It was a table with seating for four. The little girl was sitting across from Yuichi and Aiko.
“Looks like she’s given her snack first priority,” Yuichi commented.
The little girl’s white blouse, green butterfly necktie, and indigo skirt suggested an elementary school uniform. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail with a scrunchie. She was a dainty girl, with an aura of youthful innocence still about her.
This had been the first summer vacation of his high school career. Yuichi and the rest of their survival club, of which Mutsuko was the president, had gone to the suspicious Kurokami Island for a training camp. Various strange incidents had befallen them there, but they’d worked through them. Then, mere minutes after arriving back in the city, he had been confronted by this girl.
It would have looked very bad, from a societal perspective, to have an argument with a child in the middle of foot traffic. And what they had to talk about wasn’t something that should be discussed standing around, either. So they had gone to a cafe with a calming atmosphere, and taken the seat closest to the front window.
Through the window, he could see a dog sitting outside, faithfully. It was the wolfman, Nero. He was in dog form, so naturally he couldn’t enter the restaurant.
“Is Soul Reader a thing that can be given and returned?” Aiko asked Yuichi, referring back to what had started this whole conversation.
There you are! Hey! Give Soul Reader back! I’m gonna be in big trouble without it! the girl had said to him.
“Dunno,” he said. “I’ve never even thought about it.”
Soul Reader was the ability to see words over a person’s head. The labels seemed to reveal something about that person’s character.
Yuichi could still see those words, even now. Aiko beside him was “Love Interest,” and the people in the restaurant were “Housewife,” “Businessman,” “Waiter,” and the like. Outside, the label over Nero’s head was “Fenrir.” But alone out of all of them, the girl stuffing her face with sweets had no label.
Yuichi had seen a lot of different labels since the ability had first manifested, but this was the first time seeing someone with no label at all.
Yuichi had been trying to ignore the ability. If he could give it back, he’d be happy to. But he had no memory of ever taking it from someone, and he had no idea how to return it.
This isn’t going to involve gouging my eyes out, is it? Yuichi wondered, remembering something his big sister, Mutsuko had said.
He spoke up. “I don’t know you. But you know me, right? If you could explain the circumstances, I’d really appreciate it.”
This girl was clearly someone extraordinary. She knew about Soul Reader, and the fact that there was no label over her head made her even more suspicious.
“Juffacombum...” The girl sputtered through full cheeks. It looked like she wouldn’t be able to speak for a while. The girl had a rather mature air about her, despite her age, but she was clearly still a child when it came to her treats.
“You know, Sis would have picked a seat further to the back,” Yuichi said to Aiko to kill time. “Avoiding the window side.”
“Why?” Aiko asked back in confusion.
“To be on guard in case of an attack,” he replied. “It also lets her stake out a position where she can see the whole restaurant, and check everyone who comes in and leaves.”
“But you don’t do that, Sakaki?” Aiko asked.
“No way. It’s a pain in the butt. Who would even attack us, anyway?”
“Huh? Knowing you, lots of people...” Aiko said, looking surprised.
Yuichi decided not to say any more on the subject.
At last, the girl finished her waffle and patted her stomach in satisfaction. “That was delicious! Thank you!”
Apparently, dessert was on them. But it was hard to argue with an elementary schooler about money, so Yuichi just grimaced and accepted it.
“So? We have no idea what’s going on, by the way,” Yuichi addressed the girl once more.
“Listen, I just want to get Soul Reader back, so is there any way you can return it without any more questions and say goodbye?” the girl asked.
“I’d be all for it, personally,” Yuichi said. “But is it going to make trouble for me later down the line?”
Yuichi would certainly love to give Soul Reader back, and if she didn’t want to explain the reason why, he wouldn’t force her to talk. But he felt uneasy not knowing the circumstances around it. Just giving it back wouldn’t necessarily free him from what was going on.
“Good point,” the girl said. “Well, the parts I can tell definitely make for a strange story...” She folded her arms and scowled thoughtfully.
“I’ve been through a lot of weird stuff thanks to these eyes already. We’re pretty immunized to weird stories by now, right?” Yuichi cast a glance over at Aiko.
She nodded. There was an empathy between them, as two people who had been through a number of bizarre situations together.
“We haven’t introduced ourselves yet, have we?” the girl asked. “I’m Monika Sakurazaki. How about you guys?” Monika spoke plainly, perhaps relieved by their attitude.
“I’m Yuichi Sakaki.”
“I’m Aiko Noro, Sakaki’s classmate. Nice to meet you.”
“Yuichi and Aiko, huh?” Monika asked. “Nice to meet you!”
“Right to first names, huh?” Aiko scowled, apparently not fond of being addressed so informally by someone so much younger than her.
“Hey, chill out. You guys can call me Monika, too. Now, about the story... let me ask, do you know the term ‘Worldview Holder’?” the girl asked, experimentally.
“I know a fair bit.” Yuichi had heard a lot about worldviews and Worldview Holders from his classmate Tomomi. The idea was that everyone lived in their own world, and there were as many worlds as there were people. “Worldview” referred to the laws governing a given world.
