REAPER RECORD II

“I told you, if you won’t let me in, then bring that man here at once!”

Around the old brick gate, people gradually began to gather, no doubt curious about the excitement.

That bald-faced, tasteless sense of urgency that appears whenever a crowd forms. There was nothing I liked about it.

Even inside the gate, people were watching down at us from the windows of the stately mansion. Servants, probably.

“No, but…My dear, you know I can’t just hear that and say ‘Oh, certainly, yes.’”

The scrawny-looking man, talented in little apart from making himself look all prim and proper in front of others, smiled a thin smile, clearly treating me like a fool.

“Then what do you want me to do? Listen. I’ve gone through the most horrible experience thanks to that guy. He said he knew everything about me, so I shut up and did whatever he told me to do…and now that I’ve been handed over to these crazy people, I’m treated like some kind of animal, and I even took a lead ball to the stomach.”

Who the hell is this guy?

His lukewarm, waffling attitude made me want to scream.

Plus, it took me several weeks to walk back here, along this path. I was on a wagon last time. Where do they get off, treating me like this?

“Ah-ha-ha! My lady, listen to me…If a cannonball hit you, then I very much doubt you should be here at all.”

“What? What are you talking about? I’m here right now!”

The scrawny man took a breath, then laughed with all the power his lungs could muster. I could hear the rest of the people around us begin to snicker themselves, taking the cue.

My stomach began to churn with the fires of annoyed rage.

Why do all the creatures here have this knack for riling me up?

I considered leaving the premises immediately, but then this entire journey would be a waste of time.

No matter what it took, I knew there was no getting rid of this seething feeling until I asked that rotund little man about “myself.”

“Look, if we’re just gonna keep doing this all day, then I’m going in whether you like it or not. Who are you, anyway? I’m not here to talk to you—”

Just as I took a breath, ready to push this annoyance aside and storm into the mansion, I saw the man himself peeking at me through an upstairs window.

My return had apparently caused him to take fright.

The look of fear on his face as he stared on was written clearly across his entire face.

Seeing him, knowing full well I was here but still opting to watch me from his safe hideout, caused the rage boiling within me to finally explode.

“Him…!”

I wrapped my hands around the iron fence surrounding the gate. “Stop!” the scrawny man said. “Stop at once! I am done playing with you!”

“…You think I’m still ‘playing’ now?!”

My anger was already at its peak.

The blathering of the scrawny man before me no longer had any power to slow me.

But the man never intended to physically intervene himself.

From the crowd, now grown to the point where it filled the road in front of the gate, several men appeared, iron swords sheathed by their sides.

“I did not wish to do this…but this is all because you refuse to listen to reason! Do you understand, my lady? Please, just give this up at…eep…”

Aha. So that’s how it is. Rotten to the core, all of them.

In an instant, the heat began to pump itself into both of my eyes as they glared at the man.

His eyeballs, after matching gazes with mine, twitched and thrashed about for a few seconds, then stopped dead. The rest of his body quietly followed suit immediately afterward.

I then turned toward the crowd.

They looked vacant, bewildered, unable to comprehend the situation they were in.

“You! What did you do to him?”

One of the men brought a hand to the hilt of his sword as he edged closer to me.

“Sword.”

An object created by mankind to kill others.

One swipe from its wielder was enough to split muscle, to crush bone.

I came to understand that all too well after I left the cavern. Painfully so.

And I knew, generally, that this world was already one giant piece of property to them. Such foolish creatures they all were.

“Answer me now, or I will treat you as hostile and take suitable action!”

Agghh. Simply exasperating. Why, after all this time, are these people still expecting something from me?

I closed my eyes, my vision filling with darkness.

When was the last time I used this?

It must have been at one church or the other, when I was forced to act as a “god” around some people. That earned me nothing as well.

Or perhaps not.

Every single time, the only things I gained from these people were contempt and hopelessness.

And yet this time as well my heart was filled with a ridiculous sense of hope.

Opening my eyes, I saw a man brandishing a sword at me.

An attempt to take my life? No matter who it was, it always came down to that.

“Captivating…eyes.”

The moment I muttered it, the man froze.

The mindless chatter from the crowd behind him disappeared.

As it should. Everyone here, after all, was locking eyes with me.

There, lined up before me, were the faces of men and women suddenly thrown into a state of horror. They must not have been expecting this. Pitiful, foolish, and completely beyond saving.

