NARUKAMI

“I have hardly anything in common with myself and should stand very quietly in a corner, content that I can breathe.”
― Franz Kafka

BACKSTORY

DAY 25

Dear Diary,[break]
Hiromi and Ken tried to get me out of my room again today. I didn't leave - like always.[break]
I don't know why they keep trying - it's just going to end with the same result; a lot of shouting.[break]
Oh! That new Kamen Rider Ninja Storm episode was on today - really enjoyed it this time! Still hoping those two characters get together, they have some chemistry, but it's more likely that the protagonist will end up with that love interest - they have a lot of scenes together, so it would make sense.[break]
...speaking of scenes, I've finally discovered something new today, Diary - something called Cryptids. Unknowable legends that are always there and different.[break]
And there are so SO many cryptids, Diary! I can't even begin to LSITLIST them all![break]
Maybe I'll do something called a Cryptid of the Day. Then I can list them everyday and talk about the day aththe same time![break]
Musing on New Ideas,[break]
Yuki.
[break][break]

Day 30

Hello Diary!,[break]
Today's Cryptid of the Day is the Ningen![break]
When I first discovered this cryptid...I honestly didn't know what to think of it.[break]
On one hand, the artists depiction looked so funny, I almost burst out laughing. (lil white whale with legs) On the other hand, the description for it is scary as heck.[break]
Long limbs or hands, a slitted mouth, big or small eyes - it almost feels like people were trying to remember what it was like to see this thing but...can't put anything into words. The only things people can agree on is it has a face, it's pale blue, it lives in the ocean...and it looks akin to a human.[break]
Humans and cryptids don't. seem that different to me.[break]
Like, imagine describing a human to someone who hasn't seen a human before. Long limbs or hands...has a face...big or small eyes - that's exactly like the Ningen![break]
...well, excluding the fact we aren't pale blue and live in the ocean.[break]
There was a time when I knew people and they knew me, and everything made some sort of sense - but then, I had to hide away and never come out.[break]
And now everyone feels like the Ningen.[break]
Unknowable. Unexplainable. Like a creature that looks like a human but lives in the ocean.[break]
...actually would the ocean really be so bad to live in? I mean i know we don't have gills, but wouldn't it be so cool?! We'd be able to see so many new things, and the ocean wouldn't be too cold, but it'd be calm! Peaceful!...nice.[break]
Honestly, talking about the ocean is making me hungry.[break]

Cup Ramen Time!,
Yuki

Day 40

Hi Diary,[break]
Sorry I didn't write in you recently. I've just had--a lotta stuff on my plate. Mostly Hiromi and Ken - they're my parents...in case I didn't tell you. They've been trying to get me out of my room for months now, and I just. Can't bring myself to leave. I think they gave up on me recently. I've been hearing talking outside my room, but no one really knocks on the door. [break]
...I'd give up on me too, if I were them.[break]
So, in theme of that, today's Cryptid of the Day is Bigfoot![break]
Ah, Bigfoot. What isn't there to say about them?[break]
People have been hunting Bigfoot for years, each with their own sightings and ideas on what he may look like.[break]
I've watched some of those shows where people hunt Bigfoot. Going state to state in America, all to find the beast.[break]
...honestly, it looks like fun, just to go and explore the wilderness with friends.[break]
I've never really had too many friends growing up. The friends I did make, we stuck together like glue. Through thick and thin.[break]
I even think I'd take them Bigfoot hunting if the time came for it.[break]
Of course, we aren't friends.[break]
Not anymore. Not after they...lied to me.[break]
(The rest of the next sentence is smudged with tear stains, making the words unreadable.)[break]
...at the end of those TV shows, they always continue the hunt. The evidence is messed up, the DNA is bad...something goes wrong, and all that's left is to keep doing what they're doing.[break]
Sometimes I think that's all they know. All they know is the hunt.[break]
And all I know is my room.[break]
My room is all right, honestly - I have my setai figures, my cup ramen, my portable electric hotplate and anything else I need to live a healthy life.[break]
But I feel a sort of contrast with myself and those hunters of Bigfoot.[break]
When something goes wrong, they don't give up. They pick themselves up 'by the bootstrap' and get back to work.[break]
I'm not like that. I'm not like that at all.[break]
All I am is just a sad, sad person.[break]
...who really should be trying to get her mind off of this stuff.[break]
I believe Ninja Storm is calling me once again. I'll write in you later, OK?[break]
Be safe,
Yuki[break]

[break][break]

Day 55

Hey Diary.[break]
Sorry for no update in a while. I'm just. tired. I'm not sure whether it's from eating cup ramen or sneaking bread slices with the occasional water or butter when no one's home, or the fact that the power's not really...on anymore, but I don't really have the energy to get up anymore. So, i'm writing this laying on my bed. watching the world turn by through my window and wondering about how silly I am.[break]
So silly that I can't even get out of bed. Or leave my room. Or even talk to people.[break]
But at least I can talk about a Cryptid that explains how I feel right now to a T.[break]
Today's Cryptid of the Day is something simple; the phantom cat.[break]
They're cats that live outside their indigenous areas, and if people ever where to catch a glimpse of them, they'd just. wouldn't be there. one moment they're there, and the next. gone. like they never existed - a phantom in the mist.[break]
it's kinda funny. it's been 50 days stuck in my room, and it doesn't feel like nothing's changed.[break]
like im a phantom, just haunting my room.[break]
you know what i've just realized something.[break]
living and dying are kinda the same. you just exist for a while and then...really, you still exist.[break]
you're just transparent if you're dead.[break]
people can see right through you. but then again, they always have.[break]
(there are tear marks on the page. they smear the ink, but the words are still visible.)[break]
i've been talking about cryptids all this time, and now i realize - me and them - we're so much more alike than i thought.[break]
we're both unknowable. we're both hiding away from the world. people don't know if we're even alive at the end of the day. we're just...[break]
hidden. hidden away from everything. from everyone.[break]
At the final dot of the sentence, there's a light. A cyan blue light that fills the darkened room and a starless sky, and shines over the hollow form of what was once a girl.[break] She looks up at the light. [break]A message? For her?[break]
"...?"
[break][break]