Soil 13

Soil, Volume 2, Chapter 13 (pp. 139~164)


<139>
[x?]TRRRRR


<140>
[x3]TRRRR

=Good morning.


<141>
=G-Good morning...

=My, is that all you think about?
=But I'm so hungry though.

=Make me an omelet for lunch.
=Again?

=Mom, I'm hungry.
=Make me an omelet for lunch again.
[x3]TRRRR


<142>
=Oh dear, what is with you two?
=Ah-hah-hah-hah.
=Hah-hah-hah-hah.

=What? Why are you laughing?
=Ah-hah-hah-hah.
=Why? Tell me.

[x2]=Ah-hah-hah-hah.
[x2]=Hah-hah-hah-hah.

"Perpetrator"


<143>
=...I mean, it couldn't have been possible, right...?
=With all that happening to them...

=But... They never changed...

=Whenever... Wherever we saw them...
=Smiling...

=Looking so happy...


<144>
=They kept looking like an ideal... Wonderful family...

=We were confused...
=Even a little bit scared...

=So we couldn't stop doing it...
[x3]HATE
HATE YOU
GARBAGE
DIE
EYESORE
GO AWAY
Don't walk outside
Misery
STUPID
CURSE

=It kept escalating, and...
[screen]Anonymous Caller


<145>
=This place is stifling...

=I can't stand it.
=Really.

=To think I'm sitting in the same room as a criminal...
=Don't you think?

=Isn't the culprit in here?
=I wish they would just turn themselves in.

=Hey! What are you looking at!?
=Oh, I'm not allowed to look?
=What was that!?


<146>
=So?
=You kidnapped 'em, right?

=Huh?

=How many people pitched in?//Were you gonna split the 30 million?
[x3]=TAP
=Wh-What are you...?

=Who sent in the ransom letter?//Did you tear off the daughter's nail?
[x3]=TAP
=N-No, I...

=Se-Sergeant Yokoi! The person who delivered the ransom letter has already been...!
=Shut up, you ugly bitch.


<147>
=BLAM

=Just spit it already!!

=We wanna get this stupid case over with, alright!
=Doesn't matter who it is as long as we get the arrest!

=We'll make shit up if we have to!
=EEK...!


<148>
GASHUCK
=Ahh!!

=What are you accusing me of!?
=Everyone's been saying it!!
=You would do something like this!!

=Hey hey! Calm down!
=Where do you think you are!?

=Oww!!
=WHACK
=CLANG
=GASHUCK


<149>
[x3]=TAP
=What'd you do with the Suzushiros?
=You kill them?

=Just say you killed them! It'll save us time!
=Right?
=N-No...!
[x3]=TAP

=How about you threw them into the ocean?
=That way we won't have to find a body.
=No...! I didn't...!
[x3]=TAP

=All you gotta say is "Yes."
[x3]=TAP

=We'll make up the rest for you afterwards.
=Wha?
=Wha?

=See, the police are re—al scary people.
=You were screwed the second you came in, alright!
[x5]=TAP


<150>
=Perfect motive.
=We've even got video.
[x?]=TAP

=Gives us a link with the "salt" at the crime scene.

=How you gonna get out of this one!? Huh!?

=C'mon, say it.
=Just say, "I killed the Suzushiros to get revenge for the marketing scheme."

=WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


<151>
=GRIP

=Shut the fuck up already!!
=Ahh!!
[x2]=GASHUCK

="The beautiful city with no gloom!?" What the fuck was that all about!?
=Glossing it up!! That all you do!?
=Huh!?

=You're all packing shit in your stomachs, aren't you!!
=Huh!?
=Don't pretend like you're all innocent!
=Fucking bitches!!


<152>
=You!
=And you!
=And you!!

=You're all fucking perpetrators!!!

=...I was jealous...
=Of that family...

=They seemed so happy...
=They seemed so idyllic...
=They felt different from the very beginning...


<153>
=That whole thing with the "business..."
=Was probably just an excuse...

=I just wanted to hurt those "outsiders..."
=I wanted to taint them...

=That's really all it was...
=I didn't kidnap them... I didn't kill them...

=...I was...
=Scared of being accused...

=Most of all... The things I did to the Suzushiros...
=All those ugly things...
=If my children... My family found out...

=I was scared...
=Scared...


<154&155>
[signs from top right]EYESORE//LEAVE//HATE YOU HATE YOU//DISGUSTING
SMELLY
STUPID
DIE
KILL
[lamp]DIE//STUPID
WE HATE YOU
GO AWAY
MISERY
[sign]CURSE
[far right]DON'T COME OUT


<156>
=WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
=AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

=...Hmph.

=CLICK
=Not this one either...

=Huh?


<158>
=Approximately 4000 years ago,
=The land of "Soil New Town" was inhabited by the Jomon people.


<159>
=Based on the earthenware and jewelry that've been excavated, a lot of shamanism must've been going on.
=It was a tribe with a very strong sense of spirituality.

=Eventually, the land turned into a farming village,
=And rice farms dotted the landscape until the early 20th century.


<160>
=Then the vacant village became an illegal dump site for industrial waste,
=And the land was sort of neglected for a while,

=But they started developing it a couple decades ago,
=And that's how they built this city.


<161>
=Apparently, they found shards of earthenware during the construction,
=But finding ruins would delay the project, so they kept it under wraps.
=Well, it happens pretty often.

=Thanks to them, all these precious cultural artifacts were destroyed, and...

[x2]=WHIRRR

=Hey!
=Can you stop fiddling with that weird stuff around here!?
[x2]=WHIRRR

=Dang.
=Were you guys listening to my story?
=I'd rather you go somewhere else if you're not interested.


<162>
=Mr. Tokita! Is it true that the Jomon people made contact with aliens!?
=...Just forget about that stuff...

=ZWISH

[x2]=ZWISH
=Aliens came to Earth a really long time ago, Mr. Tokita!

=They wanna kidnap us and steal our brains!!
=Where do you get these stories from, Seki?

=And then! They make the brains into computer parts for their UFOs!
=For real? Then Mizuki Suzushiro got her brain taken too!?

=Yeah! Remember how she always got good grades!?
[x2]=ZWISH
=The aliens saw that, and they...


<163>
=Oh, then you won't be kidnapped 'cause you're stupid.
=...Don't eat your boogers.

[x4]=ZWISH


<164>
=THUD

=WHOAAAAA—!!!