六畳間のデカダンス紳士/The Decadent Gentleman in a Six-Tatami Room Retro Gothic Comedy | JP & EN
お前の言う「幸せ」がどんなものか、私に見せてみろ。
「……そこからは、深淵がよく見えるだろう。」
「こんなところに立つ馬鹿者は初めてだ。」
「…押してやろう。お前はもう、日和見ではなくなる。」
導入は絵本なら見開き。空一面の暗雲のように巨大化した、退廃耽美な執着紳士・眞淵深三が「ははははは」と笑っている。その前で、小さな六条が手足をばたばたさせながら渦に巻き込まれていく。
――という、本気で怖い怪奇漫画みたいな始まりなのですが、六条が異世界へ連れていかれるのではありません。
眞淵のほうが六条のボロアパートへ来ます。
作品世界に閉じ込められた、退廃耽美な執着紳士・眞淵深三。そんな彼に「幸せになってほしい」と思ってしまった節約青年・六条和真のボロアパートで、優雅で少し影の濃い彼がとりあえず居候してみる話。
夕餉の買い物へ行く、眞淵と六条。眞淵の薄く上質な黒革の財布には、元の世界の財産が自動チャージされる。スーパーマーケットに静かに感動する眞淵。富豪でも節約でもない、健康的な夕餉になる。
眞淵は、六条の幼なじみである花園純子（70年代ヒロイン的）に惚れ込む。彼女への恋文を綴るため、着物の裾をはためかせ、商店街の文具店へ筆記具や便箋を買いに来る。店主のお婆ちゃん驚いて固まる。
純子のプリンアラモード
会計のとき、お釣りを受け取ろうとした眞淵の手に、純子の指先がちょんと触れる。
「あ、ごめんなさい」
「……いや。」
純子は何事もなかったように、店の奥へ戻って皿を洗い始める。
――ああ純子。君の日向のような柔らかな指先が、私の日陰のような冷たい手のひらに、ひとつぶの陽光を置いていった……。
たぶん眞淵の頭のなかでは、このぐらいのことが始まっている。
そして、深三の背中を遠景に、追いかける六条。近景に昭和っぽいお花。
The Decadent Gentleman in a Six-Tatami Room
‘……You must have an excellent view of the abyss from there.’
‘You are the first fool I have ever known to stand in such a place.’
‘……Perhaps I shall give you a push. Then you will no longer be merely standing on the sidelines.’
If this were a picture book, the opening would be a full double-page spread.
Shinzō Mabuchi — an obsessively decadent, aesthetic gentleman — has grown enormous, like a mass of dark clouds covering the entire sky, laughing, ‘Ha ha ha ha ha!’
Before him, tiny Rokujō flails his arms and legs as he is swallowed by a swirling vortex.
—It begins like a genuinely frightening supernatural horror manga.
Except Rokujō is not the one who gets carried away to another world.
Mabuchi comes to Rokujō's shabby little flat instead.
Shinzō Mabuchi is a decadent, elegant and obsessively devoted gentleman, trapped within the world of a fictional work.
Kazuma Rokujō is a frugal young man who made the mistake of thinking, ‘I want him to be happy.’
And so this elegant man, with more than a little darkness about him, decides — for the time being — to lodge in Rokujō's shabby flat.
Mabuchi and Rokujō go out to buy groceries for supper.
Inside Mabuchi's slim, finely made black leather wallet, funds from his former world are replenished automatically.
Mabuchi is quietly fascinated by the supermarket.
The resulting supper is neither extravagant nor excessively frugal.
Just a decent, healthy meal.
Mabuchi eventually falls deeply in love with Junko Hanazono, Rokujō's childhood friend — herself very much in the mould of a 1970s heroine.
Wishing to compose a love letter to her, Mabuchi sweeps into the stationery shop in the local shopping street, the hem of his kimono fluttering behind him, in search of writing implements and letter paper.
The elderly lady behind the counter freezes in astonishment.
Junko's pudding à la mode.
As Mabuchi reaches for his change at the till, Junko's fingertips lightly brush against his hand.
‘Oh, I'm sorry.’
‘……Not at all.’
As though nothing had happened, Junko returns to the back of the café and begins washing the dishes.
—Ah, Junko. Your soft fingertips, warm as a place in the sun, have left a single drop of sunlight in the cold palm of my shadowed hand……
Something along these lines is probably unfolding inside Mabuchi's head.
And then, in the distance, Shinzō walks away with his back to us, while Rokujō hurries after him.
In the foreground: flowers straight out of the Shōwa era.
