle doing the same when we were kids came to mind.

“I finished cutting it out.”

“Thank you.”

“What will you do when you collect them all?”

“I will send them to Seijo elementary school. They have a box near the gates to collect offerings from the neighbourhood.”

He slid one mark across the table with his index finger.

Then he started to arrange the scattered cut-outs by the score.

When he collected ten one-point marks, he smiled in delight.

"Apparently, they can be exchanged for different goods according to the score. The school could buy an electric fan or a heater.”

“I see.”

“So I am acting like a hero!”

“...Huh?”

I said involuntarily.

In a split second that I was looking down, Yomi had hidden his face behind a magazine.

It was Josei Nine for which I was writing.

“......”

“They have a special feature on fireworks.”

“...I see.”

“It seems like there will be a fireworks display in Tamagawa tonight.”

“......”

“Why don’t we go see it?”

“It’s far.”

“We can view it from the shrine nearby.”

Ice was crumbling inside the glass.

I nodded with a sigh, and Yomi lowered the magazine. Eyes, shaped like crescent moons, peeked at me.

Interspersion of light

"This brings back memories.”

We have gone to temple festivals before.

It was back when you still couldn’t walk.

You were drawn in by the sound of the fireworks, so I slipped out of our house, carrying you on my back.

Clutching on my clothes to not fall, you were watching the festival hustle and fireworks blooming in the sky with your eyes wide open.

And now you are standing next to me without my help.

“Am I wearing my yukata properly?”

“Yes. It suits you.”

“Thank you.”

A speaker that was supposed to be a siren was playing festival songs today.

Back then, I couldn’t do what I promised you.

I turned my back to the place you were pointing at, saying “I want to go”, and ran home as fast as I could.

Yomi was going up the stairs with a light sound.

I followed him, not running anymore.

Night market stalls were lined up on the temple grounds.

The crowd was brimming with excitement.

“It looked like a spaceship.”

“?”

Paper lanterns as portholes.

Old songs as an alien language.

From the very beginning, I always knew that you were not from this world.

“Like a ship that came to take you home.”

This temple was standing on a hill in the residential area.

Scared by the festival lights emerging from the evening darkness, I didn’t dare to come close.

And now, when I had finally revealed the truth, Yomi covered his mouth with both hands and laughed silently.

“My people are not that kind.”

“......”

I couldn’t know that.

“If no news came, I would be assumed dead. And this planet would be declared as an unsuitable environment.”

“So… no replacement or help would come?”

“The invasion efficiency rate is 100%. There is no chance that attack would be unsuccessful.”

“Then it’s 99%.”

“?”

“I’m talking about you.”

“Ah, this is what you mean… 1% that had stayed because of his own indecisiveness.”

I didn’t notice the moment I started holding his hand.

“Back then, I wanted to go only to learn about the folk beliefs of this world.”

“And did you learn anything?”

“Yes.”

Yomi’s cheeks turned red.

This smile was definitely meant for me, not for the mask.

“Ah!!!”

Yomi’s pupils suddenly widened.

He pointed behind me, shaking our joined hands.

“Look at this, Juurou!!”

I was dragged to the shooting range.

He was excitedly looking at the rice cooker put on display in the middle of the stall.

Did you really want something like this?

Would you even be able to use it considering how bad you are with machines?

Yomi ignored my confusion and got even more excited.

“Please!”

Nudged by their parents, children tried to get the rice cooker.

Every time the ball hit the box and bounced back, Yomi trembled slightly.

Even if you don’t rush…

“It’s usually impossible to get a prize like that.”

“You can’t know if you don’t try!”

Child who had missed the target left the shooting range.

Yomi took the gun in their stead and aimed, placing his elbows on the table.

I paid 30 yen to the shopkeeper.

Sounds of children firing blanks echoed next to us.

Even some parents who decided to try themselves have given up and started leaving.

The price of this is 30 yen.

Yet Yomi still aimed at the rice-cooker with his eyes wide-open.

It’s absurd.

Trying to get the target in the centre from the very side of the table.

“Aim at the underside.”

“......”

“You have three shots, and if you manage to push it down…”

It suddenly became very quiet, I thought.

Yomi looked up at me as I spoke with such seriousness and chuckled.

He brought one eye down to the gun and pulled the trigger.

A heavy sound that definitely wasn’t that of a blank hit the box.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

The box leaned back and was now supported by the stall’s curtain.

It was as if the rice cooker itself was surprised, having no plans to fall.

While me and the shopkeeper were staring at it in amazement, Yomi smiled shyly to the applause of the children.

When we left the stall, it was completely dark outside.

Yomi had a hundred-point piece mark in his hand.

And the rice cooker was put in the centre of the display again, with its box cut a little bit.

“Household appliances sure do give a lot of points!”

“It's good that we didn’t take the actual thing home.”

“It would have broken if I tried to use it.”

“It would.”

“Why do you seem so relieved?”

“Nothing can compare to the kamameshi you make.”

Darkness deepened. You could feel the autumn approaching.

But the crowd of people on the long road wanting to preserve the summer made the temperature rise.

Children wearing masks were shouting their secret techniques.

A dazzling earthling and an alien collecting piece marks.

I gripped Yomi’s hand even stronger than before.

“I am not going anywhere.”

Yomi answered me.

“I am here.”

