GOBJIN in «The Summer Hikaru died»
A bit of lore for this art.
Enjin had been in love with Gob for a very long time, but due to fear of public condemnation and other oppressive factors, he couldn't feel truly free, so he killed those thoughts within himself as something he couldn't think about until he became free. Freedom here is also a kind of "luxury" for him. It's a tiny village, everyone has ears everywhere, everyone knows each other, so wherever Enjin looks or goes, everyone asks him something typical—about family, about arguments. He's terribly sick of it; for the last few months he's been living in deep gloom. How did he live before?? He had Gob, simple as that.
Being a schoolboy, he can't do much with his life, and being under the care of a guy named Regto — who is Alto's friend, and onto whom the prodigal father Alto dumped the care of both the orphanage‑raised Enjin and his own flesh‑and‑blood toddler named Rudo — even more so, fuck all. Alto himself ran off in an unknown direction; now you can go look for him. Regto didn't even try to do anything; he was very angry at Alto. But Enjin held Alto very dear, which is why he often argued with Regto when Regto started saying nasty things about Alto to little Rudo. Enjin didn't see himself as part of this family, and the only person who was even somewhat close and dear to him specifically in this nest was Rudo, on whom he lavished all his older‑brotherly care. Even though the little one wasn't his biological brother, he felt no malice toward him, simply because there was no reason. (Oh, and Rudo has osteoporosis. Well, that's what the doctors said.) But the villagers often whispered that Alto, having fathered a sick child on the side, quickly fled from the son he had adopted from the orphanage because he was afraid of such a huge responsibility.
In short, Enjin himself wasn't thrilled with what Alto did; he both hated him and tried to find excuses for his actions. Of course, he had managed to invent many excuses, but not one of them tipped his moral scales in Alto's favor. This made the boy even angrier, because he no longer understood anything at all. He knew perfectly well that Regto had just as much right as he did to hate Alto for what he did, but for some reason it still disgusted him to listen to all the nonsense Regto was filling the little one's head with, just so that he would never ask about his real father again and wouldn't even try to find him.
Bad rumors about the family circulated around the village even before Alto's disappearance, and the sole cause of those rumors was Enjin. The villagers were always eager to stick their noses into other people's business, so they constantly pestered Alto with questions about Enjin, and he understood perfectly that this was only the beginning. From the age of 9, the boy heard a lot of nasty things directed at him from other children and their parents, and he was only able to get rid of this at 12, when he taught himself to fight back against offenders and even threaten those who raised them, for which he very, very, very often ended up in the school psychologist's office and on the carpet before the principal. Such a struggle bore fruit immediately, and over time it was forgotten. However, as soon as one‑year‑old Rudo appeared and the infamous Alto disappeared, all the dirt and filth poured onto the little one (and naturally onto Alto too; but Alto is far away, while Rudo is right here and can't go anywhere). Enjin had to sacrifice his well‑being again, but this time for another person, not for himself. (He started working, by the way, to help Regto with money. Even though they almost can't stand each other, still each has a share of gratitude and respect for the other — you can't take that away.)
Gob, on the other hand, comes from a fairly cool family at first glance. He lives with his mother, father, and younger sister Remlin. Mother is a teacher at an art school, father is a candidate for mayor of the town, and the little sis is the same age as Rudo (they're both about 5 years old now). The guys met at school. While Enjin was constantly being bullied, Gob was an independent unit — nobody picked on him and he didn't pick on anyone; he was respected, all the kids were friends with him, and at first Enjin found him terribly annoying. Everything changed gradually, because Gob — like a boy always itching to "pull girls' pigtails" — switched his attention to the gloomy, angry kid (it's worth noting that Gob was in a different class and didn't know what was happening in Enjin's class). During breaks, he started casually approaching Enjin with all sorts of nonsense, like "Hey, I just got a D in math, holy shit, my dad's gonna twist my head off" or "Yo, look, I drew the teacher today, it's hilarious, right? Say it is!" In short, he was really drawn to Enjin. He didn't mean anything negative by it at all, wasn't doing it to bully him or anything, he just wanted to be friends. Essentially, Gob became Enjin's first real friend. And that softie — would you believe it — became friends, and then Enjin fell in love. At first, of course, he didn't understand anything at all, didn't attach any significance to it, didn't even know words like "homosexuality." By age 14, a period of some mental gears starting to turn began, but even that gave him nothing beyond a clear definition of orientations, what kinds there are, and a couple more terms. Over the course of a long friendship, which was practically the only thing keeping Enjin afloat during the situation with Alto, the appearance of Rudo, etc., by age 17 the guy had managed to hear a lot and, of course, realize that he is a completely hopeless case. But the thought of confessing his feelings to Gob never even crossed his mind, because he thought that the person who was pulling him out of the swamp that was sucking him to the very bottom would tell him to go fuck himself.
Gob's recklessness hasn't gone anywhere: he runs from the cops because of his graffiti, barely takes care of himself, throws himself headlong into his passion. Even though he wasn't a confrontational guy, he still had enough ill‑wishers to sometimes put him on an emotional rollercoaster (it all started after his father's candidacy for mayor). Since his dad is a candidate, it's very easy to spoil his reputation by saying something about his son (another reason why Enjin keeps his mouth shut). In short, assholes are assholes even on Mars; a couple of times Gob did impulsively smash their faces with his skateboard, but then they completely lost their minds by threatening his sister's safety and started spreading rumors about Enjin.
