chsdbacks Chapter 1 Dormant Life
Chapter 1 Dormant Life
2018年7月17日14时15分，东京涩谷区某咖啡店发生特大火灾事故。
"I was right across from them at the time. I first heard a muffled thud, and then I got angry."
"Like an explosion?"
"Yes, yes, it was an explosion. First there was one, then several more."
According to the on-site investigation, the fire spread rapidly in a very short time, completely engulfing the interior of the shop in about five seconds.
"No one escaped after the fire started."
"Did no one escape?"
Upon arrival, the fire department counted a total of thirteen charred bodies at the scene.
"What about before the fire?"
It is worth noting that the burning marks on other flammable materials at the scene were significantly lighter than the carbonization of the body, and there was a significant difference between the two. The specific reasons still need further investigation.
There are two people.
"Thank you very much for your cooperation. If any further details are needed regarding the case, we will contact you again. We hope you will continue to assist us then. We wish you a pleasant life."
Nishimiya Sousuke put the recorder back in his pocket, his tone flat, as if he were doing a task he had done countless times before.
That's all for today.
He nodded slightly to a police officer beside him, the gesture restrained and brief.
The other person nodded, without any further pleasantries, simply stood up, put away the file bag, and pushed the chair back to its original position.
The investigation is over.
A black sedan was waiting for him downstairs.
Sousuke Nishimiya opened the car door and got into the back seat. The woman waiting in the driver's seat started the car.
"How is it?"
"The same as always."
"What's the on-site explanation?"
"It's a gas leak."
He took a deep breath, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed the corner of his eye.
The person in the front row saw him like this in the rearview mirror, smiled, and knew that things wouldn't be that simple.
The car slowly drove out of the parking space and merged into the afternoon traffic in Shibuya.
Nishimiya Sousuke turned his head to look out the window.
The fire scene isn't far from here. That direction has been cordoned off, but there seems to be a lingering, slightly off smell in the air.
It is a smell called "filth".
"trouble……"
Tokyo in July feels like it's been stuffed into a giant block of butter.
It was hot and humid, and the air was thick and sticky.
More than two months have passed since the Golden Week holiday, but the effects of "May sickness" seem to linger. Especially when cicadas are chirping so loudly, people's emotions are more easily out of control than usual.
This prolonged low mood caused by seasonal changes is medically known as "summer affective disorder," and is also called "July sickness."
On the streets of Shibuya under the blazing sun, people habitually duck as they brush past each other. Individuals do this, and groups do the same. They suppress their emotions, waiting expressionlessly for the red light to flash, like melting wax figures.
In the crowd, a young man in a coffee shop uniform walked forward with his head down and a gloomy expression.
His face was deathly pale, his steps unsteady, as if his soul had been ripped out. He could hear nothing, see nothing, and was simply immersed in his own pain, immersed in a suffocating despair.
But the red light is still on.
Passersby who had been looking down all raised their eyes.
"Hey, that kid!"
But by the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late.
That's enough...
"There's no need to keep going..."
His voice was very soft, so soft that it was almost swallowed up by the chirping of cicadas.
A screeching sound of brakes suddenly rang out.
The sound of a collision followed as if it were a pre-programmed sequence. The boy's body was thrown high into the air under everyone's gaze. His light-colored figure flipped and fell in the air before crashing heavily onto the scorching asphalt road.
The blood spread rapidly, blooming into a dazzling flower on the scalding ground.
"ah--!"
It's unclear who uttered the first cry of alarm, but a chaotic and fearful cacophony erupted in the sweltering air. Screams and cries for help overlapped, and loudspeakers blared all around.
But these sounds are gradually fading into the distance.
He felt that even the dull thud of the back of his head hitting the ground seemed to come from a very far away place. All the noise seemed to be separated by an increasingly thick layer of glass, the sounds becoming softer and more indistinct.
Until the whole world was muted.
He exhaled the last breath from his body.
"Finally...it's quiet..."
The nightmarish memories came to an abrupt end.
Xu An felt a terrible headache.
The white ceiling and the smell of disinfectant in the air—this familiar and cliché scene made him realize that he should be in a hospital.
"You're in the hospital? Did you stay up too late last night...?"
He reached up and pressed his forehead, immediately feeling layers of tightly wrapped gauze.
"What's going on?"
He tried to sit up, but found his body felt like it was falling apart, and he couldn't muster any strength. Every movement brought a sharp pain to the muscles involved.
"Be careful, don't move around."
A man's soft and gentle voice came from beside the bed.
The voice was low and very soft, as if afraid of disturbing the patient; it was slow and clear, carrying a kind of power that made people inexplicably relax.
With the gentle sound of the rocker arm turning, the headboard was gradually raised, and his field of vision rose accordingly.
"Thanks."
Xu An subconsciously thanked him.
But when he saw the man's face clearly, his already confused mind went blank again.
He wore a deep blue monk's robe, five layers of kasaya, a high ponytail, and a distinctive tuft of bangs on his forehead.
Isn't that Xia Youjie?
"Coser?"
Xu An didn't voice his thoughts. Because both the accuracy of the costume and the aura emanating from the other person were completely different from any cosplayer he had seen before.
Most importantly, at this moment he could sense a strange feeling from the other party that he had never felt before—an unnatural energy fluctuation that should not exist in the world.
What exactly is it?
He felt his head throb even more, and a series of memories that shouldn't exist surfaced one after another.
Shibuya. A coffee shop. A one-eyed monster with a volcano on its head.
Accompanied by a sharp pain in his head, countless fragmented memories pierced his brain like shattered glass.
Genichi Nishio.
Seventeen years old.
A native of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture.
His parents died early, leaving only his elderly grandmother at home.
A year ago, I transferred to Tokyo Metropolitan Gunyama Daiichi High School and am now a sophomore.
I live in a cheap shared apartment with a senior from the same school named Yohei Ishida...
In an instant, countless memories of the original owner and the memories of an ordinary office worker from his original world intertwined and collided wildly.
He recalled that he stayed up all night on Saturday to finish watching Jujutsu Kaisen, and then angrily ranted online about the author's shameless and scathing behavior.
Then--
I've been transported to another world like this?!