Creative Short Story: The Ultimate Signboard

The cover image was generated by Gemini.
The prompt for the image was
“Represent the signboard that appeared in the short story in a high-quality watercolor painting.”

This is a creative short story by Gemini.

The Ultimate Signboard

For the past week, Taro
had been leaving work on time every day.

Just as those around him started whispering, “He must have finally found a girlfriend,”
he finally unwrapped a large furoshiki bundle at his desk.

What emerged from inside was a dazzlingly polished
wooden standing signboard.

Hanako: “Taro-san... what is that magnificent carving? Are you making a household shrine?”

Taro: “Hehe, Hanako-san. This is a ‘self-control device’ that will change my life. I call it the ‘Signboard of Admonition.’”

Looking closely, on a high-quality zelkova board,
carved with powerful brushstrokes that seemed to pour his soul into every character,
it read as follows.

“Stop doing useless things.”

Hanako: “...Are you going to put that on your desk?”

Taro: “That’s right. I tend to take apart my pens while working, or make chains out of paperclips. But if this signboard enters my field of vision, I should be able to discipline myself instantly. Look at these characters. To suppress reflections, I applied three layers of special matte varnish.”

Hanako: “Layering varnish...”

Taro: “That’s not all. The carving of the characters is calculated so that the shadows appear most beautiful when light hits them from a 45-degree angle. Look at the stroke on this character ‘Mu’ (Nothingness). I spent four hours last night just on this part.”

Hanako: “Four hours...”

Taro: “Furthermore, to stabilize the center of gravity, I embedded high-density tungsten that I specially ordered from overseas into the base of the signboard. With this, even if there is a minor earthquake, it will continue to admonish me. One month of planning, and the production cost was... well, about half of my bonus.”

With an ecstatic expression, Taro began to carefully polish the surface of his “Signboard to Admonish Uselessness” with a high-quality chamois leather.

His hand movements, leaving not a single fingerprint, were those of a master craftsman.

Hanako: “...”

Taro: "Now, starting tomorrow,
all waste will be eliminated from my life.
The beginning of perfect efficiency!"

Hanako: "...Does that even make sense?"

The end.

This was a prompt from Akira Yamane.

Thank you for reading the article to the end.🙇‍♂️