The Person They Speak Of

Also known as Today, I'm Still Pinballing Between Saving People and Being Saved

There are four protagonists, and the worlds are unconnected. No romance. See the introductions below for the order. Each introduction is more or less a short story focused on one character.

Note: There may be protagonist bashing; there are quite a few tragic moments; the protagonists differ; canon couples stay together; themes of family and friendship; graphic violence.

Your comments and messages are what motivate me to update. (^v^)

I know I have plenty of room to improve, and suggestions are welcome, but please be polite.

After finishing the whole novel, I plan to revise the plot and fix typos at the same time.

The later part of the Bungo Stray Dogs arc focuses more on events behind the scenes. (Completed) Chapters 1-46, with bonus chapters to come.

The Detective Conan arc follows the main plot, except that it leans toward original cases.

The other worlds are still loading...

The Hunter x Hunter manga has started serializing again, so the Hunter arc may change based on information revealed in the original.

In short: The protagonist of the Bungo Stray Dogs arc repeatedly comes back to life to reach a future without regrets. The protagonist of the Detective Conan arc rebuilds trust with others while working on an organization. The protagonist of the Jujutsu Kaisen arc asks everyone to trust him and saves people. After falling into despair, the protagonist of the Hunter x Hunter arc raises children in Meteor City.

Zaozuo Mingye [Travelers Will Eventually Leave]

His ability traps him in an endless cycle. His friends treat him like a strange stranger, and companions he knows well look at him in confusion. He is the only one who remembers their shared past. No matter how many times he changes things, he only gets bad endings. At last, his sanity breaks, and he loses himself in this disordered flow of time.

No matter how he struggles, he can never succeed. He has seen too many people die, fall, go mad, suffer loneliness and grief. No matter what he does, he can't make them all happy.

The happy ending he begs for, the future he hopes for, grow smaller and more distant with every blow.

He quietly curls up inside his shell, avoiding a past that exists only in his own mind and trying to stay away from friends who can't remember him, just to feel a little better.

But he still activates his ability, "The Day of Farewell."

The squint-eyed detective in a detective's hat asks him, "What do you think would be the best ending?"

He looks up at the sunset he has watched countless times.

The sun is sinking, and night is about to overtake the dusk.

He has taken only one bite of the popsicle in his hand.

A calico cat on the wall strolls along at an unhurried pace.

His body is gradually turning translucent, light as a cloud on the horizon. When the temperature rises, it will become rain. Perhaps before long, it will gather into a cloud once more, waiting to become rain again.

"Who knows... But at least everyone should be all right, Detective." Zaozuo Mingye closes his tired eyes and falls backward.

His expression suddenly changes as something comes to mind.

That's right. Of all the possible futures, there's one method he hasn't tried yet. This method has to work. It has to.

"You idiot."

There is no shadow on the ground. His ability activates successfully.

Cicadas chirp. Grass brushes his face. He opens his eyes, and the moon rises over Yokohama.

I really, really want you to remember me forever;

But in the only true reality, he pushed everyone away.

I really, really want you to be safe.

And so, he truly succeeded.

If a traveler forms no attachments, then no one will cry for them, right?

He looks at everyone with such a gentle gaze that they've all noticed something's wrong. Now even that guy Dazai is making Master Ranpo fret! Mingye is an idiot!

Yutian Chuangyi [A Dim Star]

The young detective in the wheelchair wears an eyepatch over his left eye. With his one remaining, dark eye, he gazes at the white snow outside. The water in the glass in his right hand has gone cold. Unlabeled medicine bottles lie scattered across the table. The icy wind blows against him, and the snow drifts into the room, melting into puddles. No lights are on in the room, and the dark decor makes it especially gloomy. The open window in front of him is the only source of light, shining directly on him. The clock strikes twelve, but he continues to stare out the window without moving.

Today, the "culprit" will be sentenced to life in prison. He feels nothing in particular for the culprit, who has lost their mind. The incident simply comes back to him, and he can't help remembering that farce.

He thinks for a while, until the phone on his lap rings.

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

He lets out a shallow breath, sets down his glass, and expertly covers his amputated leg with a sock before taking out and attaching his prosthesis. The touch makes the leg, hidden beneath the blanket, twitch involuntarily. He presses his lips together, grips the armrests, and stands up from the wheelchair. He puts on his black coat, ties up his disheveled hair, pulls on black gloves, and takes out his wooden cane, tapping the floor with it.

Then he closes the glass window and draws the curtains, plunging the room back into darkness.

He must always stay rational. His own mistake has already taught him the price of trusting others.

The pitiful savior in the newspaper is dead.

He rubs his face, trying to wipe away the thoughts that "Bacardi" has no use for in the organization.

Today is trash collection day. As he heads out, he happens to meet the neighbor's child taking out the kitchen scraps. The child greets him politely.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Haneda."

"Good afternoon, Ran."

At the corner, he opens the door of his Porsche 356A and gets in.

"People once thought going into space was pure fantasy. Why shouldn't I put my hopes in an organization whose medical science is ahead of its time?" he once replied to an interviewer from the organization, pretending to be casual.

He cannot turn back. He doesn't know whether he's right or wrong, and he cannot regret it. He can only move forward.

Only when he sees that thin figure does he feel at ease.

Once everything is over, perhaps he can finally rest properly.

A grave should be in a quiet place.

Later, he decided the idea had been right after all. There were always people chattering around him, so at least he could have some peace and quiet after death.

Jing Yuanshi [The Future After My Death]

The boy, who stopped growing long ago, sits on the grass and yawns in boredom.

