This is the 6th Chapter of The Summer Hikaru Died manga series, written and illustrated by Mokumokuren.
Synopsis[]
Yoshiki meets up with Kurebayashi Rie and tells her about his difficult situation involving "Hikaru." He learns that their circumstances have some similarities, and while Rie encourages him to stay strong, she also warns him that staying with this unnatural being, he calls his friend, might have lasting consequences...
Plot[]
Yoshiki arrives at a diner in Kibogayama to meet with Kurebayashi Rie. Once they sit down, he explains how his friend was replaced by Something. In response, she tells him that he shouldn't feel guilty or like he deserves to be punished, because in reality the dead don't care - they, the living, are the ones clinging to the dead.
She goes on to discuss strange happenings in Kibogayama and Kubitachi. Some sort of "distortion" has formed through the area and things that shouldn't be here are appearing, and she attributes this to Something's presence. She describes it as feeling like a mass of "hell" itself, and as soon as she noticed it disappear from the mountains, the distortion in the towns grew larger. She hypothesizes that Something was keeping distortions contained in the mountains. Incidents such as Old Lady Matsuura's death make her want to leave the town, but she remains here because her mother-in-law and daughter are here. Kurebayashi confesses that her late husband also came back after died. But things ended poorly for them, leaving her son with a scar that will never heal. She tells Yoshiki that he must know deep down that he, too, can't keep being with his friend like this. She doesn't want Yoshiki to end up like her, which is why she's telling him all this as a warning.
On another day, Yoshiki stays late in his classroom at Kibogayama High. After Yuuki briefly comes back and wonders why he's still here, Yoshiki tells her he forgot something, and that they should go home without him, prompting her to leave again. He recalls how "Hikaru" said he didn't want to kill him,[1] which means he could kill Yoshiki if he chose to. While he's lost in thought about what "Hikaru" really is, he suddenly appears besides him. Yoshiki also tells him to go home without him, because he's in a bad mood, but "Hikaru" doesn't want to. He tries to cheer Yoshiki up, to no avail, and continues to ask what's wrong. Yoshiki slaps his hand away and says to leave him alone.
"Hikaru" continues to pry, asking if Yoshiki is mad at him, and when he dodges the question, he brings up that Yoshiki went into town and has been texting with some stranger. "Hikaru" says that the two of them used to talk about everything before, but Yoshiki says that it wasn't "Hikaru" he talked with before. "Hikaru" grabs Yoshiki's wrist, realizing that he's acting tense because he's not the real Indou Hikaru. Yoshiki yells at him, confirming that he's not Hikaru at all.
"Hikaru" apologizes, but his grip on Yoshiki's arm grows strong enough to hurt. He says that he's useless without Yoshiki, and he doesn't know how to separate his own feelings from Hikaru's, but he can't stop liking Yoshiki as much as he does. As he says this, his insides suddenly burst out of him, flying up to the ceiling and surrounding himself and Yoshiki.
Character Appearances[]
- Tsujinaka Yoshiki
- Kurebayashi Rie
- Indou Hikaru (mentioned)
- Kurebayashi Iori (mentioned)
- Rie's Husband (mentioned)
- Tadokoro Yuuki
- Old Lady Matsuura (mentioned)
- "Hikaru"
Gallery[]
References
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