Over the Dimension

by Jin (Shizen no Teki-P)

  Takane, Shintaro, Ayano, Mr. Tateyama…

  I wanted to be together with all of you for longer. I wanted to play around with you guys so much more.

  I didn’t want to be born in this weak, broken body. If I was stronger…as strong as the hero of a video game, I could’ve been with all of you forever…

  Forever…with all of you…

  “Is that what you want, foolish human?”

  Where did that come from? Those words that so suddenly filled the darkness?

  I tried to think about it, but then my consciousness shut off, like somebody unplugged the cord.

  —My life is over, my senses have disappeared, but I am still here. What am I?

  The pure white space spread out around me in all directions. I was surrounded by a dizzyingly large array of IV drips. I was on a bed. I was there.

  I couldn’t move. It was like someone had stitched me right into the bed. All I felt there was my consciousness.

  This wasn’t “reality.” I was dead.

  It didn’t take long for that to dawn on me.

  But no matter how I tried to justify it, this didn’t seem like “heaven.” So what was it…?

  “I have heard your wish, human.”

  The voice boomed from nowhere in particular. It sounded like human speech, but it wasn’t. It was a low guttural tone, one that made me sick. And yet, I was still able to interpret it as human language.

  “My wish? Who are you…?”

  The moment I tried to ask, I noticed someone familiar standing beside my bed. My voice froze.

  “It is your own body. Why are you so surprised? This is exactly what you always wanted. Your ideal body.”

  The white hair. The black collar. This was Konoha, the game avatar I created for myself.

  “Wh-why is Konoha here…? What do you mean, this is my body?”

  Konoha’s lifeless eyes stared at me. Then, inside my head, I suddenly saw my own form on the bed, as seen through Konoha’s eyes.

  My mind was forced to comprehend it. This…is me. “Something” had entered my body, and I had been forced out of it.

  “Is this not what you hoped for? You wanted a strong body. Now your wish is granted. A shame that it seems to have rejected your meager ‘spirit.’”

  My body has become “Konoha”? “Konoha” kicked me out?

  That’s insane. That wasn’t what I’d “wished” for at all.

  “N-no! That’s not it!! My wish was to be with everyone. With all my friends!”

  “Ah. Yes. You’re right.” The voice droned, a hint of supreme self-satisfaction behind it. “Let me do this, then.”

  The next moment, the ground Konoha stood on turned black, rose up, and started to swallow him. Konoha did nothing to defend himself.

  “Wh-what’re you doing?! Stop…! Stop it!!”

  “He is going to your ‘friends.’ And let me say, I am very glad that was your wish for me. Even a pile of ‘embers’ like you has a ‘master.’ If you do not wish for anything, I cannot ‘fulfill’ anything.”

  Konoha’s eyes continued to look at me.

  My face, as seen in my head, was transformed into a mask of wild desperation.

  Oh. So that was it.

  The owner of this voice, under the pretense of granting me a wish, had snatched away my body. And now he was trying to take it to the real world.

  “What’re you gonna do with it? Over in the real world?”

  “Oh, this is just a ‘trait’ of the system. We are being called by the ‘goddess,’ and it is your wishes that set the whole system into motion. What I do with it depends entirely on you.”

  “…That’s terrible.”

  “How could you say that? There are many far more terrible than me. Wasn’t one of them the main reason you came here?”

  By the time the voice stopped, “Konoha” was completely swallowed by the black.

  The main reason?

  There couldn’t have been any “main” cause of death besides my illness. What was the voice talking about?

  After a few moments of silence, a sound rang out in my mind. I instinctively realized this was what “Konoha” was hearing.

  It was muffled, like he was underwater, and it sounded like some kind of machine humming along. Then: someone’s sneering laugh. The tone of voice was completely off-kilter, so I didn’t understand who it was for a second, but then I realized in the next instant.

  “Mr. Tateyama…?”

  That voice definitely belonged to my teacher. But why?

  “…You did want it, didn’t you? A stronger body.”

  Mr. Tateyama’s voice wasn’t the laid-back, friendly one I remembered. It was cold, calculating, like the guttural drone from before.

  “That’s why I chose you. Good thing ‘Awakening’ just waltzed right in for me, too…Phase One looks like a success, anyway.”

  Whether he knew I was hearing him, I couldn’t say.

