Credits
INCLUDE THIS SECTION UNALTERED IF YOU TRANSLATE THIS TO OTHER LANGUAGES
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou—Mite, Aruki, Yorokobumono by Teriha Katsuki.
Illustrations by Hitoshi Ashinano
Originally published by Kodansha on October 23, 2008.
Based on Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou by Hitoshi Ashinano, published in Monthly Afternoon (1994-2006)
Raws provided by /u/horu_hosu
English translation by H. Berry (aitch99berry@gmail.com)
Cleaned color illustrations by Arturo Songor (@artson593)
Warm
Hands
What on earth happened?
The rain poured relentlessly, soaking me through, but I couldn’t even
manage a sound. I lay sideways in the middle of the road, steam rising faintly
around me. The asphalt beneath felt strangely warm.
I remembered riding my scooter on the way home. The rain started
suddenly, falling in torrents. Then, an incredible sound—a deafening crack—and
blinding light engulfed me.
Even as the rain drenched me, I didn’t feel the cold droplets. My body
felt as though it were on fire. I couldn’t move, couldn’t even twitch a finger.
My vision blurred, the world dissolving into a fog of pain and confusion.
Am I going to die? The thought echoed in my head, despite the fact that I’m a robot.
The faint rumbling of a car grew louder, drawing closer.
“Ugh!” A deep groan startled me awake.
“Ya woke up?” Ojisan’s voice came from my right. I tried to twist my
body toward him, but a sharp pain shot through me, spreading like fire.
Another terrible groan escaped me before I realized it was my own
voice. Wrapped in a blanket, I found myself rocking in the passenger seat of
his truck.
“W-what happened…?”
“Ya got hit by lightning,” he said matter-of-factly. “You were ridin’
with a long metal pitchfork strapped to your scooter—like you were askin’ for
trouble. The pitchfork’s just pieces now.”
“How…?” My voice was barely a whisper, but he seemed to understand what
I wanted to ask.
“I heard the strike nearby and had a bad feelin’. Got in the truck and
found ya.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“You’ve nothin’ to apologize for.”
Every bump in the road sent fresh waves of pain through my left side.
My shirt was torn to shreds, and even the light touch of the blanket burned my
skin so fiercely I wanted to scream. I had no idea how badly I was hurt. What would
I do if it was too severe to heal? No matter how durable a robot is, enough
damage means the end.
I wondered if there were any engineers nearby who could repair me. But
before I could dwell on it, I blacked out again. The last thing I felt was the
truck speeding up, jolting harder with every bump in the road.
“The patient is a robot?”
A calm female voice pulled me back to consciousness. The truck had
stopped. Rain still drummed on the roof.
Through hazy vision, I saw a tall, gray-haired woman standing in the
rain. Ojisan stood beside her, holding an umbrella over them both. She leaned
toward me, her hand brushing my hair aside as it searched behind my left ear.
The unbearable pain vanished instantly.
“I disabled her pain receptors,” she said, smiling softly, her eyes
carrying a hint of nostalgia.
They lifted me out of the truck and carried me inside a small building
that looked like a hospital. The scent of disinfectant hit me as I was gently
laid on an examination table.
“Don’tcha worry. The Doc’s real good,” Ojisan whispered before bowing
repeatedly to her as she changed into a white coat.
The woman approached me briskly, her presence calm but commanding. She
leaned in close, her voice strong yet comforting. “You’ll be fine. As if
nothing happened.”
Her gentle eyes seemed to melt away my fears. I tried to mutter a thank
you, but sleep overtook me before I could manage the words.
When I woke up, the first thing I saw was the clear blue sky through a
large window. Sunlight filtered through the branches of an oak tree, casting
dappled patterns on the floor.
I lay in a bed near the window, my left arm sticking out from beneath a
thin blanket. Bandages covered it from my fingertips to my shoulder, and I felt
more wrappings around my left side and leg.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
The Doctor entered through the door opposite the window. Her
silver-gray hair was held back with a white headband, and her posture was
impeccably straight. The bluish-purple tint of her lab coat gave her an air of
authority, but the soft wrinkles at the corners of her eyes spoke of kindness.
“You slept all day. How do you feel?”
I smiled weakly and nodded.
“The lightning didn’t damage your internals,” she said, her tone calm
and reassuring. “But the skin on the left side of your body was burned in many
places. It had to be replaced. For a robot like you, it won’t be a
problem—it’ll blend in perfectly in time. It’ll look rough for now, but in
about a week, you’ll look just like you did before.”
