Chapter 5 Part 1: Soto gets out – A Tale of Guilt, Grief, and Revelation
Chapter 5 Part 1: Soto gets out – A Tale of Guilt, Grief, and Revelation
Written by Kavya and Concept by Sidhant First go to previous blogs if you have not already....
The number the sudoku revealed connected Soto to his old friend, Eichi. Soto had just said hello when Eichi started speaking as if waiting to give this message for a long time. She said "Listen, Soto, It has been a long time since you knew the truth. Aika did not cheat you. She was ill. She was dying. She was just protecting you, and I was only helping her." Before he could ask any further the call got disconnected. Those words reverberated in Soto’s mind, unwilling to be dismissed. But, his attempts to call back the number highlighted by the blue lights of the enigmatic sudoku had led to nothing but dead ends. Was it a recorded message, he thought? The voice on the other end, always the same: "The number you are trying to reach is out of coverage area." Frustrated, his need for answers only deepened.
He thought, briefly, of going to Aika's house or Eichi's, but that, for a Hikikomori like him, was no small feat. The world beyond the safe confines of his apartment was a land of uncertainty and discomfort. But the truth, he thought, must lie somewhere out there. And so, with a heart torn between the weight of his own guilt and the hope for answers, Soto made a decision. He would venture out, to the dojo first, to seek some measure of peace in the discipline he had long adhered to.
The next morning, Soto awoke in a corner of the dojo, his eyes swollen and his head heavy with a dull ache. How had he come to rest here, he wondered, rubbing his face in a half-daze. The night before, lost in thought, he must have fallen asleep. It was uncharacteristic of him, for the young man, despite his self-imposed isolation, had always taken pride in his routine. He had always kept to the rules, maintained his hygiene, and never allowed his discipline to slip. But yesterday—yesterday had shattered him.
He stood and took a bath, trying to shake off the weariness that clung to him like a fog. He sent an email to his company, informing them that he was unwell and would need to take a leave of absence. He ate little, almost nothing at all, and returned to the dojo, desperate to make sense of it all. After hours of silent reflection, he came to a painful conclusion: It was all his fault. He had been too blind, too cowardly, to ask the right questions. He had fled into ignorance, retreating to the safety of his four walls while Aika, the love of his life, had been suffering.
“I chose ignorance,” he whispered to himself, “becoming a Hikikomori was my escape, and Aika’s death was my punishment.”
The words seemed to suffocate him, and in that moment, his comfortable prison—the dojo that had once been his sanctuary—now felt like a suffocating cell. He wanted to leave, to find the answers that were eluding him, but did he have the courage to face the world?
It was then, just as he stood before the dojo’s main door, that the bell rang. He hesitated but was compelled by some unknown force to open the gate. There was no person there, but lying on the ground was a box—an oddity in itself, yet strangely familiar. As Soto bent to pick it up, he recognized it immediately: the same box of chocolates that Eichi had once bought for Aika. What could this mean? His heart raced as he picked it up and, after a moment’s hesitation, brought it inside.
