CGBTS Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Childhood Friend

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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Like Jennifer, who had been a strikingly beautiful woman, Shuu was a beautiful boy. Natsuo was also often told that his large eyes, inherited from his mother, were cute, like those of a small animal, but Shuu was on a completely different level from Natsuo……no, from almost everyone his age.

His skin was so translucently fair that it barely tanned even when exposed to the sun. His smooth, silky black hair was enough to make Natsuo, who was self-conscious about his own unruly hair, unable to keep from envying him. His deeply sculpted features were so delicate and ephemeral that they seemed as though they might shatter if touched, yet they gave off a sweet aura that made one instinctively want to reach out a hand toward him. His vivid green eyes, framed by long eyelashes, were almost mysterious.

The neighborhood children frequently picked on and teased him, and looking back now, they had probably been doing it simply because they desperately wanted to get the attention of Shuu, who had the air of a beautiful girl. Protecting frightened Shuu and driving away the bullies was always Natsuo’s role.

“Natsuo, Natsuo, I love you so much. I can’t live without you anymore.”

Whenever Shuu was on the verge of tears, he always hung on to a pendant hanging around his neck. It was a platinum plate set with a green emerald the same color as Shuu’s eyes. Apparently, his grandmother in America, whom he rarely got to see, had gone out of her way to commission it from a jewelry designer and give it to him as a good-luck charm. Emeralds were said to have the power to keep evil things away.

Natsuo knew absolutely nothing about the value of gemstones, but if the stone was the same color as Shuu’s eyes, he felt like it ought to have some kind of protective power. Whenever Shuu played games with Natsuo or watched his favorite anime, his eyes would sparkle so brightly they were almost dazzling.

“But Shuu’s eyes are prettier, though. When you’re with me, they sparkle, and sometimes I catch myself staring.”

“……Th-that’s because it’s you… you’re with me…… I like your eyes better, Natsuo.”

“Eh? Mine are totally ordinary.”

“That’s not true. They’re glossy and black……like spinel with a starry sky trapped inside.”

Perhaps because of his father’s influence, Shuu would sometimes shower Natsuo with embarrassingly elaborate compliments using difficult words, which left him at a loss for how to respond.

Shuu’s father, Shigehiko, was a folklorist. Apparently, he was well-known among younger scholars, and the library in his home was packed with thick volumes of literature that Shigehiko had collected from all over Japan. It was astonishing to Natsuo that Shuu had apparently read most of them, when Natsuo himself would probably have fallen asleep before getting through even a few pages.

Whenever school went on a long vacation, Shuu and Natsuo would invariably go on family trips together. Shigehiko, who was frequently away conducting fieldwork, would always make sure to take time off and join them on these occasions. Perhaps it was also his way of making amends to his wife and child for always leaving them lonely.

Ten years ago—in the summer vacation when Natsuo and the others were eight years old—a trip was planned as well. Their destination was Mount Hinayama in N Prefecture, not far from the city center. It was not a major tourist destination, but it was Shigehiko’s hometown, and they had been given permission to use a cottage that he had supposedly inherited from Shuu’s grandparents. There was a campground nearby, where they could apparently enjoy barbecues and field athletics as well.

Excitedly, Natsuo climbed into the light van his father had rented, but he soon noticed that something was wrong. Jennifer, who normally always accompanied them, was nowhere to be seen. According to Shigehiko, she had caught a cold and was staying home to be on the safe side.

……Auntie has a cold?

The kind-hearted Jennifer, who was always at home and would give Natsuo delicious homemade snacks whenever he went over to visit, was like a second mother to him. He was worried about her being alone in bed, but what worried him even more was Shuu. He stared blankly out the car window, barely responding when Natsuo or his little sister spoke to him, as though he wasn’t really listening. And yet, he clung tightly to Natsuo’s hand and refused to let go.

Neither Shigehiko nor Natsuo’s parents tried to admonish Shuu for behaving that way. They merely smiled ambiguously. The strangely quiet atmosphere left Natsuo and his sister utterly bewildered.

Eventually, when they arrived at the cottage at the foot of Mount Hinayama, Shuu finally seemed to regain his spirits. A stream flowed near the cottage. Just as the children were about to head out to play in the water, Shigehiko spoke to them seriously.

“All three of you, listen carefully. You must not go into the mountains by yourselves.”

“Eh? Why?”

“Mount Hinayama is a small mountain, but several people have already gone missing there.”

Shigehiko had lived in the village at the foot of the mountain until he went to university, and apparently, once every few years, someone who had entered the mountain would fail to return, causing a huge commotion. Each time, all the villagers would search together, and the police and fire department would join in as well, but Natsuo and his sister were told that not a single person had ever been found. The two of them trembled with fear.

“……There was a lake in the mountain, right?”

It was Shuu who interrupted. It turned out that when he was little, he had visited the village to see his grandparents on his father’s side.

“That’s right. You remembered well. People thought that those who went missing might have fallen into that lake, so divers even searched underwater. But in the end, no one was found.”

Then where on earth had they gone?

As Natsuo and the others swallowed nervously, Shigehiko told them with a serious expression.

“―――They went to the otherworld.”

A world that was not this world. Shigehiko said that perhaps they had wandered into a world they could never reach by any ordinary means, and had become unable to return.

“The mountains, you know, have been a realm beyond our world since ancient times. They’re another world where the rules of human settlements don’t apply.”

“……Once you wander in, can you never come back?”

“I don’t know. As far as your uncle knows, no one who has gotten lost on Mount Hinayama has ever made it back.”

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Next update: 2026.10.03

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