At the Tip of the Knife That Slices Memories - The Chef Series - Creative Award 2025 (Essay Category) Entry - (Posted 5/27)
Prologue
This work is a re-edited version of the "Chef Series," a total of 24 episodes originally posted as note "Tweets" (140 characters), along with 3 afterword episodes. During the serialization, it was posted as the nameless "Chef Series," but I reread the entire work for this re-editing. The core of this essay is a
"journey to rediscover memories," and as an essential item to accompany that journey, a "kitchen knife🔪" came to mind. And the title I gave it is
"At the Tip of the Knife That Slices Memories"—I depicted a
chef, the protagonist of this story, wandering through the boundaries of reality, virtual space, dreams, and memories in a philosophical quest. The story begins with the self-introduction of a newcomer at BLUE's workplace, and from everyday events like a Windows 11 update notification, it unfolds into the sudden appearance of the chef (who still has no name) and his political activities in the metaverse
, and then into his journey through his own memories. In this journey, a blue crayfish named "Marron" who has the ability to edit memories appears, and the chef faces his own past and "forgotten future," deeply contemplating the truth and meaning of his memories.
"At the Tip of the Knife That Slices Memories - The Chef Series"
Fresh fish has arrived🐟 vol.1
"My hobbies are muscle training🏋️ and eating out at ramen shops🍜‼️"
The newcomer's self-introduction
The atmosphere of the place instantly brightened and relaxed
You've got a great character💖
I'm happy to be welcomed as a colleague☺️
Carp on the cutting board🐟vol.2
A Win11 update notification arrived at the office🔔
The version I'm curious about is 24H2‼️
Oh, hey~💦
_(:3 」∠ )_
Is this version okay?
Response from the EUC committee
We want BLUE-san to
update first💖
What~, am I a human sacrifice~💦
Whatever, do as you like😱
Pudding in the fridge🍮and the chef🐟vol.3
The "do not eat pudding" left in the company fridge for 3 months
No one could touch it, so it became sanctified🪽
Then, that chef who scissors-ed the PC appeared,
and with a knife in hand, said—
"How long do you intend to let this sleep?
It's not aging, it's rotting."
What are you talking about~😱
Slicing Through Corruption🔪Chef🐟vol.4
This chef has now set out for the Metaverse national election😳
The handsome chef's avatar
is sharpening his knife in front of the Diet building, saying,
“Today is a dismantling show for bureaucrats!”
Winning the top spot and carrying the future of Japan on his shoulders—
After taking off the handsome mask🎭, will the real chef
be accepted by the people⁉️
The Chef Who Took Off the Mask🐟vol.5
The chef discards his mask🎭 and heads to the National Diet Building.
The existence of a great consciousness overlooks that figure.
Perhaps the real world is already
a virtual space🤔💭
And
that world is
a Matryoshka doll🪆
with layers upon layers of virtual consciousness.
The Chef Who Dreams🐟vol.6
On his way to the Diet, the chef suddenly stops.
Standing still in front of the Diet building gate,
he asks—
“Is this my dream?
Or is it a dream someone is showing me?”
And as the screen zooms out,
he realizes he was also inside a virtual space.
The Chef Who Wishes for the End of the Dream🐟vol.7
In the virtual dream that continues forever,
the chef kept walking.
The boundaries between reality and fantasy, self and other, are already blurred.
Is it really “me” who wishes to end this dream?
Or is it the “external consciousness” that insists the dream must not end?
The chef finally turns around—.
The Chef Who Takes the RED Pill🐟vol.8
The chef turned around.
In that space where it is unclear whether it is a dream or reality,
what appeared before him was
a blue crayfish named “Maron.”
Maron quietly uses its giant claws to
cut through the space.
“Which pill did you take?”
The chef who took the red pill stands in the rift between virtual and reality.
Maron the Crayfish, Who Cuts Through Truth with Scissors🦞vol.9
Maron's claws
skillfully stitch together the gaps between
dream and reality, past and future,
thought and emotion.
Within the fragments of the world
that Maron cuts and reconnects,
the chef reaches for the “true reality.”
—Even if it is someone else's dream.
https://note.com/2020blue/n/n8e15257a2a51
The Chef Who Travels Through Space-Time🐟vol.10
That dream is—
The stage is a nostalgic diner.
A young chef stands there.
“The scene of that day,”
cut out by the scissors of time, appeared.
Through that window, the chef
watches “his own life.”
And he learns:
The RED pill is not an awakening,
but the acquisition of a “traveling consciousness.”
Maron, Who Manipulates Dreams and Memories🦞vol.11
Maron says,
Dreams are the “reverberations”of someone's consciousness.
And travel is the act of searching for meaning in those reverberations.
It is you, Chef, who gives meaning to the truth.
The story begins to slide quietly through time.
Maron and the Chef—the travelers—
might still be inside someone's dream.
Dream Journey vol.12
Guided by Maron,
the Chef views his “past self” from the outside.
He travels through “layers of memory” in space, not time.
The first place the Chef landed was—
the kitchen of his childhood days.
There, a boy who couldn't even hold a knife yet
was watching his mother's back.
As his mother filleted a fish,
she was whispering something.
Mother's Words vol.13
The things that are truly important in this world
are invisible to the eye.
These words were the Chef's starting point.
