This is the 23rd Chapter of The Summer Hikaru Died manga series, written and illustrated by Mokumokuren.
Synopsis[]
“Hikaru” is finally awake, and the boys are ready to return to school. But on their first day back, they receive an unexpected clue about “Nounuki-sama”! What new light could this shed on “Hikaru’s” origins...?[1]
Plot[]
A turning[2] occurs as "Hikaru" begins to awaken. He reflects that he is cold and empty, and he desires to consume things so that he may feel filled and satisfied. His attention is taken by a warm, kind soul. When he wakes, he finds that he is in a hospital bed with Yoshiki leaning over him. Yoshiki becomes dazed as they look into one another's eyes. They're snapped out of it and come back to their senses when Kurebayashi claps her hands. "Hikaru" rubs his neck, which now has a clean line of scarring all the way around, and remarks that it hurts, even though he shouldn't have a sense of pain. Kurebayashi comments that his presence is noticeably weaker than what she felt in the mountains. Yoshiki blames himself for this, recalling how "Hikaru" had taken out a piece of himself and given it to him as a sign of trust.[3] He also blames himself for not noticing that Tanaka would end up hurting "Hikaru," even though he was so friendly when they first met.[4] "Hikaru" tries to remain jovial and reassures him that if he attacks again, they'll just run away, but Yoshiki remains gloomy. Watching them, Kurebayashi privately laments that she was too easy on them, allowing herself to be swayed by her emotions even though she knew "Hikaru" was dangerous for Yoshiki to be around.
When "Hikaru" returns to school, he's surrounded by Maki, Yuuki, and Asako, who were worried about him after hearing he was hospitalized. Meanwhile, Yoshiki is taking notes to organize information about the Great Brain-snatcher (Nounuki-sama). Noticing this, Maki tells him about what he's learned of "Unuki-san" from his older brother, who's interested in the occult:
A long time ago, their area was plagued by multiple epidemics, bad harvests, and strange accidents, which would have normally made it difficult for the people there to thrive. However, there was mercury in the area, which made the land rather lucrative for settlers. The amount that could be mined steadily decreased over the years, and the amount of abortions increased due to the harsh living conditions. The mercury was used to make a drug called "Uronuki medicine," which would abort a pregnancy. The act of abortion itself was colloquially referred to as "returning it to Unuki-san of the mountain." Eventually, Unuki-san became worshipped as a deity of the mountain, and the plagues on the land eventually stopped.
Hearing this, Yoshiki realizes why Nisayama (Red Sand/Cinnabar Mountain) has a restricted area. Maki jokingly suggests that Unuki-san was the reason Hikaru went missing. Suddenly, "Hikaru" asks what they'd do if the deity was really here after switching places with someone. They agree that it would be frightening, and they'd want it to go away. Yoshiki quickly changes the subject. At Yoshiki's request, Maki messages his brother about what happened to Unuki-san afterward. According to him, worship of Unuki-san had disappeared around the 1700s. The feudal domain rumored that interfering with this land would bring them calamity, which left the area available for believers of another religion to settle in after they fled persecution. As a result, that religion became established in the area, resulting in Kibogayama having a lot of churches.
After classes, Yoshiki theorizes that Unuki-san worship didn't actually disappear, but that its name changed– for example, it might've changed from "Uronuki" to "Unuki" to "Nounuki." He wonders when the offering of heads was introduced into its worship. He presumes that the division of the village was involved in the worship of Nounuki-sama declining, as well as the mass deaths during the Kan'en Era and the influx of a new religion taking hold of the area. However, it still is unclear to him why worship of Nounuki continued in only Kubitachi, which has almost no households of outside religion (excluding Kameyama's family, who had moved from Kibogayama).
While Yoshiki is writing this down, "Hikaru" grabs his attention to tell him that everyone's gone home. "Hikaru" recalls that Hikaru's father and grandfather were always referring to him as "Unuki-san," which confirms that it's right to say that Unuki-san = Nounuki-sama. "Hikaru" suggests that they follow what Old Man Takeda said to them about looking into the Indou's shrine for the family's secrets. Yoshiki stares at the piece of "Hikaru" in his hand and asks directly if "Hikaru" has been weakened because of this. When "Hikaru" admits it might be the case, Yoshiki immediately tells him to take it back, although "Hikaru" isn't sure if that would make him return to normal. He jokingly says that Yoshiki might stab him again if he puts it back inside, but Yoshiki sullenly says that he won't.
"Hikaru"'s neck wound throbs as they leave the library. He stops and holds it, prompting Yoshiki to turn around to check on him. "Hikaru" stares at Yoshiki, and at Yoshiki's soul. Grinning, "Hikaru"'s neck begins to tear open.
Character Appearances[]
- Tsujinaka Yoshiki
- "Hikaru"
- Kurebayashi Rie
- Tanaka (flashback; mentioned)
- Tadokoro Yuuki
- Yamagishi Asako
- Maki Yuuta
- Maki's Brother (mentioned)
- Old Man Kameyama (flashback)
- Indou Ancestor (flashback)
- Indou Kouhei (mentioned)
- Grandfather Indou (mentioned)
- Old Man Takeda (mentioned)
Gallery[]
References
- ↑ Rakuten Kobo: The Summer Hikaru Died, Chapter 23
- ↑ Tumblr user @entertext (December 18, 2023). HGSN 23-1. Retrieved on June 18, 2024. “The character 廻 for “TURN” (廻転) seen in this chapter is slightly rare compared to the more common 回. It has a stronger nuance of “to cycle or repeat” (as opposed to the meaning “to rotate”) and is the same as the one used in “the cycle of reincarnation” (輪廻転生).”
- ↑ Chapter 16 (Vol. 3)
- ↑ Chapter 19 (Vol. 4)
[]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||