[Ten Views Of Shonan -Shell-] - Shijoumae Route Short Story
Thank you @/phampiremagic on Twitter for helping proofread!
The Meiji Era.
During this time period, there was a push in Japan to hire Westerners as a means of acquiring their technologies.
Erwin Bälz, a German doctor, was one such foreigner.
Initially hired as a professor, he settled in Japan and established himself as a physician.
Bälz believed that the Shonan seaside possessed the perfect environment for long-term recuperation.
Subsequently, he constructed over ten sanatoriums along the coastline.
Bälz was especially fond of Shichirigahama Beach.
According to his records, it is “the most beautiful place in Japan.”
ʚɞ
Today, Shichirigahama Beach was baking beneath the afternoon sun.
As one approached the water, the smell of disinfectant intertwined with the sea.
Upon a nearby hill, a sanatorium gazed down on us.
A young girl of about 15 or 16 was standing in the waves.
She had on a dark green swimsuit.
Her black seaweed-like hair hung in braids.
There was no light in her eyes.
She was exactly as I’d imagined from her voice on the phone.
Gumi: “Thank you for comin’ out here, Mr… Err…”
“Oosaki. I presume you are Gumi-san?”
Gumi: “—es.”
At times, her timid voice was cut off by the wind.
“Gumi-san, forgive my abruptness, but about your request—”
Gumi: “Ah… Yes… About that…”
She nervously turned her attention towards the beach.
Gumi: “There’s a reason I wanted ya to come out here.
Y’see, I recently dropped a hair accessory somewhere along this huge stretch of beach, and I’d like your help to find it.”
“...”
Gumi: “I know I’m askin’ for a lot, Oosaki-san. Still, I’d ‘ppreciate it if we could search together.”
I was surprised by the thickness of her accent that occasionally slipped out.
However, it seemed all she wanted was help finding a lost item.
…I lightly shook my head.
“My apologies.”
Gumi: “!”
“Recovering lost items is the police’s job.
I’m afraid the best I can do is redirect you to their services.”
Gumi: “That so…”
Then, she smiled again.
Gumi: “Still, ya could’ve told me that on the phone earlier.
Yet, you still came all this way, and with that enormous rake too.”
“While conducting investigations is the police’s job,
there’s nothing they can do if a crime wasn’t involved.
That’s why I’ll make an exception for today—”
And just like that,
the two of us searched the beach together.
Me in the sand and her in the waves.
Suddenly.
I found something pink and shiny buried in the burning sand.
It was a little sakura shell. [1]
When I held it up to the sun, the shell crumbled into sparkling fragments.
Gumi: “A sakura shell. There’s plenty of them here.”
I looked around the area.
Sakura shells in all different shades glittered along the beach.
It was a dazzling sight.
“What does your hair accessory look like?”
Gumi: “It’s green.
It’s a piece of green glass more beautiful than an emerald.”
I began to sift through the sand again.
Then, a shell with a dull luster caught my eye,
“Gumi-san, is this the color you’re looking for?”
I made my way toward the ocean.
She waded back toward the beach.
I presented the shell in my hand for her to scrutinize.
Gumi: “Yep, that’s it, although this is just a green mussel.”
“A green mussel?”
Gumi: “They ain’t native to Japan. Ya find ‘em further south.
They stick onto boats and get carried here.
Invasive species, they’re called.”
Our footprints disappeared beneath the powerful waves.
I felt stuck, not because of my feet sinking into the wet sand,
but because of the sudden weight of Gumi-san’s gaze.
Gumi: “Y’know, I originally thought ya were kinda scary, but I had ya all wrong.”
Holding the shell behind her back,
she walked towards the water.
The ocean front glittered even brighter than the sun, turning all the people in the shallows, including her, into shadows.
Everyone looked thin and sickly.
Gumi: “The people here are patients at the sanatorium.
Since the ocean air contains nutrients,
just breathing it in improves your health.”
“Are you also a patient?”
Gumi: “Nah,
I’ve already recovered.”
She extended both of her arms.
They were mottled with tiny scabs.
—Syphilis scars.
Gumi: “I’ve grown fond of these scars now.
Y’know how pearls form from the irritants that get sucked in by clams? It’s like that.
They’re proof of the struggles my body’s overcome, the wounds it’s healed.
Doc was the one who told me that…”
“Doc…?”
The tide rose. My feet were sticky with salt.
