Letters from the Future | Short-Short [The Sound of a Knock]

There was a knock.
Tanaka looked through the peephole.
A man in a suit was standing there holding an envelope.

Excuse me. This is the Future Delivery Service.
Future Delivery Service?

When he opened the door, the man respectfully held out the envelope.

It is a letter from yourself thirty years in the future.
Tanaka's name was indeed in the sender's field.

However, the handwriting was shaky. Tanaka opened the letter.

Look behind the refrigerator right now. There is a 500-yen coin. Take it and go to the hospital. Get that mole on your lower right checked. If you don't do this, you will fail at changing jobs at 42, and go bankrupt after getting obsessed with mushroom cultivation at 57.

Tanaka looked behind the refrigerator.
There really was a 500-yen coin.

Is this real?
Yes. It is a letter from you, Tanaka, thirty years from now.

The delivery person continued.
You can also reply. The fee is three percent of your life's possibilities per letter.
Three percent of my possibilities?
Yes. Every time you reply, the future becomes slightly more fixed.

Tanaka thought about it.
But, my future self must be lonely, right?
Yes. He was writing the letter looking quite lonely, while remembering his past self.

The delivery person took out some stationery.
What will you do?

Tanaka hesitated.
If my future self is lonely, I want to write back. But I'm afraid of losing my possibilities.

Just one letter as a test.
Tanaka wrote, 'I'm doing well. I'm having curry tonight.'

The delivery person took the letter and vanished.
The next day, another letter arrived.

Thanks for the curry! It brought back memories and I cried. By the way, take an umbrella tomorrow. It will pour in the evening.

Tanaka brought an umbrella.
It really did pour.

From that day on, a correspondence with his future self began.

Buy a lottery ticket. Confess your feelings. Change jobs.
Tanaka did as he was told.
His life definitely took a turn for the better.

However, a year later, the delivery person appeared with a troubled look.
I am sorry. You only have five percent of your life's possibilities left.
Five percent?
Yes. If things continue like this, the future will be completely fixed. In other words, your fate will be decided.

Tanaka was stunned.
That would be a problem.
If you stop the correspondence, your possibilities will recover.

Tanaka was hesitant.
His life had improved thanks to advice from his future self.
However, he was also losing his freedom.

He wrote one last letter.
<Let's stop this correspondence. You should be the one to decide your own life.>

A reply came.
<Understood. But remember one thing. The most important thing in life is the unexpected.>

After that, the letters stopped coming.
Tanaka's life became uncertain once again.

Yet, for some reason, he felt relieved.
"I don't know what will happen tomorrow. That, surely, is what life is all about..." Tanaka thought, as if to reassure himself.

Letters from one's future self.
If one arrived for me, I wonder if I would be curious enough to read it.

#ShinichiHoshi #ShortShort #TheSoundOfAKnock