This website provides a fan translation of the Playstation 2 game Akai Ito.

ハシラトケイ

Hashira to Kei

(TN: Hashiratokei - This means "grandfather clock," but it's in katakana, which implies a double-meaning, in which "to" would be "and," thus "the Hashira and Kei.")

It seemed so full of happiness, a picture of harmony that you could find anywhere.

And it was one moment of a waking dream.

But it was more than enough to leave my thoughts in chaos.

*gurari*

The world sways and blurs into white.

*zukin* (stabbing headache)

And the crimson comes to attack.

*zukin*

Crimson, scarlet, pure red pain.

*gurari* (swaying off balance)

Under the avalanche of pain and vertigo, I become unable to stand, and trying at least to prevent collapsing in a dangerous position, I move to cling on the pillar of the clock.

What---?

As if ignorant of my predicament, my fingers reach out across the pillar to discover the presence of unnatural grooves in its surface.

Starting at about the height of my standing chest and progressing down, there are marks cut in intervals of every few centimeters, as if carved with a chisel.

Alongside the grading-like carvings drawn across and level, though I can't perceive them with touch alone, there are also several criss-crossing lines, most likely carved in characters.

Captivated by those marks, I find myself unable to sit down.

Kei: What is...... this......

As my consciousness blurs into white, I read the marks with my unfocused eyes.

Hakuka

Kei

Hakuka

Kei

Hakuka

Kei

Hakuka

Kei

At the shoulders of those graduate markings, two names alternate as if in a pointless height comparison between two acorns...

---no, similes aside, they really are height comparison marks.

And if that vision just now wasn't a falsehood, but an ember of my supposedly burnt-down memories, one half of these marks would unmistakably be my name...

Kei... Kei... Hatou Kei.

I can accept that much. Even if I didn't live here, this was my father's house, after all.

But... in that case... what about the other half?

Kei: Haku......ka......?

At the pain of my whisper, my knees buckle and I plunge into the floor.

Who? Who is that? Who is Hakuka?

It hurts! It hurts... Every time I thought about my dreams these past few days, the pain came to attack me.

Don't.

Don't think.

And that person from my dreams said, "forget it all"...

If I don't think about it, the pain just disappears as if it were never there...

But still...

But still, I wind up thinking that I want to remember.

Who is Hakuka?

Just like my father, or that person from my dream, it must be someone I shouldn't have forgotten.

Could it be... could she be Hakuka-san?

I don't know.

I can't remember.

If I could just relive that memory one more time, I might be able to learn.

But, even if I try to remember like this...

I can't remember anything.

The pain is the only thing there.

Kei: Hah, hah, hah......

Even if only a little, I try to expel the pain from my body with my wild breathing.

No use. Something like that wouldn't make it in time.

With every heaving heartbeat, the pain comes into my head.

Kei: I can't...... gotta get out......

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