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Kara no Kyoukai (Light Novel) - Volume 1, Part II: Epilogue
Volume 1, Part II: Epilogue
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It’s July 1998, and I celebrate a little in my head as I finish up the day’s work early, just before lunch break. I say “work” but really, I’m just more of a secretary to Miss Tōko than anything, mostly doing the odd job she needs doing. I’m lucky to even get work at all, having dropped out of col- lege halfway.
“Kokutō, isn’t today your weekly visit?”
“Yes, ma’am. Soon as I finish this up, I’m going there right away.”
“Oh, don’t delay on account of me. You can go early. There’s nothing more for you to do here today, anyway.”
I have to say, Miss Tōko’s temperament when her glasses are on is much more preferable. And after all, this is a good day for her too; since it’s the day she cleans that car she’s so proud of to an immaculate sparkle. She always likes doing that.
“Thanks, ma’am. I’ll be back in about two hours.”
“Bring me back a snack or two, all right?” She waves me a goodbye just before I close the door to her office.
Shiki Ryōgi is still in the hospital, still in a coma unable to do anything. I still go to visit her every Saturday afternoon. She never told me about any pain she was holding in, or anything she thought about. I don’t even know why she tried to kill me. But at least she smiled in the end, even if it was a faint one. At least she smiled, and that was enough.
Gakutō had it right a long time ago. I was already crazy. I guess that’s why I am the way I am today even after a brush with death.
I still remember the last time we stood in the sunset lit classroom. Under that burning, blood red sky, Shiki asked me what part of her I believed in. And I still remember my answer.
“I don’t have any basis, but I trust you. I like you, so I want to keep believ- ing in you.”
A premature answer, perhaps. I said I didn’t have any basis, but the truth is, I did. I just didn’t know it at the time. She didn’t kill anyone. That, at least, I could believe in. Because Shiki knew how painful murder was. She, above all others, knew the suffering that the victim and the murderer went through.
That’s why I believed: in Shiki, who couldn’t express herself, in Shiki, who wasn’t given a chance to be a person, in Shiki, who was far from pain, and in Shiki, who knew nothing but pain.
The three pieces now lie poised on the board.
One a mind entwined with a specter floating, and on death, dependent.
One a life in paradox eternal , and in death, pleasure.
One a predator with origin awakened, and to death, gnosis.
Three now swirl and dance, and in the spiral of conflict they wait.
