Me and note101 [Creative Award Impressions] The Postbox at Zero Address
(Approx. 450 characters)
There are words I desperately want to deliver to someone I can no longer meet.
There are words I desperately want delivered from someone I can no longer meet.
Following his grandfather's hospitalization, Akio Amano, a fourth-year university student, goes to help his grandmother in 'Mori no Machi' (Forest Town). There, he finds the 'Postbox at Zero Address,' where replies from those one cannot meet are delivered. His grandmother has served as a 'spirit medium' (koshinsha) fulfilling the role of delivering divine messages, but Akio cannot bring himself to accept that responsibility. Through his struggles, the people he meets, reuniting with a university senior, and conversations with his grandmother, Akio begins to think that while facing his own weaknesses and the past, he might be able to walk the path as a 'communicator' (koshinsha) in a way that he can manage.
A story about thinking of someone, forgiving, and connecting to the future.
This is not so much a novel as it is a revelation.
Everyone who reads it will find themselves looking back on their own past.
Everyone has someone they want to see, don't they?
Everyone has words they wanted to deliver, don't they?
And everyone has wanted to hear that person's true feelings, haven't they?
What were you thinking about in your final moments?
...
When my father was in high school, his father disappeared.
The mother left behind turned to religion.
My father started working as soon as he graduated high school and put his two younger brothers through university.
He took on a lot of debt, rebuilt the old house, and replaced the boarding house with an apartment building.
For 20 years, he continued to pay off that debt.
The year he paid it off, my father passed away at 57.
My father never said anything about the father who disappeared.
He didn't even utter a word of resentment.
The moment my father took his last breath, I was the only one by his side.
Yet, I couldn't hear a single word from him.
More than thirty years have passed since then.
I have surpassed my father's age.
If I were to face my own end now, I still have so many regrets.
...
Father,
Were you satisfied with the way you lived your life?
Were there no words you wanted to leave for us?
My regret is that even though I was by your side at the very end, I couldn't hear them.
N
...
When you finish reading 'The Postbox at Zero Address',
you, too, will likely want to entrust your thoughts to this postbox.
N=^_^=
#Yuka Matsushita
#Post at Zero Address
#Creative Awards Review
#I thought I wouldn't be able to write a review this year, but I couldn't help myself
#( ；＿；)
いいなと思ったら応援しよう！
よろしく😻