Abyss

ABYSS

After finding a mysterious vase in the Marine Biology Club Room, Souma begins to reminisce, recalling a strange organization known as ABYSS. Just what was the ABYSS that Kanata, Souma, and Madara experienced thirteen long years ago?

Content Warning: This story contains the following:

Mentions and depictions, implied and direct, of child abuse and neglect.

Discussion of cults.

Mentions of death.

Season: Winter

Author: Akira

Characters: Kanata, Souma, Madara, Kaoru

Translated by verdantgrove
Proofread by kuma829

Chapters

• The ▇▇ Ocean that Trickles Downward: Ch 1 - Ch 2 - Ch 3 - Ch 4 - Ch 5 - Ch 6 - Ch 7 - Ch 8 - Ch 9 - Ch 10 - Ch 11 - Ch 12

• Epilogue: Ch 1 - Ch 2 - Ch 3 - Ch 4

ABYSS - The ▇▇ Ocean that Trickles Downward - Chapter 1

 Season: Winter

Location: Funeral Venue

<Thirteen years prior to the first year of the establishment of ES. Somewhere in Tokyo, at a funeral venue.>

Souma: I am freeee!

(Well, what should I do?! Think, Souma! Half an hour remains of the free time I have been given! That means, um, basically, thirty minutes!)

(I have to use this time right and do… do something! I cannot waste it!)

…But I’m hungry right now, huh.

I feel like Father forgot to feed me.

(What should I do? You cannot fight on an empty stomach.)

(Usually, it is Mother who makes the meals, but… She is going to give birth to my adorable little brother soon.)

(She is pregnant or something like that, so she cannot move. So I have no choice. She cannot drag her heavy body such a great distance to this place.)

(No matter that it is the…funeral. Of a great person that our clan cannot ignore.)

(Right, it seems that someone has passed away.)

(And it seems like that person was a really special person, and someone who was really important to us.)

(No, they got mad at me for calling her a “person,” huh?)

(That person was supposedly “God,” so…)

(...A god’s funeral? Gods can die too? Huh?)

(Well, when you die, you die! Mother and Father would never say something that isn’t true!)

Wah, thinking makes me hungry. I am starving. Not even the great Taikō1 would think it possible to have the bitter experience of starving to death in this affluent modern-day Japan.

(I wonder if I should ask Father to make food for meee…. But he seems busy, and he always says that men must not ever enter the kitchen…)

(Mm. If that is the case, then I suppose I have no choice but to look for food by myself after all.)

(If I look, surely there must be some kind of insect or animal that can serve as nourishment here.)

(Nay, now that I have looked, I see that there is food lined up all around me.)

(Could I be hallucinating?)

(I do not really get it, but this must be a divine favor! So this means, umm, God has saved me!)

(I shall graciously accept.)

(...But is it alright for me to just eat this without asking? Will I get scolded? But no one else is here, so I would not be able to get permission anyway, so…?)

(And waaah, I’m so hungry!)

Well, thank you for the food!

Munch, munch… Ugh, it’s so strong. Mother’s food is much more bland than this.

(Ah! Someone’s coming! Nooo, it will be so embarrassing if someone catches me stealing food! This is abhorrent conduct, unbefitting for the child of a family of warriors!)

(I—I have to hide… There’s a tablecloth on this table, so if I go under it, it should hide me.)

(Hurry, Souma! Gooo!)

Kanata: —wah, huh?

Souma: …?!

Kanata: hm? hmm? hmmm?

Souma: …? …?

(What? Who? Monsteeer!)

(What is this, this figure? It does have a strange appearance, but… …?)

Kanata: is someone there? mikejima?

Souma: (Huh? What? Did it say something?)

(What a strange-sounding voice… I could not quite make it out.)

Kanata: ….mikejima.

no, not mikejima. you smell different.

*lick*… mhm, and taste different, too.

Souma: Hyaaaa?! What are you doing? Are you a yōkai?

Kanata: who are you?

Souma: Wh-who are YOU? What are you doing in a place like this?

Kanata: kanata is not doing anything.

in a sense, kanata is doing nothing.

Souma: ?  ?  ?

Kanata: do you not understand, o child of humans?

is it hard to understand, what kanata says?

Souma: Ka, katana? Nay, you said “Kanata?” What is that…?

Madara: —Have no fear, Mikejima is here!

Souma: Wah?! 

Madara: Whooopsie-daisy, I just hit him really hard, but who is this kid anyway? Do you know him, God?

Kanata: kanata is not god yet, so kanata does not know anything.

also, you are late coming back, mikejima.

Madara: Sorryyy, I was looking around to find a way to sneak in, but I had a hard time, sooo—

Souma: (Wh-who is this? Who are these people? They look like kids around my age, but…?)

(Ahh, this is bad. I was feeling hazy enough already because of my empty stomach, so now with the impact of the punch, I feel faint…)

(D-defeat. Going to… faint…)

(......)

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TL Notes:

1: Likely referring to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

ABYSS - The ▇▇ Ocean that Trickles Downward - Chapter 2

Location: Yumenosaki Marine Biology Club Room

<Present day. The first year of the establishment of ES, in the first ten days of February. In the Yumenosaki Academy Marine Biology Club Room.>

Kaoru: Jeez, you really ran into some bad luck, Souma-kun!