I wouldn't say his dad is against Gob's hobby; he's actually supportive of all his interests — he's not a dad, he's gold, and he became a candidate for mayor just to improve the townspeople's lives even a little bit. But the son, even though he wants not to hinder his father's aspirations, can't restrain his true nature — it breaks free. That's why at 17, he thought it over and decided to go paint the unwanted abandoned forester's huts and abandoned ruins in the mountains, so that his father could finally do what he wants and he himself would remain satisfied and true to himself.
So anyway, what's the deal with Alto? Rudo was born a completely healthy boy, but his mother went batshit crazy after giving birth — she’d been listening to all kinds of crap about the evil eye, curses, love spells, turning spells, and other such bullshit (like, after breaking up with Alto, she lost her mind anyway, and so she decided that, first of all, "why the fuck did I give birth to a child, now I'll never be wanted by anyone again," and secondly, "no one will ever look at me with this kid, I have to do something immediately." Fortunately, the thought of killing him never crossed her mind). She went to fortune tellers, witches, and the like; they advised her to perform rituals that, in reality, don't do jack shit on normal days even if done correctly. With one old woman, she got into a huge fight — and that old woman, by the way, was the only one who wasn't a fraud. She tried to talk this fool out of performing love spells and all that crap on herself. But the mother didn't give a fuck; she was set on regaining her attractiveness, thinking that the reason for her breakup with Alto was this stuff. So she decided to perform a ritual on the Feast of the Dead, because on top of everything she'd convinced herself that Alto was a bastard who abandoned her with a child. And Alto didn't have a clue that he had a son, because he'd broken up with that woman half a year earlier and she never said a word to him about being pregnant.
She caused a huge mess, summoned some fucking doomed entity that, first of all, killed her, and secondly, almost got to Rudo — fortunately, a guy from that organization arrived in time and saved the boy (well, not completely). BUT — and this is a very big BUT — the guy can't fully deal with all spirits, so the awakened spirit just ran away, leaving part of itself to rot and torment the child, specifically the bones. (The guy was called by neighbors who had been watching this stupid mother for a week and, being also very superstitious, were afraid that she'd put a curse on them too.)
Long story short, the organization covered it up — even though the good guy was completely against hiding shit like this, because people should know what their reckless actions lead to. But there was nothing to be done. By establishing paternity, they found Alto, told him, "Here's your son." He was like, "What do you mean, a son?" And they were like, "Yeah, a son like this." The guy from the organization disappeared as suddenly as he'd appeared. Alto wanted to find Rudo's mother's contacts, went to her address, tried to find any answers to his questions, but no luck — it was as if she had never existed. Then, tearfully begging Regto to look after the boys for a couple of weeks, he left to search for that mysterious man, who had vanished without a trace, and then Alto himself vanished without a trace. Which is why Regto thought the coward had run away from responsibility. And Regto himself couldn't bring himself to abandon the children, so he continued to take care of them.
Let's return to Gob and Enjin. A special festival of spirits, a day that forbids climbing the mountain because of the threat of the Hizame spirits. Enjin was wandering around the festival near the temple (close to the mountain trails) together with Regto and Rudo, waiting for Gob to arrive with his family so that the little brother wouldn't be bored alone and could play with Remlin. However, those bastard classmates of Gob's, who hadn't forgiven him for their broken noses, decided to teach the guy a lesson and scare him a bit. That evening, mother, father, and Remlin herself were walking along the mountain trails lit by beautiful lanterns (you can walk on the trails — they're hung with protective seals and are completely safe, plus they're right next to the temple). Meanwhile, Gob was off doing his usual mischief in the surrounding mountains.
Usually during this season there aren't any heavy rains, and if there was any rain, it was very light. But on this day, a downpour hit that the village had never seen before. The force of the water tore wires, and the power station, for fire safety reasons, shut off electricity in the entire village. That wouldn't have been so bad, but Gob knew that his parents and little sister were up in the mountains right now. He tried to call — but there's no signal in the mountains. He thought, okay, since my parents are there, everything should be fine. However, his classmates, having persuaded one of their pushover lackeys, sent him to Gob with the message: "Your parents can't reach you, they're panicking, your sister has gone missing." Gob, of course, bolted using the shortest route he could see: first along the mountain trails, then he decided to cut through the forest, shouting Remlin's name as he went, wandering with a flashlight. Everything was slippery, there was no light. Climbing up to a high point, he tried to spot the swaying white lanterns on the trail, and as soon as he realized that his entire family was safe and sound in place, he ran down the slope toward them. At that moment, he didn't care that he had been cruelly lied to, because he had been terrified for his sister — and now that she was fine, his mind was obviously occupied with other things. But fate was not smiling on him. Falling and hitting his head on a rock, while trying to wheeze out words for help, he died.
They searched for him in the mountains for two days. The first to find him was Enjin. Three weeks later, Gob was discharged from the hospital, and for six months Enjin lived while turning a blind eye to one very important detail. He knew for certain and understood that at the moment he found the guy wedged between two rocks, the guy was already dead — and the person who looks, talks, smells, and moves exactly like Gob… is not him. What frightened him was that the other people went on living as if nothing had happened and completely failed to understand that the Gob they thought was real — was someone else.
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