The thoughts of the man brandishing the sword—“Who the hell is this…?”—flashed across my mind. I did not invite it in.

It was proving a serious encumbrance, not being able to control this “stealing” ability of mine.

But who could, in my shoes? The more I looked into the thought processes of humans, the more it rankled me.

It would have been nice, actually, if I could go around and look directly into everyone’s heads like that.

That way, at least I could tell at a glance whether they were lying to me or not.

But the minds of these people were buried in a putrid mishmash of sheer nonsense.

It was all but impossible to pick out only the things I wanted to know from them.

That would be much like attempting to find a small pebble in a vast mountain of garbage.

“I suppose you’d call me a monster, wouldn’t you?” I said to the frozen crowd. There was no reply.

Silence.

This silence always awaited me at the end of it all.

A cold, cold silence, just like way back when. By this point, I loathed it.

I turned toward the mansion. The fat man staring out the window was gone.

Must have fled through some passageway or another.

He might tell me something if I chased him and threatened him enough, but I was no longer in the mood.

How much longer do I have to keep doing this?

It felt like I was just silently plodding along, even though I was fully aware there was no light beyond the endless darkness.

I knew that long before now. I knew that, yet I kept going.

But every time I had the thought:

“There’s nobody in this world who knows about me.”

The tears would begin to well up.

My mind would be overwhelmed with irrational thoughts. “I can’t stand this,” and so on.

Thus, I had to keep going.

If I didn’t, it almost felt like my thoughts would push me over the brink and I’d disappear entirely.

But there was no end for me.

I had experienced death many times before, but it never brought me to an end.

The immobile man posed in front of me had no thoughts left in his mind.

He was simply there, stilled, in all his splendor.

Maybe it’d be easier for me if I could be like that.

Not having to think about anything. Just being there.

I realized that tears were coming out of both my eyes.

Trying to stop them did nothing. It was even getting hard to breathe.

“Ngh…ahhh, ahhhhhh…!”

If there’s something out there that created me, hurry up and show yourself to me.

Show up, and put an end to this.

The tears kept welling out until sundown as I prayed for that release.

The summer breeze rustled through the trees, the birdsong echoing among the leaves.

Last night’s rain made the road rough going.

The thick forest growth prevented the sun’s powerful rays from exacting their full force upon me, but the heat that lapped at my body drained my strength at an astonishing rate.

Something I noticed after obtaining a body like this and running into assorted creatures is that I was overwhelmingly deficient in a number of bodily functions.

Just walking a little caused me to break out in a sweat. And attempting to climb a hill made all the joints in my body want to scream.

I was sweating from head to toe now, in fact, and my legs felt like they were going to break off.

I tried to keep going. I had made it this far, after all. But the punishing effort had started to make my eyes tear up again.

Well, if it’s tough, it’s tough. Pain causes tears, and there’s nothing I can do about that.

“It shouldn’t be far now…”

The “captivate” ability I had been using for a while now might be one reason I was as exhausted as I was.

But if this was meant to be some kind of guidepost for me, I had trouble understanding it.

I was, at least, making forward progress, and I could feel the presence of creatures around me fade away before my eyes.

“Captivate” was proving to be useful.

I could clearly feel who was looking where—what they were focused on—and I could force them to turn toward me instead.

Using this, in other words, allowed me to track down the least noticeable spot in the world. I thought that was a pretty clever trick.

On that day, the last time I was betrayed by the humans, I resolved that I would live by myself, somewhere that no one would notice.

I considered a cave at first, but to be frank, I couldn’t take the dark any longer.

I pondered over other potential decent locales as well, but it made me realize that most of the very quietest parts of the world are also the darkest. It enraged me.

After all, the darkness sickened me at this point. I could never coop myself up in there again.

But as the humans began to trample their way across this world, it soon dawned on me that it was almost impossible to find a perfectly isolated yet well-lit spot to call home.

And as I thought and thought about it, I came up with this idea:

I used “focus” to find the spot in the world people paid the least attention to.

It was here, in this forest. Remarkably bright, too.

I was fairly dubious at first, but I could tell. I could feel fewer and fewer creatures around me as I proceeded along.

It was strange. Like a great hole opened up in a single spot. Nobody’s mind focused upon it.

I had yet to arrive at the exact locale, but realizing this filled me with a sense of gloating joy.