Her certainty made the fear I felt earlier seem like a distant memory.
“Thank you.”
“You should thank the old man for finding you and bringing you here,”
she said as she sat on a round stool beside me. “You’re still alive because
you’re a robot. You should be grateful for that body. If the same thing
happened to someone like me or him, we wouldn’t have survived.”
She laughed softly, and I couldn’t help but laugh along, the tension in
my face easing.
The smile made my skin twitch uncomfortably, and she immediately
noticed. Leaning in closer, she studied my face with a keen but gentle gaze.
My eyes drifted to a small, round pendant dangling from her collarbone.
It bore a mysterious marking—a symbol of a figure or person dancing.
“That was expected, but odd,” she said suddenly, drawing my attention
back. “Your pain receptors should still be disabled.”
“It didn’t hurt,” I replied. “Just felt a little stiff…”
“Oh, thank goodness.”
“I didn’t know I could disable pain.”
“It’s natural you wouldn’t. And don’t even think about messing with
that on your own—it’s dangerous.”
“I won’t. But, Doctor, how…” I hesitated. How did she know? How could she possibly understand how to treat a
robot?
Before I could finish, a knock at the door interrupted my thoughts.
“Come in,” she called.
The door opened to reveal Ojisan’s stocky figure. His eyes fell on me,
and whatever he intended to say seemed to catch in his throat.
“Hey, don’t look so shocked in front of a patient,” the doctor said,
slapping him lightly on the shoulder.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, but he avoided meeting her eyes. His sheepishness
made her laugh, and, for a moment, his lips curled into a small, reluctant
smile.
“Alpha, are ya okay?” he asked, his voice tinged with concern.
“Yes,” I answered with a faint smile. “The doctor said she replaced the
skin the lightning burned.”
“S-skin…” His face paled slightly beneath his tan.
“It wasn’t anything serious,” the doctor reassured him. “She’ll be out
of here in about five days.”
“Five days…” The relief in his voice was unmistakable. A warm, tingly
feeling rose in my chest, a sensation I couldn’t quite place, “Do ya need
anythin’?”
“Could you bring me some spare clothes?” I asked. “The ones I had were
burned. The back door of the house is unlocked—you can let yourself in.”
“Alright, I’ll take care of it. Well, get some rest,” he said, turning
to leave.
“Wait, Ojisan!”
He stopped and glanced back. “Yeah?”
“Please don’t tell Takahiro about this.”
He tilted his head, puzzled. “Well, I don’t mind, but ya see…”
“He’ll get worried.”
“I guess so,” he nodded.
He started to leave again, but I called out once more. “Wait, Ojisan!”
With a wry smile, he turned back. “What is it now?”
“Thank you… for helping me.”
“Give yer thanks to Doc Koumiishi[1] here,”
he said, nodding toward her.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever repay either of you.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” he said with a laugh, though it
sounded almost sad. “You’re like family.”
Those words settled deep in my chest, stirring something I couldn’t
quite explain. My eyes began to burn, and before I knew it, tears were welling
up.
“Right then, see ya,” he said, tipping his hat to the doctor before
leaving. His footsteps echoed faintly down the wooden corridor.
The tears spilled over, uncontrollable and unstoppable.
“Oh my,” the doctor said softly. She grabbed a clean piece of fabric
from a nearby shelf and gently wiped my cheeks. “What’s the matter? Your pain
receptors are still disabled, right?”
“I don’t feel any pain,” I said, sobbing and gasping for breath. “It’s
just… you and Ojisan are so kind to me. It makes me happy.”
I couldn’t hold back anymore. I cried loudly, my body shaking with each
sob. The doctor quickly placed some cotton beneath my left eye, swapping it out
as it became soaked with tears.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured once I caught my breath. “You just repaired
that cheek…”
She laughed softly. “Don’t worry. There’s a protective layer over it.”
Her voice trailed off, and for a moment, she seemed lost in thought.
Then she smiled, the same warm, reassuring smile as always.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you often cry?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted. “Like when I watch the sunset alone or play an
instrument. I just feel like crying. But this is the first time I’ve cried so
hard.” I sighed, the weight of my emotions finally lifting.
“Hmm…”
“But I’m fine now! I’m sorry for making such a scene.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, standing and tidying the shelf. “But if you’ve
calmed down, I’ll be off.”
She walked to the door, placing her hand on the knob. Just before
leaving, she turned back with a playful smile.
“If you ever feel like crying again, call me.”