It is not about “cooking,”
but about handing over “feelings.”
However, in the corner of that memory,
another “voice” is mixed in.
It is the voice of his adult self.
Even so, I want to see the truth.
Maron🦞’s Words vol.14
🦞 You are standing at the starting station of a dream now,
but not all memories are necessarily the truth.
It is merely that your heart defines them as “truth.”
The Chef was confused.
🐟 Then, is this “nostalgia”
also an illusion I created because I wanted it to be?
However, the final destination of the journey is still ahead.🛤️
Future Diner vol.15
There, “someone” is
filleting a fish,
just like he used to.
Who is that “someone”?
Is it the owner of the dream?
Or
is it a story of “someone” spun by his future self?
Maron says quietly at the end,
Now, who do you think
gives meaning to the truth?
Maron, Who Weaves Memories🦞vol.16
The Film Editing Room of Wishes and Reality
Maron speaks quietly.
Memory is not something that preserves the truth.
Memory is a story reconstructed so that you can “go on living.”
The Chef is guided to a “memory editing room” inside the dream—it was a space like the back of a movie theater.
Memory Re-editing vol.17
Countless film reels dance in the air,
some are torn, repeated,
and some are connected to fragments of other lives.
In the center, Maron skillfully handles scissors.
In this scene, your mother is smiling, but
originally she was crying.
Because you wished for it to be that way,
I rewrote it.
The Chef's Conflict🐟vol.18
🐟 Were all the memories I have seen “re-edited”?
🦞 So that you wouldn't get hurt. Or,
so that you could affirm your own life.
The Chef struggles.
Is it “salvation”?
Or is it a “falsehood”?
And in the film, he notices the figure of an “unknown boy.”
Chronos facts and Kairos subjective memories
The Chef's Memory🐟vol.19
Is that boy a “forgotten memory” of the Chef?
Or is it his “future self”?
Maron throws a question.
Is memory a cage that binds you?
Or is it a canvas on which to paint the future?
The Chef mutters,
Then, I will choose‼️
I decide the truth myself.
Memory is the material to paint the future‼️
The Chef's Resolve🐟vol.20
The chef made up his mind.
At that moment, Marron's scissors floated in mid-air,
and the space of the film began to slowly reconstruct itself.
In the film editing room, wishes and reality began to melt together.
Memory = Movie film
Marron = Editor / Embodiment of desire
I will delve deeper into what the chef's truth is.
The Chef Who Dives into Memory🐟vol.21
The "reconstructed film" cut by Marron's scissors began to rotate silently.
As if sucked into its center,
the chef's body danced in the air.
He had dived into a memory.
But what spread out before him
was not the "scene he should have known."
The Forgotten Future vol.22
He was in a small harbor town diner.
A kitchen he recognized.
But the one cooking there was "another chef."
That figure, laughing innocently, felt somewhat nostalgic,
yet did not exist in his memories.
"Are you me?"
The chef asked.
"No, I am the future you forgot."
The other chef smiled.
Afterimages of Life vol.23
Space-time warped, and in the film of memory,
another self-image appeared.
It was an afterimage of a life he did not choose.
A discarded dream, a reunion with someone he had hurt.
Marron's voice echoed.
"Memories are not singular.
The 'truth' you saw is, to someone else,
an 'edited illusion.'
It is you, right now, who gives it meaning."
The Usual Scenery vol.24
He suddenly woke up.
The clock 🕰️ read 2:00 AM.
It seems he had dozed off
in the middle of prep work.
In the corner of the kitchen, a silent space,
the lively fish in the dim aquarium.
The afterimages of life, the forgotten future,
were just frames of a film that had passed by.
And this, the usual frame right before his eyes.
[End]
At the Tip of the Knife That Cuts Through 'Memories' - Afterword
Everything began with cutting through memories,
just like cutting through fish.
Through the existence of a chef, perhaps we have been
wandering the boundaries of "reality" and "desire," "truth" and "editing,"
and using a single knife to carve through
memories and futures that overlapped like film.
At the Tip of the Knife That Cuts Through 'Memories' - Afterword - Continued
What Marron's scissors symbolized was the editing tool called desire.
What the chef faced were discarded dreams and lives not chosen,
and images that only hold meaning in the moment called "now."
The core of this series was less of a "story"
and more of a "re-editing of memories."
At the Tip of the Knife That Cuts Through 'Memories' - Afterword - Continued 2
The kitchen where he suddenly woke up.
It was the "usual scenery."
But surely, the chef's gaze
has changed, quietly and deeply.
Not to remember,
but an editing room to "give meaning."
To everyone who read this,
quietly, with heartfelt gratitude.
[End]
BLUE
Afterword
In the end, the chef woke up in the real kitchen, suggesting the possibility that the series of events was a reconstruction of his own memories, leaving the reader with the message that you are the one who defines the truth.
While serializing in 'Tweets,' I received the following notification, so I moved up the posting schedule and managed to reach the conclusion of the series safely. I feel relieved ☺️
Crisis for the survival of the Itamae series⚠️
Yesterday (5/14), there was an announcement from the official note team that from now on,
I will no longer be able to post short updates🚫🗣️🚫
📣
Oh no, I won't be able to post the Itamae series anymore💦
So, I'm in a hurry💨
[End]