いとしいこと

The content warning is in the footnotes 0 . Previous   TOC   Next White Flower Tohru Takahisa finished his shift at 7:30 p.m. Cleaning up took longer than expected. Usually, he would start tidying up before the store closed at seven, but today, customers kept coming in one after another right until closing time. Tohru disliked cleaning while customers were still in the store, so he waited patiently by the register for the last customer to make his decision. The final customer, a man in his mid-twenties wearing a suit, crouched down, squinting as he peered into the display case, muttering softly to himself. Finally, the man asked, "So, which one’s the best here?"—a question that could stump even the most seasoned cake shop workers. Tohru remembered how he had felt the first time he entered a pastry shop, overwhelmed by the dazzling array of cakes. He had stumbled over the long, intricate names more than once. He could empathize. "Is this for your girlfriend?" Tohru a...

The content warning is in the footnotes 0 . Previous   TOC   Next The Person I Love Human desires probably have no end. The windshield wipers moved like a metronome, brushing away the fine snowflakes one after another. It was 7 PM, the time when people were heading home, so the area around the station was packed with cars. Even when the light turned green, traffic barely moved. After waiting through two red lights, I finally managed to get past the intersection. I pulled over near a convenience store about 50 meters from the station, and soon a man approached the car. The man placed a silver camera case in the back seat and then got into the passenger seat. The cold, crisp scent of the outside air clung to him. "Sorry for making you come pick me up," said Masayuki Taniguchi, flashing a smile. Just that simple gesture made me feel embarrassed and shy. Unable to look Masayuki directly in the eye, I looked down and muttered, "No, it’s fine." Though we were the same age...

Previous   TOC   Next Class Reunion As Masayuki Taniguchi walked along the bustling city sidewalk, a cold wind occasionally whipped against his cheeks. It was mid-February, and the night air had reached its peak chill. The TV had been repeating the phrase, "Temperatures have dropped below freezing…" over the past few days. His breath came out in white puffs, and even though his fingertips were numb, he didn’t feel particularly cold. Walking with a group of people and already having a few drinks in him contributed to that. Masayuki was dressed casually in a thick black sweater, a nylon khaki jacket, and jeans, yet he didn’t stand out at the first venue of the reunion. Many of the women wore suits or dresses, but the men were evenly split between casual wear like his and suits. The only thing that bothered him was his shoes. His muddy Nikes, fresh from yesterday’s reporting assignment, weren’t exactly appropriate. He had no choice, though. His brown leather shoes didn’t match h...