いとしいこと

Previous   TOC Thank you very much for picking up Kodomo no Hitomi this time. This story is a bunko (pocket edition) of a work that was published as a novel a few years ago. Since the novel edition came out so many years ago, I suspect there aren’t many people who still remember it. There are stories I find myself bracing for even before I start writing, and there are those I can slip into with ease. This story, I think, fell into the latter category. As I progressed through the story, I didn’t really find myself stumbling or struggling much. But as I approached the ending, I could catch glimpses of my “What should I do?” feelings from back then, and I found that rather amusing. For this bunko edition, I added a newly written story. While familiar characters do appear, the protagonist is a new character, “Sensei,” and his counterpart is Jotaro. The new story ends with Jotaro as an adult, but when I imagine what kind of young man he might have grown into during those seven years ap...

Previous   TOC   Next "Why are you so quiet?" Satoko peered into Domoto’s face. He was the one who had called her, saying he wanted to talk, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to share his troubles with his twin sister sitting across from him. "Did something bad happen at work?" Even with Satoko’s slow and gentle way of speaking, the tension inside him didn’t ease. If it were just work stress, that would’ve been better. That kind of problem usually had a solution. But he couldn’t bring himself to speak, because deep down, he knew this was a taboo. "There’s a kid at school who’s really attached to me. I thought he was kind of cute, but…" Satoko’s eyes widened more than he’d ever seen before. "You mean… you like that boy?" Domoto gave a slight nod. In a calm voice, Satoko declared, "I think you should stop." "But maybe… maybe it’s not even that kind of impure feeling. Maybe I just think he’s cute…" "The fact that you’re wav...

Previous   TOC   Next The one conducting Domoto’s interview was a man named Kuraho, who looked to be in his late fifties. He said he was the head of the tutoring school, but dressed as he was, in a polo shirt and jeans, there was no real sense of formality about him. With a somewhat stocky build and an overall round impression, his demeanor, too, was soft. Kuraho set Domoto’s resume down on the table. “You’re 25 this year, Mr. Domoto? Still very young. It says here you were working as an elementary school teacher until this spring,  may I ask why you left?” The room was small, maybe the size of four tatami mats. From beyond the tightly shut window came the overlapping sounds of passing cars and the steady drone of cicadas. Domoto let out a quiet breath. “I started having doubts about the way elementary education is run today. It’s not about educating children,  both teachers and students end up tied down by the rigid structure imposed by the schools. I started to fee...