I chuckled as the door closed
silently. Maybe it was just my imagination, but the doctor seemed genuinely
surprised when she saw me crying. I had no idea why.
A few days later, the weather was
clear and sunny.
Just as the doctor had said, I was
discharged from the hospital. I gave her a small fish-shaped keychain as a
thank-you gift. She looked quite surprised when I handed it to her. Since I quickly
gotten used to my new skin and was bored of lying in bed, I’d secretly used
pieces of wood and tools Ojisan lent me to craft the gift.
Her eyes sparkled as she gazed at it
intently, then she gave me a gentle smile I couldn’t quite describe and hugged
me. Her palm rested lightly on my back, radiating a pleasant warmth that felt
almost magical. I wondered if she had some mysterious power invisible to the
eye.
When Ojisan arrived, I ran to him
and hugged his slightly bent back with all my might. The doctor laughed at the
sight of his face, bright red with embarrassment. He kept bowing to her
repeatedly, thanking her over and over again—even though I was the one she
helped.
As we drove away, I waved from the
passenger seat, and she waved back. Leaning out the window as the hospital
receded into the distance, I called, “I’ll come visit!”
She nodded slightly.
I kept waving until the hospital
disappeared from view. Just before it did, I caught a glimpse of the doctor
softly placing her hand over her chest.
I couldn’t wait to see her again. Somehow,
I knew she felt the same way, and that thought touched my heart deeply.
The moment the connection broke, Omega gasped in pain. A sharp, burning
sensation seared through the left side of his body, so intense it knocked him
off his chair.
It was the same pain Alpha had felt when the lightning struck her—raw
and unrelenting. But unlike in Alpha’s memory, where her pain eased after the
doctor healed her, this pain stubbornly lingered, cutting into him not just in
his mind but in his body.
“What is this pain?” Omega muttered, hunched over on the cold floor.
Then, a memory surged into his mind.
It was the memory of his own accident.
While living with Ubumi in Hamamatsu, they’d gone fishing together. But
when climbing down a cliff, Omega lost his footing and fell onto the jagged
rocks below. When he regained consciousness, his left hand was crushed, the
pain so overwhelming he couldn’t even move.
He’d watched helplessly as the high tide crept closer, knowing there
was nothing he could do but lie there and wait.
“It’s the same pain as then,” he realized.
As soon as the thought formed, the phantom pain vanished. He rubbed his
left arm and took a deep breath.
Ubumi found him over an hour later, carrying him home and fixing him.
But instead of comforting words, Ubumi simply scolded him, “Don’t cause any
trouble like this again.”
Omega couldn’t understand how anyone could say such a thing to someone
hurt.
“But Alpha is completely different…”
The world in her memories was so unlike the world he lives in.
Why had Alpha been met with so
much kindness after her injury? Why had she been cared for and cherished, while
he was left to endure his pain alone?
“Did I do something wrong?” Omega whispered.
Slowly, he pushed himself up from the cold floor. Alpha sat there, her
expression serene, resting her chin on her hand. She hadn’t reacted at all.
Inside her were only happy memories. Even something as terrible as an
accident ended in warmth and gratitude.
Alpha’s emotions were as deep and rich as the swell of a great wave,
Omega couldn’t help but feel happy for her. He sighed softly, thinking to
himself, What a wonderful person she is.
But it wasn’t just the memories that drew him in—it was Alpha herself.
“If I could, I’d like to stay in her memories forever,” he murmured.
Once again, he approached Alpha and kissed her, as if a parched
traveler desperately seeking water. His mind blurred in the mist of her
memories, and he felt himself being pulled strongly in one direction.
But this time, his consciousness wasn’t being drawn to Alpha.
It was being drawn to Takahiro.
Omega didn’t care. If it meant he could step into Takahiro’s memories,
then he could meet Alpha again.
The memories the two shared would surely be filled with warmth and
happiness.[2]
[1] Her name is not mentioned until a couple of chapters later, but I
thought it’d be better to put it here, when Ojisan introduces her to Alpha.
[2] This one adapts one of the manga’s most famous chapters, Ch4: Rain,
and After. Omitted are the bits about Alpha’s hair getting all spiky. And,
following Alpha’s wishes, Takahiro never goes to see her.
Contents
Prologue
The Colors of Evening Calm
An Azure Shadow
Warm Hands
A Robot Dancing in the Light
Stars at the Bottom of the Cove
Time Spiral
The One Who Travels Through the Skies
Heron Cross
Flying Eyes
Epilogue
Afterword, Interview and Download links
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