Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 6

Chaos Child 6

(note: i'm now just marking the JP segments, rather than the english ones)

p1: ===============================================
Chapter 6: Dear My Family
[insert]: Seeking for somewhere in the world to call home—

p2: ===============================================
[sfx]: slam
Why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you say something?!

I-I’m sorry.
/ But they said they were only going for a short walk nearby…
And how many hours ago do you think that was?!

What about the field in back?
We’ve searched there!
Search again! Every inch of it!

All right.
/ We’ll deal with it from here.

p3: ===============================================
You all are to return to your daily duties.
[sfx]: Click

The children would detest the interruption of their routines.

[sfx]: clack

…Now then, just what do you have in mind?
/ I can’t imagine bringing Beth out of here could accomplish anything.

[sfx]: clack

p4: ===============================================
[sfx]: Voom

If I contact [em]The Committee[/em], they’ll secure the two some way or another.
/ But…

Then they would know a staff member took a research subject on an unauthorized excursion, a mark on my record I’d rather avoid.
I cannot afford for the Committee to critique my research, not now.

[sfx]: click

p5: ===============================================
As annoying as it will be, I’ll have to search for her the mundane way…

[sfx]: spark

Where…?

I’m right here, Alan.
Your mother’s right here.

p6: ===============================================
[sfx]: ting

Don’t worry. Mother will protect you.
/ And if anyone tries to get in our way…

Mother will kill them.

p7: ===============================================
--Tell me.
Where are we going?

Tell me already!
[sfx]: Gwahahah
[sfx]: *startle*

p8: ===============================================
[sfx]: click click click

*squeeze*

[sfx]: unzip

[sfx]: snatch

psfx]: phew

p9: ===============================================
…

Report 001

…First interview.

p10: ===============================================
[sfx]: sway
Can you tell us your name?

She rocks in place, says nothing.
/ Heavily malnourished, cared for in a hospital.
Only recently discharged; the mental strain from the visit likely still persists. Time and patience will be necessary.

[sfx]: close

Report 041
/ Oh, so it was tasty?

Yep!

p11: ===============================================
Mommy would cook for me when she hadn’t had too much to drink,
and she’d make cakes and pies, and… and cookies!

Beth, you’ve done nothing wrong.
Your ears—or more accurately, a part of your brain—just happens to function a little differently than most people’s.

But I—
Nothing, Beth. Nothing.

p12: ===============================================
[sfx]: Vroom

The Coleman Institute,
eh…?

--So nobody said anything?
Nope.
/ All the adults nearby always just came to drink.

[sfx]: Yank

p13: ===============================================
You need to calm down. Now, what’s the matter?
Lewis always does that!
/ Even though he’s not my daddy!

p14: ===============================================
Lewis wants you to think of him as family.

p15: ===============================================
I don’t need a mommy or a daddy!

p16: ===============================================
…
Beth, you’ve done nothing wrong.

p17: ===============================================
--up
/ Hey, wake up.
Mnngh…

Why are we…?

I wanted to make sure of something.
There’s gotta be a way in somewhere.
[sfx]: vibrate

p18: ===============================================
Why now…

Must mean the Institute’s contacted Kurisu.
/ Screw me.

Hurry up and show me in. You used to live here, didn’t you?
/ …Hm?

<jp>The door’s open…?</jp>

[sfx]: creak

What’s that smell…?
[sfx]: blech

…Beer.

[sfx]: flick

p19: ===============================================
The electricity works?
Wasn’t this place for sale?

The nearby men
/ would always use it whenever they liked.

[sfx]: turn

Looks like there’s no fixing the stench.
[sfx]: Rattle

p20: ===============================================
<jp>And she was here until she was 8…?</jp>

[sfx]: tick tock tick tock

p21: ===============================================
The sound of that clock’s your favorite, right?

And you recorded it before you left for the Institute?
/ Or did you find something just like it?

…

You said a whole lotta words about how you didn’t need any parents,
/ but basically, you’re still clinging to the image of your mother baking you tasty treats.
[sfx]: creak

…You’re wrong.

p22: ===============================================
Were your happiest moments the ones you spent listening to that clock, waiting for the desserts to come out of the oven?

