Plate 11: Sarazanmai

Plate 11:
Sarazanmai

 

Scene 1

 

TOI COULD FEEL HIMSELF falling deeper and deeper. He was swimming in a pitch-black ocean. When suddenly gravity seemed to return, he felt himself float down and land somewhere.

“This is…”

Chikai appeared out of nowhere. He sounded amused as he said, “This is the spectacle from a few moments ago. See the panicked looks on those traitors’ faces?”

It was just as Chikai said; there they were on Azuma Bridge, witnessing the scene from just a few seconds prior. Kazuki and the others were there as well, though they were frozen, as if time were standing still.

“I’ve had enough. I just want it all to end.”

A gigantic hole opened up at his feet, like the ground itself was waiting to hear those words. “We’ll have to go to the very depths to get outside the circle. It’s a place with no beginning and no end, where nothing is connected. Before you get there, you’ll have to cut all of your ties.”

“Cut all of my ties…?” Toi still held the Tokarev in his hand.

“It’s simple. All you have to do is use that gun of yours…and shoot your past self.” Chikai laughed.

 

Kazuki, Enta, and Keppi followed after Toi, having slipped inside Black Keppi as well. The first place they arrived was the scene of the rain-covered Azuma Bridge. They could see themselves there, frozen in time just as they had been a few seconds earlier, but Toi’s past self was suddenly missing from the picture.

“What the…?!” said Kazuki.

“Toi intends to cut all of his ties, ribbit.” Keppi already sensed what was going on. “He’s headed toward the outside, the area that exists beyond the circle of connection, and he’s erasing himself along the way.”

“The area that exists beyond the circle of connection?” Kazuki echoed.

Enta chimed in, “That’s where those people who lost their shirikodama go!”

“If he reaches that point, all of his past relationships and even his very life will cease to exist, ribbit!”

Kazuki said, “We have to stop him!”

“Yeah,” Enta agreed.

The two, along with their mochi-like friend, hurried to the next moment in time.

 

The next place Toi disappeared from was the scene where the three had been playing with a soccer ball at their practice area that summer. The next was at the Otter Empire, when Kappa-Kazuki was filled with despair, and Kappa-Toi came flying at him with his fist. After that was the scene in the Kappa Plaza where Enta and Toi had been bickering.

Without missing a beat, Toi held up his gun and fired at each one of his past selves, erasing them all.

“That’s right. Throw it all away. Erase everything that led to your pain, make it so none of this ever happened.” Chikai stood beside him, egging him on. “Don’t worry. All of your pain, all of the lingering attachments you have—soon they’ll all be gone.”

Toi said nothing.

 

Kazuki and the others arrived too late to the scene of the Kappa Plaza. Once again, Toi’s past self was gone.

“He’s not here either!” said Kazuki.

Enta grumbled. “That jerk! Just how far back is he going?”

“Four years into the past.” That was Kazuki’s hunch. “If he really intends to cut all ties with us…then I’m sure he plans to return to the day he gave me that friendship bracelet.”

Enta looked relieved. “So you’ve finally remembered.”

“Yeah. That’s the day that bound us all together.” The very same circle that connected the three of them together was currently wrapped around his right ankle.

“As long as that bracelet doesn’t disappear, we still have time, ribbit.”

They all nodded at Keppi’s words.

An unsettling voice echoed around them, “Otterly laughable. Those who would spread poison here must be erased.” Suddenly, a torrent of water crashed over the plaza, swallowing them up.

“Huh?!”

“Oh no!” Keppi immediately shot a jet out of his butt, producing an enormous bubble that enveloped Kazuki and Enta. The bubble drifted down through the open hole of the plaza.

“Keppi!”

Keppi shouted after the two boys as they receded, “Leave this part to me! You two hurry on ahead, ribbit!” He waited there until the hole closed, then floated up to the surface.

There, he found an otter in front of him. “Odd-er. So you let two rats slip through. You certainly are kapparicious.”

“Today I’m going to end things, ribbit. I can’t let you continue your reign of terror any further, ribbit.”

The otter gave a thin smile. “Otterly laughable. You’re the one who was overwhelmed with despair and decided to abandon that part of yourself. You think you have any right to pass judgment?”