And who could blame me? I boarded a ship to cross the ocean, was thrown overboard after I caused some trouble, and finally swam all the way here, tears in my eyes.

I couldn’t say how many times I drowned en route. That was the pain I endured on my way here. If it turned out to be teeming with humans, I probably would have set the entire forest aflame.

Continuing on, long past when the road ended and right when I noticed the birdsong could no longer be heard, I found an open patch in front of me a little ways.

What kind of place was this?

My pace quickened as I pushed myself forward. When I set foot into the clearing, I sighed.

It was as if the area had been completely forgotten by everyone that lived on this planet. Yet it continued to exist.

Any creatures with free will shunned this place. Nobody even deigned to notice it.

“This is perfect…!”

I could feel my spirits rally, an all too unfamiliar feeling as of late. It was far, far quieter than I imagined. Brighter. Comfortable.

There was just enough clear land to build a house. That inherent coziness made me fall in love with it all the more.

Parting the low-growing grass with my feet, I gave standing in the middle of the clearing a shot. A warm, inviting silence, not the cold and inorganic one I once knew, filled my ears.

“Settled, then. From this day forward, this is where I belong.”

Come to think of it, ever since I took on this form, I had never lived in a permanent residence.

I was tirelessly wandering the world over, no particular destination in mind, so it could only be expected.

But now that I was here, I would need someplace to live. While I was hardly picky, if I was staying here, I would still need a roof over my head.

After all, when the rain falls on me, my body grows cold and shivers. I was terrible at dealing with that.

“A roof…? I doubt I could build an entire home by myself, but a roof and nothing else seems…lacking.”

Sitting down on an opportune rock I spotted in the clearing, I pondered over the next pressing question.

If I was living alone, I would hardly need a large residence. Just something that would keep the wind, the rain, and the sunlight away.

And defending myself against the sunlight came first. Heat was the only thing I couldn’t conquer, no matter how much I tried. I didn’t stand a chance.

Which means I would need to find some materials. Could I bring them here? No. No way. That was far too difficult a task. But I hated the heat, and I hated the cold.

I thought this over, running through all the possible scenarios in my mind, when I suddenly noticed that the temperature dropped a fair amount while I was distracted.

Night must have fallen at some point.

Whenever I start thinking like this, I lose all track of time.

It was the one habit I always had that I just couldn’t shake.

Oftentimes, several days would pass before I snapped out of my reverie.

Having the time pass like this, outside of my senses, made me feel like I, alone, was unhooked from the rest of the world. It wasn’t a very reassuring feeling.

At least the days of me plunging into thought and the entire world getting redrawn around me were a thing of the past.

But just sitting here and thinking about a new residence would get me nowhere.

It was something I’d prefer to avoid on the whole, but unless I started moving, nothing was going to happen.

“Guess I gotta do it…”

“Do it? Do what?”

Well, build a house, of course.

Not that it has to be anything luxurious. As long as I can sit back and relax a…

My thoughts reached that point before I tumbled off the rock in a heap.

I looked up in a panic, only to find a white-haired guy standing right next to the rock I was sitting on. By human standards, he would be around sixteen or so.

He looked grubby, less than clean, but I doubted his outfit was his normal everyday wear. It looked like a soldier’s uniform or something.

But that didn’t matter.

What concerned me most of all was that this idyllic place of residence I found was violated, cruelly barged into by this man, surprising me into taking a fall off my sitting post. The anger I felt at it all made me feel like my insides were going to explode.

I stood up, carefully cracked my knuckles, and stared this interloper down.

“You…I hope you’re ready to pay.”

I had no intention of using my hands, of course. Physically speaking, I was fragile, hardly even a match for a young human child.

“Oh, uh, did I scare you? Sorry, sorry. You were so deep in thought over there, and then you spoke up out of nowhere. I just thought it was kind of funny, so…”

The slack-jawed man’s attitude made my fists shake with fury. Not that I had any intention of using those fists, either.

“What’s so funny to you, damn it?! Get out of my face! I’m trying my best to build my home in here! Just go away already!”

Even in the face of this violent tirade, the man’s blank expression remained firm.

“Oh, okay! Building a home, huh? Well, did you need any help? ’Cause if you need anything, I’d be glad to lend a hand!”

What kind of stupid nonsense is this man babbling?

I just told him to go away, didn’t I?

No, I definitely did. I tried to sound as hostile as I could, too.

