Just like I did at the department store. Hibiya needs this. Full power, now!
My body tensed, I threw my eyes open. Somehow, the park we were in seemed to bathe itself in sparkling light.
“Wow, Gran. Look at all this light you attracted…It’s like you’re a real pop idol or something.”
“Well, yeah! I could sing a track or two if you like…once we find her, of course.”
“Let’s do it!” Hibiya shouted, his eyes now a shining crimson.
Once we find her, I have got to make him stop calling me “Gran.”
I looked upward into the sky as I had the thought. It felt like the moon itself was staring wide-eyed at me. As a newbie pop star, still not that used to being onstage—it all began to seem intensely embarrassing.
KAGEROU DAZE IV
“Hey! Hello? You there? Hey!”
“I can hear you, okay? …What is it?”
“Oh, you can? You know, I guess that guy really took a liking to you.”
“I guess so…but it’s still pretty frustrating.”
“Yeah, I know where you’re coming from there. But remember what I told you?”
“Huh?”
“There are things you can see with your ‘eyes.’ And things people on the outside can see, too, with their ‘eyes.’ So it’s all gonna be just fine.”
“Oh…Right. You did say that. I almost forgot.”
“Well, try not to do that. I told you not to, remember?”
“That I remember, yeah.”
“Oh? Well, good, then.”
“…Oh, right. Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. Not a problem.”
“How should I be searching for other people’s ‘eyes’…?”
“Oh, that’s simple. They’re going to have these bright red eyes. It’s almost too easy to spot them.”
“Bright red…? Does that happen to me, too?”
“Of course. It’s really cool, you know. The color of a hero.”
“Hopefully I’ve got what it takes to become one…”
“Oh, you’ll be fine. Have some faith in yourself!”
“All right. I will. Oh, but it’s almost time.”
“Mm-hmm. Well, be careful. And don’t forget about Her, either, all right?”
“I won’t. I’ll be right there…Oh, I’m sorry, one more thing.”
“What’s up?”
“That red scarf you have. Who’s that ‘the color of a hero’ to?”
“Hmm…Good question. Oh, I know. Why don’t you ask someone on the outside? They’ll probably have an answer for you.”
“Really? All right. Well, I guess we don’t have much longer here.”
“No. See you later…I’m assuming, anyway?”
“You will. You definitely will.”
“Great. Well, see you then.”
OVERTURE TO CLOSURE
Step by step, I made my way back to the hideout, the moon hanging in front of my face.
“This is kind of embarrassing, Gran—I mean, Momo.”
“Well, what do you want from me? You’re the one who passed out on me back there, Hibiya. Also, you messed that whole thing up, didn’t you?”
“No, I…I mean, it’s kind of hard, just doing it all of a sudden…!”
“Oh, stop whining at me! My feet are killing me too, you know. We’re almost there, okay?”
It was a pretty long distance between the park and our hideout.
My legs, heavy with the burden of Hibiya draped over my shoulders, were undoubtedly going to collapse into jelly the moment I sat down.
“…Do you think everyone will believe me? You think they’ll really help me…?”
“Are you still being suspicious? Of course they’ll believe you! We’re all friends here.”
“S-since when were we friends?!”
“Hmm? Uh, since today, I guess.”
Hibiya found himself at a total loss.
It wasn’t difficult to see why. He mouthed off at my brother yesterday, the way he described it, and he had some pretty nasty verbal abuse for Konoha as well.
And then he ran out of the hideout by himself. Kido was no doubt beside herself.
“But…ahhh, it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine.”
“The way you said that doesn’t make me real confident…”
“Oh, I’m just being mean! C’mon, they could care less about what you did.”
“Uh, don’t you mean they couldn’t care less? Which is it?”
Hibiya was still more than a tad dubious by the time our hideout came into view.
“There, see? There’s the hideout!”
“Y-yeah…”
“…Oh! And before I introduce you to everyone, we should probably give your ability some kinda name.”
“A name? Is that what you, uh, do?”
“That’s what we do!”
There wasn’t a rule or anything, of course. But it seemed to be common practice for the rest of the gang. It kind of felt right, too.
“Your skill lets you look at things from far away, so…hmmm…”
“…How about ‘Focusing’ Eyes?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, um, I mean, if nobody else has claimed ‘Focusing’ yet, I kinda liked the sound of that. You gotta focus a ton to make it work, too.”
