History Literature / AnInvitationFromThanatos

Originally published as [[https://monogatary.com/episode/33827 "タナトスの誘惑"]] (''Thanatos no Yuwaku'', translated as "The Seduction of Thanatos"), ''An Invitation From Thanatos'' is an UrbanFantasy short story by amateur writer Mayo Hoshino, written for the Japanese short story site Monogatary on July 13th, 2019. In a world where people are enthralled by the desire for life (Eros) or the desire for death (Thanatos), the story details the last day of an ordinary man and his lover, who is obsessed with death and has repeatedly attempted suicide, and the end of their complicated relationship.

!This short story (and its adaptation) contains examples of:

[[MilestoneCelebration To celebrate the release of their 10th album]] on July 1st, 2021, YOASOBI has [[https://www.yoasobi-music.jp/novel/yorunikakeru/ published an English translated version of the original short story]], as well as an [[https://youtu.be/b3K61cQ8_fg official English version]] of ''Yoru ni Kakeru'' called ''Into the Night'' with translated lyrics by Konnie Aoki.

Since the story is so short, spoilers will be unmarked. YouHaveBeenWarned.

* AmbiguousSituation: It's unclear if the protagonist's [[spoiler:lover even exists in the first place, at least in a physical form.]]
* BarefootSuicide: The heroine is seen barefoot when she jumps off the roof at the end of the music video. [[spoiler:The protagonist, however, has his shoes still on.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:It is presumed that in the real world, the protagonist ultimately dies alone and (likely) unloved.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: Anyone enthralled by Thanatos. The protagonist notes that the heroine has attempted suicide no less than ''four times''. In the end, the protagonist [[spoiler:finally breaks and he jumps off the roof with her, and it later turns out the protagonist was the person enthralled by Thanatos and the heroine was Thanatos itself.]]
* InterruptedSuicide: The protagonist has intervened on the heroine's attempts to jump off a rooftop at least four times prior. [[spoiler:They finally jump together on the fifth time.]]

* PreludeToSuicide: The heroine always sends the protagonist a message over LINE when she's about to jump. Of course, she doesn't actually do so in previous attempts, [[spoiler:because she wants the protagonist to jump with her]].
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: While the protagonist thinks that he does not believe in the God of Death, he notes that anyone enthralled by Thanatos perceives the God of Death in the form of the person's ideal companion. The protagonist states that his girlfriend can often be seen staring into space for long periods of time, apparently seeing visions of her God of Death. [[spoiler:When his frustration reaches its limit, he begins to think that she is his own God of Death, the possibility being she ''indeed is''.]]
* TogetherInDeath: Averted. Later on the protagonist and their lover [[spoiler:jump off the roof and died for real, but it's heavily implied their lover did not even exist and they were the only person jumping. In the music video, after the heroine jumped off the roof with the protagonist, she was completely alive and intact but the protagonist was unambiguously dead, implying that she was really just Thanatos taking the form of his ideal person.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:It is presumed that in the real world, the protagonist ultimately dies alone.]]

* DownerEnding: In reality, the protagonist dies alone in the end.

* TogetherInDeath: Averted. Later on the protagonist and their lover [[spoiler:jump off the roof and died for real, but it's heavily implied their lover did not even exist and they were the only person jumping. In the music video, after the heroine jumped off the roof with the protagonist, she was completely alive and intact but the protagonist was unambiguously dead, implying that she wasn't even a real person and was really Thanatos taking the form of his ideal person.]]

* TogetherInDeath: Averted. Later on the protagonist and their lover [[spoiler:jump off the roof and died for real, but it's heavily implied their lover did not even exist and they were the only person jumping. This was proven in the music video where the heroine jumped off the roof with the protagonist and was completely alive and intact while the he was unambiguously dead, the implication being she wasn't even a real person and was really Thanatos taking the form of his ideal person.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: Anyone enthralled by Thanatos. The protagonist notes that the heroine has attempted suicide no less than ''four times''. [[spoiler:In the end, the protagonist finally breaks and he jumps off the roof with her.]]

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: While the protagonist thinks that he does not believe in the God of Death, he notes that anyone enthralled by Thanatos perceives the God of Death in the form of the person's ideal companion. The protagonist states that his girlfriend can often be seen staring into space for long periods of time, apparently seeing visions of her God of Death. [[spoiler:When his frustration reaches its limit, he begins to think that ''she'' is his own God of Death.]]

Originally published as [[https://monogatary.com/episode/33827 "タナトスの誘惑"]] (''Thanatos no Yuwaku'', translated as "The Seduction of Thanatos"), ''An Invitation From Thanatos'' is an UrbanFantasy short story by amateur writer Mayo Hoshino, written for the Japanese short story site Monogatary on July 13th, 2019. In a world where people are enthralled by the desire for life (Eros) or the desire for death (Thanatos), the story details last day of an ordinary man and his lover, who is obsessed with death and has repeatedly attempted suicide, and the end of their complicated relationship.

Originally published as [[https://monogatary.com/episode/33827 "タナトスの誘惑"]] (''Thanatos no Yuwaku'', translated as "The Seduction of Thanatos"), ''An Invitation From Thanatos'' is an UrbanFantasy short story by amateur writer Mayo Hoshino for the Japanese short story site Monogatary on July 13th, 2019. In a world where people are enthralled by the desire for life (Eros) or the desire for death (Thanatos), the story details last day of an ordinary man and his lover, who is obsessed with death and has repeatedly attempted suicide, and the end of their complicated relationship.