............date a live?
CHiLD – Descendant from the Edge of the World
Chapter 1 - Prologue 1
Chapter 1 : Prologue 1
Translated by Hikaru
Edited by Genie
As the moon in the night sky was about to hide under thick black clouds, a girl was looking down on the city from the rooftop of a thirteen-story apartment building. She wore a sailor collared shirt and skirt, her shoulder-length black hair swayed in the wind. The cityscape of the commuter town spread out in front of her. The girl closed her eyes, trying to feel with her whole body the abnormality that was about to occur in this town. She wanted to find out where the anomaly was going to happen.
After about 20 seconds, the girl opened her eyes and muttered, “Around that area, the boundary is starting to shake.”
The girl’s eyes were glued to a corner of a residential area about ten minutes away from the train station. What she felt was a sign of the appearance of《CHiLD》.
The《CHiLD》,a potentially antagonistic existence that emerges from the present world’s otherworldly realm of the afterlife. Now, it is about to be born in this world.
“It seems I must hurry.”
Muttering so, she turned her back on the moon and the city. Then she started running. In order to fulfill her mission. In order to protect this city from the threat of the《CHiLD》.
* * *
It was the rainy season, and the sky was cloudy as if it was about to start pouring. A young man was walking through a residential area, relying only on the light of an electric lamp. His name is Souji Shinomiya. He is a second-year high school student living in Katsuragi-Cho. He has been working part-time at a convenience store until a while ago and was on his way home.
What should I make for dinner today? I bought a lot of instant curries a while ago, so shall I have that? Or shall I boil some pasta? Anyway, it is only for me.
Eight years ago, Souji was caught up in a terrorist explosion in this city and because of that he lost his parents and most of his memories. However, he still has some inherited assets such as his house, as well as money from the government, insurance companies, and the research institute where his parents used to work. In fact, he is in a position to spend money more freely than his other classmates.
However, this kind of money will eventually stop. Souji has been working part-time and even saving money, thinking that there is a limit to how much money he has and that it would be better to save it for the future.
That sounds like a bad sign…..
He heard a rumbling sound coming from the sky. He looked up seeing gray clouds. It felt like five minutes before it started to rain. The distance to his house was only about three minutes. If he ran, he could make it home before it started to rain.
He was about to start running, hoping that he would make it home when he felt a shiver run down his spine. What’s this? He stood there and looked left and right. There was nothing in particular. Nothing special about the place, it was just a simple wall on either side of an ordinary house and a three-meter wide road. There were no people around.
No, when I tried to start running hoping that I should be able to go home…
Souji’s spine trembled.
What’s that?
Standing in the street looking left and right. There is nothing in particular. There are only simple walls lined up on the left and right sides of a familiar house and a road about 3 meters wide. There are no people around.
And yet―.
“ …… Papa …….”
I heard a voice. I thought I was hearing things, but I wasn’t.
“…… Papa ……. “
Again, the voice I heard. It’s like it’s echoing in my head.
“―Papa! “
It was at the same time as the voice echoed again. My heart thumped loudly. That was the direction I heard the voice. I turned my gaze upward…
“―Papa!” along with the voice, a girl fell from the sky.
“Whoa!?”
The girl jumped on him, and Souji fell on his butt.
“Papa! I miss you, papa!”
“What the …? What the hell are you …?”
Souji stared at the pretty girl who was suddenly riding on top of him. A girl about six years old with beautiful silver hair wearing a pretty dress. Of course, he has never seen her before, even though she called him Papa. He didn’t know her at all. In the first place, Souji was a high school student. Not only has he never had a child, he’s never even tried to have one.
What is the meaning of this ……?
He tried to get up, but the girl wouldn’t let go, so he couldn’t do so.
“Papa! Papa!” The girl hugged him even tighter.
What the hell is going on here? What does Papa mean?
Even though she was a little girl, he was confused by the mixed feelings of being hugged by the opposite s*x and not knowing what was going on. Behind the girl, he saw a mass of black mist. Moreover, it was a sword-shaped object made of black mist that was about to swing down at Souji and the girl.
“Watch out!” Souji rolled on the ground while hugging the girl.
With that, he was able to dodge the black mist attack.
“Papa, what’s wrong?”
“Don’t you what’s wrong me!”
Souji raised himself upon his knees and hugged the girl with his arms tightly to protect the girl with a mysterious expression. When he looked, there was a big dent in the place where a mass of black mist swung down the sword. It was a sign that the attack had been powerful. And if he looked around, he could see that there were two other similar black human-shaped mist. There were three of them, including the one in front of him.
What the heck with this situation…..!!
There was no doubt that he was involved in something really dangerous. His legs were shaking from the bizarre situation, and he couldn’t even stand up. The black mist that had attacked Souji earlier was approaching him with a low roar. It was a grudge-like growl that made Souji’s body tremble with fear. At this rate, both he and the girl in his arms who had fallen from the sky would be killed by the black mist. Such anxiety passed through his mind.
But fortunately, they were slow to move. And the other hazes didn’t seem to have noticed them yet. If all went well, they might be able to escape, so Souji regained his strength and stood up to pull the girl’s hand. However, the other two hazes turned towards Souji and the girl.
“Tch……,” Souji clicked his tongue.
