Isshi's Nursery Rhyme Romance
Isshi arranges nursery rhymes and folktales into modern stories.
Part 1: "Hometown"
"Mountains where I chased rabbits
Rivers where I fished small carp
Even now, I dream of it
The hometown I can't forget"
Rivers where I fished small carp
Even now, I dream of it
The hometown I can't forget"
"Hideaki died."
It was the year before last that the message came. Hideaki was my friend with whom I went to primary, elementary, and high school in a rural town in Tohoku.
"I can't believe it..." I murmured, to Akira behind me.
I was good friends with Akira since we were young, and the three of us were always together no matter what we did.
When we were still carrying our schoolbags, we'd often gather at Hideaki's house and watch the movie 'Stand By Me' which was popular at the time. We'd say, "Which character is like me? That one is like you," and sufficiently adept the kids of foreign countries we'd never been to, to ourselves. As the end credits rolled, Hideaki, who was our leader, used to spew out remarks like "Let's meet up together as soon as something happens."
Hideaki's cause of death was suicide. I couldn't clearly understand the reason, but it seemed that somehow or other it was due to relationships at his workplace. That Hideaki... the last time we'd met was 5 years after he left high school, and it turned into a tremendous sorrow.
On our way home from the funeral, either Akira and I mentioned that we wanted to go for drinks, so we went to a pub in front of the train station. Despite that it was the first time we'd both met up in a while, we couldn't find things to talk about. I wiped my hands many times with the wet towel I was holding. Eventually our conversation came to a halt and we were silently drinking our beer, when before we knew it the shop-closing music was playing.
I had a bad feeling about it and told Akira. "This shop is strange. The usual shop-closing music is something like A Firefly's Light, isn't it?"
Akira looked up. "Now that you mention it, that's true... it's strange. Ahh, isn't it by the design of the shop though? Well, shall we go?"
We put on our jackets and settled our bill, and put on our shoes in the entryway of the pub. As Akira was opening the door, I plainly heard, "Thanks for coming to meet me..."
Coming back from putting his hand on the doorknob, Akira looked around restlessly but when he noticed I was looking, he smiled faintly. We turned up our jacket collars and went to the station in silence.
The song the shop was playing was 'Hometown'.
It was the year before last that the message came. Hideaki was my friend with whom I went to primary, elementary, and high school in a rural town in Tohoku.
"I can't believe it..." I murmured, to Akira behind me.
I was good friends with Akira since we were young, and the three of us were always together no matter what we did.
When we were still carrying our schoolbags, we'd often gather at Hideaki's house and watch the movie 'Stand By Me' which was popular at the time. We'd say, "Which character is like me? That one is like you," and sufficiently adept the kids of foreign countries we'd never been to, to ourselves. As the end credits rolled, Hideaki, who was our leader, used to spew out remarks like "Let's meet up together as soon as something happens."
Hideaki's cause of death was suicide. I couldn't clearly understand the reason, but it seemed that somehow or other it was due to relationships at his workplace. That Hideaki... the last time we'd met was 5 years after he left high school, and it turned into a tremendous sorrow.
On our way home from the funeral, either Akira and I mentioned that we wanted to go for drinks, so we went to a pub in front of the train station. Despite that it was the first time we'd both met up in a while, we couldn't find things to talk about. I wiped my hands many times with the wet towel I was holding. Eventually our conversation came to a halt and we were silently drinking our beer, when before we knew it the shop-closing music was playing.
I had a bad feeling about it and told Akira. "This shop is strange. The usual shop-closing music is something like A Firefly's Light, isn't it?"
Akira looked up. "Now that you mention it, that's true... it's strange. Ahh, isn't it by the design of the shop though? Well, shall we go?"
We put on our jackets and settled our bill, and put on our shoes in the entryway of the pub. As Akira was opening the door, I plainly heard, "Thanks for coming to meet me..."
Coming back from putting his hand on the doorknob, Akira looked around restlessly but when he noticed I was looking, he smiled faintly. We turned up our jacket collars and went to the station in silence.
The song the shop was playing was 'Hometown'.
Notes:
All in all this is a very interesting concept for a column! The 'Romance' in the title doesn't refer to love stories necessarily, but in the more traditional sense of an epic tale.
1 - The verse at the top is the first verse in the nursery rhyme 'Furusato' or Hometown.
2 - I don't know the names of the characters that Isshi intended, but the kanji are: 秀明 for Hideaki and 輝 for Akira.
All in all this is a very interesting concept for a column! The 'Romance' in the title doesn't refer to love stories necessarily, but in the more traditional sense of an epic tale.
1 - The verse at the top is the first verse in the nursery rhyme 'Furusato' or Hometown.
2 - I don't know the names of the characters that Isshi intended, but the kanji are: 秀明 for Hideaki and 輝 for Akira.