Asi Hell

Capítulo 1

The Box of Demons by Natsuhiko Kyogoku

My grandmother passed away, so I had to return to my hometown immediately.

The train carrying passengers returning home from the city was empty.

There was only one exhausted old woman sitting in the carriage.

Perhaps it's because it's not a holiday today, and nobody wants to go to the countryside.

The weather is so nice today.

A cool breeze slipped in through the car window, caressing my forehead and cheeks with a pleasant sensation. It carried a hint of familiar scents of home—how comforting!

The exhaustion from working for several days made me fall into a deep sleep.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep and dreaming of the past, a man quietly sat down in the seat in front of me.

His skin was pale, making it impossible to tell whether he was young or old. He had a sleepy, doll-like face. Why was he deliberately sitting in the front of the empty carriage?

Think about it carefully and repeatedly.

The man was carrying a suitcase.

I placed it on my lap very carefully.

Sometimes he would talk to the box.

I rubbed my sleepy eyes, wanting to see what was in the box, but I was too sleepy to do so.

Perhaps there's a teapot or vase inside.

It's a suitcase of a suitable size.

The man sometimes laughs.

"Oh."

A sound came from the box.

A clear, bell-like female voice.

Did you hear that?

"The man asked. His voice sounded like it was coming from a phonograph speaker."

Unable to express agreement or denial. Because still dreaming.

"Please do not tell others about this."

After the man finished speaking, he lifted the lid and showed the inside of the box.

There happened to be a beautiful girl in the box.

The girl's face resembled that of a Japanese doll. It must be a finely crafted doll. The box probably contained the doll's upper body.

Looking at her innocent face, I couldn't help but smile.

Seeing this, the girl in the box also smiled sweetly and let out a soft "heh."

Ah, so he's still alive.

For some reason, I became very envious of men.

(The following is omitted)

Yuiko Kusumoto really loves teak and kanako.

She loved everything about Kanako, from her delicate skin around her neck and her smooth, glossy hair to her slender, bouncy fingers.

Lai Zi especially liked Jia Cai Zi's big, dark eyes with irises.

Those eyes were sometimes so sharp they seemed to pierce through you, yet they were always moist and bright. They were filled with a deep, captivating color that seemed to draw you in. Whenever Kanako closed her eyes and listened intently to music, Raiko always longed to gently press her lips against her rosy cheeks and eyelids.

I don't know how many times I've been tormented by this impulse.

However, Lai Zi is definitely not a homosexual.

Her feelings are somewhat different from those of homosexuals.

Raiko had never felt this kind of desire for any other woman, and it was impossible for him to actually act on it with Kanako. However, the quiet yet uplifting feeling he experienced when he was near Kanako was more poignant than any romantic love; the faint fragrance wafting around her also stirred Raiko's heart countless times.

In every sense, Ganako lives a life that deviates from nature.

Lai Zi thought so.

Kanako was smarter, more noble, and more beautiful than anyone else in her class. She never associated with others, exuding a unique aura, like a lone human among a herd of beasts. There was nothing she couldn't do, and she never felt pain or trouble.

Kanako, at only fourteen years old, already appeared remarkably open-minded and optimistic.

So Raiko couldn't help but find it unbelievable that Kanako was only close to her in the class. She wondered how the other students would perceive this, and she had never considered their thoughts. In short, Raiko's only source of pride was that Kanako was close to her in front of everyone.

Lai Zi has no father, and his life is far from comfortable. Although his mother worked hard to raise the money for him to attend this school, it is nothing but an indescribable pain for Lai Zi.

All the classmates were rich girls, so to Lai Zi, who was introverted and naive, the conversations between his classmates sounded like a foreign language, thick and intertwined, and he couldn't understand a word of it.

All Lai Zi learned at school was the feeling of being inferior. Every day, he would prepare for his injury and then come back to review the lessons with the pain he had suffered that day.

So when Kanako spoke to her for the first time, Raiko was so frightened that she didn't know how to reply.

"Kusumoto-kun, let's go home together."

Kanako speaks in this masculine tone to everyone.

In front of Kanako, not only does the difference between men and women become meaningless, but even the superior-subordinate relationship between teachers and students becomes irrelevant.

The two walked slowly along the embankment overgrown with unknown flowers and plants. Lai Zi kept his head down the whole time, and didn't dare to utter a word until they said goodbye in front of the desolate factory in town.

After returning home, Lai Zi was still in shock and unable to fall asleep.

She wasn't inferior to anyone else. No, if her family weren't poor and her father were still alive. With Lai Zi's beautiful appearance, she would surely be superior to other girls.

In fact, Lai Zichang often saw the men who reeked of alcohol and were looking at her with lustful eyes; she was a beautiful young girl.

Through a thin layer of mercury, the reflection in the mirror merged with Kanako's image.

A strange emotion seemed to be swelling within Lai Zi's heart.