  “Ha-ha! I wasn’t expecting results like this on the first try. The year I spent preparing for this certainly seems worth it now…But let me tell you, it was rough! I mean, someone who can’t stop sleeping and someone with a weakened body? Throwing both of you in there at the same time…What a pain in the ass that was.”

  Just then, images came back into my mind. Konoha must have opened his eyes.

  It was dark, but I could see a large array of monitors, of all different sizes. It looked like some kind of lab. Just as I’d surmised, Mr. Tateyama was there, and behind him was…No, it couldn’t be…!

  “Oh, are you awake, Konoha? Well, sorry. I know you’re here to see your friends and all, but…”

  The body of Takane, laid down behind my teacher, shocked me into silence.

  “Sad to say, the friend you want to ‘play around’ with so much…Well, she’s dead.”

  DAZE2

  It was a long, long tale, but oddly, it didn’t seem like any time was passing at all.

  That might be because we were stuck in this space. Or maybe it was because everything Haruka said was so fresh that it drew me in, making me forget all about the passage of time.

  After he finished, Haruka sighed softly and looked back toward me.

  “…Sorry that went on for so long, I guess.”

  I shook my head. I tried to say something, too, but I couldn’t come up with anything decent. Just like back then, come to think of it. When Haruka revealed his illness to me at his place. I had nothing for him then, either. I had just frozen.

  Two years, and I haven’t grown at all since then.

  But I had to say something. I selected a few words and brought them to my lips.

  “Um…That’s amazing. I can’t believe you were the guy behind Konoha…”

  Haruka looked away bashfully. “Sorry I couldn’t tell you over on the other side,” he apologized. Judging by the story, though, I don’t think he ever had the ability. Konoha had his own personality. He was the one moving Haruka’s body around right now.

  Listening to Haruka’s story must have jogged my memory a little. I began to remember the broad outlines of how I came here.

  How I lived out the two years since Haruka died.

  I dropped out of school. I holed up in my room. Enomoto somehow transformed into this ball of wicked energy and set up shop inside my computer. I still haven’t forgiven her for that. Then I met the Blindfold Gang…As I recalled it, I couldn’t believe that I somehow forgot about everything. It was all just so surreal.

  Oh yeah. I joined the Mekakushi-Dan. And I needed to get back fast, so I could help out with Operation: Conquer Kagerou Daze or whatever it was.

  I had to break out of here as soon as possible. But I was missing one vital key. One final thing I still couldn’t recall.

  The day we went to Marie’s house. My memories from the day after that until I’d arrived here…For some reason, I just couldn’t call it up. Which bothered me.

  “…Shintaro. I told you at the start that there’s something I need to ‘clear up
.’ You remember that?”

  “Yeah…Yeah, you mentioned it. Did your story have part of that?”

  “No, it didn’t. I’m gonna talk about it now…”

  Haruka paused, composing himself, then spoke anew—

  “You said you don’t remember why you came here. Is that…really true?”

  Really true? I arched my eyebrows.

  “Uh, sure it is. What, are you doubting me? Why do you ask?”

  Haruka’s face immediately darkened.

  “I mean, there’s no way you couldn’t remember, the moment you looked at my face. You don’t have to lie to make me feel better…”

  “Huhh? No, uh…Like, I totally don’t know what you’re talking about. And more than anything right now, I really want to know!”

  “You’re been acting strange this whole time, besides. You see what kind of screwed up place we’re in. How can you act all composed like that? It’s weird.”

  …It’s fine, Haruka. You don’t have to say it.

  “Come on, Shintaro. You gotta remember it. Besides…”

  …No. Please don’t say it. You can’t…!

  “… You died when I XXXXXed you, didn’t you?”

  A bolt of pain shot across my stopped heart.

  It was like he was warning me never to forget about it.

  “So please, Shintaro. You need to kill Konoha…You need to kill me. Before this whole story ends with a Game Over…”

  Then Haruka cried, just like he did on that summer day.

  I was there, standing motionless, right in the middle of the Kagerou Daze.

  What the hell could I ever do? I couldn’t save a single one of them. So, what…?

  AFTERWORD

  Where Your Eyes Don’t Go

  Jin here. It’s an honor to have you holding Kagerou Daze VI -Over the Dimension-.

  In the afterword to the last volume, Kagerou Daze V -The Deceiving-, I wrote the following: “I think we’ll be able to get Volume VI released before too long.” Tee-hee! Check it, check it, check it, dudes and dudettes!! It’s been over a year since then.

