Short Story: 'The Galaxy Seller' #ShirokumaLiteratureClub [Side A]

The banner for a supermarket called 'The Galaxy Seller' flutters in the wind.

'Mommy, what does that say?'
'It says Galaxy Seller.'
'What's a Galaxy Seller?'

As the little girl walking beside her mother pushing the shopping cart asks, her mother replies,

'Well... it's a little early, but maybe we should buy one and take it home. That would be easier to understand, wouldn't it?'

She murmurs this, looking satisfied after a moment of thought.

She taps a few of the large spheres lightly.

'This one looks the best.'

She says, placing it in her basket.

'Why are you tapping them?'
'When they make a good sound, they're ready to eat.'
'Hmm.'

The girl stares intently at the sphere with its strange pattern.

What on earth could a galaxy taste like?

That night, after finishing dinner as usual,

'Now, let's have this for dessert.'

Her mother places the large sphere she bought and chilled during the day onto the dining table, along with a cutting board.

'Is it that time of year already?'

Her father says in a slightly tipsy tone.

'It's Kotoha's first time eating a galaxy, after all. Dear, why don't you cut it for her?'
'Sure thing.'

Her father puts a knife to the large sphere.


The girl feels a little nervous.
She harbors a faint hope that perhaps, just like Momotaro she heard about at kindergarten, someone might be born from inside.

When her father slices it cleanly in half, black specks float like stars against the yellow cross-section.

'Wow! It's beautiful!'
'Isn't it lovely? A galaxy is the name for a type of watermelon that looks like it has captured the night sky.'
'Look here. This is the Summer Triangle.'
'If you connect these, it's Cygnus.'
'And over here, there's Aquila too.'

Her father and mother connect the seeds scattered across the halved watermelon one by one to explain it to her.

"Hey, what is this called?"

The girl pointed at one particularly large seed.

Her parents exchanged a look of surprise for a moment, then said,

"That is Lyra."
"It's the origin of your name."

They smiled gently, as if recalling the day their daughter was born.

　When I saw the prompt, the first thing that popped into my head was "Galaxy Seller" -> "Galaxy Melon" + "Watermelon Splitting".

　My grandparents were farmers, and I often ate both red watermelons and yellow watermelons grown in their home garden. I felt like the yellow ones were a bit more "galaxy-like," so that's how this came to be. Yellow watermelons are sweet and delicious, too! 😋💕

　I'm not very knowledgeable about constellations, so I wrote this while looking things up. I just hope there aren't any glaring errors! 🙏🙏

　If you'd like, please check out Side B as well~