Far away, on a bustling street where children walk hand in hand with their families, he sees a white-haired young man with bandages over his eyes buying up sweets so sickly sweet they could kill you.

The "boy," who looks no older than seventeen, watches his friend, who is a head taller than him, and renews his determination: he has to grow taller!

Far away, he sees a priest with a topknot and robes sitting high above everyone, smiling with unfathomable depth like a Buddha, while countless devout followers kneel and pray below him.

The boy lies down, curious about how his friend has changed over the years.

Far away, he sees a black-haired doctor in a white coat, dark circles heavy under his eyes, holding a can of coffee and staring at a report.

The boy pouts. He doesn't want any. It's so bitter, so why drink it?

Far away, the teacher who used to worry over troublesome children has become a principal, constantly sewing dolls.

The boy starts making plans. There are already so many in his room. He should ask the teacher for a few. The generous teacher will surely agree.

So what should he do?

Jing Yuanshi purses his lips. Everyone in the family is lying quietly in the lake. He doesn't know who carved his name onto an unmarked grave.

Should he explain that someone took his body while it was still fresh, that he woke up for no apparent reason, and that he had the presence of mind to pretend he wasn't reacting, so they used him for a while to conduct brain surgery? But then he secretly caused trouble, they decided he wasn't useful, and switched him out, so he came back?

The old fossils will come sniffing around. Maybe he should just run.

And so, the following scenes unfold.

Runs into Friend 1.

His brilliant blue Six Eyes see right through him. He grits his teeth.

"Did I say you could use his body?"

Runs into Friend 2.

The bracelet of prayer beads slips from his hand, and the cursed spirit he controls lunges at him.

"Who are you, really?"

Runs into Friend 3.

After staying clean for so long, he smokes a whole pack for the first time in ages.

"I'll cut you into little pieces until I drag you out of his body!"

Runs into his former teacher.

Colorful, adorable cursed corpses rain punches down on him.

"Don't you dare insult my student's body!"

The person you knew before wasn't me, but!!!! I really am me now!!!!

Jing Yuanshi gets beaten and chased all over the world.

And even if you don't believe me, this body belongs to the original owner! Can't you be a little gentler?!!

Shocking! Hunted by old friends and beaten by his teacher, what is this, the collapse of human morality, or... (dragged away)

Delt [Fallen Leaves Return to Their Roots]

He looks after a group of children in Meteor City. No, there are no real children in Meteor City. There are only people born in ignorance and swept into this place, with innocent yet cruel hearts, fighting tooth and nail to survive.

Perhaps it's because they remind him of his younger brother, who has already died, that he protects them in a way that doesn't belong to his homeland.

Or perhaps he hopes to get a little food out of them when he can no longer move, since he probably doesn't have long to live.

After all, a friend, brimming with excitement to do something big, promised him a spot once the game that would shock the world was finished... though they've gone their separate ways now.

"This bread is what I earned after a whole day's 'work.' Want some? Then sit down and behave."

The unreliable guardian uses Nen to pin a few disobedient kids to their seats.

"I found this book in an airship that had just dropped off supplies. Go back to your rooms and get ready for bed. I'll read you a bedtime story."

The unreliable guardian uses Nen to pin a few disobedient kids to their beds.

"You want to learn to read? Good. I'm glad you want to study."

The unreliable guardian tries to pat one of them on the head, but the child dodges.

"I found a new kid. From now on, they're family... Don't look at me like that. So, from now on, they're our companion. How about that?"

The unreliable guardian returns with a filthy child wearing an expression of complete resistance.

"You've learned Nen." Delt says, "You're the smartest of them all, Chrollo."

Delt never mentioned anything about the world outside Meteor City.

"You've been outside." The black-haired boy says with certainty.

"Yes." Delt stirs the soup with a spoon.

"Why did you come back? Because the outside world is boring?"

"No."

"Because the people outside are strong?"

"No."

In the end, he never got an answer.

"Then tell me about the outside world from now on."

"...All right."

At first, Chrollo wasn't familiar with Nen. But as he learned more, he no longer had to hide behind Delt.

In the dog-eat-dog world of Meteor City, he gained a voice.

"I'm going to take them away from here." The endless expanse of waste seemed to go on forever, but the world in books wasn't like this. There were bustling cities, delicious food, and luxurious things. They simply didn't exist here. He wanted to go outside.

"I hope you succeed." Delt opened his arms, unsurprised. He simply gestured for the other to give him a hug before leaving. "Everyone else has hugged me already." Delt hinted that he was the last one to tell him.

The other boy was uncharacteristically taken aback. In the end, he stepped forward and lowered his head to embrace the man, whose smile brought out fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

Had so much time really passed?

The hours spent sitting at the bedside, telling adventure stories as bedtime tales, only for the others to get so interested that they grew more and more awake, seemed to have happened just last night.

He had endless stories to tell: the beautiful aurora, the enormous World Tree, the ruins beneath the deep sea, the desert ruins... His eyes were full of longing.

So why come back after going outside? Why refuse to leave with us?

Why... on this chaotic, cramped little street called Meteor City, gaze through the polluted sky at the North Star, which appears only for a moment?

The North Star in the sky is my guide. I never thought that, after all the twists and turns, I would end up back here.

My dear family, when you come back, I'll welcome you home with open arms.

...Before I leave.

I'm thinking about adding characters like rivals or family members, beyond the original characters, who can send the protagonist down different paths.

I have no advance chapters, so I keep making changes.

Theme: I hope the endings that left us with regrets can be changed