Silence

This is a work I wrote for the HEAR Scenario Department, to which I belong.
Once a month, we decide on a theme and write works for each other.
This is a story that can be used freely for readings and voice dramas.
If you use it for streaming or similar purposes, please follow the terms at the end of the text.
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※This work is fiction.

(SE) (Sound of a car driving up and stopping. Sound of a door. Footsteps)

Young Monk:
Whoa, it's starting to snow a little. It's freezing... This grave... is the one, right?
Since there are no surviving family members, isn't it unnecessary to dutifully chant sutras on the anniversary of their death!

(SE) (Sound of a slap)

Young Monk:
Ouch! What are you doing!

Old Monk:
...It is precisely because they have no surviving family that we do what we can.

Young Monk:
Geez, seriously... This old man died all alone, didn't he...
Why would he keep living all by himself in such a remote mountain area?

Old Monk:
Back when the forestry industry was thriving, there were many people in that district, but...

Young Monk:
An old man alone in the mountains is inconvenient and dangerous, isn't it? I don't get it.
Why wouldn't he move? Doesn't he care about the trouble he causes others?

SE (Sound of a slap)

Young Monk:
Ouch!

Old Monk:
Those are not words that an outsider should say so lightly... People have their own circumstances.
And since you are also aiming to become a monk, watch your language a bit more...

Young Monk:
I'm an idiot, and I wasn't raised well like you, Master.
I don't really understand having a hometown you don't want to leave even though it's super inconvenient.
His only son was coming to visit regularly to ask him to live together, right?
He slipped on the old man's icy parking lot, hit his head... and as luck would have it, he went cold without the old man even noticing.
In the end, the old man also died a lonely death from a sudden illness, right?


Old Monk:
............After the son passed away, I met Mr. Taichiro at that house.
When I arrived at the house and got out of the car, Taichiro-san opened the frosted glass window and looked at me...
When I reached the entrance, Taichiro-san opened the door from the other side to welcome me.
How did Taichiro-san know that I had arrived?

Young Monk:
Well, he must have seen your car approaching, Master.

Old Monk:
No, I just said the window was frosted glass, didn't I?

Young Monk:
Ah, that's right... Then, couldn't he have heard the sound of the car?

Old Monk:
Yes... that place is very quiet.
I think the sound of a car would echo quite well.
Taichiro-san knew I had arrived by car because of the 'sound'.
But when the son arrived by car... ...the day the son fell in the parking lot.
The time the son is thought to have fallen, the estimated time of death, was during the day.
Could Taichiro-san not hear the 'sound of the car'?

Young Monk:
Come to think of it, why didn't he notice...
...Maybe he happened to be out?

Old Monk:
The parking lot faced the entrance.
If he had been out, he should have noticed the son collapsed there either when he left or when he returned.

Young Monk:
Oh, I see... Maybe he was watching TV.

Old Monk:
He apparently had a grudge against the public broadcasting fees, so there was no TV in that house.

Young Monk:
Oh dear. No PC or smartphone either...

Old Monk:
Of course, he didn't have anything like that.

Young Monk:
Ah, that's it. Maybe he was listening to the radio.

Old Monk:
Taichiro-san said, 'The radio is broken and I'm bored,' so I brought him a spare radio from the temple.
It is unlikely he was listening to the radio on the day of the incident.

Young Monk:
...?

Old Monk:
I met Taichiro-san shortly after his son passed away.
Taichiro-san's mind and hearing were sharp.
Even though he was old, he had the sensitivity to notice a car arriving and open the window.
However, why did he not notice the sound of the car only on the day his son fell?
Even when I met Taichiro-san that day, I thought about that immediately.

Young Monk:
...

Old Monk:
I asked the police officer, and I heard that there was a very thin layer of ice on the parking lot.
However, because it was thin ice, it apparently looked as if it were just wet.
According to Taichiro-san, it was from a leak in the water pipe leading to the garden, but...
Things freezing is common in winter in this region.
However... that thin ice. A phenomenon called black ice.
Even someone very accustomed to it will fall if they step on it...

Young Monk:
Did the old man kill his son?
But that method isn't very reliable, is it?

Old Monk: ...
...Of course, at first, he might have only intended to harass him, without any murderous intent...
But if he knew his son had fallen and lost consciousness, and left him out in the cold all night... that is murder.

Young Monk:
...No way... Huh? But why would he do that?

Old Monk:
Those two didn't get along from the start.
Then, at a certain point, the son suddenly started saying he wanted to live with Taichiro-san.
It was at the time when rumors started spreading that the company the son was running was about to go bankrupt.

Young Monk:
That is...

Old Monk:
Why, despite his financial struggles, would he suddenly try to bring back the father he didn't get along with, as if turning over a new leaf?
What did Taichiro-san think about that?
Only they themselves know the truth, but people have their own circumstances.
Whatever happened, both of them have crossed over to the other shore.
All we can do is pray for the souls of the two of them...

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