Kagerou Daze -in a daze- (2024)

Kagerou Daze -in a daze- (カゲロウデイズ -in a daze-) is the first light novel volume of the project.

The first novel begins telling the present day story of the Novel Route and is narrated by Hibiya Amamiya, Shintaro Kisaragi, Hiyori Asahina, and Momo Kisaragi. The novel covers the events of August 14th for Shintaro, Ene, Momo, and current members of the Mekakushi Dan, as well as Hibiya and Hiyori's experiences in the Kagerou Daze on August 15th.

Summary[]

Kagerou Daze I[]

(カゲロウデイズI Kagerō Deizu I)

In a world that its monochrome except for its blue sky and red traffic signs, Hibiya stands on a crosswalk marked by tire tracks and stares at Hiyori's body. The heat haze coming off the street hovers unnaturally close to him, as if laughing at him, and he wills for it to go away for now. Crying alongside the cicadas, Hibiya tries to tell Hiyori that he loved every part of her.

Jinzou Enemy[]

(人造エネミー Jinzō Enemī)

At three in the morning on August 14th, Shintaro Kisaragi, an 18-year-old hiki-NEET, is awoken by Ene, a cyber girl that began living in his computer about a year ago after he downloaded her from an email attachment. Ene causes Shintaro to spill soda over his keyboard and mouse. Since online stores are closed for the Obon holiday and Shintaro has an addiction to the Internet, they go to a nearby department store to buy replacements.

Inside, Shintaro bumps into an intimidating stranger who disappears after he apologizes. Later, terrorists suddenly attack and take everyone hostage as ransom while the store’s security system locks down the floor.

A young man asks if Shintaro has a plan, which Shintaro says will work if he can get free. They accidentally get the leader’s attention, and, when Shintaro shouts at him, various shelves crash over the floor. Shintaro’s hands are freed, and he runs to the end of the floor and plugs Ene into a computer. Ene hacks the security system into opening, and Shintaro feels a great force hit his torso and is knocked out.

Shintaro later wakes up in a girl’s room. Then, the people he met at the store, his younger sister, Momo, and Ene (in his phone in Momo's hand) enter and tell him that they are going to an amusement park.

Kagerou Daze II[]

(カゲロウデイズII Kagerō Deizu II)

Hiyori narrates that she has the same "terrible dream" every day that always ends with Hibiya dying. He does not seem to remember the day's events repeating, even though she used to tell him and he would always believe her. Since he got sad whenever she talked about it, she has stopped telling him about the dream entirely and instead spends her time listening to his voice over the cicadas'.

At 12:30 PM, she offers him her hand and suggests that they go back home. Embarrassed, Hibiya takes her hand. Hiyori thanks Hibiya silently and thinks about how she hates summer before she looks up to see a steel pole about to land on her face.

Kisaragi Attention[]

(如月アテンション Kisaragi Atenshon)

Momo Kisaragi is a high schooler and a very successful and recent idol who has attracted unusual amounts of attention to herself since childhood. On August 14th, Momo runs into fans and is thus late for her summer classes, which she finds have ended early because of the Obon holiday. Her teacher, Kenjirou Tateyama, scolds her for a bad test score before dismissing her.

Afterwards, Momo sees a flier with a keychain that she wants. She goes out to buy it, but her fans find and surround her. When she flees in an alley, her manager scolds her over the phone, causing her to quit on the spot. Tsubomi Kido suddenly appears, and Momo, mistaking her as a worker for her photoshoot, follows her to an apartment, where Kano introduces her to their organization, the Mekakushi Dan.

Kano suggests that they can help Momo with her "ability" to attract people's attention. They show that Kido has a similar ability, Concealing Eyes, that allows her to instead detract from others' attention, making it seem as if she disappears. Momo, realizing that they could teach her how to control her own peculiarity, which is actually an eye ability, Drawing Eyes, agrees to join.

Kido and Kano make Marry Kozakura, another Mekakushi Dan member, introduce herself to Momo, and afterwards Marry flees to make tea. Momo types an apology text to her manager when Marry returns and trips, spilling tea all over Momo. Momo’s phone sends the text before breaking, Marry apologizes, and Momo inexplicably enjoys herself and vows to work hard in the Mekakushi Dan.

Kagerou Daze III[]

(カゲロウデイズIII Kagerō Deizu III)

Hibiya wanders by himself in a daze and wonders how he ended up where he is now. He recalls that his situation started when he and Hiyori went to visit her relative's house for the summer and how they had met a white-haired man there, but he could not remember his name. Hibiya figures he should ask Hiyori for his name again, but he realizes that he doesn't know where she is, for once.

