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Holy moly. オセロ・ゲーム sure didn’t tell me what kind of story it would be. The name is kinda clever after reading it though. But man, this story went off the charts with how crazy it got o_O. Was a little bit creepy to read in some parts to be honest…
It isn’t one of my favorite stories, but I seem to vibe with the authors writing style very much. It seems I can read nearly anything and don’t feel bored by it. This story certainly left a big impression.
The beginning of the story is a little slow and feels kinda mundane, then we get the first elevator scene where she fights of an あれ. That scene already felt kinda eerie. Especially her reaction after, how shook she was, and her behavior after getting home were totally relatable. I kinda chuckled a little when she managed to drown a whole bottle of wine even though she was so exhausted XD.
And then the second encounter with あれ in the form of a big STRAWBERRY, that exploded all over and crawled back to form the milk ladies head again. Like WTF am I even reading…
Many things left unanswered in this story. Who does the number belong to? Can they really get her husband back in some way?. What actually happens if you get turned?
One thing is for sure. I don’t want to have anything to do with their powers. If you can call that powers anyway.
Will update after reading 手紙 again. Having a blast so far reading the book. Thank you very much for nominating it @pocketcat
First off a fair warning to anyone that is still reading the book. It felt a good bit harder to read compared to the other stories. Not necessarily because of the contents of the story but simply because of word choices. It felt (without having measured it) like I needed to look up roughly double the normal amount of words. On the positive side I learned another pronoun with 小生. I thought I would be done with pronouns by now
It’s also the first story that has a direct if not too important connection to a previous story
It was interesting how the 住職 got more and more sucked into investigating this strange ツル先生 figure. And it all started by the father of our 達磨山 protagonist, because he inquired about the 常野. Apparently, if we can trust the various writings and witness testimonies, it seems like 鶴先生 is immortal. Way cooler power to have compared to the last story XD.
Since the 住職 seemed to have gone to the 達磨山 on his own and also saw some kind of visions (they seem different to the ones in the other stories?) we can lay the theory to rest that 2 people are necessary for the effects of the mountain to work.
Coming back to what he saw: once his granny congratulating him on his wife, and once the 鶴先生 in question. Would it have been just the 先生 it could have been that he will meet him in the future. But his grandmother is already dead. So I’m not actually sure what he has seen there? Any guesses?
The story being told in the form of letters was okay, though I would have preferred to also read the answers of 倉田 who is the addressee of all letters.
I have many more thoughts swirling through my brain at the moment, but it’s kinda hard to get my thoughts into coherent sentences. Therefore, this is it from my side for now.
Given the other readers reaction to the previous stories I estimate this one getting some good feedback and discussion. Can’t wait for others opinions and impressions
Ooh, that makes me wonder if this is maybe his son checking his father’s old belongings for information on 常野. Feels very possible now! I hadn’t made the connection before that this was in fact the mountain father.
Hahaha I also was so baffled by that scene. I really don’t get what is so special about their powers that someone is trying to get them. Also…if she/her daughter are like “I’ll get you back” then indeed, what is that telephone number about? I want to know why she won’t call it and who will come if she does! Also, the existence of these あれ makes me think there is another race of people/beings with powers who want to do away with this group…?
Yeah I think I looked up more words in this chapter than I have in the entire rest of the book thus far.
I found his fascination with the immortal teacher amusing. Also I looked up 明治１７年 and it’s 1884 so an old man indeed! But since powers seem to run in families, shouldn’t we have more immortals somewhere…?
So I think it may just be a mountain whirling with magic that doesn’t necessarily show the future or the past but rather whatever it ‘wants’ to show given people. So some people are shown their future, others their past, and others - like the four girls - are 神隠し’d. Very curious what happens to them! Wouldn’t it be interesting if those four girls show up later in some other time?
Ooh I’m also intrigued. A mix of first person views of these people with special powers and then the “normies” chasing them trying to figure them out.
Phew, what a wild ride. No explicit mention of 常野, but I wonder if the family in this one are descendants of a 常野 line? Was the phone number to someone living in 常野? I’m guessing 裏返す might be Othello lingo in Japanese? It’s been so long since I played in English. So does this mean that all the monsters are former “special” people? So many questions.
I really enjoyed how this story had a surprising amount of horror vibes!
Like others have mentioned, a bit of a difficulty jump from the other stories, but it had mostly smoothed out by the end. I wasn’t expecting the 書見台 family or 達磨山 to make an appearance again, which was really neat.
Oh shoot, I didn’t pick up on this at all; now I want to go back and reread the earlier bits of 手紙 with this in mind.
光の帝国 
week 3
So many questions.