novel translation project (in-progress)

Bookmark of Demise

Susumu

 

 

 

CHAPTER 1 - Solitary Hide and Seek
CHAPTER 2 - Imposter Advisory
CHAPTER 3 - Re: Missed Call
CHAPTER 4 - Perfect Crime Love Letter
CHAPTER 5 - Aimless Imitation Musical Chairs
CHAPTER 6 - Re: Parallel Love Line
CHAPTER 7 - Ordinarily Ordinary

 

 

 

“—Yet another common* story?”

 

 

 

Crime Statement

 

The story begins. The curtains open.

 

Outside the window, a cloudy sky comes into view. At a time when summer has yet to come, whispers of a particular rumor fill the air.
No one knows the details about this rumor. In fact, no one understands it at all.
Nevertheless, they say that if, by chance, you ever come across a blank book with a cat bookmark, you must never touch it.

—For that is the bookmark of demise.

 

 

 

Rules for the Game of Demise

 

The game starts due to the presence of the one traitor, the “fox”.
To escape the game, you must adhere to the following conditions or face demise.

—Well then, time to start the exciting game of demise.

For the game to meet its demise, you must kill the “fox”.
If no one catches the “fox”, all other participants will die.
While searching for the “fox”, you must fulfill Kokkuri-san’s requests.
Mail is the way through which you will receive Kokkuri-san’s requests.
You have one week to fulfill Kokkuri-san’s requests.
Death awaits those who cannot fulfill the requests.
Death awaits those who refuse to fulfill the requests.
Death awaits any outsider who sees or learns of the requests.
Until the game meets its demise, you absolutely cannot escape.

 

 

 

“Breaking news. Today, at XX City High School, the corpse of a male student has been discovered.
The police are currently investigating the possibilities that this case is either an accident or a homicide—”

＊

Here’s a summary of the case so far:
At the end of the lunch break, a female student from the same school discovered a corpse.
Chasing after a ball thrown into a thicket from the sports grounds, she unknowingly bumped into someone standing there. Thanks to the impact, the person fell.
The flustered girl then looked up to apologize and finally noticed.

—Only the lower half of the person’s body stood there.

According to the girl’s testimony, she did not notice anything unusual until she had bumped into him.

Simultaneously, at the back gate on the other side of the school, a male student from the same school discovered a corpse.
After putting away cleaning supplies in the storage shed nearby, he went to pass through the back gate a second time and noticed a strange sight.

—Only the upper half of the person’s body laid there in front of the gate, certainly not there even moments before.

On the ground nearby, he saw traces suggesting the upper half had dragged itself a few meters.
…As if it tried to move towards its lower half.

Not only that, even though this occurred during the lunch break, when many students filled the grounds and the school building, not even one witness could be found.
To sum it up, with the school acting as the room, this is a closed room murder.

 

 

 

“……So it was true.”
That day, teachers and staff congregated for an emergency meeting, necessitating the immediate temporary closure of the school.
Not knowing the truth of the situation, most students, aside from those taken in for police questioning or waiting for their parents, theoretically had no choice but to return home straight away.
In reality, however, not every student left the school without delay.

At a former music room on the second floor of an old school building, a group of students assembled for an emergency meeting of their own.
Each of their faces displayed fear. Unlike the uncertain look of fear on other students, they wore grim expressions.

“—Hey, who told him? —Who’s the traitor!”
“Will I…die too?”
“……Calm down.”
“There’s no way we can stay calm about this!”
“But…we don’t know yet…  It could be just a…coincidence…”
“There’s no way that stunt can be ‘just a coincidence’!”
“Calm the hell down!”
“…………”
“…………We have to look more into this. You don’t wanna die, right?”
“—Tch!”         
“Anyway, someone probably got a letter…”
“Doesn’t that mean all of it was true? About that…”
“Looks like it.”
“…………”

For a moment, everyone said nothing. A deafening silence filled the room.

“—Hey, what should we do?”
“For now, just wait and see? Since the letter was already sent and all…”
“Yeah, but you know, if a week passes, one of us will die.”
“Something… Something horrible actually happened, so they’ll find the culprit at once, right!?”
“………………If there’s a culprit.”



* I would have changed "common" to someone else, but alas, it's the same word used in Common Heroes, and I wanted to be consistent!
** ...Yes, I had Persona 4 in mind when I wrote a certain part of the dialogue.