“Grr…!”

Otters were like mirrors that reflected desire. The otter could see how Keppi was unable to accept reality back then. Now that it had latched onto his weakness, it moved to attack. “Odd-er. This time we’ll make sure your despair swallows you whole!”

 

He shot countless iterations of his past self and erased them. Now, Toi was standing on the shore opposite of where the water bus stop was located. The world around him was frozen, and his ten-year-old self stood on top of the bridge, trying to throw his friendship bracelet down. Floating on the river’s surface was the ball Toi had abandoned.

“This is where we began…” That was the feeling he got. He was sure this was where it had all started.

“All you have to do is shoot your younger self, then all your remaining bonds will be severed. After that, you just have to go beyond the circle,” Chikai said quietly from behind him.

Toi adjusted his grip on the Tokarev and started across the red bridge. Chikai followed, walking beside him.

I wanted to be a soccer player. Back when my parents and brother were with me, I had no doubts about the future at all, he thought.

“But then Dad died, and you shot someone.”

I didn’t think I could hope for anything anymore. But then my brother—the only family I had left—took my hand.

“You’re still going on about that? I just used you.”

I don’t care. That was fine with me. I needed to throw that stuff away. I needed the bad stuff that happened, all of it.

“Why? Now you want to desperately cling to those attachments?”

Toi glanced back and turned the barrel of his gun at his brother. “These are the relationships I chose. I’ll end them with my own hands!”

BANG!

Hundreds of ten-thousand-yen bills went fluttering through the air. Chikai laughed as they danced around him. “In this world, it’s the bad people who survive.” Slowly, he plummeted down toward the Sumida River. “Which will you be…?” Static rippled across his body as he transformed into an otter and disappeared. “Odd-er…”

Toi silently closed his eyes. “Goodbye, Brother.” In his mind’s eye, he could see the red and blue ferry sailing away. He soon reopened his eyes and started forward again.

He was getting closer and closer to his ten-year-old self.

Any time he wanted something, he had to be prepared to lose something as well. So he always threw things away before he could lose them. That had worked pretty well for him. That’s why he figured he might as well throw away the pain this time, too.

Toi aimed his gun at his younger self. “Now I can end everything.”

BANG!

Just as he was pulling the trigger, something slammed into him. Enta tackled him, throwing off his trajectory. The bullet instead grazed Kazuki’s right ankle as he stepped protectively in front of the younger Toi. It sliced through the blue friendship bracelet tied around Kazuki’s foot.

“Gah!” Kazuki collapsed, feeling an intense burning pain.

“Kazuki!” Enta immediately raced to his side.

The impact sent Toi’s Tokarev flying. His ten-year-old self was still there, untouched. He felt his rage building. “You two…what are you doing here?”

Kazuki and Enta immediately turned their eyes toward him. “We came to get you back!”

There it was again. They were always doing things, regardless of what Toi actually wanted.

“I’m completely sick of you both!” he shrieked at them.

The Tokarev instantly flew up through the air and fired.

BANG!

This time, the bullet hit its mark, piercing Toi’s younger self. The blue friendship bracelet he was holding abruptly disappeared.

“D-d-d-d-d-d-darkness! All of your ties shall now be consigned to oblivion!” Black Keppi stole their consciousnesses.

Scene 2

 

WHEN THEY CAME TO, the three of them were falling headlong, the world white all around them. Silver rings occasionally passed them by.

“Where is this…?” Kazuki wondered aloud.

Enta shouted, “Something’s coming!”

An enormous taiko drum appeared straight ahead of them—in the direction they were falling. Three fat comma shapes were patterned into the surface of the drum. As they got closer, the pattern began to warp into a complex overlap of circles. Three circles closed around separate words: No Beginning, No End, and No Connection. Repelled by the silver rings around them, the three boys were flung into the center of the three rings on the drum, where a hole appeared. This was the beginning of oblivion.

 

Back then, Kazuki thought, I just wanted to go anywhere that wasn’t here. Since I didn’t have ties to anyone, I thought I didn’t belong. I know some part of me was just waiting—for someone to reach out and pull someone as stubborn as me forward. I found it—found them. I found a place where I can smile again. I don’t want to lose these ties!

