Side Story 1: Part 1

Ig’s Spring Break

Part 1

Igubadi-Nguna-Mugu’s day begins when Sago Kinemitsu wakes up. When Ig’s small ears catch the rustling sound of him moving around in the futon, she sticks her face out of the nest box attached to the perch in the corner of the room and sniffs the air with her nose. After obtaining peace of mind from confirming that there’s no “bad guy” smell, Ig runs down the perch and climbs on top of Sago’s head.

“Mmm, good morning, Ig.”

“ChiChi.”

In response to Sago’s sleepy voice, Ig vigorously pulls on his hair. Sago, the big boss of the group that Ig currently belongs to, always starts his day by washing his face and brushing his teeth. Ig wonders why he doesn’t eat and instead makes foam in his mouth with a stick, but she knows that Sago is a strange and scatterbrained person. So she pays it no mind, and plays with his hair while he brushes his teeth. After brushing his teeth, Sago lies down and watches TV. Ig peeks her head out from behind his shoulder and watches it with him. Until a little while ago, Sago watched TV while making breakfast by psychokinetically operating a kitchen knife and frying pan and only glancing at the ingredients, but he had lost interest in doing that. Watching the rapidly changing colors on the TV was more to Ig’s tastes anyway.

After that, breakfast is then served. This morning, Ig’s meal is monkey food with leftover apple slices from yesterday and a spoonful of honey. Sago gets mad when bits of food are dropped on his shoulder or head, so Ig has to leave her “safe zone” when it’s mealtime and climb down onto the table to eat. During the meal, Sago’s eyes were nailed to the television. He’d been doing this since last week. He also occasionally records it. He does this so he can have a recording of their appearance on TV as a keepsake, and also to confirm how far the news has spread.

◊

The British National Broadcasting Station reported on the battle off the coast of Ireland, while the entire battle for Tokyo was filmed and reported on by Japan’s public broadcasting station. At first, when the television stations heard that a huge unidentified object had appeared out at sea, they sent out the helicopters in order to confirm the details. A satellite then confirmed that the object was an enormous floating water ball, and that it was moving toward land at a speed of about 20km/h. What was happening should’ve been impossible, but since they couldn’t say that it’s completely impossible, they held back on dispatching any military forces. If it looked like something that’s easy to understand, such as a dragon or alien, the military would have moved quickly, albeit with some confusion. However, it’s actually a huge mass of water. It’s partly realistic, and partially unrealistic. Is it a spontaneous natural phenomenon, an unknown creature, or something to do with the occult or aliens? It’s impossible to figure out.

Before the helicopter arrived, a mysterious figure in a black robe appeared from the sea in front of the 600m-class water ball off the coast of Ireland. Although it was difficult to grasp the details from the image taken from directly above by the satellite, it was possible to immediately guess that the black robe and water ball seem to be fighting. Each time the black robe moved his hand, an invisible impact hit the water ball. The water ball targeted the black robe with a water tentacle that had a tsunami-like current, but this was defended against by something invisible.

When news helicopter finally arrived, and the reporter excitedly shouted “It’s like an ‘Invisible Titan’ and a ‘Water Monster’ are fighting each other!” These names rapidly spread through the media, so now the mysterious person in a black robe is known worldwide as “Invisible Titan (I.T)” and the enormous water ball is known as the “Water Monster (W.M)”. In Japan, they’re called “Titan” and “Super Water-Ball”, respectively.

Some people criticized Titan, saying that the Super Water-Ball seems harmless and they provoked it by attacking first, but that criticism all but disappeared when Titan used their invisible ability to protect the news helicopter from an attack by the Super Water-Ball. Even so, the argument that “The Super Water-Ball got angry because Titan attacked it” still persists.

Neither Titan nor the Super Water-Ball left any sort of message behind. The meaning behind their battle can only be left to the imagination.

