Prologue
Prologue - A Parable
——And then, all life disappeared.
I want to tell a parable.
One day, upon waking up, I noticed the electricity wasn't working.
I checked the circuit breakers, but they were fine.
Despite it being early morning, my entire family was absent, having left the house.
Feeling uneasy, I went outside to search, and the mystery deepened further.
First, there were no cars passing by. Not even the traffic lights were functioning.
I rushed to the nearest convenience store, but there was no one in sight, and the automatic doors wouldn't open.
In a state bordering on confusion, I returned home to get my bicycle, hoping to find some answers. Yet, there were no cars on the roads, and no pedestrians around.
Even upon arriving at the train station, there was not a soul in sight.
It was a place usually bustling with people going about their daily lives.
Even at midnight, taxis and such would be present, so the absence of people seemed unthinkable.
Anxiety turned into urgency, and I pedaled my bicycle toward the city, in search of any signs of life.
Before I knew it, I found myself in Tokyo, the capital of Japan.
Still, there was no one to be seen, and I realized I was thirsty, my stomach growling.
Feeling guilty, I entered a convenience store I noticed, leaving a note and some coins at the counter, taking a warm drink and an onigiri.
After a rather delayed breakfast, I began to regain some composure.
I made up my mind to return to my hometown, my own house.
Transportation like buses and trains was non-functional, and there were no signs of people.
Of course, there were plenty of cars and bikes around.
To be precise, plenty of unmanned ones.
Returning took longer than when I arrived, and I found myself back at my house.
Once again, my family was nowhere to be found.
Looking at the vacant house, I could only express one thing - exhaustion.
Returning to my room, it was just as I left it, my familiar surroundings.
Overwhelmed with fatigue, I lay down on the floor.
My thoughts were consumed by the anxiety of the current situation and the nightmare.
When I woke up, the morning sun was shining just like yesterday.
I searched the entire house, but my family was not there.
I settled for a simple breakfast from the motionless refrigerator.
Yesterday, I rested in silence, but today I put on my school uniform and headed to school.
On my usual route, there was no one in sight.
The same was true when I arrived at school. I went to my classroom, but no one was there.
It was usually a bright place bustling with classmates.
Usually, I would be quite late and it would be past 10 am.
The faculty room was also empty as usual.
I gave up on school and began exploring the area near my home.
Looking for any trace of another human being, even just one.
However, all of that effort would be in vain.
The only thing I noticed was that every shop was closed and there was no one around.
I lay down in the middle of the main road, contemplating.
Why is there no one around? Why am I the only one?
And that's when one idea comes to mind.
As bad as it sounds, I thought of trespassing into someone else's house.
I went up to the neighboring house where I had received kindness since I was a child.
The front door was locked, but I went around to the back, and the window was open.
Once inside, of course, it was someone else's home that spread before me.
But, as expected, there was no one there either.
And then, I noticed something.
――The dishes and food placed on the table.
The food had been prepared and left for quite some time, as it had already dried out.
I couldn't tell how much time had passed for it to become like this.
But I could guess that it had probably been two or three days.
An indescribable anxiety attacked me like a waterfall, and I rushed outside.
I repeated the same actions, breaking into surrounding houses, and came to one conclusion.
People didn't disappear voluntarily; they vanished suddenly due to something unseen.
And the days passed.
...One week. It's been one week.
For seven days, I thoroughly searched every possible place and gathered information.
I thought while holding stolen food from the department store.
If there were places with personal power generation, such as solar panels, I could use electricity.
Already, my place of residence was no longer my home; I had moved to someone else's house with electricity.
It's not that I didn't feel guilty.
But I hoped that someone would catch me...that someone would appear and catch me.
However, that hope was cruelly betrayed.
I brought perishable items into the refrigerator.
Not just in one house, but in multiple residences where electricity was functioning.
I heard that canned goods can last for decades even after their expiration dates.
But even so, many items would deteriorate over time.
Two weeks passed, and the smell started to become noticeable.
Not just my own smell. It was the smell of the entire town.
Abandoned garbage. Food from houses. Non-functional refrigerators.
Familiarity is a frightening thing.
Despite the initial strong stress, I gradually got used to it.
After three weeks, a month passed in this way, and I noticed something.
It wasn't just the absence of people.
Flies weren't gathering around the blackened, decaying food.
Even when I went to the department store, not a single cockroach was there.
Not a single ant in the park where weeds had started to grow.
No crows in the sky, and no mosquito bites even after passing through the woods.
The only solace amid the misfortune was that processed foods remained intact.
Calling them living beings would be harsh, but the plants were still alive.
Once I had become accustomed to this life, I made a decision.
To search for any living beings other than myself.
I went to a nearby driving school, studied the car manual, and drove without a license.
After a few days of actual practice, I deemed myself capable and started my journey by car.
At first, I was afraid of driving, but the fear gradually faded away.
There are no oncoming cars, no people, and even the traffic signals are not working.
If I run out of gasoline, I search other people's houses and switch to another car.
The journey continues.
Until I find life other than my own.
The journey continues.
No matter how much time it takes.
The journey continues.
One day, one week, one month, six months, one year, ten years.
Until I find life...
Until my life expires...
Endlessly, eternally…
Of course, as I mentioned before, this is all just a metaphor.
But...
But if someone were to find life... find another person, what expression would they have?
†
They would probably have this expression...
A girl dressed in a robe that covers her entire body, with a hood resembling silver threads.
Transparent, silvery hair shining with the light leaking from the hood that covers her head.
Her complexion breaks into tears of joy, as if embracing a miracle she had once given up on.
"Fukame te nitemete ma wo zasouf... Chinite chitemete ma wo zasouf..."
She utters foreign words, hugging me happily, a girl full of warmth and gratitude.
At that time, I couldn't understand the meaning of the foreign words.
Her heart, her feelings, her joy... I couldn't truly understand any of it.
But the meaning of her words must have been:
"Thank you for being born... Thank you for being alive..."
On that day, in the world where life had faded, I encountered her.
Thank you for reading the beginning.
In the story, there are instances of changing vehicles, but even without electricity, you can refuel at a gas station using emergency portable pumps.
This novel will only be updated on Saturday. Every Saturday, 1 whole chapter will be released.
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