Volume 3B, Afterword
All of a sudden, I realized this book was a complete mom festival. Well, she is a “super class” member of this world’s “adults” in more ways than one, but I hope you got a sense for the family bonds between her and Mitotsudaira.
This is touched on in the book, but (while there are differing theories) the “wolf” is one of the oldest standards in Europe. It’s a war god, a guardian god, and a threat of the outside world. These days, it’s often treated as a subordinate of the vampire, but the Loup-Garou is a form of nature worship which makes it much older and more significant than a blood-sucking spirit of the dead taken from the sphere of human life.
Also, Loup-Garou legends are found all across France and France is said to be the home of quite a few European monsters. It was originally an undeveloped region known as Gaul, so I wonder if those stories are a remnant of the threats from forests, dark nights, and other races as Charlemagne reconquered it after the collapse of Rome. At the time in Europe, the people were clearing away nature, so another world must have felt quite close by, just like in ancient Japan.
Now for the chat.
“So what do you have to say today?”
“I really don’t think you should immediately dump all responsibility on me. But anyway, do you want to hear a painful story again?”
“Do you have one?”
“I think it was during high school. After a party to welcome new club members, I fell asleep using the curb of the road as a pillow, my motorcycle fell on me, and I broke five ribs. I was in so much pain when I woke up. The school found out I had a motorcycle license, the underclassmen forever saw me as the ‘upperclassman who only came to the party’, and it was pretty awful all around. Motorcycles are dangerous.”
“Physically, at least. And isn’t your dad a police detective?”
“Yeah. Once when I was riding without a helmet, a car pulled up alongside me. Just as I was wondering why it was getting so close and complaining about how dangerous that was, the power window rolled down to reveal my dad. I had my license confiscated and received points against it. …Japan’s police really are good at their job.”
No, you’re just bad at breaking the law. Anyway…
“Who was the most excited?”
I’ll leave you with that. My background music was Ali Project’s Jinsei Bimi Raisan. It seems less about eating and more about the “lively presence” created by a forest or darkness with a monster in it.
Okay, Part C will be out two months from now in September. Wait just a bit.
April 2010. A strangely snowy morning.
-Kawakami Minoru
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