Prologue | I, Once Again | Remake our Life!
"I'm home"
It was just past noon when I came back to the share house.
I unlocked the door and went inside the house, but there was no
one there.
"Nanako works part-time... Shinoaki is"
On the desk in the living room, there was a note saying that she
was going to the bookstore.
I set down my luggage and looked around the share house again.
Four private rooms, kitchen and living room.
In this living space, I've spent time with them.
But now there is no "he" among them anymore.
The door of the vacant room was left open for ventilation.
It used to stay closed a lot, saying he had to concentrate.
It's been almost a month since they became the girls.
"Somehow, it looks like no one is here."
My voice was the only sound in the empty room.
It's an unlikely delusion, but who knows what will happen on my
time in the first place.
As I talk like this today, I may fly back to some other time.
I might be sent back to that gray, original world that I no longer
want to return to.
That's why this space might not be "like" but really
empty.
"It could have been a dream, I wonder if that's even possible."
As I walked up the stairs to the second floor, I thought about the
rest of my delusion.
This whole world was a game, and I was a character in it.
So, I made a wrong choice in the first route. I followed the route
with a bad ending and saw the ending. Then I had to play the rest of the game
from the save point again.
No, since I didn't even know if there was a save point, it might
be correct to say that I was once again left standing in the middle of the
route.
After experiencing something so extraordinary, it is tempting to
think of at least one such fantasy.
"I hope this is the true route, but..."
I open the door to my room.
A small desk, a futon, and a work PC. Originally, I didn't
have much things, so the room was compact and tidy.
"There's no one... Let's get started"
I stood in front of the closet with a pen in my hand.
After taking a deep breath, I slowly opened the closet.
The scene that spread out there reminded me of a class I took last
year.
"When writing a script, if I start writing the plot right
away, I may get stuck on the details. So I need to write in the box in order to
see the path ahead properly."
That's what I learned from my screenwriting teacher in my film
class.
"The format of the boxed text can be anything you like. You
can use bullet points, or use an outline processor to create a hierarchical
structure. You can also use an outline processor to create a hierarchical
structure, or you can write detailed events on sticky notes and put them in an
orderly fashion."
With that, I actually started putting sticky notes on the
blackboard.
"This is how causality is created through a series of events.
And the result will always have a reason at the beginning of the route. In this
way, the story can be foreshadowed from the beginning."
I feel like I'm in a game.
This means that I am in the story myself.
"I never know what's going to be useful, really"
I turned on the light of an electric lamp that I keep in the
closet.
There are a lot of yellow memo-shaped sticky notes on it.
It wasn't just randomly put up, it was a set of rules along a timeline.
The top is the past, the bottom is the future. The middle is now.
What I have experienced, what I am doing now, and what I will be
doing in the future were described in each event.
It's a box of my life.
"It has increased a lot... I have to organize them."
I carefully peeled off the sticky notes of the routes I no longer
took.
Originally, I didn't have a lot of stuff. So I had a lot of space
and this was the perfect place to do something.
Moreover, this experiment was not to be shown to others. It was
not an elegant thing to do, and it could be offensive to some people.
You treat your friends and loved ones like they are pawns in a
game.
"What a horrible person."
I'm the one who has been so horrible to Tsurayuki, and who is
currently clouding Shinoaki's future, and now I'm going to be acting even more
like I'm playing a game with myself and my surroundings.
But this was something I needed to do.
Organize my mind and write down and summarize what I need to do
for myself and for everyone else right now.
It was necessary ―― to be aware of it, to decide what to do.
I started this that day when I happened to hit Saikawa in the middle of Geizaka.
There are definitely some flags and rules in this world, and I'm
living according to them. No, let me live according to them.
Then it was time to be proactive. If things are going to move
based on my choices, I should think ahead about what I can expect and what is
possible. Then, when the time came, I would act without hesitation.
I had a set of rules for what I would write on the sticky notes.
First of all, let's not write about abstract things. I'm going to
write about concrete measures and the results that will come from them, without
being optimistic.
By doing so, I was able to get a much clearer picture of how I
move. I was able to have a purpose for my daily actions, and the errors in the
results gave me hints for deciding what to do next and revising my predictions.
However, only the last one had an ideal that was not concrete.
"Absolutely. I'll do something."
Looking at the sticky note I picked up, I muttered.
『Making the best work together with everyone』
The sticky note is placed at the end of the route, at the place
where everything converges.
I'll do whatever it takes to get here. That's what I decided.
It's a horribly difficult game with no strategy for coming from
the future, but I can't escape playing it.
"I'm home. Are, Kyouya is not here."
"The shoes are here, I think he's in his room?"
I heard a voice from downstairs.
I came to my senses, got out of the closet and closed it.
"Welcome home!"
I said, and they both replied.
""I'm home!""
It's just this exchange.
I was already on the verge of tears.
Because I know this is the most irreplaceable thing.
"I'm off, Shinoaki"
Turn to her on the closed route, and say it.
2 Comments
To be perfectly honest, I wanted to see you finish translating vol 1 of ver Beta before starting on Vol 5. Or has the light novel already concluded?
ReplyDeleteSorry, but Ver. B is still ongoing. So I think it would be better if I finish translating the main story, or until I reach the latest volume. I will consider it after this volume. I am sorry. I translated it before because I did not want to get spoilers when the anime was airing. Thank you.
DeletePost a Comment