◊

At the same time, off the coast of Tokyo, a 50m-class was being challenged by three mysterious individuals. It’s speculated that they are people who are of the same standpoint as Titan, since they are wearing the same black outfit, act hostile to the Super Water-Ball, and disappeared in a black whale, exactly the same as Titan did. Surveillance camera images and eye-witness accounts tell us that the three arrived there from Koto City, Tokyo^{1 via a giant black bird that flew there at high speeds. However, either accidentally or on purpose, what the three were doing before that wasn’t caught by any surveillance cameras, and thus their identities remain a mystery. Many people come and go from Koto City. If you change your outfit, you can easily get lost in the crowd. And because the mask was in the way, facial recognition analysis was impossible.}

The three fought against the Super Water-Ball using fire, ice, and teleportation and managed to destroy it. The news helicopters and satellites weren’t able to get a clear image due to the angles and all the steam, but they were also able to confirm the presence of what looks like either a small animal or possibly a small robot as well. They are often called “the mysterious people in black”, which is also due to the black whale and bird in addition to their black clothing.

◊

And that’s all the information that’s covered by the public broadcast reports. Anything more than that, such as conspiracy theories, heated debates, and other extreme points of view were regulated to gossip magazines, variety shows, radio talk-shows, and, of course, the internet. Sago has been using his psychokinesis to spy on the Japan Self-Defense Force, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the National Diet^{2, and various television stations, and through that learned that none of their investigations have discovered Amaterasu. He knew that they hadn’t been exposed, but he was still paranoid about it, so he continued watching TV to make sure there weren’t any sudden reveals of their true identity or anything. Still, considering that for the first three days after the event he was essentially glued to the TV, he’s in a much better state now than he was then.}

◊

At the end of breakfast, Sago was satisfied and looked away from the TV. He stood up and slowly picked up a fruit knife, when suddenly he tripped over his own feet.

“AHHH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! PLEASE, SOMEONE, HELP!”

Ig quickly rushed over to heal Sago, who had ‘inadvertently’ stabbed himself deeply in the thigh with the fruit knife when he fell over. While opening three individual packages of gum syrup^{3(her current favorite) as a reward for Ig for healing him, the “scatterbrained” Sago rubbed his thigh. Sago is the reliable boss of the group that rescued Ig, but he seemed to be rather clumsy and invariably ended up injured at least once every two days or so.}

These “accidents” happened so frequently they had become part of their regular routine. Once it was settled, Sago changed into his bar-master outfit, left the living space, entered the Amanoiwato storefront, and began lightly cleaning. After that, he sat on a chair with his legs crossed, and began practicing the acoustic guitar. “I practiced the guitar when I was young in order to still be cool when I become an old man in his mid-forties twenty years later”^{4, or something like that. It lacks skill and is extremely awkward, but Ig sings and swings her body, matching the Sago’s slow plucking of the melody. Ig liked Sago’s song. Even though it didn’t sound good, even to her ears, Sago was working hard and putting his soul into it. And every day, little by little, he was improving. Hearing it made Ig happy.}

After about an hour of practice, Sago put away the guitar and started reading a light novel about superpowers. After the Super Water-Ball event, sharp booksellers began actively pushing superpower-related books. This strategy seemed to work; the fact that they’re regularly sold out must mean they’re selling well. But the book Sago is reading was borrowed from Kaburagi-san. While reading it, he occasionally mutters “I see” or “Ah, so it develops like this,” and/or jots down a quick note. Ig had nothing to do, so she returned to her nest box for a nap.

“Ig! It’s lunch time!”

Ig woke up to a delicious smell and Sago’s voice. Out on the floor of Amanoiwato, Sago was making fruit juice with a blender while eating pasta. When finished, Sago served the undiluted pineapple, strawberry, and banana smoothie base to Ig in a small dish. Ig licked it up greedily. Sago took the left-overs for himself and added milk and yogurt to it. He drank it down in one gulp. While Ig was licking the dish clean, her ears picked up the sound of someone coming down the stairs that led to Amanoiwato. Igu raises her face, twitches her ears, jumps over to Sago’s shoulder, and alerts him.

As she expected, the person visiting Amanoiwato and giving off an intense “bad guy” smell turned out to be none other than Kaburagi Shiori. She’s holding a small box that has a store name and logo on it. Her attire today is a high-waisted black skirt with a corset in it and a white blouse. It’s a neat and clean appearance. In addition, Kaburagi’s attire mentally killed more than a dozen virgins in the short walk to Amanoiwato from where she parked her car. And even Sago, upon seeing Kaburagi in clothes that were so different from her usual attire, suffered a fatal injury. Ig uses healing on Sago to calm his distressed heart, then bared her teeth at Kaburagi, who seemed to be the culprit of this mysterious attack.