Souma: ……

Kaoru: I was, like, seriously stunned. I drop by this club room for the first time in a while, and there you are, all passed out on the floor and covered in blood.

I thought there’d been a murder or something. I even called out for the police.

Souma: …You are as pointlessly boisterous as ever, Hakaze-dono. What do I have to do to get you to shut that mouth of yours?

Kaoru: You don’t look too great, Souma-kun. You okay? You anemic?

Souma: I am ashamed. Ashamed that I have been seen in my most unfortunate state by you, of all people.

Kaoru: No no, there’s nothing to be ashamed about, okay? It was just an accident, yeah?

What was it… You were cleaning the club room, and then some kind of vase or something fell on you from above and hit you square in the head, right?

Souma: Mhm…. It truly was a great misfortune.

Despite the fact that, unlike you, things tend to go quite well for me on a daily basis.

Kaoru: Hey, I’m taking things pretty seriously these days—really, really. So much so that my older fans are even spreading a theory that I’ve been replaced by another person.

Souma: Hmph. You are not a different person. You have always been frivolous, but you have  always been good-natured as well.

It appears to me that those who spread such a rumor do not truly understand who you are as a person.

Kaoru: So you understand? Who I am as a person?

Souma: …I don’t. I never have, and I never will.

For an obstinate blockhead such as myself, understanding others is beyond even my wildest dreams.

Kaoru: What’s wrong with you; you’re so gloomy! Looks like the Marine Biology Club is as unpopular as ever, so are you just feeling lonely all by yourself? Should I drop by more often for you?

Souma: I do not want your help. You are so irritating.

Kaoru: I’m just worried about you.

Souma: I am not so far gone to warrant your concern.

More importantly, you coming by the club room like this must have been some sort of fate, Hakaze-dono.

You may help me clean the club room. This needless accident caused me to lose consciousness, and the room is all the more disorganized for it.

Kaoru: Ugh, what a pain…

Kaoru: Uh, yes, mhm, got it, got it! I’ll help!

Don’t scowl at me like that, it’s scary. People will misunderstand you, you know?

Souma: I was not scowling at you. It is simply this vase that hit me a short while ago—I feel as though I recognize it from somewhere, and so I could not help but stare in my examination.

Ah, right. I recognize it from the funeral venue from that day.

This vase is the spitting image of one I saw at that funeral venue—no, I believe it is the same vase.

Kaoru: Huh, hold on a second here…? A vase from a funeral venue? Doesn’t that mean…?

Souma: Mhm. This very well may be an urn.

Kaoru: Ewwww… Why is something like this in our club room?!

Souma: The previous club president—that is, Shinkai-dono—may have forgotten it here.

No, no matter how much he lacks common sense, I doubt that he would take such an important item outside of his home without a second thought.

Hmm, this is a mystery indeed.

No, it is him who is, and has always been, a mystery to me.

Kanata: Zzz, zzz…♪ 

Madara: God~, God~, wake up.

Kanata: awa…

kanata told you already, mikejima. kanata is not a god yet.

Madara: Mhm, you’re not a god, you’re a baaaby. Why were you sleeping?

Kanata: kanata doesn’t know either. kanata fell asleep without realizing.

kanata is easily influenced by other people. kanata is easy to pollute, like water.

so because this kid is sleeping next to kanata, kanata fell asleep… maybe.

Souma: ……

Madara: I wonder who this kid is, anyway. He was about to touch God, so I punched him without thinking about it, but…

Well, it’s whatever. More importantly, we’re all set here.

Just as we planned, the grown-ups said they’re starting to discuss and decide on the plans they have from here on out during the reception.

Now, we should be able to sneak off and go find the corpse.

Kanata: kanata can see mom?

ah, no. kanata should not have called her mom. they will get mad.

Madara: It’s weird that they get angry. What’s wrong with calling your mom Mom?

Kanata: but. mom is a god, so…

…if she’s a god, then… why did she die?

do you know why, mikejima?

kanata doesn’t know why.

Madara: I dunno why either. I’m an idiot, soooo.

Unlike my sister, I’m bad at everything. She always gets mad at me for saying that.

Kanata: everyone is always getting mad. at kanata, and at mikejima too.

Madara: Mhm. That’s why we’re friends.

Souma: Mm… Hm?

Madara: Agh, this won’t do. Looks like this kid is gonna wake up.

Should I punch ‘im again? Have fun in the world of dreaaams ♪

Kanata: s-stop doing scary things. when kanata sees you hit people, kanata’s heart jumps.

and this child did not do anything bad. you should not… hit him.

Madara: Got it, got it. Whatever God saaays ♪ 

Souma: …W-who are you two? What kind of people are you?

Madara: Oh, shoot. Looook, he’s awake!

Souma: You… you scoundrels… I’ll call an adult!

Madara: We can’t have that.

Fuhaha. Looks like I’ve got no choice, I’ll have to kill you to keep your mouth shut!

Souma: Y-you are going to kill me? Y-you, youuu, you barbarian!

Madara: What’s up with you? You talk weird.

God’s weird too so, am I the only normal person here?

I knew that already, though. It’s all reaaally crazy, this whole thing.

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