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中原恵一

Stories Translated By DeepL

　I had come a little too far to call it a domestic trip.

　It was the end of a very hot summer, the end of September, and the sound of cicadas was no longer heard.

　In an uncomfortably air-conditioned room of an office building, I went to work and first thing in the morning, I told my boss.

"...... Excuse me, Chief Suzuki. I'll be taking some time off starting October 6th.

　What I submitted was a request for paid leave. I submitted a request for paid leave. The date was as instructed by the manager.

"Uh-huh."

　The chief was still giving me a raw answer. Whether he was listening to me or not, he just sat in his seat and typed away on the keyboard without looking at me. I couldn't see his face completely because it was hidden by the large display, but through his glasses, I could see a deep tiredness in his eyes, and there was no emotion of joy, anger, sadness, or sorrow.

　I felt as if I was being scolded for some mistake, and I froze in place. Seeing my frightened state, the chief followed up with a wry smile.

"He didn't look at me and said, "Well, the Labor Bureau is very annoying, so just take a break somewhere else.

　That's all the chief said, not paying attention to me. Then he started tapping loudly on the keyboard again, as if to say, "I'm really busy with work. It was as if I was covered with an invisible barrier called "grumpiness.

　I wondered if, for example, if I submitted my resignation now, it would have no effect on him.

　I sighed inwardly as I fantasized about this.

...... "Yes, thank you."

　I bowed my head lightly and returned to my desk.

　The other day, my manager told me that I would be taking a paid vacation for the first time in a long time. Apparently, due to the recent buzz in the Diet about the enactment of a bill to regulate black companies, my company had to force its employees to take time off.

　Come to think of it, I hadn't taken a proper day off since I joined this company, and I hadn't really wondered about it. Even if I had to work overtime until twelve o'clock at night, or if I was forced to come to work on a day off with just a phone call from my boss, I thought it was just the way everyone around me worked.

　Read the atmosphere.

　As a member of a group, you have to adapt to your surroundings.

　That is what is normal for Japanese people.

　Before I knew it, this kind of peer pressure had unwittingly taken over my life, and I had become a puppet, an impersonal being who only embodied the example and standards expected of me by society.

　This is how it is even for a single person. I wondered if it would be easy to change the corporate structure if the people at Kasumigaseki made some decisions based on empty theories.

　During my lunch break, I was in the hot water room pouring hot water for a cup of rice for lunch when I suddenly had an idea.

　It's a nice day, let's eat outside.

　On a spur of the moment, I headed for the roof of the building, which I hadn't been to for a long time. This was a mistake.

　It was when I climbed the stairs and put my hand on the doorknob of the door to the roof.

　Through the glass of the door, I saw someone in the distance. I strained my eyes and saw two elderly men smoking in front of the rooftop fence.

　I wondered if they were Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Watanabe.

　My two colleagues were almost twenty years older than me, but they were always there for me.

　As soon as I opened the door, I walked slowly toward them. But when I heard what they were talking about, I stopped swinging my hand.

I stopped swinging my hand when I heard what they were saying, "......, you're in good company. You're in good shape.

　Mr. Tanaka was sipping his coffee and complaining about someone else with a face as if he was biting down on a bitter bug. Mr. Watanabe then replied with a laugh.

"Why do we have to work for him while he's staying at some hot spring hotel?

　The two of them were obviously talking about me. I swallowed the word "oi" that was almost in my throat and stilled in place. I clenched my fists tightly in silence.

　Having done the same job myself, I was well aware of what would happen if even one person disappeared from the site. Still, it hurt to actually hear it from a colleague.

　As I stood there with my head down, they noticed my presence.

"Oh, ....... Sato-kun?"

　Mr. Watanabe spoke to me with a look of displeasure on his face. Tanaka-san turned his head away as if he had lost it.

　An awkward silence fell between the three of us.

　The wind was blowing well in the open air, and as I stood there, my body was getting colder and colder.

"I was getting colder and colder as I stood there. "......, I'm sorry, but I'm the only one who needs to rest.

　I apologized with as sullen an expression as I could muster. It was the only magic I had learned to survive as a rookie.

　The two of them apologized to each other.

"No, no, no, don't worry about it. Just leave the rest to us and go anywhere you like. I'll give Suzuki a good talking to!

"You're not going to get much energy from that cup of rice and calorie mates every day, are you?　It's important to refresh yourself, right?

　They both laughed dryly. They laughed in a dry voice, and it was so badly done that I could clearly tell. Still, I couldn't bring myself to be angry with them.

　I smiled a working man's smile and spoke to them as if to say that I was letting bygones be bygones.

"I'm going to Kyoto this time to regain my strength. I'm going to Kyoto this time to regain my wits and buy some yatsuhashi as a souvenir.

　I'll buy you some yatsuhashi to take home." When I made a reasonable show of approaching him, Mr. Tanaka finally smiled again and tapped me on the shoulder.

"I'll buy you some yatsuhashi.　I've heard that they're planning to do a project featuring content for young people, so you should help out when you get back!

　I was a little relieved to hear him talking in his usual high-pitched way. Seeing this, Mr. Watanabe laughed, too.

　They are not evil people. That's why they were so vague about it.

　The three of us laughed at each other and everything seemed to be going back to normal.