“…Aww. I wanted to name it first. That’s cool and all, but…”
“…Why do you care so bad?”
We carried on in similar fashion until we reached the hideout door.
It was finally time to tell everyone about all the amazing things Hibiya and I accomplished today.
Heaving Hibiya off my shoulders, I briskly shoved the door open.
“Hey, we’re back! Momo and Hibiya are back…home…?”
The atmosphere around the hideout’s living room was more chaotic than what I expected.
The first thing that caught my eye was my brother, sprawled out on the sofa and dressed like he just got back from a mountain-climbing expedition, lifelessly breathing, “Yeah…Welcome back…” at me. Just a bit away, Konoha, completely topless, stared at me like a robot.
Marie was busily sewing up an enormous hole that was opened up on Konoha’s shirt. And Kido, for her part, was intently poring through some sort of old handwritten book.
Taking notice of me, Kido slammed the book shut and walked straight up to me by the door.
“Whoa, you were okay by yourself, Kisaragi? I was really worried about you. Oh, and Hibiya’s with you? Well, you both picked a great time to get back.”
“Um…boss? What happened to all of you…?”
Kido, in response, turned around and, without a shred of irony or sarcasm, said this to everyone in the room:
“Okay, gang. Kisaragi’s back, so starting from this moment, Operation: Conquer Kagerou Daze is under way! I want all of you to make sure you’re thoroughly prepared!”
“…What?”
“Hey, uh, Momo? What about me?”
I, of course, had no way of knowing at the time that Operation: Conquer Kagerou Daze, kicked off without a single word of explanation to me, would mark the Mekakushi-dan’s final mission…or more like the final time I’d ever be with any of its members.
FAKE AFTERWORD
Hello, everyone. My name is Ishiburo, and I’m taking pen to paper to help celebrate the release of Kagerou Daze’s third novel.
People familiar with my name can feel free to mutter “Not this guy again…” to themselves as they skip ahead, but for those of you thinking “Hey, who’s this freak and what’s he doing in my book?” I invite you to use the search engine of your choice to look up Ishiburo’s work as a Vocaloid music composer. I think you’ll be happy you did.
Anyway, the last volume ended with Shintaro finally obtaining the fabled Final Element sword and thrusting it deep into the breast of Kidorn, head of the 427th section of the evil Mekakushi-dan syndicate. After that breathtaking climax, who could’ve guessed the story would jump over to life at the Kashiwa
Academy? That JIN…He’s such a crafty story-weaver!
The synergy between Enene, Momomo, and Shintarou as they engage in their breezy rom-com school antics is what really stood out the most this time around, I think.
But when the focus shifts halfway through the novel to Kahrno—a character that you could tell was up to something fishy, but mostly stayed out of the spotlight until now—the excitement suddenly ramps up to almost dangerous levels!
What did you think of it? Quite an emotional roller coaster, wasn’t it?
By the way, I haven’t had a chance to read Volume 3 yet. Sorry about that.
The writing work came right to the edge of the deadline this time around, and I’ve been constantly hounded by work of my own as well, so I didn’t have the time to read through it. I’m toeing the edge pretty close myself, basically.
I figured that I would save this volume for a time when I can line up at the bookstore, purchase my own copy, and really bask in the literary excellence waiting for me within. I’m not about to just skim through it and forget the whole plot an hour later.
By the way, the plotline I wrote a few paragraphs ago has absolutely nothing to do with Kagerou Daze. That was hopefully pretty obvious, but if I made anyone excited for something that doesn’t exist, my apologies.
JIN, I know I’ve written a lot of words before broaching the topic, but congrats on wrapping up the third volume!
It’s always a blast for me to take in the fruits of JIN’s labor in all its many forms, so I’m confident that this is going to be just as heart-pounding an experience once I read it.
Thanks to all of you for reading my somewhat childish attempt at an afterword. I’d love to meet you elsewhere, too, if we ever have the chance. See you then!
Ishiburo
AFTERWORD
A Sight for Sore Eyes
Hello. JIN speaking.
How did you like Kagerou Daze 3: The Children Reason?
As always, the story is set in the dead of summer. This volume, though, makes an effort to propel the plot further into the future, introducing new characters and new situations for them to lose themselves in.
