Kiokuya (Memory Man) - Novel Spoiler (Part 3)
This is a continuation of the recap of Kiokuya (or Memory Man), the novel written by Origami Kyoya that Yamada Ryosuke’s new movie is adapted from. Since the novel has not been published in English, I’m posting a semi-detailed summary / recap of the story for anyone who wanted to know what this “horror” story is about. (Seriously, it’s not horror.) There are obviously spoilers but it sounds like the movie will definitely change some of the plot. I made a couple of comments.
All rights reserved to the author and Kadokawa.
Links to previous part(s): Part 1: Prologue + Episode 1 Part 2: at present 1 + Episode 2 + at present 2
Episode 3: Calling for Moratorium*
*This chapter covers the story between Kaname and Misao. Ryoichi and Maki do not pop up until the “at present segment”, but there are some parallels. One thing I can't quite capture with the recap is Ryoichi & Maki’s relationship since their interactions are sprinkled throughout the book. I tried to add some of the Maki scenes even when it's not too relevant. The gist is that Ryoichi clearly saw Maki as a little sister but Maki could be jealous because her “big brother” was “taken” by another girl or she had a crush on him.
Also, since I don't have the manga, I don't know the official pronunciation for the names. The main characters should be fine because I got them from the sample manga.
Saza Misao was the one who brought Sekiya Kaname out of loneliness but she was also the one who pushed him back into the abyss. They had known each other since childhood when Misao and her family moved next door. His first impression of her was that she looked like a boy. Her first impression of him was that he didn’t smile. There was a reason for it - Kaname’s mom just left the family for a younger man, only visiting her son once or twice a year.
Even though Kaname was aloof, Misako's sunny nature soon warmed his heart and they started doing everything together. Kaname had problems remembering Misao's name at first, so he called her Saza.
At that time, Kaname's uncle Masa was living with him and his dad. Since Kaname's dad threw himself at work and his mom only saw him once or twice a year, Masa and Misao were basically his only family. He only ever smiled when he was with them. That was something his uncle noticed too and he was grateful for his nephew's bubbly friend, whom Kaname saw as a boy.
Misao's family moved away after 3 years and Masa also found work with room and board provided. Still, he would come and help out at his beloved nephew's house. When Kaname was in grade 4, Misao moved back. To him, even though she kept her short hair, she now looked like a girl. They were still the best of friends when they were both 15. Since Kaname was very quiet, his reserved nature had been interpreted by his classmates as a “mysterious aura”, so a lot of girls were interested in him. At least that was what Misao told him. She had turned into a pretty young woman but she was still as warm as before and remained Kaname’s best (and only) friend.
One day, there was a trio of girls waiting for Kaname and gave him a letter asking him to go to the west staircase after school. He knew what was going to happen.
“I've been watching you in the library. I like you”, said the girl.
“Sorry. Can I go now?” Kaname replied coldly.
“Are you rejecting me because of Saza?”
“No, this has nothing to do with her.” Kaname was baffled that he had to explain himself. “I'm not dating Saza. I'm just not interested.” He turned around and left the girl. He just felt gross about the encounter.
………...
Kaname met his mom. Ever since she left them, she started to use more makeup and perfume. While he didn't hate her, he felt a headache whenever he had to see her. These girls / women said they liked our loved him but they didn't know him at all. Why was it so easy for them? He just felt disgusted.
………...
“Kaname”, Misao called out to him. What was she doing here? “Wait. Don't go yet!”
………..
Masa noticed Kaname acting strangely. He was trying to find out but his nephew just clamped up. Changing the topic, he asked, “Where's Misao?” “Who knows. It's not like we are in the same class.” Kaname replied coldly.
Masa bumped into Misao a couple of days later and tried to find out what happened. Misao didn't answer but kept a forced smile on her face. “I wonder if it is my fault.” Masa thought.
…………
“Masa! How are you?” Misao greeted him warmly yet another few days later. It seemed like whatever troubled her was gone.
“It's great to see you so happy. Do you want to come over to Kaname’s place for a cup of tea? I don't think he's home yet but I have a key.” Masa said.
