Abstract Eden

lol, might as well post this one here, too. I already posted it on my wordpress account. Anyway! This is the first chapter of the first story in the third Nuramago light novel (whew, that’s a mouthful).

The novel’s title is Nurarihyon no Mago: Kyoto Mugen Yobanashi (ぬらりひょんの孫 京都夢幻夜話) and the story’s is A Dark Mansion: The Girl and the Fox (冥闇の館・少女と狐).

Story #1: [A Dark Mansion: The Girl and the Fox] (冥闇の館・少女と狐)
Chapter One

That day, I saw a beautiful person——

It was on my way home from school.
I was waiting on the subway platform for the train.
That person was waiting on the opposite platform for a northbound train.
At first, I didn’t notice she was there.
When I inadvertently glanced at the opposite platform, suddenly she was standing there. It was that sort of feeling.
Black.
That color flooded my vision.
Black hair, a black sailor fuku, black tights, black shoes, a black satchel.
Black—— a person who had been painted jet-black. That is what I thought, the moment after I noticed her.
And, that she was such a beautiful person.
The person colored jet-black had white, transparent-looking skin. I let out a sigh, watching her with fascination.
Such a beautiful person was here, and yet.
No one noticed.
In truth, she was more beautiful than anything I could think of in this world, and she carried herself like an empress.
It would probably be best to say she was something of the spirit realm.
I have the power to sense such things.
When I say that I can sense the supernatural, everyone either laughs at me or acts unpleasantly toward me.
But it’s the truth.
From the time I was little, I would see the form of spirits that other people couldn’t see and there were times I would call out to them.
There were many times when I came face-to-face with such things.
However, so long as I insisted that I had such a power, everyone kept away from me.
In primary school and middle school, I don’t know how many friends I lost like that.
The only one who believed me was Yayoi-chan, a friend from middle school who moved on to attend the same high school as me.
——I believe you.
That is what Yayoi-chan said to me. Since she is the daughter of a Shinto shrine, she’s a girl who sometimes does the work of a shrine priestess.
Perhaps if Yayoi-chan were faced with this sort of spiritual entity, she might perceive it as well.
That’s probably why she believed that I could sense such things.
Though the beautiful person colored jet-black was normally like that, she wasn’t a ghost or anything of the sort. She possessed a divine air about her, but she had substance and was waiting for a train on the opposite side of the platform.
Black, but not nothingness.
Darkness, but not shadow.
As she gave off the feeling of definitively existing, that person was definitely there.
The announcement that a train would be arriving shortly flooded the platforms. It was the train for the opposite side.
I felt sorely disappointed. I thought: if that person gets on when the train comes, I won’t be able to look at that beautiful face or that beautiful darkness anymore.
The sound of the train’s whistle resounded across the platforms.
Deciding to burn her image into my mind in anticipation of that event, I once again fixed my gaze on that beautiful person.
When I did, what do you think happened? Our eyes met.
Oh no, she’s probably figured out that I’ve been staring at her, I thought remorsefully.
Yet, I couldn’t avert my gaze.
As if paralyzed by her stare, I couldn’t move my eyes or body.
Smiling sweetly, she laughed.
——Eh?
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
——That beautiful person was smiling at me…?
Immediately afterward, a train arrived at the far platform. My field of vision was obstructed by the train cars.
I could hear the sound of doors opening and closing.
I had spaced out and missed seeing the moment she boarded the train.
The train moved, and, once it departed, she was no longer there.
What was the meaning of that smile, I wonder?
Maybe I just imagined it.
No, I couldn’t have.
I’m certain that that person smiled at me.