◊

“Thank you for your hard work. Today, I brought a cake.”

“Thanks. The clothes you’re wearing today look great on you; simple outfits really suit you. Would you like some juice?”

“Yes please. Is that lassi^{1?”
“Lassi? I don’t know if that’s what ‘high-class’ people call it, but it’s just mixed fruit that’s been combined with milk and yogurt.”}

“That’s lassi, you know. A fruit-based one.”

Kaburagi, who ended up sitting right next to Sago, opened the box together with him and then started pecking at the cake. Ig didn’t like it and became upset. This “bad guy” was tricking everyone in the group and acting like she owned the place! Ig wanted to get rid of her, but it would be difficult, since Sago, who was the leader, seemed to like her. And since Sago liked her, it meant that Ig couldn’t do anything too awful to her. Therefore, Ig is harassing her like a mother-in-law that bullies her daughter-in-law. She grabbed a fork that was in the sink a twirled Kaburagi-san’s long wavy hair around it like it was spaghetti. It was her cheeky way of messing up Kaburagi-san’s carefully coiffed hair. Ig laughed at the ridiculous sight of Kaburagi-san’s hair being entangled by the fork.

“ChiChiChiChiChi – JiJiJiJiJiJi!?”

In the next moment, Ig was hanging by her tail from the end of the string hanging from the ceiling ventilation fan. The screaming Ig is rescued by Sago, who sighs and lightly scolds her. Ig is depressed and in low spirits; she profoundly reflects on her actions and comes to the conclusion that next time, she would be more skillful in her harassment.

The two people finish their short break, then have a short business meeting while Ig licks and heals her tail.

“It’s great that we can prepare such a large quantity of samples using Kaneyama Tech. Also, it seems they have begun utilizing Sago-san’s high-voltage black box^2.”

“Oh, really? No wonder I felt that the utilization rate had increased lately. But, you know, it really is just a black box.”

◊

The black box installed at Kaneyama Tech’s lab has a touchscreen on it; when they input the pressure and time, it will contact Sago’s smartphone. When Sago receives it, he uses his psychokinesis to locate the black box and create a super high voltage that cannot possibly be replicated by modern science. This “technology” is simply referred to as the black box. At first, the researchers at Kaneyama Tech were eager to figure out how the box Kaburagi had given to them worked. But no matter how much they studied the touchscreen and attached transmitters, they could only determine that it was an iron box.

This made them a little bit afraid of it, so they stopped meddling with it and decided to view it simply as a convenient tool they could put to good use. Fox example, it allowed them to make an artificial diamond of unprecedented size. Kaburagi and Sago, who have little knowledge of the subject, didn’t realize that it wasn’t as simple as compressing graphite. It could be said that this result was a joint effort made possible by Kaneyama Tech knowledge and engineering.

◊

“Is it not time-consuming? What about the wind power generation facilities? You know, if it’s too much, I can adjust the schedule for you.”

“Ah, you’re right. Turning the blades at the wind power facilities is quite boring. If Kaneyama Tech is doing well, we should consider scaling back on the wind power facilities. But if I quit suddenly it’ll cause trouble, so I should slowly reduce the amount of work I do… actually, I changed my mind. I like the employees over there; they’re rather interesting. They’ve started to build a turbine shrine.”

“That is…”

“Shrines are nice, you know? By the way, I think we’re fine in terms of counterintelligence. It’s already been a week, and there’s no sign of anything about us being broadcasted on the news. For some reason, they don’t seem to be going to any great lengths to look into it.”

“It’s good to have the basic news channels thoroughly covered though. We were recorded by surveillance cameras. There were eye-witnesses. They have no real evidence, but that doesn’t mean they won’t talk about it or post something online. We should’ve tried erasing all traces of us from the warehouse district with a heavy rain. It seems that because there was no human or material damage or criminal activity, only the media is moving; it looks like recently, they’ve been focusing their investigation on the Tokyo suburbs. There are even plans to have an oceanographic survey done by an academic society. But at any rate, the amount of people moved by human-wave tactics is limited. Gathering information via the net is also useless, because people will spread rumors for the purpose of stock price manipulation. You said you’ve been checking twice a day every day? Then there’s no need to worry about it.”

