Page 39 of The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop
The girl looked straight into Kozue’s eyes.
‘This is very similar to our way of “being”. Kobako and I are both here, but that doesn’t mean that we “exist as physical beings”. But wearehere, and that is an absolute truth. I wouldn’t be sitting here speaking to you if it wasn’t.’
The tone of the girl’s voice grew solemn as she continued.
‘And you’re the one who holds the key – you’re the beginning of everything. We need your help, Kozue-chan.’
As if in agreement, the cat lifted its head and gave a meow. Although the girl had suddenly mentioned her name, Kozue somehow accepted it without hesitation. In fact, the only question she wanted to ask was the one that had been occupying her mind since the very beginning. She knew that it was finally time to say it out loud.
‘Umm, there’s something I’d like to know first. What sort of place is this? And, err, could it be that you’re … my mother?’
Out of nowhere, a breeze rushed inside. All around the room, the cherry-blossom branches shifted in their vases. Or, perhaps, what shook at that moment was the very world in which the girl and the cat lived.
* * *
Kozue’s mother and her beloved cat disappeared on a chilly day in early spring. It was sometime between noon and the evening. The earth shook, and the sea roared violently.
That day, her mother had gone into town to take her cat to the vet. She would have been driving along the coast around that hour, and that was when her father lost contact with her. It was presumed that her car had been swallowed by the raging waves. But for her family and others left behind, accepting this as reality was another matter.
Kozue’s father, who made a living as a writer, was left unable to produce any more work after that.
The reason her father decided to move with his family to the Tohoku region in the first place was because he had been considering a novel based around Kenji Miyazawa’s works. He was thrilled by the prospect of being able to ‘breathe the same air as Kenji’ while he lived there for research. On the other hand, her mother, Sakura, wasn’t so keen, especially because Kozue was still young. She was only half convinced when her father pushed forward with the move.
And so when things turned out the way they did, her father’s regret was immeasurable. Unable to do so much as sit at his desk, he essentially retired from writing.
Even so, from time to time, people from publishers came all the way from Tokyo to visit Kozue and her father’s home. Kozue could sense that they truly loved her father’s writing. It was only recently that, through conversations with these people and the few relatives she had, Kozue managed to piece together the facts about her mother.
‘… could it be that you’re … my mother?’
Once again, Kozue examined the girl in front of her. From what she’d seen in the photograph of her mother, she figured that this might be how she’d looked in her youth. But if someone had told her that this was how Kozue herself would look in a few years’ time, she would probably believe it right away.
A shadow seemed to pass across the girl’s face as she opened her mouth.
‘Hmm… The answer to your question is kind of complicated,’ the girl said, scratching the back of her head self-consciously. ‘You’re old enough to understand – I mean, you know what your dad does for a living now, right?’
Kozue gave a nod and replied, ‘My father writes novels. He told me that he started writing because he aspired to be like Kenji Miyazawa.’
‘Oh,’ she said, covering her mouth with her hand. ‘I should probably say that heusedto write novels. I think we’re living off his savings now, to be honest.’
‘You two talk about that?’
‘Oh no, he would never tell me that himself. But I can pick up on these things now.’
‘You must be worried about money.’
‘I suppose so, but—Hmm,’ Kozue said as she pressed her fingertips together by her face. It wasn’t until much later that she realised how similar her movements were to those of the girl in front of her. ‘I genuinely enjoy reading my father's books. His stories have this kind of understated, almost quiet narrative. But then, there are these moments when you feel like you’ve been suddenly swept off the ground; like you’re floating in the air. I really like that about his work. As one of his fans, it makes me go, “I really want to read another book by him.” And knowing that this isn’t completely impossible makes me want it even more. I just wish that there was something I could do to help.’
Kozue spoke in one breath. The girl lifted the corners of her mouth into a broad smile.
‘Wow. Talk about deep reading. Be sure to tell him all of that. He'll be absolutely delighted.’
‘Hmm.’
There’s no way I could tell him that, I’d feel so awkward. Kozue kept this thought to herself.
‘But aren’t his books a little tricky for a junior-high student?’
‘They are, but not at all compared to KenjiMiyazawa’sworks.’