--…!

And the sound of the tree’s the same way.
It’s not that you like it up there, on top of the tree in the courtyard – it’s that you wanted to hear the same sounds you heard here.

NO, YOU’RE WRONG!

Brats.
End of the day, you can’t let go of your mother.

p23: ===============================================
[sfx]: rustle

Mio, don’t you have a mommy too?

What?

…Then I don't get you.

[sfx]: Slap

I—

p24: ===============================================
[sfx]: vibrate

Tch.
[sfx]: vibrate

[sfx]: Thud / step
…Mio?

--Hello?

p25: ===============================================
…Mom?

!

How did you get this number?
Some woman at some institute or another called me, asking if you hadn’t come to see me.

We spoke briefly.
/ …Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?

…?

p26: ===============================================
She seemed rather upset with you over something.
I really couldn’t care less what you get yourself up to, provided it doesn’t come back to me.
/ Some of us are busy. I was in the middle of work when she called.

You’d think you would have learned by now, after all the times we’ve had this conversation since you were little…

Are we clear?
/ You are to handle your issues by your—
[sfx]: twitch

[sfx]: spin

…Mom, do you remember what happened when I was in first grade?
…Huh?

p27: ===============================================
We were living in Japan. I cooked. You got angry.
[sfx]: slap

Angry that I’d gotten food on your work documents. You kicked me out of the apartment.

…What are you talking about? I told you, I’m busy.
You yelled at me to stop crying, the way you always did,
/ whined about the mess I’d made like I’d ruined your day.

I don’t remember. Now as I said, I happen to be—
That day…

p28: ===============================================
was my seventh birthday.

I knew you were busy, so I cooked on my own.
I wanted us to eat and celebrate together.
I told you, I don’t remember any of this.

…No, you don’t.

Regardless, stop causing me trouble!
/ Hurry on back to that Institute or Facility or whatever it was and do your “research.”
I have one warning for you. Just one.

p29: ===============================================
I better be the last time in your life you forget both condoms and the pill.

Mio, what are you—
[sfx]: tap

[sfx]: totter

p30: ===============================================
<jp>…Well I look like a hot mess.
Heh. See? I do have a cute side.</jp>

[sfx]: sizzle

[sfx]: sizzle
…What are you doing?

Cooking.
You’re hungry, right?

…

p31: ===============================================
Doesn’t it smell burnt?

[sfx]: fire!

Wa… Water!
[sfx]: splash

Idiot—No!

[sfx]: whoosh!

p32: ===============================================
Put it out! Put the fire out!
Eeeeek!

[sfx]: drip

[sfx]: Huff huff

[sfx]: tip

[sfx]: CRASH!

p33: ===============================================
[sfx]: pf

[sfx]: pfft

p34: ===============================================
Don’t tell anyone.
?

[sfx]: tilt

<jp>That’s the music from…</jp>

p35: ===============================================
--And your excuse is?
It was for research.
/ Wasn’t Beth uncooperative with our research and with living here?
The tree climbing and everything else stems from a dependence on certain sounds. I wanted to confirm just what those sounds were.

What did you tell her?

?

She said that she wants you to be in charge of her, going forward.

p36: ===============================================
Nothing, really.
/ Just to not be so fixated on her parents.

…Aren’t you the one fixated here?

Are we done?
/ It’s been a long day. I’m tired.
But what about the truth?

Huh?

If you only wanted to confirm the facts about her, you could have gone by yourself.

Between how you treat the children and from talking with your mother herself, I can tell…
/ that what you wanted was to find a kindred spirit.

p37: ===============================================
Or perhaps—

[em]was your goal to take Beth out, cause her to panic,
and thereby recreate the music you heard in the party hall?[/em]

[sfx]: Smirk
So you admit it?

p38: ===============================================
…Go.
/ I’ll decide how to discipline you later.
[sfx]: thump

[sfx]: step

--Hey.
[sfx]: turn

p39: ===============================================
She’s 9. I’m 16.
How old do you gotta be before you’re an adult?

Wouldn’t that depend on the person?

…Guess so. Sounds about right.