Story_07 [Shirokuma Literature Club] [Auto Reverse]

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I escape from reality into the world of stories.

I try becoming Ryo Saeba, slashing through asphalt tires while racing through the darkness. I try boarding a shining silver Cessna and taking off for the savanna. I try cutting the strings that control me and dancing for my own sake...

“...oda, Kuroda, hey. It’s almost over.”
“Huh?”

My consciousness returned to the broadcasting room during lunch break. Since the BOØWY song was about to end, I prepared the cassette tape for the next track.

“The next song is Misato Watanabe’s ‘My Revolution’.”

I pressed the play button, confirmed that the intro had started, and asked Akai about the ‘Aoi Sanmyaku’ (Blue Mountain Range) he had played during lunch last week.

“It’s Kosakin.”
“Kosakin?”

It was a radio program broadcast on TBS Radio every Wednesday at 25:00, which is 1:00 AM on Thursday. Kosakin refers to the duo of Kazuki Kosakai and Tsutomu Sekine, and they seem to be popular on late-night radio. Akai said he records it on a 120-minute tape every week to listen to it.

The ‘Aoi Sanmyaku’ in question apparently has a sticky, strange singing voice, and it seems to be played often on the Kosakin program. Akai said with a playful tone that he had played it during lunch just for fun.

Akai wanted everyone to listen to Kosakin, so he was promoting it everywhere, but no one would accept those suspicious 120-minute tapes.

“It’s super funny, you should listen to it.”
“Uh, well...”

I had been forced to take the 120-minute tape. When I got home, I held the 120-minute tape and stared at it. Should I just say it was boring and return it without listening? Or should I listen to it since I have it? I didn’t particularly want to listen to it, but I put it in my Walkman and pressed the play button.

From the very beginning, Kazuki Kosakai and Tsutomu Sekine were talking about nonsense with nothing but energy. I could picture them rolling on the floor laughing, tears streaming down their faces, while saying things like “That makes no sense!” or “That’s so stupid!” The jokes from the contributors, known as ‘postcard craftsmen,’ were also completely incomprehensible, but before I knew it, I was laughing along with Kosakin.

Having encountered late-night radio, I felt like I was no longer alone.

(To be continued)

(Click here for the previous story)

I am serializing connected short stories. I plan to post them around every Friday. I have included links to each story in the table of contents, so please feel free to look back.

(Click here for [Characters and Table of Contents])

I am participating in Kosuke Komaki's project.
Thank you every week.

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