Hot Limit - Monologue 1

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Bustling Street (Night)

- Four years ago, in the middle of summer -

 

Niki: (Ahh~, geez… This is really bad, I think my life’s really at its end this time…)

(I’ve got nothing to eat for tomorrow!)

(I should still have some meat and potatoes for today, and I should still have a bit of rice so I should be able to survive the day — But I have no ingredients for tomorrow!)

(It’s all the summer heat’s fault, the humidity of the summer made all my food go moldy~!)

(I hate summer!)

(Just moving my body eats away at me already, and during the hot season, my mom and dad stay cooped up in a cooler country and don’t visit me~!)

(I should’ve just gone with them in the first place!)

(But I’ve got my school and friends here, and I dunno other countries’ languages and cultures!)

(And at the level I’m at right now, I couldn’t withstand the journey to search for ingredients that my parents are currently undertaking either!)

(If I tagged along with them, my life would just become an endless search for ingredients while traveling all over the place…)

(Well, my mom and dad chose that life for themselves voluntarily.)

(And with my dad’s mental state, it must be hard for him to return to this country, so this lifestyle must be more convenient for him.)

(If your country doesn’t provide for you and only harms you, it’s fine to abandon it.)

(But I want a life that’s different from the one my parents lead— )

(...Well, before that I need to find something to eat for tomorrow, otherwise that’ll be where my life comes to an end anyway.)

(What am I gonna do~, maybe I should search for some edible wildflowers and bugs? If I don’t hurry, my mental faculties are gonna shut down and I won’t be able to tell if something’s okay to eat or not anymore!)

(Uwaaahn, I bet I’m the only one in all of modern Japan who’s this close to starving to death for real!)

(I’m all alone! Even if I tell people about these worries, they can’t ever empathize with them~!)

Rinne: ………

Niki: (...Ngyoh!?)

(Huh? I was looking around for ingredients, but found some weird guy instead! I wonder what’s the matter with him — why’s he sitting down by the wayside like that?)

(Maybe he’s sick? Like, he can’t move because he’s in so much pain or something?)

(W-Well, he looks kinda scary, and this really isn’t the time for me to worry about others…)

(He’s got nothing to do with me, nothing at all. The sooner I get home, the better. Then I’ll read that survival book on how to find edible ingredients in the city.)

(So that I’ll be able to live past tomorrow.)

(Even if I’m all alone. Even if I live the life of a bug, only ever looking for my next meal.)

(.........)

(...Uuuuugh~, geez! I’m such an idiot! Now that I’ve noticed him, I can’t ignore him!)

(Yeah, if I went home like this, it might bother me so much that I wouldn’t even be able to focus on finding ingredients.)

(And who knows, if that guy really is in trouble and I lend him my help, he might buy me some food out of gratitude!)

(This is all out of self-interest, I’m absolutely not wasting my time here!)

E-Excuse me~...?



Rinne: ……..?

…You talking to me? Why? Am I bein’ an eyesore?*

My bad. I’ll go somewhere else right away — gh?

Niki: Uwah, don’t try to move so suddenly! You’re wavering!

Rinne: Shut up… Wait, you’re just some brat, aren’tcha?

Kids should stay the hell away from me. I hate ‘em. ‘Cause they’re all idiots. Now shoo.

Niki: I-I don’t think we’re that far apart in age, actually.

I-I guess I was being a bother, huh? I’m sorry, okay? Nahaha...♪

Rinne: What’s funny.

Niki: Umm, it’s just that smiling is the one common language in the world? As long as you keep smiling, things will work out one way or another, right?

Rinne: Hmph, brats like you sure have it easy. As for me, my stupid fuckin’ upbringing and pride are gettin’ in the way of coming by some food, so I’m real destitute.

Niki: Dess-tee-tude? Is that something like an onion? Or some kind of root vegetable?

Rinne: Exactly, at this point I gotta nibble on tree roots in order to stave off the hunger. Wait, you callin’ me a rat? I’m gonna beat your ass!

Niki: Huh? Eh? Why’re you getting angry? Did I say something weird again?

This happens all the time~, somehow I never mesh with my classmates when we talk. Apparently other people don’t think about food all day long.

Back in grade school it wasn’t a big deal, but once I started middle school I began to wonder if I’m kinda weird that way—

Rinne: ………

Niki: ……? Onii-san, are you okay? D-Did you die?

Please don’t die right in front of my eyes~, I was told that human meat is the one thing I mustn’t ever eat.

Rinne: ...Hmm, so for what it’s worth, you do think of me as human, as a fellow human being.

Niki: Well, isn’t that to be expected? No matter how I look at you, Onii-san, you’re a human just like me.

Rinne: I’m not.

Even now, I’m probably “something other than human”.

Niki: Oh, you’ve got this chuunibyou thing, don’t you? I know about that!

Now and then, I’ve had classmates who’ve been acting like that, too. Even though they’re clearly masses of protein and such, like the rest of us—

Rinne: ………

Niki: H-Huh? Onii-san? Did you just faint? He~ey, seriously, are you okay…!?

 

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* TL Note: 4 years ago, Rinne did not use his current pronoun of choice, "orecchi", but the more casual and normal "ore".