“No… All of my memories are disappearing! All of our memories!”

It was all disappearing. The memory of the morning Toi first transferred to their class and Kazuki learned it hadn’t all been a dream. The memory of Kazuki, dressed as Sara, accidentally stumbling upon Toi as he was trying to jack that car in that high-rise parking lot. The memory of them encountering Keppi at the Kappa Plaza after somehow being summoned there. The memory of them being turned into kappa after accidentally calling Keppi a “frog.” The memory of Kazuki discovering Toi’s secret when they wore the bee ninja costumes at Hanayashiki. Even the memory of them recovering Nyantaro and how Toi fought with them over the whole Wishing Plates thing.

 

Back then, Enta thought, I just wanted to go anywhere that wasn’t here. I was a coward always looking in from the outside. I know some part of me was waiting—for those hopeless delusions of mine to be shattered into pieces. I suck at backing down, so I don’t plan to let go of either of them. I want us all to laugh together forever!

“No… At this rate, it’s all going to disappear!”

It was all disappearing. The memory of him starting the fight at their practice area, and how Toi saved him—not Kazuki, as his fantasies would have had him believe. The memory of him returning the blue friendship bracelet to Kazuki and making his once-in-a-lifetime confession. The memory of the strange tension between him and Kazuki as they wrestled skin to skin in a sumo match. The memory of his own delusion in which Kappa-Kazuki kicked his Miracle Shot. The memory of his own impending death, and how Kazuki raced toward Enta screaming, tears in his eyes.

 

Back then, Toi thought, I just wanted to go anywhere that wasn’t here. Unable to laugh or cry, I let go of all hope. I’m sure some part of me was waiting—for the leaden sin I had in my hands to possess me and kill me. I wasn’t supposed to belong to anyone or anywhere. I wasn’t supposed to possess anything that I couldn’t just throw away, and yet…

It was all disappearing. The memory of Kazuki’s fat-ass cat eating the weed he had painstakingly grown. The memory of when he dressed up at Hanayashiki and held hands with Sara-Kazuki as the two searched for the feline. The memory of Sara-Kazuki’s inability to properly slurp down soba noodles when he came to Toi with his plan for kidnapping the real Azuma Sara. The memory of Enta telling him how he liked the flavor of Sobakyuu’s noodles. The memory of his secret with Chikai being leaked to the other two after they retrieved a shirikodama. The memory of how he railed against Kazuki after the latter was in shock over his brother finding out that he was dressing up as Sara, and how he and Enta had gotten into it immediately afterward.

 

“Stop…”

Toi liked the time they’d spent just chatting casually after school.

“I don’t want to lose it all…”

Though he reluctantly agreed to join their soccer practice, part of him really looked forward to it.

“Kazuki… Enta…”

At some point, spending every day with the two of them had just become natural to him.

“I don’t want to lose what’s precious to me!”

The tears that threatened now burst out of him.

“Saraaaaaaaaaaaa!” Toi shouted out in as loud of a voice as he could manage, straining his throat. As if in answer, he could hear two other voices joining him.

“Saraaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Saraaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Toi extended his hands outward. Something warm grazed his skin—Kazuki and Enta’s hands!

With their hands held together, they refused to let go of their desires. Together they cried, “Sarazanmai!”

 

Keppi suddenly appeared in response to their voices. “Ribbit!” He broke through the Oblivion Field and sucked the three of them up, spitting them out in their kappa forms above Asakusa.

“Okay!” said Kazuki.

Enta looked over at him. “Kazuki!”

“What’s our plan?” Toi asked.

As the three of them fell, Kazuki held a pristine blue friendship bracelet in his hand. “We still have this bracelet.”

Kazuki’s own ten-year-old self was still standing at the base of Azuma Bridge four years ago. He wasn’t sure if this was the right answer or not, but regardless, whatever they had lost, he wanted to fix it.

“We’re going to deliver this friendship bracelet to my younger self!”

Keppi transformed himself into a parachute and latched onto the three of them.

“D-d-d-d-d-d-darkness!”

The space around them fissured, and Black Keppi appeared. Azuma Bridge warped into a Desire Field.

“It’s time for me to come to terms with my own despair, ribbit. This will be your last Sarazanmai, ribbit!”