“I still can’t trust you.”

It had been a while since the last time we walked together like this.

Even if I know that other people can see you, I still can’t help but think that this convenient happiness is just a dream.

“You are a man who can disappear as soon as I let go of your hand.”

It’s not as if I wanted to hear any excuses from him, but...

When I looked at his face, waiting for an answer, Yomi smiled, as always.

“Can you show me a face like this again?”

“?”

“It was very cute.”

“I’m not joking.”

I quickened my pace.

Yomi, whom I pulled with me, suddenly lost his footing.

He almost fell forward, but I caught him in my chest.

The strap of his geta was snapped.

The crowd went around us, who were standing still, and flowed forward like a river.

“Ah, it finally snapped.”

“These geta are quite old.”

I picked up the geta, lending him my shoulder instead.

The tree shadow on the side of the road was dim and concealed us from the noise.

He leaned back on the tree, and I kneeled before him, checking the geta.

They belonged to my young father or uncle.

The other one seemed fine at first glance, but when I looked closer, I saw that its strap was also damaged.

“Maybe it happened because I started running.”

“Because you tripped, probably.”

I ripped a strip from my handkerchief and twisted it into a small rope.

I tied it in place of the strap and put the geta on Yomi’s foot.

It was too loose and shook around.

It definitely needed to be readjusted.

“Thank you.”

“Let’s buy new ones at the stalls.”

I took Yomi’s ankle to try putting the geta on again.

Suddenly, as if coming out of smoke, his foot touched my chin.

“!”

He urged me to look up.

I didn’t notice when a gentle and affectionate smile appeared on his face.

“What do I need to do for you to believe me?”

“......”

His toes traced my Adam’s apple, pulled aside my collar, and touched my collarbone.

“I am always telling you that this is not a dream, am I not?”

In Yomi’s eyes, I saw myself furrowing my brows like a child.

Seeing me like this, he pulled his foot back.

His gaze went to the road, where the lights were shining.

I laid down the broken geta and put my hand on the side of his face.

I want to ask you so many things.

You don’t have to talk about them if you don’t want to.

But…

I’m scared.

“I can’t love you when you’re so fickle.”

My vanity was melted away by the heat of the festival.

I’m sure Yomi felt the same.

“When I split this Earth into two… I think I was split as well.”

“......”

“We were both saved by Shin’ichi and walked the same path.

…But one thing that was different, was ‘her’, who was supposed to become your mother but fell in love with another being.”

Another… being.

“Just like a certain someone, she loved the blues of the Earth.”

“......”

“Because of this, you were never born; because of this, the world exists as it is now.”

“......”

“She really was a handful. To think that she would forget about her role in waking myself and put herself to ‘sleep’ as well…”

“......”

“However, I am not your dream…”

“What relationship did you have with my mother?”

“?”

Every time you mentioned ‘her’ while speaking in your familiar tone, my heart darkened.

“...Was she your partner?”

“Huh?”

Yomi’s eyes opened wide, and he burst into laughter.

But when he saw that I didn’t laugh with him, he closed his mouth, swallowing the rest.

“What did you find so weird?”

“I am sorry; I did not think that you would care about this.”

“You thought that I wouldn’t care?”

“Are you jealous?”

“......”

“Please, do not worry.”

One hand touching the other, our fingers intertwined.

“I only ever had one partner in my life. It is you, Juurou.”

Vibrations shook the festival grounds.

Immediately, everyone looked at the sky.

Seeing Yomi’s cheek turn red, I realised that the fireworks had begun.

“Let’s go.”

Yomi took my hand and started running.

A black thread was tied in place of a geta strap that was about to snap again.

It seems like once more I missed the time when he started walking by himself.

Listening to the sounds of fireworks behind my back, I ran up the long stone stairs.

When I looked back at the wide open sky, I saw dots of light spreading around it.

Colourful fireworks bloomed in the sky and then faded away.

Probably residents of all the wardens gazed at these lights and sounds, yearning for the stars.

“Thousands of meteors have fallen in the last hundred years.”

One more firework went up.

“Even before I arrived, ‘all kinds of things’ came here flying.

And humans must have come in contact with them.”

“They probably did.”

“And when needed, their sleeping protective instinct must have been awakened.”

Just as hawks have claws and bees have venom, we, who live on the same planet, must have the power to fight.

So maybe heroes called Icaruses were an immune response meant to protect the Earth.

“This planet is not suited for an alien like me after all.”

“It looks quite peaceful to me.”

“Do you really think so?”

“?”

“Do not mind me.”

What did you imply by that…

“Did you know that there was heavy rain yesterday?”

“Ah, I heard about it. It’s good that Sayashi residence wasn’t flooded even for a millimetre.”

“And there was a case with people growing animal ears. Maybe it really was a dream, just as you say.”

“It was. And you looked extremely good.”

“......”

Yomi snuggled closer to me, as if asking to stay this way.

“When you die, I will destroy the Earth.”

One more firework went up.

“But until then, I will protect your peace.”

“I won’t die.

I’ll be reborn as a blue flower next. The colour that you love so much.

When you find me, take me and put me in your hair.

And by the time I wilt, I’ll be reborn as a new flower once again.”

You didn’t laugh at my words.

Looking at you shedding tears, I was the one who laughed.

Please, tell me if there are any mistakes or places that sound weird.

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