Kagerou Project Light Novel

Reminiscence Forest

Reminiscence Forest 

August 15th, a midsummer day. 

On the street a short distance away from the urban area, the sounds of people and cars grew distant and quiet, and in their place, the cries of cicadas rang out noisily.

Only rusty street signs and small, private homes dotted the seemingly endless street.

 

And as if it wasn’t already enough that the pavement was full of noticeable cracks, the side of the sidewalk was overgrown with weeds.

It was most likely already past noon. Although it felt like I’d been walking on this road for hours, the fact was that only a few minutes had passed.

In my previous experiences with stressful situations that I often found myself in, I knew for a fact that time seemed to stretch out longer than it really did.

 

—It all began yesterday.

 

I, Kisaragi Shintaro, after living the life of a shut-in for nearly two years, was suddenly thrust into the outside world.

If you were to ask why, the reason was quite simple: the malicious virus, Ene, and broken some parts for my computer in an act of violence, and I had gone to a nearby department store to buy replacements.

However, with the probability of one in several thousand chances, I encountered a “terrorist attack” at that department store, was held hostage, and on top of all that, shot with a gun.

… If you don’t even believe my story up until this point, it might be dangerous to go on, but from here it’s the main plot. Allow me to continue.

 

After being shot by a gun, I was saved by a strange group that was there at the crime scene.

An invisible person, a Medusa, and even a chameleon boy that belonged to a group called “Mekakushi Dan.”

…. Clearly, this organization was even more suspicious than the terrorists, but since they had tended to my injury and taken care of me while I was unconscious, they didn’t seem to be bad people.

 

—Up until this point, it was still fine.

While suppressing various emotions the best I could, and parting ways with a “Thank you very much, I’ll be going now,” I fully intended to go back home and indulge in a hikineet lifestyle once more, and in doing so, forget about all the questions that I had.

However, the boy named Kano began casually talking on his own, and when I went along with the flow, and said, “Oh, I see, so that’s how it is,” he told me, “We can’t allow you to leave now that you’ve learned our secret.” It was as if this had all been according to his plan.

—Naturally, I objected.

I was thankful to them for taking care of while I’d been unconscious overnight.

But obviously, I didn’t plan to be so compliant, and both my psyche and body felt tattered and ill from the shock of leaving my room for the first time in so long.

But if I were to tell anyone about that kind of crazy thing, there was no mistake that I would be told, “You’re the one that’s crazy.”

That’s why there was no way I could reveal it to anyone. Absolutely not.

….  However, my pest of a virus, Ene responded in an easy-to-understand way, saying, “This has turned into a very interesting development, Master!” and together with my confidential information, joined Mekakushi Dan.