“Kaname… san? Who's he?” Misao replied.
What's going on? Masa thought. At that moment, Kaname appeared.
“Oh, are you Kaname-kun? Nice to meet you.” Misao smiled brightly.
…………
Misao completely forgot about Kaname while remembering everything else. Her parents took her to the neurologist but they couldn't find anything wrong in the CT scans.
“I know you have some idea what happened,” Masa asked his nephew.
“No clue. I need to do homework.”
Masa watched his nephew and thought. “You must know that Misao liked you. You must feel hurt at being forgotten.”
~~~~~~~~
Two months ago, Misao told Masa about her feelings for Kaname had grown beyond just friendship. “But I don’t think he sees me that way. I thought about confessing, but…” Misao was confused about what she should do.
Masa knew that his nephew was affected by his mother’s abandonment. Although they saw each other, he was always disgusted at how his mother changed. In some way, Kaname had associated love with these negative feelings towards his mother. Masa knew how well Kaname and Misao got along and was hoping Kaname would find happiness with Misao. He did not expect Misao to be rejected so heartlessly as well.
Coming out of his reverie, he saw a girl wearing a uniform visiting Misao. “She must be a classmate.”
~~~~~~~~
Masa went “home” more often to check on his nephew, whose only friend, the only person who could make him smile, had now become a stranger. He heard someone knocking on the door.
“Hi, it’s Misao! Mom asked me to bring over all this food.” Misao said cheerfully.
“Oh, do you want to join us?” Masa invited.
“Sorry, I already ate, but next time, tell me all about Kaname. I heard we were good friends since childhood and I think if we talk, I could get some memories back!” To Kaname, “I’m really sorry I forgot about you…”
“It’s not your fault.” Kaname said without feelings.
“If we are such good friends, it is a shame that I cannot remember. I will try very hard to remember, Kaname-kun.” Misao said before she left.
While Misao was still the friendly, kind girl she had always been, she no longer had that unspoken understanding with Kaname.
…………
“Are you OK with that?” Masa asked Kaname. “That she forgot about you. Don’t you want to know why that happened?” Kaname said he didn’t want to know and that there was nothing they could do.
“Is it the Memory Man?” A gentle female voice asked. “It’s the Memory Man erasing her memory at her request.”
“That’s just an urban legend.” Kaname said.
“Do you regret? Do you regret rejecting her?” This person asked.
“... Even if she said the same thing to me know, I would still reject her. I have never wanted to think of Saza as a love interest.”
“Oh…. I think she knew as well.” The person left.
“Is that true?” Masa asked Kaname.
“When Saza confessed to me, all I thought was that I never expected it from her. I don’t want a relationship with anyone, I thought she was special and that she understood. I felt betrayed because of all people, I never wanted her to confess.”
“You didn’t say that to her, right?” Masa was alarmed.
“No, but I turned her down coldly. I always thought we could stay the same way forever, but one little ‘I love you” changed all that. We could no longer go back to our original relationship. Every time I see her, I can only think about this… betrayal.” Kaname said. “But I hurt her. I hurt her so much that she erased me from her memory.”
Masa knew that of all people, Misao would understand Kaname’s dilemma. She did not ask Memory Man to erase her memory because she couldn’t handle the rejection. She wanted to give Kaname what he wanted - a way to go back, but she couldn’t forget her love for him. The only solution was to wipe Kaname off her mind, along with the love that was built over many years. This way, they had a shot of starting over as friends without all the complications and hurt that came from her confession. She did that because Kaname was her most important friend.
Kaname bowed his head. He didn’t know what to think. All he knew was that tears were flowing from his eyes.
…………
Kaname was looking out the window and saw Misao talking with friends at school. “I never wanted you to forget me.” His heart was filled with remorse.
“But it is too late.” Kaname remembered this low female voice. “If the memory is gone, it will never come back. But this was her wish.” She said. “Don’t try to make her remember you. It won’t happen. Right now you are just neighbours. Maybe if you try, you can be friends again? Think of this as a second chance. The feelings of love is gone to make way for a lasting, platonic friendship. Then again, maybe she would fall in love with you again.” She laughed and added “If that happens again, I can help you ‘eat’ those feelings again!” She left Kaname alone to his thoughts.
