Aphorism Manga Chapter 12.5 -summary-! For the scans, credit goes to 99mh.
Izuru Tomonaga (Age 6) and his elder brother, Satoshi Tomonaga (Age 15)
Year 2027, Spring
(English and Chinese version of the Year differs)
The chapter starts off in Tomonaga's childhood years aka backstory. Izuru Tomonaga is staring out of the balcony of his modern Japanese home while his elder brother, Satoshi Tomonaga, is outside his home preparing to set off to Naraka High.
Satoshi's conversation with his mother informs us that Naraka High does not have any clubs.
Tomonaga rushes down to the bottom level of his house to see his brother off. Satoshi demands his younger brother to not make their parents worry by hurting himself. Tomonaga, being a little snarker, assures him that "it's more of your thing to make people worry...because I'd never do such things".
Satoshi comments that Tomonaga's really snarky for a Grade One student, and then proceeds to teach him what to say when he returns home. Satoshi will say "When I get back...", and then Tomonaga will say "It's Ichiro the Second." Satoshi'll kill his little brother if he forgets this.
Next we find out Satoshi's a real baseball fanboy. "Ichiro the Second", is the name of a famous baseball player; his idol. Satoshi tells Tomonaga he already made up his mind to stay in Naraka for only 1 year. After that, he'll transfer to a local neighbourhood school to further pursue his love for baseball, instead of becoming a government official.
Satoshi then sets out for Naraka, but before that reminds Tomonaga what's his supposed to say when he returns. "It's Ichiro the Second!" Tomonaga then waves him goodbye.
One year later, Tomonaga catches his mother on the phone upon returning home from school. Satoshi's on the other end of the phone, so his mother tells Tomonaga to speak with him.
Tomonaga snatches the phone almost immediately. After the usual greeting and 'how are you', we find out that Satoshi is already working. (Part-Time Job.) Tomonaga asks about Satoshi's initial plan to transfer to another school for baseball. "Ah. I gave up on that," Satoshi nonchantly replies. He also mentions he thought it'd be a good idea to work part-time while studying.
Tomonaga obviously finds this strange, according to his facial expression...the boy gets heavily suspicious when 'Satoshi' gives a very wrong reply to the 'when you come back' greeting. The answer's supposed to be 'It's Ichiro the Second', but 'Satoshi' answered with "Oh, you want a souvenir?"
Their conversation concludes with Tomonaga hanging up; slamming down the phone. He promptly asks his mother who the person on the phone was.
"What are you saying, dear? That was your brother...I wouldn't forget what my own son's voice sounds like, right?" Also, this is apparently the first time since enrolling in Naraka High that Satoshi bothered to call home.
'Satoshi' really did sound like Tomonaga's brother, and it's possible that he could've changed his mind about transferring, but...the main point is that the real Satoshi could've never forgotten about his love for baseball so easily; not remembering his own idol, Ichiro the Second, is simply impossible.
Tomonaga wonders where his real brother is, panicking...
The scene shifts to a library, Tomonaga typing away on a computer. He seems to be searching for information on Naraka High, and comes upon some alarming news that a certain amount of students are rumoured to be missing or dead, since they never came home.
Suddenly Tomonaga encounters a 'mission notice' which target group are the people whose children went missing upon them enrolling in Naraka High. They mention that they've discovered that the deceased students' bodies are routinely discarded at Mountain K in Prefecture G, so they ask the target group to join them so as to retrieve their beloved children.
Tomonaga, though highly tempted to join the mission (since Prefecture G is a neigbouring prefecture) , thinks he cannot be sure that his brother is actually dead. He still might be alive and kicking...
Unfortunately, the mission notice also informs the target group that their child is probably dead, if they have received false phone calls or have been visited by someone similar-looking to their child. (Actually I'm not sure at the second possibility, it could be that...or a government staff visiting the family to inform them of their child's progress...so as to avoid arousing suspicion of their child's death)
Tomonaga loses hope.
The scene shifts to the mountains. The mission group is seen, discussing on their course of action. A woman with glasses (who will shall refer to as 'Doctor') announces that the remains are somewhere behind a nearby building, it's entrance straight up front, security cameras disabled.
She wants everyone to retrieve a bone fragment, and to bring them to her warehouse at the bottom of the mountain for DNA testing. She also warns the group, however, to immediately hightail out of the building if danger arises.
Suddenly, Tomonaga appears. He mentions that his brother is missing too, and so asks them to bring him along in their search. Doctor and one guy thinks it's too dangerous for a kid to be here, so Doctor leads him away to catch him a taxi back home.
The mission group make their way into the building. Upon entering, they encounter a horrible stench wafting around. They reach a giant door after walking straight down a path, and they slowly open it. They are greeted with a blast of horrendous smell...
Tomonaga obviously finds this strange, according to his facial expression...the boy gets heavily suspicious when 'Satoshi' gives a very wrong reply to the 'when you come back' greeting. The answer's supposed to be 'It's Ichiro the Second', but 'Satoshi' answered with "Oh, you want a souvenir?"
Their conversation concludes with Tomonaga hanging up; slamming down the phone. He promptly asks his mother who the person on the phone was.
"What are you saying, dear? That was your brother...I wouldn't forget what my own son's voice sounds like, right?" Also, this is apparently the first time since enrolling in Naraka High that Satoshi bothered to call home.
'Satoshi' really did sound like Tomonaga's brother, and it's possible that he could've changed his mind about transferring, but...the main point is that the real Satoshi could've never forgotten about his love for baseball so easily; not remembering his own idol, Ichiro the Second, is simply impossible.
Tomonaga wonders where his real brother is, panicking...