At the same time, a thought crossed his mind. Could it be that they are aiming for this girl ……?
He thought so because when Souji stood up, the haze figures seemed to turn their gaze to the girl. If that was the case, he might be able to save himself by leaving this girl and running away.
No, that’s not possible….. Souji immediately denied his idea.
Even though it was a mysterious being that had fallen from the sky, it was still a child. And it was a girl. …… That’s not right either…… Even if it was a boy, he did not want to abandon him, no matter what he was. He knew all too well the fear of being alone. There were only a few memories left. When the incident happened eight years ago, he wanted someone to help him. But no one came to help.
He does not want anyone else to have to go through that kind of fear. Souji looked around as he tried to protect the girl. How could he get out of this situation? How could he save both of them? Anyway, in this situation, even if he thought about it, he might just get himself into more trouble. After all, the mists were swinging up their swords and sneaking up. He should move while there was a gap between the hazes. That was the conclusion that Souji came to.
“Let’s run!” He called out to the girl, and when Souji tightened his grip on her hand even more firmly, the girl let out a small “Oh ……”
Immediately after, the color of the world changed.
“….. What is this?”
Everywhere around him, the scenery was dyed red. The clouds were not moving either. It was like pausing a video. It was obviously a strange situation. The three black mist figures stopped and shook their heads from side to side, wondering what had happened. From the looks of it, it didn’t look like they did it either.
Just as he was wondering who did it, something flew from the sky and hit one of the black mist figures. As it landed, one of the black mist fell to the ground.
“That was …..”
When he looked closely at the fallen figure, he saw that it had faded and was on the verge of disappearing. Around it, there were also scattered pieces of ice that had broken apart. When he turned my gaze in the direction of the ice, “That’s……!”
What I saw in my eyes was a girl standing on the roof of a nearby house, with the near-full moon faintly visible through the clouds as the background. She has shoulder-length black hair. The skirt of the sailor suit she wore was swaying in the breeze.
Junior high school student…?
He thought so because of the uniform she was wearing and because her face looked somewhat young. However, something that didn’t match with her face was shining in her right hand. It was a long, sharp spear. The girl who kicked the roof suddenly jumped with the long and sharp spear in her hand. She spun her body around in midair and slashed at one of the black mist figures.
“Hey!” A human-shaped black mist that was sliced through.
The girl who landed as if crouching stood up immediately and turned her gaze to another mist. She continued to swing her spear in the void and created a single icicle in front of her body. Souji instantly understood that the object that flew from afar must have been this icicle. And he was not wrong.
“This is the end.”
With those words, the icicle was released, pierced the black mist figures, and exploded. In the same way as the glittering grains of ice, the mist scattered and disappeared. After the disappearance of all the black mist figures was confirmed. The girl who lowered her spear let out a small….. sigh.
“I’m not sure what that is, but thank you―” Souji said thank you and tried to go under the girl but then, “You there. Please hand over the《CHiLD》to me.”
The tip of the spear was turned, pointed at him, it caused Souji to shudder.
The girl continued to speak, dressed as she was. “I’m Suzuka Himuro ― a magician belonging to Ares who rushed to this place after sensing the appearance of the《CHiLD》.”
“Ares…? Magician…?”
What is that? What is the 《CHiLD》 in the first place? What is it about this girl? Why is it in English?
As questions arose one after another, the girl who called herself Suzuka narrowed her eyes curiously and asked me a question.
“You don’t know anything about Ares, by any chance? You are with the《CHiLD》? Who are you……?”
“Who am I? I’m just a high school student……”
“You’re not a magician.”
“What the hell is a magician anyway?”
Apparently, the answer was not to the girl’s liking. She continued to look at him suspiciously. However, she could not find anything other than that answer.
Until now, magicians have only existed in the world of comic books and video games, and he has never even considered that they existed in real life. Even if someone had told him they were a magician, he could say that he would never believe it if he hadn’t seen the black mist defeated.
“Besides, even though I was told to hand her over, I was also troubled by the fact that she suddenly called me ‘papa’ and that she missed me. If you can do something about it, I’d like you to do it…..”
“So you’re saying that you didn’t summon the girl, and you’re not using her? But it’s strange that she missed you,” Suzuka said with a puzzled look and continued to mutter to herself. “ …… But if he was using her, he would have easily defeated those small fry. Besides, the child doesn’t seem to know how to use her powers either. Anyway, I understand.”
Apparently, she has gotten an idea.
“There are a lot of things that I don’t understand, but it is said that a newborn chick recognizes the first moving object it sees as its parent. In a similar way, she may have recognized you as her father, as you were by her side when she landed in this world. However―”
Narrowing her eyes, Suzuka continued to speak, keeping her eyes fixed on Souji. “If you stay by that girl’s side, you could be in even more danger than before. So hand it over to me. Please.”
“All right.”
There was no reason to refuse. He also somehow understood that it was a territory that no normal person should enter. If it was the black mist figures from earlier, it would be out of the question, but if it was this Suzuka girl who saved them, he should be able to hand the child over to her.
He didn’t know what an Ares is, but he was sure they’d treat her well.
“See, she’s going to protect you.”
Read only at Travis Translations
Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus. And remember, even a phoenix borns from the ashes.