 

There is something we have to take back:

Our connection.

We don’t want to pretend it never existed.

There is something we have to take back:

Our connection.

We won’t let anyone take it from us

Ever.

“Kappature it!”

You and I are supposed to be connected.

 

Kappa-Kazuki and his friends sang together as they sprinted toward his younger self. In the sky above, Keppi and Black Keppi were locked in a fierce battle. The otter underlings swarmed around them, trying to impede Keppi, as well as Kazuki and his friends. The situation was dire—the Kappa Zombies they faced before now didn’t even compare. Even so, they couldn’t give up.

“Otterly impossible…” The otter appeared in front of the three injured kappa and began singing. “I won’t allow you to connect to your desires! I am a concept!”

An enormous taiko drum came smashing down on the three of them.

“Gwaaah!”

They were sent blasting through the air, but they still managed a complately graceful landing, where they struck their usual poses.

The boys could still fight.

They hadn’t given up.

They were still connected.

 

Burn on with passion.

Cast away common sense.

You can take your bets on the truth.

Serve up your soul on a plate, stack them up

Catch the ball, pluck it out.

Grant our wish,

Sarazanmai!

 

“Ribbit!”

Now that Keppi had the upper hand in the aerial battle, his black counterpart was making a run for it. Keppi aimed for Black Keppi’s butt and launched himself through the air.

Fusion: Commencing.

“I’ve captured my desires!”

As if in response to Keppi’s cry, the plates with “A” marked on them that littered the entirety of Asakusa suddenly all floated into the air.

 

Kappa-Kazuki and his friends rushed to get to his younger self’s side. “Just a bit farther!”

Darkness suddenly fell, as if someone pulled a curtain over them. “Otterly impossible!” The otter had swollen up in size, growing into a giant that now fully encompassed the bridge.

“Dammit, it’s so dark I can’t see anything!” Kazuki cursed.

Even the distant silhouette of Kazuki’s younger self was swallowed up by the shadows.

 

A sparkling pair of silver rings flew out of Keppi’s shell as he fused with Black Keppi. Light arced across the sky like a falling star, crossing over the Sumida River. The ring expelled a brilliant flash of light as Reo and Mabu appeared, clad in black military-like uniforms. They gripped each other’s hands firmly and yelled together.

“Don’t let go!”

“Of your desire!”

As if in response to their voices, the plates came cascading down like a meteor shower onto the bridge. They stacked one behind the other, radiating light that illuminated a path for the boys to follow.

“I can see the way now!” Kappa-Kazuki declared, his eyes on their final objective.

Toi and Enta lifted the other boy up as they raced down the path. “Make sure it gets to him!”

The three of them were connected, with Kazuki at the front of their line as they hurtled through the air toward the younger Kazuki. At last, the fully repaired circle—the friendship bracelet—made it into the palm of his tiny hand.

 

Fusion: Complete.

“We’re connected!” Keppi declared, as he and his dark counterpart merged.

The world was once again connected.

 

“I am an otter… I am a concept…” The outline of the enormous otter began to blur as his entire silhouette dissipated. “Farewell. It seems it was…otterly possible after all.”

With the otter gone, there was just a single shiny, glimmering star left. Keppi returned to his original form. His voice had a dignified tone as he cried out, “The time has come. Cross! Pass over the river of desire!”

Their awareness of themselves seemed to melt away as easily as chocolate in the sunlight.

 

Whether it was reality or a dream, who could say? It was a strange feeling—as if becoming one with the universe, as if his body wasn’t his own. He wasn’t sure if he was Yasaka Kazuki, Kuji Toi, or Jinnai Enta. Their consciousnesses harmonized perfectly together. It was as if they were molecules drifting in a hot, primordial ocean, smacking against each other’s thin membranes before combining into one. The heat made him want to scream. The energy was like nothing he’d ever felt before, and the pleasure felt like purifying water welling up beneath his skin.

There was just one thing the three of them did understand: this would be the last leak they would share together.

“The future is leaking!”

Scene 3

 

“WE WANT TO BE connected!” Their voice rang out together.