　As they were leaving, Mr. Tanaka suddenly took the trouble to give me some advice.

"Oh, that's right. It's not 'let me' rest, it's 'let me' rest. You'd better use proper honorifics.

　Mr. Tanaka must have been acting normally. However, for me, it felt like I had ruined everything, even though I had tried to set the mood.

　Tanaka-san is the one who often uses the wrong words, isn't he?

　I frowned a little and left the place as if I were running away.

　And so it came to pass on October 6th.

　I took the Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Kyoto.

　I was sitting in a reserved seat by the window, yawning and staring blankly at the scenery outside. I had been so excited the night before that I hadn't been able to sleep until midnight, like a child before a school trip.

　I ran out of the house without eating a proper breakfast, and with a plastic bag filled with snacks bought at a kiosk on the station platform in my hand, I rushed to catch the 8:00 a.m. bullet train. Thus began my trip without any planning.

　This was my first real vacation since turning thirty.

　As soon as the trip started, I was disgusted with myself.

"It's not 'future', it's 'feature'. ......"

　As I looked at my face reflected in the window glass, I found myself poking fun at Mr. Tanaka's usual habit. The trip reminded me of my workplace, and I felt empty.

　It must have been about an hour since we boarded the train. The weather had been bad since this morning, and the rain that had eventually started to fall was beating down on me from the other side of the window. With the endless green fields and tea plantations in the background, I followed the raindrops on the surface of the window glass with my eyes.

　Looking back, my life has been full of work. Now I have nothing to devote myself to, no hobbies to pursue, no close friends, lovers, or family.

　I graduated from high school and college on time, just as society demanded, and got a job upon graduation and continued to work at the same company.

　Even so, I could not become normal.

　I was filled with such deep emotion that I closed my eyes, losing sleep over my thirty years of regret.

"I heard someone's voice.

　I heard someone's voice, and I regained consciousness.

　I'm not sure how long I slept, but I still wanted to sleep, so I kept my eyes closed.

　I closed my eyes, but the voice continued to talk loudly, even though I was on a bullet train.

He said, "Hey, is there a narrow road where you can't separate the cars?　The other day, I was running at a stoplight when a truck suddenly came right in front of me, and when I ran for my life, I fell headlong into the field and tumbled spectacularly!　Fitz?　I thought I'd lost it. That's right. That's what I'm talking about, my bones are cracking!

　When I listened carefully, it sounded like a strange dialect. It was neither Kansai dialect nor Tohoku dialect, but it was certainly a dialect I had never heard before.

　I finally opened my heavy eyelids and looked around the car. I saw a middle-aged woman in the seat in front of me, shouting at someone over her cell phone.

　I don't know what kind of country bumpkin she was, but she was an annoying customer.

　With this thought in mind, I decided to get ready to get off the train. I don't know how many minutes had passed since then, but I was sure I would be in Kyoto in an hour.

　But when I checked the current time on my smartphone, I was astonished.

　It was already 3:30 pm.

　I hurriedly looked out the window. It was obvious that I was not in Kyoto. I was at a loss.

I was at a loss. "Oh no, ....... Have we come to Kyushu by any chance?"

　It's called the Tokaido Sanyo Shinkansen, so if I overslept and missed the train, would it take me to Hakata?

　I was stunned, tilting my head and wondering if the Hakata dialect was like this, when I heard an announcement on the train.

"The next stop is Hatamiya, Hatamiya. The next one is Hatamiya, Hatamiya.

　Unlike the previous announcement, this conductor was speaking in what sounded like standard Japanese, but with a strange accent. The accent was generally upturned, and for a moment it sounded like Tochigi dialect.

　I wondered where Hatamiya was.

　For the time being, I decided to get off at the next station once I arrived.

　If I turn around now, I can make it to Kyoto by nightfall.

　I hurriedly grabbed my luggage and tried to get out of the carriage to make a phone call to delay my hotel check-in. Suddenly, someone spoke to me.

"Hey, yummy!　Are you listening?"

　I turned around and saw a businessman in a suit standing there. He glared at me with a frustrated look on his face and pointed towards my seat with a rolled-up sports newspaper in his hand.

"He pointed to where I was sitting with a rolled-up sports newspaper in one hand, "Atsuhito, thought!

　I was at a loss for a response to his shouting in a dialect I could not understand.

　I wondered what he meant by "Atsutsuta".

　I couldn't understand what he was saying in the first place, so all I could do was freeze and laugh bitterly. Then, with a pained look on his face, he handed me a piece of trash that had been left on my seat. By the way, I forgot to leave the plastic wrapping for the rice balls I just ate.

"Throw away the trash!"

　He spat angrily, and walked away. I was glad that it was nothing serious and felt a little relieved.

　As we approached our stop, the speed of the Shinkansen gradually slowed down. I stood in front of the automatic door with my suitcase in tow and looked out the window. The station name sign with the word "Bangu" printed on it was getting closer and closer.

"I was not familiar with geography, so I did not know much about it.

　I'm not a geographer, so I don't know much about it, but at least I've never heard of "Hamamiya" as a station name on the Shinkansen.

　Soon after, the door opened and I got off the train at the platform of the station without knowing why. There, I saw a world I had never seen before.