While there were billions of worlds out there, they were fundamentally the same in most regards, which was why they could all come together to make a single, consistent world, despite minor differences.
But some worlds went far beyond “minor” differences. Those highly divergent worlds all had a central figure — that world’s personification — known as the Worldview Holder.
Aiko probably didn’t know any of this, but Yuichi decided he would explain after, and urged the girl too continue.
“That should speed things up,” Monika said. “I’m a Holder, too, and a slightly special one, because I’m aware of what I am. A Holder that becomes aware of its own nature can’t stay in their own world. They’re cast out. These special Holders are called Outers.”
“What do you mean, ‘cast out’?” Yuichi asked.
“There are a few different schools of thought in terms of how of worldviews are perceived, but I view them as stories,” she said. “If someone inside the story realizes they’re in a story, the story loses its metastructure and ceases to exist. So the world kicks anyone who becomes aware of the story out of the story. Out of their destiny. Or so it’s said.”
“Then the fact that I can’t use Soul Reader to see your label is...”
“Because I’m an Outer. Outers don’t have a role in any world.” There was venom in Monika’s voice as she said the words.
“It sounds like you really hate these Outer people...” Even though you’re one yourself, Yuichi thought.
“Yeah,” she said. “They’re rotten to the core. Hopelessly evil, and I’m afraid that I might turn out like that some day. That’s why... I want to go back to how things were. That’s how all this got started.”
“I don’t get it,” Yuichi said. “Why does existing outside of destiny make someone evil?”
From the way she was talking, they had originally all been human beings. It was hard to understand how you could go from that to “rotten to the core.”
“The minute an Outer is cast out of destiny, they become ageless and undying
,” she said. “For example, how old do you think I am?”
“Ten or so?” Yuichi had pegged her as a fifth grader.
“I’m actually sixteen. I could be going to the same high school you are right now. But I became an Outer in fifth grade, and I’ve looked like this ever since. The trash Outers have been alive for hundreds of years, without ever changing how they look.”
It was hard to believe, but it was true that Monika didn’t sound very much like a child right now.
“At first, all they do is angst about being cast out. But soon enough, they get bored, and try to impose themselves on stories. They use the abilities they get from their worldview to alter other people’s worlds. They’re trash that style themselves as gods. And to humans on the inside, maybe that’s what they are. Looking down on humanity from their ivory towers, playing games with destiny... Unreachable to humans on the inside.” There was a distaste in Monika’s words, suggesting that she didn’t want to turn out that way herself.
“What do you mean, ‘abilities’?” Yuichi asked. “They have psychic powers or something?”
Just existing outside of destiny didn’t seem to make them a threat, but if they had other abilities, that could be a problem.
“They have the power, you could say, to structure their worldviews... to reinforce them, I guess. For instance, my world was ‘A Hopelessly Romantic Little World.’ My worldview’s all about love. My ability is called ‘That First Spark,’ To put it simply, I can manipulate affection.”
“H-How do you use that?” Aiko, who had been previously been staring out into space, suddenly inquired.
“I don’t know if you’re getting your hopes up, but it’s just the power to make someone’s heart race, more or less. And it doesn’t work on people who already know each other. Only people who’ve just met.”
“R-Right...” Aiko was clearly feigning idle curiosity, but she seemed disappointed by the answer.
“Aiko, are you having love troubles?” the girl asked. “We could talk about it sometime. Even without my powers, I’m a love expert. Despite how I look...”
“Huh? Um, well, I’m not sure I could consult with someone who looks like a child about romance...”
“You guys... is this really the time?” Yuichi sighed. It was true that women flourished when talking about romance, but he wished they would at least try to remember the situation they were in.
“Sorry, sorry,” the girl said. “We got off track. I was talking about how I want to be human again, right? And so ***** the $$$$$ to #####, and you @@@@@, and that’s how Soul Reader became yours.”
“What did you just say?” Aiko asked.
“Yeah, I didn’t really catch that,” Yuichi agreed. He could tell she was saying something, but the contents made no sense to him.
“Ah, I guess it’s no use. I’m caught by the restrictions of ‘Distant Memories.’” Monika slumped dejectedly.
She’d have to explain things in a more step-by-step fashion. Just as he was about to ask, Yuichi suddenly seized Aiko with his left arm.
“Huh?” she asked.
Then he reached across the table to grab Monika’s hand with his right, and pulled her away.
“Hey!”
Yuichi then picked both of them up, and kicked off the table to the back of the room. Through the window, he could see the headlights of a truck getting closer.
Right as Yuichi landed, it crashed through the wall of the cafe with a tremendous sound. The truck hit their table and kept on going, stopping only when it crashed into the far wall.
“Huh?” Aiko stared, apparently unable to process this development.
Monika winced, seeming to have some clue as to what was going on.
“It’s like a raid by the yakuza who caught up with me... is that what’s going on?” Yuichi murmured. “And I only noticed it because I was sitting by the window... Calls Sis’s theory into question, huh...”
“You’ve had yakuza after you, too?” Aiko murmured, held in his left arm.
“Does this have something to do with you?” Yuichi asked, scrutinizing Monika, even as he held her in his right arm.