Their voices echoed together as Japan’s athletes, the representatives of their country, all dressed in blue uniforms, stepped forward. The setting for this dream was the first match in the World Cup. Kazuki and his teammates were forced into a tough battle. Time was running out. If this pass didn’t make it, the game was over. They had to score.

Kazuki ran forward.

I want to steal this victory from them!

 

“We want to be connected!”

After injuring his right leg, Kazuki was fed up with the extensive stint he’d spent in rehab. No one close to him would say as much, but he could tell the prospects of recovery looked grim.

Even if I keep going, my efforts won’t be rewarded.

 

“We want to be connected!”

Toi crouched down inside a jail cell. He confessed to all of his sins.

I will never be forgiven for this.

 

“We want to be connected!”

Snow fell on the Azuma Bridge. Enta was dressed in his practice uniform, his eyes on the ground as tears flowed down his cheeks. Kazuki’s footsteps were gradually receding into the distance.

If he leaves now, we’ll never see each other again.

 

“We want to be connected!”

Kazuki was on his crutches, glancing down at a picture of him and Enta in their soccer outfits—the Golden Duo. He threw it and his cleats into the stadium’s trash can.

I want to lie about how I really feel.

 

“We want to be connected!”

A blue friendship bracelet was abandoned in the locker room. Toi voluntarily left the team.

I’d rather betray them before they abandon me.

 

“We want to be connected!”

The three were in their uniforms, bickering amongst themselves in the waiting room.

We can’t be connected anymore.

 

“We want to be connected!”

Enta was alone, bashing his fists against the wall.

No matter what I do, it doesn’t get through to them.

 

“We want to be connected!”

Toi was overwhelmed with agony at how much he had lost.

I’m alone. There’s no one by my side.

 

“We want to be connected!”

The three raced across the field, their gazes focused on what lay ahead of them.

We’re not giving up yet!

Enta’s pass made it to Toi.

One of them had once shouted, “I’ve had enough!”

Toi immediately passed the ball.

One of them had once told the others, “I’m through with you guys!”

Kazuki ran on ahead of them.

One of them had even said, “I never want to see you guys again!”

They had hurt each other so many times—too many to count.

And yet…

Still…

Despite it all…

 

Kazuki slammed his foot into the ball, his friendship bracelet swaying with the motion. The ball blasted through the air toward the goalpost.

 

Even so, we…!

 

The kingdom’s remaining people were gathered in the Kappa Plaza.

“The dish is a vessel of life. Things are given shape, but someday will be shattered and lost…” said Sara. She was sitting on a pedestal, with Reo and Mabu standing before her in their military uniforms.

“What the boys saw was a glimpse into the future,” said Reo.

Mabu added, “One of the possible futures that await them.”

Prince Keppi drifted down from the air above. “For the moment, this world’s circle of connection endures. However, there is no guarantee that the future ahead of them will always be a bright one.”

The two broken halves of the cosplay headdress floated through the air, shining with light as they transformed into a crown and tiara. Reo and Mabu respectfully placed these glimmering objects on the heads of their king and queen.

“Hope and despair come hand in hand with life.”

Haruka’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the divine forms of the Kappa Kingdom’s king and queen. “Wow! It’s the Little Prince and his princess!”

Queen Sara, who’d regained her original form, said, “Do not forget. Only those who can connect to their desires, even after knowing the pain of loss, have the ability to grasp the future in their hands.”

All of the “A” signs across the city twinkled in celebration.

“I won’t forget,” said Haruka. “I’m going to choose, and I’m going to believe in the choices I make.”

 

The long night would soon be over.

There were three figures strewn across the collapsed Azuma Bridge as dawn colored the sky above. Whether unconscious or merely sleeping, they showed no signs of waking. Kazuki lay there with a new scar on his right ankle. Nearby, Enta had bandages wrapped over the gunshot wound he’d sustained. Toi was close to them as well, his Tokarev abandoned on the ground beside him.

“The people in my life, the people I care about—I experience happiness and sadness because of them. That’s how I know we’re all connected.” Haruka and Nyantaro sat close to the river, gazing up at the sky.

As Keppi and the others left, light seemed to fill the space between them, connecting them. They lit up the sky with a constellation in the shape of an “A” before they disappeared entirely.

And so, our summer was over.