ONESHOTPART OF ANTHOLOGY [Tokyo Horror Stories Vol. 2]
A man jumps off of a roof to be caught by a monster. The monster doesn't speak but grabs him along urging the man to follow him. He is led to a movie theater where he is force fed some kind of crystal. The monster before him transforms into his dead first love. He leads him to areas where he had dates with his first love. The movie theater, the botanical gardens, the beach. Everything at these dates were exact replications of the first time they had met. Hikaru feels tortured and apologizes profusely. He burdens the guilt of still being alive while his lover is dead. He regrets not being there more for him before his lover, Hajime. The date at the beach at night was the last one. This date is different. Hajime isn't saying the same lines he said at the dates in the past. He talks to Hikaru, his real thoughts. He wants to break up. He wants to stop burdening Hikaru. He wishes he could've been loved truly by Hikaru when he was still alive. Hikaru kisses him, not Hajime, but the monster. His spirit bursts into flames as they kiss, disappearing. Hikaru wakes up, groggy and bloody in the hospital bed. He looks to the side and sees the plants, that smells of life.
I read this 19 minutes after it was released on here. Truth be told it was because i wanted to be one of the first to read it on here. I liked this. I was window shopping newest updates by cover when this caught my eye. I of course didn't know what to expect by this cover and i was so early there were no tags really to tell other than "Psychological". Im..satisfied with this. The art is beautiful, yes, and the story was pleasant. Like drinking an almost cold cup of tea. Survivor guilt always gets me. I thought making him such an unpleasantly deformed monster was an interesting approach because by the end of it, I didn't see him as the monster, I saw him just as beautiful as Hikaru did. I think that was intentional. Seeing him wake up after an attempt, even if it was only a few panels, I love the way the silence that loomed over it. It felt so real. The plants that "smell of life" got me, tears started building. His memory of Hajime was so beautiful. I loved the deliverance of this whole oneshot. Some of the things Hikaru thought and said resonated with me, even if I've never been in such a situation. Empathy is so weird. You can try and try with all your might to empathize with somebody but unless you're in an identical situation, you will NEVER know what that really feels like. And even if you're in the same situation, everyone has different relations and different experiences with one another, valuing others in a special way, building special bonds. What I'm trying to say is you could walk to the moon in someone's shoes but you'll never be able to fully understand them.
mouth to mouse