“I know that in my head, but I still think it’s unnecessary. Whatever. How about using this as an opportunity to get into government media policing?”

“I’m making preparations for that. Please leave it to me. However, I need to be cautious, since I’m doing it by myself… ah, that doesn’t mean that you’re useless, ok? It’s just a matter of suitability.”

“I know. I don’t mind it; I made you my assistant, so I entrust those sorts of things to you.”

◊

After their conversation finishes, Sago ducks under the counter and takes two boxes wrapped with ribbons from the shelf. He then adapts a sour expression and begins to polish a glass. Kaburagi starts reading a short Western novel. After a while, Takahashi Shouta, who’s wearing a red t-shirt and charcoal shorts that have a silver accessory hanging from them, and Hasumi Touka, who’s outfit includes a cardigan and t-shirt in warm colors and a pair of jeans, make their entrance.

After saying their greetings, the two immediately noticed the box placed on the counter. It would be hard for them not to, since both of their names were obviously printed on the card on it.

“It’s a gift from the boss. He said it’s for doing a good job.”

“The boss stopped by!?”

“Just for a bit. You guys just missed him; he’s on his way to the Maldives right now. He’s a busy person, you know.”

Touka, who was looking around the room for him, was disappointed upon hearing that he had already left. Both of them actually interact with the boss almost everyday, but they still believe they haven’t met him yet.

When Shouta saw the red ribbon wrapped around the cylindrical box, he was disgusted.

“The boss did such cute wrapping? Are they a girl?”

“I put the ribbon on it.”

“Oh.”

“⋯⋯⋯.”

In the awkward silence that followed his muttered confession, Sago made latte art depicting a stickman attacking with a ball of fire. Shouta smiled and made a small laugh, then thanked the bar-master for his clumsy way of showing support. Both Shouta and Touka then opened the present right then and there. Shouta’s present was a lantern lit from the fires of an Olympic flame. Touka’s was thousand-year-old sacred lotus seeds that were discovered inside a Buddha statue at Horyuji Temple^{1 last year. Both were very pleased with their gifts. The rare seeds attracted Ig’s attention, as she was curious about how they would taste, but when she tried to take some, Touka got incredibly angry at her, causing her to cower and retreat to Sago’s shoulder. She didn’t understand why Touka was so upset over some seeds.}

◊

The four of them then gathered around Kaburagi’s laptop, looking at the latest rumors about them on the net and enjoying cookies and lattes. They begin chatting, though Sago doesn’t join the conversation.

“The code names are catching on. Is the reason they’re all in English because it’s a more popular topic of discussion in the West than in Japan?”

“I think that’s because news of the 600m one in Ireland broke before the news of the 50m one in Japan. The boss is ‘Titian (IT)’. Kaburagi-san is ‘Time Lady (TL)’, and ‘Burning Girl (BG)’ is Touka.”

“And Shouta is ‘Freezing Knight (FK)’.”

“Ig doesn’t have a codename though. Oh, wait, didn’t they call her ‘Healer’ or something? Does that count as a codename? The fact that the prevalent theory is that she’s a small robot makes me laugh.”

“It is kinda funny… well, at least it’s better than all the posts flaming at us.”

Of course, since it’s the internet, there are many angry/mean-spirited posts as well. Things like: “Why don’t you show yourselves and explain?”; “Don’t you feel responsible for this?”; “They only went on a rampage then ran away”; “So irresponsible”; “These guys are so fucking gay”; “This is the result of human waste destroying Earth’s natural wonders”; and etc., etc. It seems that the general public doesn’t understand that they prevented the destruction of urban areas by stopping the Super Water-Balls while they were still offshore. Certainly, there are a lot of comments that praise them and admire their good intentions, but being praised one-hundred times still can’t eliminate the pain caused by one insult.

◊

The media seems to vigorously chase after things like escaped rare animals and criminals; it’s also not uncommon for affiliated news companies to offer a reward for information that leads to their capture. It was obvious that the two students were disappointed that, even though they worked so hard, no one really seemed interested in learning more about them. Though Kaburagi had clearly previously warned them that revealing their true identities would mean that their privacy would be thoroughly uprooted and they would become the media’s toys.

Kaburagi admonished them for their lack of understanding.

