CGBTS Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – The Mist

Novel Title: あの夏から戻れない (Can’t Go Back to That Summer)

Author：宮緒葵 (Miyao Aoi)

Illustrator：笠井あゆみ (Kasai Ayumi)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 櫛原夏生 (Kushihara Natsuo -MC) & 四辻柊 (Yotsutsuji Shuu -ML)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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Could he really have survived in the mountains for thirteen years?

The fact that many people had already gone missing there only fueled the frenzy, and the media began making a spectacle of Mount Hinayama as a ‘kamikakushi’ spot—a place where people mysteriously vanished.

While news crews and video streamers flocked to Mount Hinayama day after day, and even shady occult researchers swarmed the area, each freely expounding their own theories, Natsuo could not help but feel that there was something fateful about it all. The man’s body had surfaced on the exact same day, ten years later, that Shuu had gone missing.

Could Shuu, too, be alive somewhere in the otherworld hidden within the mountain, just like that man? ……Could he be asking Natsuo for help?

The thought left Natsuo unable to sit still, and he resolved to enter Mount Hinayama once again. He had steadily saved money from his part-time jobs for the day he would search for Shuu, so he had no trouble covering the expenses.

And today, half a month after the discovery of the body, he left his apartment, where he lived alone, while it was still dark, and continued climbing the mountain path……until he finally reached it. The lake that had swallowed Shuu ten years ago.

…………I’m sorry, Shuu. It took me ten whole years to come back here. But this time, I swear I’ll find you, no matter what.

Exhaling the breath he had unconsciously been holding, Natsuo crouched down at the water’s edge.

“……It’s quiet……”

There was no one around the lake except Natsuo, its blue surface glittering just as it had that day. After half a month, the media’s fervor for covering the story was probably beginning to die down as well. It was a relief to be able to move around without having to worry about being seen.

Natsuo rolled up his shirt sleeve and gently lowered his hand into the water.

……It’s cold. 

Feeling the heat in his skin from walking continuously being cooled, he swished his hand through the water, then brought his wet hand to his nose, but there was no smell except for the faint scent of algae. His hand did not dissolve or become inflamed, either. It was perfectly ordinary water.

But ten years ago, this lake had not been filled with water. It had been filled with deep, stagnant darkness. No one had believed him, but Natsuo had seen it with his own eyes. The unnaturally thick mist and the lake filled with darkness. There was no doubt that these two things were connected to Shuu’s disappearance, and most likely to the disappearance of the man whose body had been discovered.

“Shuu, Shuu!…………Shuu!”

Natsuo wiped his wet hand and began making his way around the area, following the shoreline.

“It’s me. It’s Natsuo! If you’re here, answer me, Shuu……!”

The sky had been clear without a single cloud that day, too. Yet the strangely cold, damp air, the sensation of sweat creeping beneath his shirt, even the distant cries of the cicadas—all of it was exactly as he remembered. The only difference was that Shuu was not beside him.

And yet, no matter how much he walked, the surface of the lake remained clear, without even a single ripple. There was no sign that mist would appear, either. Eventually, Natsuo found the tree where he had tied a piece of string as a marker and his shoulders slumped. He had made a full circle and returned to where he had started.

“Haah……”

He had deliberately chosen a time as close as possible to that day, yet before he knew it, the sun had climbed high into the sky. It was almost noon. The weather showed no signs of turning bad.

……At this rate, there’s no way any mist is going to appear.

Sitting down in the grass, Natsuo checked the weather app for this area while drinking a jelly drink in place of lunch, but the chance of precipitation was zero percent. There were no warnings or anything of the sort, either.

But that should have been the case ten years ago, too. The moment he entered this mountain with Shuu, mist had appeared, and the lake had been dyed in darkness. That was why, even today, he had secretly hoped that as long as he made it to the lake, he would be enveloped in mist just as he had been that time, and the door to the otherworld where Shuu had wandered would open.

With a soft thump, Natsuo buried his face against his raised knees.

“Shuu……if you’re here, please come out.”

……..I want to see you. 

He wanted to see him right now, to see that smile even more beautiful than that of the neighborhood girl who was known for being cute. Shuu had hated being told that he looked like a girl, so Natsuo had kept that thought to himself, but every time Shuu smiled at him, his heart had fluttered just a little.

“I want to see you……”

And yet, the face of Shuu etched into his final memory was twisted with surprise and sorrow. He probably had never imagined that Natsuo would pull his hand away from him.

If they could meet again, he wanted to apologize. 

……..I’m sorry I pulled my hand away from you that time. ……I’m sorry I didn’t know anything and left you all alone.

……..I’ll apologize. I’ll keep apologizing, over and over, until you forgive me.

“…Shuu……!”

Slowly, tears he could no longer hold back began to spill over. As Natsuo tried to roughly wipe them away with the back of his hand, he finally noticed. White mist was drifting all around him.

“Wha……?”

Even as he reflexively stood up, the mist grew denser, rapidly filling the area.

……It’s just like that time!

Then what about the lake? He looked around, but his field of vision was already completely swallowed by the mist. Even the end of his outstretched arm had become faint and hazy.

Something was wrong. Ten years ago, he had certainly been surrounded by thick mist as well, but he could clearly see the lake dyed in darkness. He could even see Shuu’s face as they held hands.

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*Translator’s Note: In Japanese, ‘I want to see you’ also means ‘I miss you’. -K

Next update: 2026.10.06

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