Looking at Misao, Kaname made a decision. He walked to the school yard and said hello to Misao, albeit somewhat stiffly. Misao gave him a bright smile.
at present 3
When Kaname let Ryoichi in, he listened to Ryoichi’s story. Ryoichi was worried Kaname would find his story incredulous, but turn out he did not have to worry...
“She did it for me. Even though I didn’t want her to do that, but do I have the right to be angry? I was the one who desperately wanted our relationship to go back to normal at first.”
Although Kaname was filled with regret when he told his side of the story, Ryoichi did not sense any anger at Memory Man. They went over to Misao’s house to talk. Ryoichi kept to his cover as a university student doing a research paper on Memory Man.
“Memory Man? That is a popular urban legend at school, but it sounds kind of ridiculous. Oh, you don’t want to ask me what I know about this story? You want to hear about how I lost my memory? It’s not too exciting.” Misao said apologetically. “Well, when I first lost my memory of Kaname, my friends were all like ‘Memory Man erased your memory!’ But I don’t believe he exists.” Ryoichi was surprised at how nonchalantly she was talking about this.
“It is such a shame I forgot all about our friendship from before, but we are pretty good friends now, so I don’t feel like I’ve really lost anything.” She added. “Besides, I would never want to do that. Even if I am sad, I want to learn from this pain. I will never ask anyone to take away my memory.”
Ryoichi couldn’t really respond to her. After they finished talking, he went back to Kaname’s apartment to ask about the person who bothered her before. The description definitely sounded like ICO and Ryoichi promised to try and get her to stop coming around to harass Misao. Before he left, he asked Kaname. “Most people who spoke with Memory Man cannot remember what he looked like. Do you remember anything?”
“I can’t remember much but I got this feeling it’s a woman. It’s weird. I don’t remember anything else, but I have this strong feeling I spoke to a woman.”
Ryoichi had always imagined Memory Man to be a guy. Perhaps it was that recurring dream about Maki and the tall man in a coat. “Could he or she have controlled your memory? Rewritten it in the way he or she wanted to be remembered?” Kaname wasn’t sure.
“But if he or she can erase your encounter as well, why would there be these bits and pieces in your head? Maybe Memory Man’s powers are not very stable? Or maybe he or she wanted people to remember a just enough so that the urban legend can spread? Then, why was all my memory of the encounter wiped?” Ryoichi asked rhetorically. “Maybe somehow, Memory Man was worried about my investigation and decided to use more force?”
………...
When Ryoichi got home, his mom had a mysterious smile on her face. “Maki said your older girlfriend was looking for you. Oh, she said you were out meeting another younger woman. Son, you need to pace yourself.”
That uninvited visitor must be ICO. If she was not sending information by email, she must have found something important that must be discussed face-to-face. He walked upstairs and found Maki in his room. “Why are you still here?”
“I am spying on you to make sure you are not bringing strange woman back to your room!” Maki said, glaring at him. “Your girlfriend from last time came to see you. I wish I told her you were out with another girl!”
“Not my girlfriend. Neither one.” Ryoichi decided to tell her part of the truth. “Remember I was researching Memory Man for the school project? I was just interviewing people who have unexplained memory losses. She basically forgot all about her childhood best friend.”
“Childhood friend? Kinda like us.” Maki said, looking into Ryoichi’s eyes. “...I think I understand her feelings.”
“Don’t you think it is wrong? After your memory is erased, it is not something you can get back even if you have second thoughts later on.” Ryoichi said.
“I guess… But if it were me… if I can erase that memory, I will. Not because I find the rejection tough to swallow… it is because I want to be with the person I love, even if this is the only way that will give me a chance.”
Did Maki have these ideas because she was speculating after hearing Misao and Kaname’s story? Or was she already thinking about this sort of thing? Ryoichi was not sure.
…………
After Maki left, Ryoichi emailed ICO and DD to report back. He didn’t go back to the chat room.
ICO and DD never responded.
Continue to part 4.