Unit "Sajikagen" Correspondence: The Explosive Birth Vol. 1 (1) Zakuro Kabashima -> Shibako Akita

<Introduction>

This past Sunday, May 11th.
I participated in the 40th Tokyo Literature Flea Market held at Tokyo Big Sight.

This was my third time having a booth at the Literature Flea Market.
Planning, writing, editing, promoting, and selling fanzines is hard work, but it's addictive, and the thrill of a treasure hunt to discover books you can only buy there is irresistible!

And another thing you can't forget about the fun of the Literature Flea Market is meeting people.
Every time I participate, I make more friends, and every time, our bonds deepen.
It's great, isn't it? Literature Flea Market friends. Lit-Flea friends?

Well, this time I received an invitation to eat from one of those Lit-Flea friends.
It was Shibako Akita, whom I met on note.

Speaking of Ms. Akita, she is someone who is active in various places, including winning an honorable mention at the 31st Yamanashi Literature Award as well as being one of the contributors to the horror anthology "Uta-Kata" which is a hot topic at the Literature Flea Market.

I first learned about Ms. Shibako through this legendary note article.

A straight fastball. This really hits home, doesn't it?

From there, we deepened our friendship little by little, exchanged messages on X every now and then, and finally met in person at the Literature Flea Market.
Although we haven't met many times, to me, Shibako is an important friend, a bestie, with whom I have praised each other as fellow public submission warriors.

And when I shared a meal with that bestie for the first time, we really hit it off.
Talking about creative work and such.
We want to talk more!
Both of us felt that way, but due to our places of residence and circumstances, it's difficult to meet frequently.

So, we talked about doing a note series in the form of a correspondence.
A note series? That sounds fun!

But still.
If you look at my update frequency, you'll know that I'm one of those people who is slow to write on note, right?
I haven't even written my reflection article for the Literature Flea Market yet!
Will it be okay...?
Honestly, I have a hint, no, a whole bundle of anxiety.
I do, but I've decided to stick my neck into everything that looks interesting in my future life.
Let's do it!
This is how this project started.

There might be times when I stop updating, mainly.
But I hope we can continue loosely, including those times.
That's what I'm thinking.

To Shibako Akita

"I have some time before I head back tomorrow, would you like to grab lunch or something?"
Thank you for stopping by my booth [Ka-62] on the day of the Literature Flea Market and calling out to me!
That was a wonderful pickup line.

The next day, the 12th, we chatted a lot in person for the first time at Tsubame Kitchen in Shinagawa, and oh my, it was such a fun time.

Writing. What we have written. What we want to write from now on.
We want to go further away through writing, don't we? Much further.
Further? Or higher? Or deeper?
I don't know about that, but anyway, more. Much more!!

That is the kind of conversation we had.
To put it briefly, that is all we talked about.

What should we do to achieve that?
While talking about this and that, we both nodded strongly at the idea that what is important might be the "Sajikagen" (the art of balancing/the right touch).

There are many worries regarding various aspects of writing and our attitude toward it, but perhaps it all comes down to pursuing the right balance, the right touch.

With what kind of spoon? How many scoops? What are we scooping?
Ah, I want to talk until I drop. I feel like I'm on the verge of enlightenment! Haha.

It is lucky that we were able to share such thoughts.
Shall we search for it while talking in a relaxed and laid-back way from now on?
Like our own unique magic wands in Harry Potter, there must be a spoon that belongs only to us.

An adventure surrounding a spoon.
I look forward to working with you.