Apartment Complex Strange Tales: The Boundary Between Funeral and Rebirth - Story Background, Table of Contents, Synopsis, and Characters

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Background of this story
Chigoi Apartment Complex, built on hilly terrain during the period of rapid economic growth. Once a place where the cheers of children echoed, it has now transformed into a complex far removed from the landscape of memory due to aging and the influx of foreigners. A hometown is not something that is guaranteed to be there when you return—the protagonist, Kuu, comes to realize this in this apartment complex.

It is said that this land has long harbored the memory of the giant Daidarabotchi walking upon it. The anger toward the development of the complex, the sorrow of having rice fields taken away—that presence still drifts in the air of the complex.

Before Kuu, who was ordered to revitalize the apartment complex, appear the mysterious clerk Tomie, the nonchalant Section Chief Ota, and the fragmented plans left behind by his predecessor, Shintaro Fukami. Why did Fukami disappear? What is the "Plan B" that the section chief speaks of? On a night of heavy rain, Kuu, chasing the speeding crimson Beninana, witnesses red wreckage sinking in the shallows of the flooded river downstream.

Here, tracing the memories of the past becomes the trigger that sets reality in motion.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Beginning - To Chiryu Housing Complex
Chapter1 - Nixie Tubes and the Giant Shadow
Chapter2 - The Resurrected Silver Wolf
Chapter3 - Appointment Issued!
Chapter4 - What a Showa-era Public Housing Complex Is
Chapter5 - The Company Housing Is a Point House
Chapter6 - DIYing the Company Housing
Chapter7 - Gara-ko the Demolition Contractor
Chapter8 - The Younger Brother from Afar Who Appeared in a White Nexus
Chapter9 - The Adult Company Factory
Chapter10 - Persimmon and the Red Cross
Chapter11 - Heavenly Driver Shot
Chapter12 - The Vanished White Ball and Two Toms

Chapter 2: Development - The Vanished Predecessor and Plan B
Chapter13 - Crossing the Inuwatarigawa River
Chapter14 - The Vanished Predecessor and PlanB
Chapter15 - The Whereabouts of the Torrential Rain and the Bright Red Seven
Chapter16 - Senior Fukami in My Eyes
Chapter17 - Senior Fukami and Tom
Chapter18 - Senior Fukami and the Point House
Chapter19 - The Vanished Bicycle with Flashers

Chapter 20 - Scheduled for posting on Friday, 8/7
- Currently working hard on writing the rest

Synopsis
His architect, Kuu, is sent alone to his hometown of Chigoi City for an apartment complex redevelopment project by order of Section Chief Ota. His family home has been turned into a vacant lot, and he heads to the office where a mysterious clerk named Tomie awaits.

After picking up a black cat and settling into a company house without a roof, Kuu begins to trace his memories while circling the declining apartment complex. The white ball with square dimples he hit during rooftop golf crossed the Inuwatarigawa River and disappeared into a hole in the vacant lot. When he picked it up, it was a strange object that looked like a larval form of the apartment complex.

The morning after the office was ransacked, he discovers the apartment complex redevelopment plan written by his predecessor, Shintaro Fukami, among the scattered documents. The name of his former senior was there. Only the chapter on the core space remained, and the details had been lost. The section chief declared, "The core is unnecessary."

On a night of heavy rain, Kuu, who was chasing a red Seven speeding through the downpour, witnesses red wreckage sinking into the shallows of the flooded river downstream. Did my senior call me?

*This work is planned to have 50 chapters in total and is currently being serialized.

Characters
Kuu
An architect in his 40s. He moves alone to his hometown of Chirii City for a housing complex redevelopment project. Despite having 15 years of experience, he feels anxious about the project he once dreamed of. His family home has been reduced to a vacant lot, leaving him with nowhere to return to. His beloved car is a silver Eunos Roadster NA8C (nicknamed: Silver Wolf).

Section Chief Daita
Kuu's boss and the head of the Chirii Housing Complex branch office. He looks like a dull middle-aged man, but he is elusive and hard to pin down.
According to him, he is the 'twin brother' of Kuu's boss.
A golf fanatic who carries custom-made square-dimpled balls. He appears everywhere. His name echoes that of the giants who walked this land in ancient times.

Tomie
A clerk at the branch office. Her age is unknown. She smells like paperwork. Her accent is somehow strange, and her speech is often fragmented. Since the night of the heavy rain, she has maintained a melancholy expression. Kuu cannot shake the feeling that something is being recorded deep within her eyes.

Another Tomie, Tomio?
Appears at the adult company factory. She looks exactly like Tomie, but is more feminine than her. She smells of oil. When her face got close, Kuu saw her Adam's apple move up and down. Is she a man?
Leaving Kuu, who was about to press for an answer, she disappeared into the back alley with the grace of a cat.

Shintaro Fukami
Kuu's senior by 10 years. A brilliant colleague with whom he worked for a few years in the past. He wrote about a bright red Efini RX-7 (nicknamed: Crimson Seven). Fragments of documents reveal that he spoke of the ideals of housing complex redevelopment and was Kuu's predecessor.

Tom
A black cat with white paws. The same name as the cat Kuu owned as a child. It appeared by the Inuwatarigawa River and settled into the passenger seat of the Silver Wolf. There were two of them on the roof of the housing complex.

Younger Brother
Kuu's younger brother. He drives a white Nexus. This is their first meeting since the funeral. He seems to be involved in the disposal of the family's vacant lot, but he does not say much.

Garako
A mysterious woman who resembles Kuu's childhood friend. A demolition contractor who operates heavy machinery while wearing yellow coveralls. She only reacts to the word 'developed land'.