Raiko was unaware of Kanako's background, and Kanako never inquired about Raiko's private affairs. Therefore, Raiko was able to speak to Kanako with only her bright, flower-like exterior, without revealing the root she hated most.

But—Kanako must know everything about Raiko, which is why she doesn't speak foreign languages that are superficial, empty, and incomprehensible like the other girls. Raiko understands her language very well, and at the same time, she begins to feel that only Kanako can understand her.

Kanako often invited Raiko to take walks together at night.

They would meet in front of the factory, then wander aimlessly through the town at night, without a specific destination. They wouldn't go to the downtown area, so they were never taken in for tutoring. The places they had walked through during the day, the familiar street scenes, transformed into a strange, alien city under Kanako's magic. The darkness in the alleys and the shadows of the telephone poles made Raiko's heart race.

"Kusumoto, you should bask in the moonlight more often."

Kanako spoke cheerfully, turning around nimbly, her delicate neck gleaming pale in the moonlight.

"Is it because moonlight possesses some incredible magic?"

"Hey, this isn't a fairy tale. It's just that moonlight is a reflection of sunlight. So, while sunlight can give life to animals and plants, moonlight is light that has already died once, and therefore it won't bring any benefit to living things."

"Wouldn't that be pointless?"

"It's not that having meaning is necessarily a good thing. You see, isn't living just about constantly weakening and eventually moving towards death? That is, getting closer and closer to a corpse. That's why animals bathed in sunlight try their best to show a happy face, accelerating their steps towards death. Therefore, we should bathe our whole bodies in the light reflected by the moon, light that has already died once, in order to stop the pace of living. Only in the moonlight can living beings escape the curse of life."

I was right. Kanako really is someone who lives against nature.

Lai Zi thought so.

"We must live like cats, so we must first train our eyes to see the night."

"The Eyes of the Night—How to Make Them?"

"It's simple, just sleep during the day, we cats still have the night to wait for us."

"Yes, and there's the night too."

After Lai Zi answered like that, Kanako burst out laughing.

"Kusumoto, you're really good."

Kanako smiled with an expression like that of a Persian cat.

Kanako always stuffed a few literary magazines into her schoolbag.

Of course, it wasn't a magazine for children. Kanako happily read the somewhat difficult literary works meant for adults. Seeing how much she enjoyed it, Raiko often borrowed it to browse through. But no matter how much she pretended to be a literary girl, it wasn't particularly interesting to Raiko.

But even though these were just booklets listing Chinese characters that were more difficult than those in textbooks—lacking both beautiful colors and cute illustrations—and tasteless, Raiko felt that they were an important magic spell to separate herself from other girls, so she read them desperately.

Of all these books, she only found the fantastical and incredible stories to be decent.

Kanako often imitated the adults by going to coffee shops, listening to foreign music while drinking black tea. Raiko added lots of sugar to the black tea she didn't like, and tried to appreciate the music she didn't like.

Going to the coffee shop was against school rules, and Lai Zi's heart nearly stopped when he entered the shop.

Contrary to his feelings, Lai Zi's body went inside without hesitation. Like a foolish insect attracted by the alluring and sweet fragrance of a beautiful flower, he did not hesitate at all.

The two talked about many different topics.

The joy that Yoriko finds irreplaceable is that she shares a secret with Kanako.

Although they didn't smoke and drink together like delinquents, but simply spent time together as a couple, sharing trivial secrets, Lai Zi's personality became even more distinct.

In this way, Lai Zi gradually began to understand what his classmates were saying.

Once you understand, you'll realize there's nothing wrong with it. What they're speaking isn't a foreign language at all; it's just that their speech is a bit thick and intertwined, making it difficult to understand. No, rather, compared to the crystal-clear, glass-like language spoken by Kanako, their language is so low-class, so dirty and vulgar.

Lai Zi has lived for fourteen years, and only today does he feel like he can finally be considered a human being.

But along with the joy, another worry quietly emerged.

It was a hidden fear that Kanako would dislike her.

After all, his relationship with Kanako didn't happen naturally. It was entirely the result of Kanako's one-sided approach. Therefore, even if the relationship was unilaterally terminated, there was nothing he could do about it.

Intelligent and noble, like a goddess, why would Kanako be interested in an unremarkable girl like him?

Lai Zi thought about it over and over but couldn't understand it, and just felt that it was just a whim of hers.

Unfortunately, the clumsy Raiko had absolutely no idea how to behave in order to win Kanako's favor.

I don't want her to hate me, but if things continue like this, I'll definitely be disliked someday...

The goddess only played with the lamb on a whim, and when she got tired of it, she would probably just throw it away without a second thought and move on to the next toy. At that time... the lost lamb was too humble and too powerless in front of the great goddess.

Fear gradually turned into despair, and soon despair would arrive. Raiko secretly decided that before despair came, she would muster all her courage and ask Kanako what she really thought, even if it would ruin their relationship.