The scene shifts to a library, Tomonaga typing away on a computer. He seems to be searching for information on Naraka High, and comes upon some alarming news that a certain amount of students are rumoured to be missing or dead, since they never came home.
Suddenly Tomonaga encounters a 'mission notice' which target group are the people whose children went missing upon them enrolling in Naraka High. They mention that they've discovered that the deceased students' bodies are routinely discarded at Mountain K in Prefecture G, so they ask the target group to join them so as to retrieve their beloved children.
Tomonaga, though highly tempted to join the mission (since Prefecture G is a neigbouring prefecture) , thinks he cannot be sure that his brother is actually dead. He still might be alive and kicking...
Unfortunately, the mission notice also informs the target group that their child is probably dead, if they have received false phone calls or have been visited by someone similar-looking to their child. (Actually I'm not sure at the second possibility, it could be that...or a government staff visiting the family to inform them of their child's progress...so as to avoid arousing suspicion of their child's death)
Tomonaga loses hope.
The scene shifts to the mountains. The mission group is seen, discussing on their course of action. A woman with glasses (who will shall refer to as 'Doctor') announces that the remains are somewhere behind a nearby building, it's entrance straight up front, security cameras disabled.
She wants everyone to retrieve a bone fragment, and to bring them to her warehouse at the bottom of the mountain for DNA testing. She also warns the group, however, to immediately hightail out of the building if danger arises.
Suddenly, Tomonaga appears. He mentions that his brother is missing too, and so asks them to bring him along in their search. Doctor and one guy thinks it's too dangerous for a kid to be here, so Doctor leads him away to catch him a taxi back home.
The mission group make their way into the building. Upon entering, they encounter a horrible stench wafting around. They reach a giant door after walking straight down a path, and they slowly open it. They are greeted with a blast of horrendous smell...
-insert satrical joke bout' le corpse mountain here-
...And an enormous pile of Naraka students' rotting corpses.
Before the mission group can get out of the building to tell the world of their gory discovery, trouble arrives. The government staff force them to into one of their suspicious-looking trucks. (Most likely they will be sent off to a remote area and be silenced...permanently)
Tomonaga, for some reason, is in the building. (Maybe got off the taxi after some distance, or escaped from the Doctor.) He succeeds in hiding his presence from the government staff, and cautiously enters the corpse mountain room.
Tomonaga stares at the corpse mountain, somewhat stunned. "I see...so...my brother's in here somewhere," he comments.
By the way, Tomonaga's holding a case, inside it is his toothbrush and toothpaste. Funny, I didn't notice it before...
We see Doctor in her warehouse, calling someone (most likely mission group member) They don't pick up, leaving her frustrated. Then Tomonaga shows up, cradling something in his bloodied shirt. That something turns out to be bone fragments, and he scatters them on the Doctor's coffee table.
Tomonaga asks the stunned Doctor to test the fragments.
The girl at the very bottom left is Ryo, the doctor's niece.
Tomonaga is now determined to find his brother's remains, searching for them everyday. Day after day, day after day...it's a difficult feat though (understatement!) since he has to dig through a mountain of corpses, and worse, more corpses are dumped to the pile over time. Some of the government staff caught a glimpse of him too, at times.
We find out that Tomonaga hasn't been going to school since searching for his brother's bones. (Probably he still goes home, but instead of going to school in the morning, he goes to the doctor's warehouse instead. Every single day.)
Doctor suggests that they reveal the public about the corpse mountain, so Tomonaga can return to his normal life. Tomonaga rejects the idea, since the chance of them being silenced (like the mission group) is highly probable if they actually went ahead with it. He swears that he will find his brother's bones.
Ryo decides to help Tomonaga in his search. (The corpse mountain is accessible from a manhole covered with leaves on-top, somewhere in the mountains.) She reaches the corpse mountain area and tells Tomonaga she'd like to help too. Tomonaga turns down her offer, but Ryo merely crouches down and begins retrieving the bone fragments.
Tomonaga shouts to her that his brother's bones wouldn't so old, and Ryo immediately goes to a further pile of bones. This search continues on for 7 to 8 years...
Thus, the birth of a sociopath.
I seriously can't help but help feeling sympathetic towards Tomonaga, after reading this chapter. He's sort of like Takano from Higurashi. Both were good people once, but horrible circumstances tested their sanity. Tomonaga is more tame than Takano though (cos' almost everything is more tame than Takano!)
Anyways, Tomonaga says he hates Spring, since that is the time where a fresh heap of corpses would pile on top on his brother's remains. Tomonaga becomes seething with rage, furiously flinging away the corpses 'making his brother's remains buried under'.
Then one day, Doctor reveals to Tomonaga that a bone fragment he found belongs to his brother. Tomonaga is overwhelmed with emotion, and starts crying. From seeing his brother's bone, he decides to enroll into Naraka High as well.
Tomonaga comes home, and finds his mother on the phone. Fake Satoshi on the other end, his mother tells him to go talk with him. (Basically a complete repeat to what we saw in 2028)
Alright, all them conversation is complete BLAH BLAH TOMONAGA IS PLAYING TRUANT AND HAS BECOME A PROCRASTINATOR. YOU'RE WORRYING MOTHER. OH, I SEE, I'LL PAY YOUR FEES IF YOU DECIDE TO ENROLL IN NARAKA, TOMONAGA!
You're still smoking hot, Tomonaga, regardless how sociopathic you've become ._.
*cough* After that, Tomonaga slams the phone down on the floor. (See, such deja vu) Horrific looking facial expression follows. Tomonaga swears to annihilate everything that involves his brother's death.
"Hey, big brother..."
"Let's smash this dump together, shall we?"
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