It begins to rain, which Hibiya does not remember happening once during the thousands of times the day has repeated for him, and with it comes silence from the cicadas. A stranger begins talking with him and asks if he wants to see Hiyori again. He concurs, and they begin to lead him to another area. They tell him that there will be people who will want to work with him and whose "eyes," like his, can see a certain "something". Lastly, they tell Hibiya to never forget about "today".

Mekakushi Chord[]

(メカクシコード Mekakushi Kōdo)

The Mekakushi Dan decide to head out to a nearby department store to buy Momo a new phone and Marry a new tea set, as her old one was a memento from her late mother. Before they leave, an annoyed Marry uses her Locking Eyes on Kano to temporarily freeze him in place, and Momo learns that Marry's grandmother was a "Medusa”.

On the way, Kano explains to Momo how Kido’s Concealing Eyes works by deterring attention and how it would stop hiding them if they bump into anyone. Kido then explains that Kano's ability allows him to change how others see him.

At the entrance to the department store, Momo notices her brother Shintaro and is so shocked that she accidentally calls out “big brother”. She then bumps into Kido, who bumps into Shintaro, who notices only Kido and apologizes to her. Kido hides herself again, and Momo quickly takes them to the electronics floor. Kido and Kano notice a terrorist with hidden weapons, so Kano separates from them to get Shintaro, but then the terrorists attack.

Kano texts a selfie of himself with Shintaro, with his Deceiving Eyes making him appear to be caught to the terrorists. Momo thinks of a plan where Ene can hack the security system and no one gets hurt, and she texts Kano about it. When Shintaro gets the leader’s attention, they use the distraction to shove TVs and shelves around and onto the terrorists.

When Shintaro and Ene hack the shutters, Momo uses her Drawing Eyes to bring everyone’s gaze to her and Marry, who uses Locking Eyes to freeze them all in place. Kido hides them, and they go to Shintaro, who was grazed by a bullet and is unconscious. They then grab Marry, who is being questioned by the police, and run away.

Epilogue[]

(エピローグ Epirōgu)

Back to August 15th and after their visit to the amusement park, Shintaro walks alongside the Mekakushi Dan while carrying a tired Marry on his back and thinks about his day. He summarizes how he met the Mekakushi Dan and, despite his confusion, got an overall good impression of them, unlike how he feels about Ene now.

As they approach a park, they spot a crowd gathering around a young man and a boy on the street. They pass the two, and Ene reacts to the scene and calls out "Konoha". An ambulance takes the two away, and Ene tells Momo to follow them. Shintaro internally remarks that their "long, long day" is finally about to begin.

Afterword: A Story that Makes You Want to Cover Your Eyes[]

(~あとがき『目覆いたくなるような話』~)

Jin explains how this was his first ever novel, which he was invited to write to link a story to his first album, Mekakushi Days. He says that the first novel's plot is based off of four tracks from the album (Kagerou Daze, Jinzou Enemy, Kisaragi Attention, and Mekakushi Code), and future novels will likewise be based off of other songs. He notes that this novel gave the characters from his songs names for the first time, and he hopes he made a good impression with their last names.

Jin says that he wrote the novel while working on a new album at the same time, a process that he thought would kill him. Afterwards, he makes innuendos and similar jokes until he runs out of space on his page.

Features[]

Characters[]

• Hibiya Amamiya
• Hiyori Asahina
• Shintaro Kisaragi
• Ene
• Mrs. Kisaragi
• Tsubomi Kido
• Terrorists
• Shuuya Kano
• Momo Kisaragi
• Momo's Manager
• Kenjirou Tateyama
• Marry Kozakura
• Shion Kozakura (unnamed, mentioned)
• Azami (unnamed, mentioned)
• Ayano Tateyama (unnamed)
• Konoha

Illustrations[]

Trivia[]

• The English digital release came out May 19, 2015, a week before the physical release.^[1]
• While the speakers in "Kagerou Daze III" are not named, Hibiya can be inferred as the narrator, and their conversation is continued in -the children reason-, "Kagerou Daze IV", where it is heavily implied that he is speaking with Ayano due to the mention of her red scarf.

Errors[]

• In the English localization of "Kagerou Daze II", Hiyori says "No wonder I was never popular" to Hibiya. In the original Japanese text, she does not say "I", and considering what is known about their characters and the context of their conversation, it should be implied that she was actually supposed to be calling Hibiya the one who was never popular.
• In the English localization of "Kagerou Daze III", Ayano tells Hibiya there are others waiting for "us", implying that she is going with him to meet the Mekakushi Dan. In the original Japanese text, she does not say "us" nor imply that she would be meeting the Mekakushi Dan with him.

See also[]

• Novels

References[]