So why is this frivolous fool acting like this? I struggled to understand.

“Are you insane? Even now, as we speak, you’re plotting something against me, aren’t you? Leave, now, before you regret it.”

This was far from the first person offering me feigned support. None of the offers were ever sincere. All of them tried to use me somehow.

And he was probably one of them, too. Who could ever trust this lunkhead?

“Huh?! Wait, no! No, nothing like that! I mean, I was kind of thinking it’d be nice if I could get a closer look at you, but…Oh, no, nothing as mean as that…”

The man scratched his head bashfully.

Who is this guy? He’s touched in the head, isn’t he?

Something about his behavior seemed out of whack. Maybe he was trying to throw me off guard.

And what did he mean by “get a closer look at you”?

No matter what he meant, I had no doubt he would soon have another one of those harebrained tall tales for me, just like every other human I’ve interacted with.

“I can’t trust you. I’ve been tricked by people like you for ages. You’d have to be insane to trust anyone after what I’ve seen.”

“Ooh…Well, what can I do to help you trust me? I’d love to help you out, any way I can. I don’t need you to repay me or anything. In fact, if it’ll help, I’d be willing to do anything you say, starting right now.”

The man let a cautious exhale of breath out of his nose.

I thought about firing back with “You will? In that case, go away!” but then I had a better idea. If that was what he wanted, that was what he’d get.

It was a little mean of me, I supposed. But if it went as planned, it’d make him disappear, too. I lowered my voice to a whisper.

“…Anything I say, right?”

“Huh?! Of, of course! Are you willing to believe me now?!”

Walking past the beaming young man, I went a little distance and pointed toward the ground.

“Hmm? Why are you pointing down…?”

“Build a house here.”

The man froze for a moment, the smile still painted on his face. Then he began sweating profusely.

“Didn’t you hear me? Build a house right here.”

I repeated it, but there was no way he could’ve misheard me.

“I’ll do it!”

“And once you’re done, go away immediately. If you can’t, I won’t waste my time with you…”

“I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

Figures. There was no way he could do it all by himself, of course. And once he goes away, I can take my time and build exactly the…

“…Huh?”

“You heard me, right? I’d be happy to build a house for you! For you, that’d be nothing!”

The man smiled warmly at me.

The smile was still there, but given the beady sweat running down his head, it must have required a mighty effort.

This man really is touched.

Building a house by himself? Does he have any idea how much material, how much effort that would take?

Does he even know anything about home building? Even if he did, there was no fathoming his behavior right now.

…Maybe he’s just giving me a line. He might still be plotting something.

Stoking my suspicions, I peered intently at the man. His cheeks reddened in sudden embarrassment as he scratched his head.

He must like scratching his head with his right hand whenever he feels awkward. His body language was starting to sicken me.

“…All right. If you think you can do it, go ahead. I’m gonna have my eye on you until you do, got it?”

I tried to add some sarcasm to my threat. No matter what conspiracy he was trying to hatch, he couldn’t carry it out under my gaze.

It could be fun, in fact, watching him either admit defeat midway or turn his tail and flee.

“You, you’ll watch me…?”

The man looked elated at this revelation.

This continuous stream of incomprehensible behavior was really beginning to nauseate me.

It made no sense at all. I thought about peering into his head, but trying to delve into the brain of someone this off-kilter was less than appealing to me.

“Okay! Um, I’ll get to work tomorrow! …So, what’s your name?”

“My name? I don’t have one.”

Name.

A kind of code used by humans to express their acknowledgment of each other.

Humans give meaningful names to their children at birth. Their children, in turn, referred to themselves by their names for life.

But that was a human custom. A foreign concept to me.

“Oh…okay. Well, I’ll give you mine then, okay? I’m Tsukihiko. Good to meet you!”

Tsukihiko, eh?

He was an utter fool, down to his bones. Whether he gave his name or not, all humans remained on the same level in my eyes.

Human. Nothing more, and nothing less. What would telling me that achieve?

Thinking about it, the man before my eyes didn’t seem to be demanding anything from me.

Such a creepy thing this is.

But letting this end in such a creepy, incomprehensible way seemed a waste to me.

Very well. Let’s try to understand him. What he means, inside of his heart.

“Better not run away from me…human.”

Tsukihiko’s bold, cloudless eyes beamed in response. “Of course not!” he replied.