02 Life Tetris -identity-[Re:Cyber Fiction](note Creative Awards)

This work is read by<Natsumi Yanase>. Please enjoy it along with the reading.
Please enjoy it as well.

Life Tetris -identity-

In this world, everyone becomes a Tetris block and fits into their own place.
They change their orientation, look for gaps, and blend into the skillfully stacked blocks.
Even if a gap appears at times, the next block immediately follows to fill it.
This wonderful world is built on such teamwork and mutual support.
I... but I.

Even when it's always my turn, there are no gaps.
No matter how I change my orientation, I cannot find a place where a block like me fits perfectly. When time runs out and I somehow drop my block, a gap is always created.
I am always receiving silent pressure from the surrounding blocks saying, 'What are you doing... this guy.'
An unbearable sense of discomfort and alienation. I am an obstacle block that creates gaps in this world.

'I don't want to be in a world like this anymore.
The world where I am needed is surely not here!'

By thinking of other worlds like that, I began to escape.
The meaning of my existence as a block. I just wished for someone to tell me that.
I ran away from the 'Tetris of life'.

And so, I set out on a journey, seeking a world that does not intersect with anyone or any block.

After walking for many days, at the end of the wilderness. At the entrance of a deserted town, I met a very beautiful Tetris bar lady.

'You're rare, being in a place like this.
Are you one of those who ran away from somewhere too?
As you can see, I'm a Tetris bar.
I got sick of those days where I'm always used like a 'trump card' in society's puzzle.'
She puffed on a long pipe and began to speak languidly.

'You. I suppose... it's a journey of self-discovery, then.
It seems you can't see your own existence at all.
This town is full of drifters like that.'

It was as if she had seen through everything in an instant.
I poured out everything I had been bottling up inside my heart.

'I see... So that's it.
Not fitting into any block, that makes sense.
You... you don't see who you are at all, do you?
Have you ever looked closely at your own existence in a mirror?
I'm sure you haven't. Let's start with that.
The world where you should be.
The world where you are needed is not a place like this.
The world is much wider.
Nothing starts until you know that.'
The world where I should be... a wider world.
What kind of place is a new world? Thinking about it made me excited.

'Here, I'll give you this bus ticket.
It's a bus that leaves from the edge of this town.
Try yourself out once more there.'

I am a dropout block full of gaps that has never fit in anywhere.
Will I be able to make it in a new world?
Carrying both anticipation and anxiety, I boarded the bus. At that moment, I remembered the words the lady had said to me.

'Have you ever looked closely at your own existence in a mirror?'
I faced myself reflected in the bus window and slowly confirmed my existence.
Myself, whom I had always looked away from due to feelings of inferiority.
It was the first time in my life I had faced myself so thoroughly.
Then, the answer was right in front of my eyes.

I hadn't been able to see myself.
I wasn't a 'dropout block full of gaps' from the beginning.
The Tetris of life.
I'm saying goodbye to this world.
I clutched the ticket and checked the bus's destination.
In this world, I'm sure I can make it! I was convinced of that.

It was written there: 'Bound for Puyo Puyo'.

▶︎note Creative Awards Nominated Work [Re:Cyber Fiction]
Work List Link
01 City of Good Will -bad? intentions-
02 Life Tetris -identity-
03 Matching Avenue -encounter-
04 Secret Garden -Lady Player One-(Works not included in the book)
05 Retry -simulator-

Reading work link
01 City of Good Will -bad? intentions-(Reading: Shizuku Mizuno)
02 Life Tetris -identity-(Reading: Natsumi Yanase)
03 Matching Avenue -encounter-(Reading: Natsumi Yanase)
04 Retry -simulator-(Reading: Natsumi Yanase)
05 At the End of Summer Vacation -robotics- (Reading: Shizuku Mizuno)

"Cyber Fiction" is also available on Kindle.
It is an omnibus of 10 stories including this one.

▶︎note Creative Awards [re:pairs] series (Collection of repaired past works)
・"Herring Pie ~Her Melancholy~"
・Rain of Monologues
・Housewife's Play ~Lovey-dovey stories, the hot beginning of our romance edition~
・"HONEY-BUNCH" Christmas Magic
・Part-time job during the travel season
・Pets and Owners -pet shop owners-
・The Stand-up Soba Shop with Many Orders
・Inexplicable Fraud