十人の住人 The Ten Tenants

外国語版（翻訳）

Chapter One She’s on Her Way (English translation)

Translated by Ed, Isaac, Keji (English), Hagane (Spanish), and Womg (Chinese)

Waiting for her to pull up was grating on my nerves.

That morning, I was walking down a street peppered with tiny bugs floating around when all of a sudden my phone rang. I took it out from the pocket of my linen shirt.

I wanted to ignore the call, but I just couldn’t resist.

“Hello”

“Hello Tōru? Yeah I’ll have a tall!”

I was hoping for a stranger, but as always it was her.

“I’m not a coffee, and I’m not answering any more of your calls.”

“Sorry, I’m at Starbucks right now. I’m gonna drive over to you.”

I let out a sigh.

As an old man carrying a cane walked past me, I felt a pain in the back of my eyes.

“How long are you gonna be?”

“I’m in the living room right now, so it’s gonna be a minute.”

“First off, right now I’m....”

“Just stay right there. I’m gonna leave right now so sit tight ‘til I get there.”

She seemed to be set on coming to my place.

“......oh. Alright.”

As was always the case, I caved to her persistence.

At the age of 20 I was renting an apartment and living in Sōka. Japan had changed a lot since then, but there were still two toothbrushes in my apartment.

It was on a sunny day three months ago when she broke off our engagement because “I was unreliable”. I cried my eyes out that day. I was left with an aching heart and two frog-like swollen eyelids. Even though I knew I couldn’t change her mind, my passion for her didn’t go away, and having to come home by myself didn’t make things any better.

It all started because we’d eaten her homemade food that day, which was an unusual occurrence. On top of having to work overtime, the restaurant we planned on going to was closed so we gave in to our hunger and decided to go home.

I took a shower in the bathtub covered with red gunk and came back to my room, dumbfounded. She had started piling up one gyoza on top of another. It was a crazy amount of them.

“I think that’s enough gyoza”

I waded through the pile of dictionaries that were lying on the floor and sat down. I grabbed a gyoza with my chopsticks and made sure to soak it in soy sauce before stuffing it in my mouth. I wish I had noticed right there, but alas, it was too late.

“Ugh, gross”

I hated vinegar, which prompted me to spit out such bitter words. She used to eat her gyoza with only vinegar, and today she had mixed some into my soy sauce.

“Is this how you thank me for making these for you?”

She said with a slightly irritated expression on her face as she looked at me from across the table. I tried to save the situation hastily, but only managed to make things worse.

“It’s.... ew.”

I meant to say that about the saucer of soy sauce, but I ended up regretting my choice of words. Her face looked demoralized.

“What’s wrong with me, huh?”

The sound of the construction on the bridge nearby stopped and silence filled the space between us.

“No, I didn’t mean you. You were going to use that saucer right?”

“I’m done with this! I hate you!”

She was past her breaking point and started yelling wildly.

“I’m moving out. We're through. You no good loser.”

It felt like a seismic event that had caused the floor to fall out from under me, plummeting down like an elevator.

Her red skirt fluttered about as she slammed the door in a rage and left the apartment.

“Wait, gyoza has to have shio koji on it. Who in their right mind would put vinegar?”

And there I was, alone, clutching my favorite shio koji. I wanted to write the kanji for “koji” in my head but I didn’t even want to look at a kanji dictionary. The numbers on my digital watch turned to nine and the sound of my alarm echoed throughout the silent apartment.

Around the time the new issue of Titan Slayer came out my friend Yuka said she was taking a trip to Owari with Koji, so I tagged along.

Through the passage of time my wounds were healing, and I started to understand the true meaning of “Yesterday’s enemies could be today’s friends.” Things were functioning somewhat well, but we were as close as we were far. I stubbornly tried to maintain our current relationship.

“...A member of parliament is facing corruption allegations after accepting bribes totaling ￥1,000,000 in food vouchers. In his response to the investigation the defendant didn’t do himself any favors, stating “I was on a cruise ship in the Red Sea and wanted to have some cake to cheer myself up, but I didn’t have enough money. I regret my actions.” He will be publicly executed within the next few days. In other news, the herring trial has been postponed until the second hearing...”

As usual, the car radio had a news segment on talking about the latest politics.

I sat in the passenger seat with a hot coffee in one hand and a thick book in the other.

It was just about winter solstice, so it was cold even with the heat on.

“Are you eating properly ?”

“Of course. It’s premade stuff though.”

“Apparently Seiji has two chickens in his yard... but I bet you couldn't do that.”

“Plants are easier than animals. Clipping sage somehow makes me feel like I’m on top.”

“That’s kinda like Akita-kun from Titan Slayer isn’t it?”

“I’m sick of that story already. I want to watch a different anime.”

She continued on talking about this season’s anime and the street turned into a mountain road. The uneven terrain caused the car to shake about wildly. I chugged down the rest of my coffee and clung to my seat.

“Captain, I don’t think this plane can take much more!”

I didn’t have the confidence to read a poem in my final moments, so I said what my meager sense of humor would allow me to. She wasn’t paying attention to the road and ran into a puddle of water. I clenched my teeth and absorbed the shock.

“Y’know, dying in a car crash could be a valuable experience.”

I watched her put on a brave smile and then closed my eyes to the quake-like tremors of the car.

The detective furrowed his brow and smoked a cigarette in front of the town bulletin board. On the bulletin board was a piece of paper that said “Divine Revelation” in a strange font.

“What am I gonna do with you? Calling me out for something like this...”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Nothing ever happens in a town like this so we’re pretty bored at the station anyway.”

She lowered her head to the detective as she obsessively played with her hair.

She had just caused an accident and, in a panic, called the police.

15 minutes later a squad car pulled up and out came a detective who called himself Keiji.

The three of us waited for the tow truck in a forest of trees that all looked like they had roots that went on forever.

“So, are you two dating?”

Keiji started asking us personal questions out of nowhere. I laughed nervously.

“I wanted to start a family with her, but we got into a fight over something silly and then she called me a good-for-nothing and dumped me. So we broke off our engagement... “

I was fiddling with the paper fan that came flying out of the glovebox after we ran into the tree when I answered him. I was filled with a hopeless feeling, like I had just blown a couple million on pachinko.

“Looks like you kids have a lot to work out. They say a small leak can sink a great ship, right? Forgiveness might be just what you need to patch that leak up. Take that from your pal Keiji, the biggest casanova in town.”

I don’t know if he was concerned for me or what, but Keiji smiled cynically and gave me that advice.

“Anyhoo, your girlfriend speaks Japanese well.”

“She’s been in Japan a long time and went to primary school on the Izu Islands.”

“I see.”

Standing out here talking in front of this beat up car for so long must have taken its toll on Sarah, because she let out a loud sneeze as though someone dumped a mountain of pepper on her.

2020/12/20

So there's this glaring plot hole in the very beginning of this story.

“Hello Tōru? Yeah I’ll have a tall!”

I was hoping for a stranger, but as always it was her.

“I’m not a coffee, and I’m not answering any more of your calls.”

“Sorry, I’M AT STARBUCKS right now. I’m gonna drive over to you.”

I let out a sigh.

As an old man carrying a cane walked past me, I felt a pain in the back of my eyes.

“How long are you gonna be?”

“I’M IN THE LIVING ROOM right now, so it’s gonna be a minute.”

“First off, right now I’m....”