  …What? What happened to me? Well…I mean, ugh, it’s a year. A whole year. In hamster terms, that’s, like, half of your life. I really can’t believe this. I’m producing these books far too slowly. I bet you’d just like to reach through these pages and wring my neck, don’t you? Don’t you? Well, (falling on hands and knees) I sincerely apologize about this.

  Although, in my own defense, it’s been a busy year. There’s been the anime, the live shows, and all the music production I’ve been doing. I’ll make an effort to get the pace going a bit more quickly, so I’d appreciate it (he said, tearfully) if you didn’t dump me by the side of the road just yet.

  So, to everyone holding this volume in their hands—once again, sorry. Volume VI is done.

  The hero this time around was Noted Shy Kid, Haruka. This character was, shall we say, a challenge to write. It was the first time I ever tackled him really, but trying to figure out how to fully portray the “pureness” of his personality was a real bear. What do you want from me, after all? When I’m writing, I’m in a place that’s about as nonpure as nonpure can be. Positively evil, in fact.

  Thus, while I wrote this, I shouted to myself, “What would Haruka say in this situation?! What?! Gaaaahhh!!” on more than a couple occasions.

  When he and Ayano first met, the first line I had for Haruka was, “Dude, you’re hot, are you on Snapchat?” Sadly, my editor—you’d recognize him on the street, he’s the one in the iron mask—was about ready to take a pair of pliers and rip my fingernails off with them, so it was rewrite time. And here I thought I’d be allowed to have a little fun for a change!

  I can’t help but foster a fondness for my characters as I write for them, though. Nowadays, I’m head over heels in love with Haruka.

  The latter half of the story has a scene where Shintaro visits him on his deathbed, but if anything, I wish I was the one dropping by instead.

  “Wow, Haruka, you’re looking pretty chipper today!”

  “Thanks for braving the heat to visit me, Jin.”

  “Aww, no worries, pal!” [smirk]

  It would’ve been awesome. Why couldn’t I have just tossed myself -Over the Dimension-, I wonder? When’re they gonna invent that app for me?

  Regardless, I’m now here, writing the afterword to the latest volume…but I’m actually in a little bit of trouble.

  Uhmm, well, I’m homeless (gasp!).

  I was so busy that I wasn’t able to find a new place to rent before the lease on my old one expired. Thanks to that, I’m currently staying inside a room in the office, where I shackled myself to the chair so I could write this novel. It’s, uh, not ideal.

  My heart goes out to all the employees here, too. You see, when I write a novel, I usually hole myself up in my room, just writing on and on and on until I’m done. There’s no hard and fast daily schedule to speak of, so there can be times where I’m writing for ten hours a day, or even more if I’m not careful.

  This results in a lot of what I will give the fancy name of “garbaggio” piling up around the room. I have to eat, too, so if I don’t clean that up, the “smellzio” gets pretty bad, too. Having that kind of thing occupy an entire room in an office building…I’m sure it’s not all that tolerable, no. I can already feel all the “hatred-eo” from the rest of the staff. Sorry, guys. Really.

  So. I know I was keepin’ it a bit real for the past couple paragraphs, but I still have to remind you that I couldn’t write this without the kind support of everyone around me. I really can’t say enough good things about Sidu, whose trendy and attractive drawings decorate every volume of this series.

  I know, I know. I really feel like I need to work harder on this. And I will.

  Priority one is to get a new apartment, but priority two is to get working on Volume VII right away.

  This volume ended with Shintaro in a situation where we’ve got no idea what’s going on with him, after all. I’ll try to resolve that in the next volume, so keep an eye out for it.

  I’d also like to try tackling a spin-off volume sometime, like I hinted at in the previous volume. The main story comes first of course, but…

  I actually discussed this with the editor a bit ago. It went like this:

  Me: “I’d like to make a spin-off series with [censored] as the main character, but…”

  Editor: “You dumbass!” [his way of sayin, “Sure, great!”]

  Me: “Oh, Mr. Editor…[whine, whine, lick]”

  I think that’s how it went, anyway. So keep an eye out for that, too, but not too keen of one, if you know what I mean. In fact, if you ever thought to yourself, “I want to read more about this guy!” let me know. I’d love to hear your feedback.

  So! I’ll do my best to get the next volume out quick, so here’s to the future!

  JIN (Shizen no Teki-P)