“Listen, instead of everyone closing their mouths as if the incident was concealed and nothing happened, or it being nothing but flowery words of praise for the great heroes, don’t you think it’s far more natural for there to be a mix of abuse and praise right now? It’s a sign of how peaceful this world is.”

“…That may be true, but even so, that’s based on an adult’s point of view. I’m still not convinced.”

“I agree. It’s not very virtuous.”

Kaburagi doesn’t deny their indignant words. Instead, she just smiles and changes the subject. The two immediately follow Kaburagi in talking about the world’s darkness.

Since the Super Water-Ball incident, the number of appearances of the world’s darkness has greatly decreased. This was due to the fact that the whole world now knew about its overwhelmingly violent existence, and was afraid of it. Because the image of it had become ingrained in their subconscious, it had put a stop on outbreaks of violence. But on the other hand, proof of humans who have superpowers being able to defeat the water monster may awaken a desire for further violence sometime in the near future. Once it’s past your throat, you forget the heat^{2. This also applies to fear. After all, because the Super Water-Ball didn’t cause any actual damage, the fear won’t last long. Proof about the existence of superpowers will undoubtedly affect human psychology and cause them to seek a new type of violence, which will in turn affect the world’s darkness.}

◊

Ig was growing bored of just sitting and listening to their long discussion. Since she only spoke monkey, she didn’t even understand what they were saying, and Sago was so distracted by the conversation that she could freely pull on his hair and ears without him even noticing. Ordinarily, she would just take a nap, but she had just taken one and wasn’t at all sleepy.

Then, as Ig was climbing down from Sago’s body to the floor, she suddenly realized that the front door of Amaniwato was slightly open. Shouta hadn’t fully closed it. Due to Ig’s body being rejuvenated and her growing accustomed to her surroundings, her natural curiosity had also been revived. Ig had never gone outside by herself. The habit of taking a walk in the morning with Sago was suspended for the week, and Ig missed the outside air. Thus, with her interest captivated, Ig exited the bar through the crack in the door without the others noticing, and went on an adventure in the outside world.

◊

Igu jumped over the stairs leading from the street to the underground Amanoiwato, and ventured through the neighborhood, following the line of trees planted by the street. She sucked nectar out of the flowers on the trees, ate bugs that she killed by hitting with a stick, and dropped the unappetizing wings on to the heads of random passers-by.

Ig didn’t bother to hide, so she was noticed multiple times, but each time a suspicious person reached out their hand to touch her, she would screech, “kya-kya”, while slapping away the hand and manage to escape. She allowed those who didn’t seem like bad people and had kind eyes to gently pet her, but even these people didn’t feel right to her, so she ended up shaking them off and running away as well.

The early afternoon sunlight was dazzling, and the traffic was noisy. Ig, who had only gone outside in the early morning when there are fewer cars on the road, was overwhelmed, so in order to avoid the loud sounds and the “bad guy smell” that seemed to be everywhere, she went into a side street. The afternoon sunlight was blocked by the high-rise apartment complexes, and it felt pleasantly cool and refreshing on top of the cinderblock wall.

Ig was walking comfortably along the wall, when suddenly, she became hungry. There was a sweet smell wafting on the breeze; it smelled like honey. Ig stopped, turned so that her nose faced upwind, and tracked down the source of the smell. She jumped from the top of the wall to a telephone pole, then from there to a rain gutter, and then scaled the wall of a high-rise apartment complex by using vines hanging down from potted plants left on balconies.

◊

Eventually, Ig entered a room in one of the apartments through an open window. A young man sitting upright in bed stared at her with wide eyes. This was a sportsman’s bedroom. On one shelf, there was a worn-out basketball next to a brand-new one. There were a number of golden trophies lined up on the desk, and uniforms and certificates decorated the walls. The bookshelf held mainly sports magazines. However, the high school student who’s the owner of the room had a bad complexion, and his right arm was in a sturdy white cast and attached to his neck with a sling.

“What? A monkey…?”

Ig ignored the young man who was gazing astonishedly at the visitor coming through the window; instead, her gaze was locked onto the toast that was sitting on his lap. She jumped at it. She licked at it like crazy, then noticed that there was more honey in the jar nearby. She tried to get it out by hitting the jar and rolling it, but it didn’t work. With a wry smile, the young man put the honey on the toast for her, which by now was covered in hair and dirt.

