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“Unkoyuki Sorano is Suspicious” #CreativeAward2022

2022年2月6日 23:59

【Prologue】

Vast amounts of data are being created all over the world.
Every day, every second, even at this very moment.

It is just like a summer cumulonimbus cloud; it grows rapidly the moment you look away, and before you know it, it has vanished.

For example, numerical data such as statistics, research results, and assets.
Or personal information that includes not only names, addresses, and backgrounds, but also hobbies and preferences.

And there are records called “works,” such as stories, music, and videos, created from text, audio, and moving images.

There are data that we look back on many times, and files that are never opened again.
What is a treasure to one person may be nothing more than junk to someone else, and the reverse is also quite common.

In the old days, records could only be kept on stone or paper.
Eventually, they became tapes, then disks, then chips, and with the evolution of science and technology, the media became smaller and more convenient.

And now, storage media have lost their physical form, and systems that manage and store data on the internet, called the “cloud,” have become mainstream.

By the way, while cloud means a cloud in the sky, nowadays we can even make it rain artificially by shooting chemicals that act as “rain seeds” into white clouds floating in the sky with rockets.

The accuracy of weather forecasts is improving day by day, yet there are still clouds that humans, who have advanced science and technology this far, have not been able to unravel.

That is the “dark cloud” (yami-gumo), a black smoke-like substance that spreads within the human heart, a cloud of stress created by anxiety and worries.

Every time people create stress in their hearts, they save it as a new file, and most of them are pushed deep into folders, where they suffer from a lack of storage space because they cannot delete them.

This is a story that is like grasping at clouds, about a boy named “Unkoyuki Sorano” who can access such “invisible and formless, all kinds of data.”

This is a park in a town located at a certain coordinate.

Detected a dark cloud cluster generated by the stress of a family.

I found a mother and father looking for their daughter who had gotten lost without them realizing it.

Most of the footage from security cameras in this town is saved on a server.
If I search from there, I should definitely be able to find her.

“Searching...”

“1 result found”

────Found her.

It's that child.

...Still, the dark cloud is too big.

Even though she has such a small body.
It might be around 500MB.

In that case.

"Hello, Rino-chan."

"Your mom and dad are looking for you. Come with me."

"Eh, why!?"

...Oh man... I suppose I did appear suddenly and startle her.

"Oh, I'm not suspicious! My name is Unkumo Sorano!"

Well, of course she'd be suspicious. There's nothing less trustworthy than someone who says 'I'm not a suspicious person' themselves.

"W-well then, I'll contact your mom and dad and have them come here! Let's wait together until then."

I sent this location to my smartphone via GPS. They should be able to come here now.

"They're heading this way now, so we'll be able to meet them in just a little bit! You're safe now!"

...That's strange. The dark clouds aren't clearing up at all.
Is it not because of the anxiety of being separated from her parents...?

"Hey, Rino-chan, don't you want to see your mom and dad?"

...I see. So this is the true nature of the dark clouds consuming this child.
Even if she manages to reunite with her parents like this, her sky might never clear up.

"That's not true!"

"That's not true, Rino-chan. ...But sometimes, when you say things out loud, whether they're good or bad, they end up coming true."
"Do you love your mom and dad, Rino-chan?"