By the way, the release of this third volume (in Japan) happened to occur exactly one year after the first one came out…but, wow, the schedule’s grown astoundingly more frenetic since then.
Writing something like this all the time will probably lead to reactions like “Oh, God, he’s whining about how busy he is again?” if I keep on doing it. But the difficulty level does seem to rise just that bit more with each new volume. A little help would be nice.
I am cutting it so close timewise, in fact, that for the past few days, I’ve been shut into my room, leaving only to bathe myself and visit my erstwhile pal Mr. Crapper.
When I started on this volume, this room was very well kept—you could call it nice smelling, even—but somewhere along the line, mountains of plastic bento trays and bottles have sprouted up from the floor. I’m surrounded by them on both sides even as I craft this afterword.
Sigh…And once I’m done with it, I suppose we’ll have to say our good-byes to each other before long.
Someone from the office will come along and cruelly whisk it all way, no doubt. (Don’t ask me why I’m not doing it myself. Personal reasons.)
When I was deep in the trenches of writing, facing looming deadlines and a desperate, lingering sense of doom, it was these piles of garbage who cheered me up, giving me a hearty thumbs-up and a friendly “Hang in there, kiddo!”
Thanks, guys. It’s been nice.
Working in conditions like these naturally means that I have food delivered here pretty often. By the end, though, this got seriously awkward.
Whenever the bell rang and I opened the door, the delivery guy would look at me and make a face like “…oh.”
If you were greeted by a gaunt, unhealthy-looking gentleman in a stained hoodie, you’d probably do the same thing. It made me want to claw my eyes out sometimes.
The worst was always when I ordered in food two days in a row, and the same person showed up each time.
Me: (while paying) “Uhhh…mmmmm…Thanks for coming by all the time. I work a lot out of the home these days, so blah blah blah…”
Female restaurant driver: “Oh, is that so? How inn-teresting. Well, thanks as always!” (*slam*)
Me: “…Welp, time for dinner.”
Every time.
This is what I have to deal with.
It makes a man feel lonely, undeniably. Chewing on a slice of pizza by yourself in your room. Painful stuff.
So it should come as little surprise that once I’m done writing, I’m rarin’ to hit the road!
I haven’t had real time off in a dog’s age, so I figure I’ve earned that much.
Someplace out in the countryside would be nice. I was born in what’s pretty much a one-stoplight town, so living in the big city can really be exhausting for me sometimes.
And while I’m making wishes here, once I arrive at my little country villa, I wish there was a fetching lady there I could spend some time with.
Come on, God. Give me half a chance already. I’m honestly a bit miffed.
Seriously, when my editor suddenly knocked on my door and said:
Editor: “You’ll submit Volume 3 on this date.”
Me: “Eeeeggaaaaahhhh!!”
—I began to consider preparing my last will and testament for a while, but somehow I made it over every obstacle presented to me. It’s a huge relief.
I had to work through a lot of crap to make it here.
And I think I’ll have a much more relaxed schedule for the next volume, so I’m looking forward to taking it a little easy for a change.
Surely my editor won’t materialize before me and tell me to start writing Volume 4 immediately. I think I’m reasonably safe for at least a little while.
My editor isn’t that much of a demon, after all. By the time you read this, I’ll probably be enjoying a nice, relaxing vacation in—
Oh? Hang on. There’s someone at the door. I wonder what anyone would want this late at night.
I’m starting to have a bad feeling about this. Better wrap this up before anything else. Until the next volume, I’ll see you around.
JIN (Shizen no Teki-P)
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CONTENTS
Cover
Insert
Title Page
Konoha’s World Situation
Kagerou Daze 01
Children Record 1
Kagerou Daze 02
Children Record 2
Kagerou Daze 03
Moonshine Recital
Kagerou Daze IV
Overture to Closure
Fake Afterword
Afterword
Yen Newsletter
Copyright
Copyright
KAGEROU DAZE, Volume 3
JIN (Shizen no Teki-P)
Translation by Kevin Gifford
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Kagerou Daze III –the children reason-
©KAGEROU PROJECT/ 1st PLACE
Cover art by SIDU
First published in Japan in 2013 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION ENTERBRAIN.
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION ENTERBRAIN, through TUTTLE-MORI AGENCY, INC., Tokyo.
English translation © 2016 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
First Yen On edition: January 2016
ISBN 978-0-316-31632-3
E3
The Children Reason Page 13