“Ow!”

The action of spreading the honey on the toast caused the young man to hold his right arm and wince in pain. He stayed like this for a short while, then breathed out a heavy sigh.

“Look, monkey, I don’t know where your home is, but once your done licking that up, go there and stay there. I’m not in the mood for ‘small animal therapy’ right now.”

“ChiChiChi.”

“What, are you stupid or something? That’s right, I’m a shitty, stupid idiot who got cut from the team because I broke my arm during a stupid test of courage! Shit! Shut up – I know that even without you telling me, okay! What ‘you’re making your father sad’? The saddest one here is me, you idiot! Damn it…”

The agitated young man let out a groan of pain. Ig – whose mouth was covered in sticky honey – as a result of her conditional reflex training, healed his broken arm upon hearing his painful groan. A miraculous light illuminated the dark room.

“!?”

The young man received the warm while light while sitting as still as a statue and completely speechless. After a few seconds of healing him, Ig lost interest, so she stopped and returned to licking up honey. The young man snapped out of his daze and looked at his right arm. To his surprise, he could now lift, move, and swing around his arm without any pain. He stared at the miraculous monkey in amazement. This was undoubtedly the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“You… you must be that from the news, right? They did say that it could be a small animal that belongs to the secret organization. So it was a monkey.”

“ChiChi!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. It’s probably better that way anyway. But still, thanks. I thought this world was nothing but shit, but you showed me that miracles can happen. Wait here, I’ll go get you a banana, ok? That’s better than honey, right?”

The young man gently got out of bed so as to not disturb the monkey, and left the room humming happily. As soon as the young man disappeared, Ig started floating in mid-air. Ig was caught off-guard, but because she was familiar with this phenomenon, she didn’t panic. She knew that this mysterious power would never harm her. Ig flew across the air, then suddenly fell, eventually landing on the chest of Touka’s cardigan, who was calling her name while searching the trees for her.

“Hey?! What’s going on?!”

“ChiChiChiChiChi!”

“Wha… Ig-chan? Huh? Why did you fall from the sky? Eh, why are you sticky, it that honey? It definitely smells like it. We’ve been looking for you, you know. Ah, hey, don’t crawl underneath my shirt, get out of there!”

◊

Once Ig was taken back to Amanoiwato by Touka and both students left, she received a severe scolding from Sago. But even though Sago was angry at her, he didn’t beat her or pull out her hair, which Ig was grateful for. Ig deeply reflected on her actions, and decided that, the next time she went outside, she would try to do it in a way that wouldn’t anger him.

◊

After Kaburagi went home for the evening, Sago took a bath, changed clothes and entered his futon. Ig went into her nestbox and closed her eyes. Due to her moderate fatigue and full stomach, sleep comes quickly. It was only after being rescued by Sago that she was no longer afraid of tomorrow. With Sago’s slow, gentle breathing as background music, Ig peacefully falls asleep.

◊

Koto City is a ward in Tokyo that’s located along the coast of Tokyo Bay ⇒ Koto City Official Website 

National Diet=Japan’s government, similar to a parliament or congress 

Gum syrup is a kind of sugar syrup that Japanese people use in their drinks instead of artificial sweeteners ⇒ Image 

If this is meant to be a reference to something, I can’t find it. Here’s the original Japanese & romaji if you want to search yourself: (二十年後四十半ばのおっさんになった時、若い頃ギターやってたアピールするための練習) Ni juu nen go yon juu nakaba no ossan ni natta toki , wakai koro gitaa yatteta apiiru suru tame no renshuu 

Yogurt-based drink ⇒ Wikipedia: Lassi 

Money making scheme thought up in Chapter 12 where Sago uses his psychokinesis to increase power production ⇒ Chapter 12: Part 2 

The Horyuji Temple is located in Nara, Japan and has some of Japan’s oldest Buddha statues ⇒ Horyuji Temple 

Japanese proverb: “Nodomoto sugireba atsusa wo wasureru” (喉元過ぎれば熱さを忘れる) lit. = “to forget the heat after swallowing”; similar to how the heat/spiciness of food is forgotten after swallowing it, painful or scary experiences can easily be forgotten as time passes.