Gumi: “When I first heard your voice, it made me think of a wolf.
I got the impression you were a persistent sorta person with a keen nose for trouble.
Once you’ve got a bone in your mouth, ya don’t let it go.
But once we met, I changed my mind.”
…I had been suspicious about this request since the beginning.
“Where did you get my name?”
I asked as calmly as I could.
Gumi: “I overheard it during a conversation with the Missus.
I was standing right next to her.”
“The Missus…?”
I couldn’t grasp the situation at all.
Gumi: “Doc’s wife. I’m one of her maidservants.”
“And this doctor—”
Gumi: “Ah! Oosaki-san!!
Don’t act like a stranger!!!
Gahaha—!”
A strong wind blew her voice away.
My thoughts were ripped apart once more.
Gumi: “I lied on the phone to get you here.”
“Why would you…”
Gumi: “Doc’s been sad ever since you disappeared.”
“What…?”
Gumi: “I wanted the two of you to meet again.”
Clouds covered the sun, plunging the area into darkness.
There was an intense look in Gumi-san’s eyes.
I took a step backwards.
Thunder crashed overhead like a warning.
It sounded like a girl’s vengeful scream, causing my hair to stand on edge.
—I had to run.
As I braced myself to take off,
Gumi-san tightened her grip on the shell, and ran it swiftly down her wrist.
“You!!!”
Pushing through the waves, I rushed to pick her up where she’d fallen.
Blood was pouring down her arm.
The peaceful afternoon seaside was thrown into chaos.
Behind us, a car cluelessly drove by.
Gumi: “Ah… That’s Doc…”
A man came out of the car and headed towards the sanatorium,
none of the wiser as to what was happening on the beach.
Gumi: “Oosaki-san.
Don’t leave…
Please, take me to him…”
As far as I could see, there was no one else around who could carry her.
…Ugh, there was no time to waste.
Only a doctor could save her.
Picking up the girl, I dashed towards the hill.
ʚɞ
“Please wait!!!”
The man paused in the doorway,
Retracting his step, he slowly turned around.
Our blood-soaked forms greeted him…
Gumi-san met his gaze and smiled as she weakly reached out to him.
Grabbing her hand, the man sighed and shut his eyes with relief.
Judging by his unexpected reaction,
it would appear the severity of her wound was greatly exaggerated.
Gumi: “Doc, I’ve brought him to you. Oosaki-san.”
Shijoumae: “...”
Gumi: "Because he wouldn’t come otherwise.”
The man took the girl into his arms.
Then, slightly crouching down, he finally met my eyes.
“I—”
Shijoumae: “Who are you?”
Gumi: “Doc…?”
Shijoumae: “...That’s enough, Gumi.”
Gumi: “I don’t understand.”
Shijoumae: “Goodness, what am I going to do with you?”
A nurse noticed the commotion and came running over.
With a single glance from the man, she immediately took over as his arms and legs and carried the girl inside.
Wiping off his bloody hands, the man turned only his head to look at me again.
Shijoumae: “Young man, I suggest you go home.”
Then, he pulled on his jacket with his now empty hands—
—And shut the sanatorium doors behind him.
ʚɞ
The smell of disinfectant intertwined with the sea.
Thick clouds rushed into the sky as it began to pour.
The world and I melted into an indistinguishable blur.
Senpai has been missing for two weeks.
Shinkiba-san and I have been looking for him since. [2]
The reason why I borrowed his name and accepted this job,
was because I stubbornly refused to accept he was gone.
ʚɞ
The sudden disappearance of Oosaki-senpai.
The mysterious girl who knew his name, the tight-lipped doctor.
And the investigation report Senpai left at his house.
The name on the report was definitely—
Shinagawa: “Shijoumae…?”
I turned around.
The white-walled sanatorium seemed to swell like a cloud.
Its two windows became Shijoumae’s eyes silently looking down at me.
[Ten Views of Shonan -Shell-] 1956. Shijoumae Route
Translation Notes
[1] The scientific name is Nitidotellina nitidula if you want to look these up. They're pretty cute.
[2] As I mentioned in Ariake's SS, Shinagawa mimics Oosaki by using the same first-person pronoun as him (jibun). Throughout this story, he uses the same spelling as Oosaki (自分) until this line where he switches to his typical spelling (ジブン). Both are still pronounced "jibun," the only difference is the spelling.
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