This is an unofficial, unauthorised translation of the prologue (pp 8 - 11) of the Dennou Coil 1 novel written by Miyamura Yuuko (宮村優子), published by Tokuma Books (Edge label) on the 18th of April 2007. Please feel free to repost or edit this translation as long as no money is involved - this is a free translation!
I cannot forget about that day.
We have no control over that which falls apart and fades away.
We bid our farewell to Michiko on that day.
The forest around the shrine was quiet. The light falling through the canopy of trees dappled the distant row of toriis; a weave of white, like countless, luminescent threads.
Like Michiko, I thought.
Beautiful, yet subtly sinister.
That day, I wore something short-sleeved for the first time that year. The wind brushing my arms was ticklish, and a little embarassing, but it felt good. To think I'd have to say goodbye to Michiko on a day like this.
That day, not a word left Michiko's mouth. Michiko, always the chatterbox, indulgent and elfish, but somehow a person none of us would ever go against - today, she sat in quietness, just intently returning our gazes.
I could subconsciously feel an urge to cry eating away at me, yet for some reason no tears fell from my eyes.
Instead the one crying was Nekome.
"It's the end of everything," he whispered in a broken voice, and turned away from Michiko. I think Nekome will surely come to forget this day. He must be convincing himself, with all his might, that he *must* forget it.
But I cannot forget it.
To the four of us, Michiko was both the most intimate, and most problematic friend we had ever had. I don't know where she even came from, to begin with. Before we knew it, there she was at our side, provoking us and comforting us, egging us on, giving us pain... and so we spent great amounts of time together.
We were completely taken up with Michiko.
Can't forget Michiko.
There was one more reason for feeling that way. It was because it felt like somehow, things hadn't really ended yet. That something, something very precious, had been left unfinished.
We had decided that today, we were going to let go of Michiko, and never meet her every again; but perhaps it could actually be that /we/ were the ones being left behind. Perhaps everything that's happened here today - even up to us parting with Michiko - perhaps to her, it was a calculated event that she had accounted for long ago.
It was then that I unintentionally realised something. Namely the meaning behind Michiko's unwavering gaze. That was a look of pity. Michiko is right here having pity on all of us. She is pitying our being here today, what had happened here, and every single thing happening in the world at this exact moment; and through pity she is loftily attempting to manipulate us.
Won't forget Michiko. So I thought hard.
This must be a promise. That someday in the future, we will meet Michiko once again. And Michiko is merely putting us through a test, in preparation for that day. If that's the case, then I think I will try to live on.
So that if today is just the beginning of everything, I may meet whatever is waiting there for me with certainty; and with the promise of Michiko.
23rd XX:XX Daikoku City
Boy who went missing in Daikoku City still remains unfound.
The search for Kiname Yoshifumi [木滑由史] (12), who has been missing since yesterday, is still ongoing, having continued overnight.
On the 22nd afternoon (Saturday), after telling his family that he had "promised to meet up with a friend" he left the house and subsequently went missing. Apart from being witnessed as rushing towards a worship hall near a shrine located in the city center, there has been no further information as to his whereabouts. The police are continuing thier search using the name of his friend, "Michiko", as a lead. However, as there are no children of Yoshifumi's age in neither the middle school he studies at, nor in neighbouring areas with that name, it is thought that there is a possibility Yoshifumi has gotten involved in an incident of some sort, and as such the search is expected to continue.
Yoshifumi is a first-year student at Daikoku Middle School. He was last seen wearing orange Nike trainers and khaki-coloured three-quarter trousers.
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