“Um... oh, hey! Isn’t that always the way? You’re in the middle of explaining something important, and someone just has to interrupt!”
“Don’t try to change the subject!” he exclaimed.
“I don’t know how to put it exactly, but in the broad strokes, it’s, you know, that kind of story... One of those fights for a secret treasure that can grant any wish, but only one person can get the wish? That kind of thing.”
“And this is the form the fight takes?!”
The bent door of the truck flew out, and a man drenched in blood descended from it. He was a giant, with clothing that strained atop his bulging muscles. The extremely ordinary jeans and T-shirt he wore somehow seemed out of place on this bestial man.
Above his head was the label “Immortal (9).” Perhaps that immortality had enabled the recklessness of the attack. He had never put the brakes on the truck, just accelerated full speed.
“Lady Aiko!” Nero charged through the ruined wall of the cafe to arrive at Aiko’s side.
“Hey. Couldn’t you have done something about that?” Yuichi set the two down and pointed at the truck. Nero had been outside, so he should have realized it before Yuichi.
“I weighed what I knew of your capabilities against the demerits of revealing my true form,” he responded.
“And you decided to put it all on me, huh?” Yuichi asked. It seemed Nero wasn’t particularly powerful while in dog form.
“But, you know, you didn’t have to go out of your way to save me. I am immortal, after all...” Monika seemed sulky despite him having saved her.
“That’s what you claim, but I doubt you could survive a hit by something like that unscathed, right?” he asked.
“It’s not like that. Since I exist outside destiny, I’m unaffected by dramatic events like death,” she said. “In this case, the truck would have gone out of its way to miss me, or—”
Before Monika could finish her explanation, Yuichi dragged her towards him.
There was a sound of something breaking on the wall behind them, and a drop of blood trailed down Monika’s cheek.
The giant had thrown the broken side mirror at them. If Yuichi hadn’t drawn her to him, she would have been hit by it directly.
“There was no way it should have hit me, but...” Monika stared dumbfounded, as if she couldn’t believe it. “Um, I’m starting to think I might like it if you’d protect me... is that okay?”
She looked up at him with cute, upturned eyes.
“I won’t abandon you, but once this is over, I want a full explanation.” As he covered for the two girls’ escape, Yuichi started forming a plan for what to do next.
✽✽✽✽✽
It was morning, the first day of the second term.
Yuichi had made it safely through his stormy summer vacation. As he reached his classroom, his companion, the bespectacled Tomomi Hamasaki, leaned in to him.
“What happened next?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” Yuichi looked at Tomomi in surprise. He had assumed that arriving at the classroom meant that the story was over. Aiko, who had walked to school with him, was also looking at her in puzzlement.
“You went to training camp for summer vacation! Then when you got back, this elementary school girl confronted you! Then a guy crashed a truck into the cafe where you were talking! There’s gotta be more, right?”
“I told you, didn’t I?” he asked. “Stuff happened, summer vacation ended, and it didn’t feel like much of a vacation at all.”
“Elaborate on the ‘stuff happened’ part!” she exclaimed.
Tomomi had met up with them right as they entered the school building. Yuichi had been telling her all about his summer vacation on the walk to the classroom, but it was getting more and more troublesome to explain, so he had just glossed over the rest.
“Tomo,
this really isn’t something we can talk about in the classroom.” Aiko gently admonished her, and Tomomi pulled back sulkily.
It certainly wouldn’t be a good thing to talk about in the classroom. That was why Yuichi had swiftly brought an end to it there and then. The part with the truck hadn’t even gotten them to the last third of the entire summer vacation.
“You’d better come by the restaurant later and explain everything!” Tomomi told him.
“Your restaurant? Are you gonna ask me to support your business again?” Yuichi asked.
Tomomi lived in a Chinese restaurant called Nihao the China. The restaurant’s owner, Tomomi’s father, also had the label “Nihao the China” floating over his head, and Tomomi acted as a waitress there. It was an extremely strange place.
The restaurant existed in a dimension that normal people couldn’t perceive, which made it a great place to talk about confidential information. But as a result, they apparently didn’t do much business.
“You come too, Aiko! Your club is always welcome, also!” Tomomi declared.
They entered the classroom. As usual, it was a chaotic sight. Various labels floated in the air, forming a jumble in the small classroom.
But Yuichi had grown accustomed to the sight, and he didn’t really mind it anymore.
He could still see all the bizarre labels, but after a few months’ time, he had grown capable of ignoring their contents.
“Hey. How was your summer vacation?” As he arrived at his desk, he was addressed by Shota Saeki, who sat in front of him. Above his head was the label “Ace Striker.”
“Just went to the beach for summer training camp,” Yuichi said. “You?”
“Soccer, soccer, and more soccer,” Shota muttered. He was tall and well-built, and all in all, seemed like your average high school soccer goon.
But Yuichi wasn’t letting his guard down. There was always a chance that Shota might start playing interdimensional soccer at some point. He wasn’t sure what he would do if that happened, but he had decided he should at least be mentally prepared in case it did.
“Hey, is she looking over here again?” Shota asked, with dread in his voice. “It’s freaky.”
The Melancholy of the High School Girl Light Novel Author?! Page 2