A Short Story Collection for Nice to Meet You

Nice to meet you.
A writer of gentle short stories and photography,
I am Kosuke Komaki.

I have compiled
7 recommended works
from the 391 one-minute stories I wrote every day for over a year starting in February 2021.7 works have been collected.

The Swing Given by the Sky

She took off her shoes. It was dusk. She was on the empty rooftop of a tall building. The people on the ground looked tiny. Her bangs were ruffled by the building wind. Thinking that this might be the most backward step forward, she closed her eyes and gave a bitter smile.

When she opened her eyes to take a step forward, she noticed a swing in front of her. Two chains extending from the light blue seat reached up into the evening sky. The wind blew, and the swing swayed toward her. Naturally, she took the chains in both hands.

She sat on the swing. As she began to sway quietly, it felt almost like she was flying through the sky. She was not afraid. Bathed in the orange sunlight, she pumped the swing with all her might, just as she had done in the park one day long ago.

After swinging for a while, she stopped the swing and returned to the rooftop. However, she still felt something was missing. She thought: I want to play shoe-tossing with the swing. Holding onto the chains, she put her shoes back on.

A Love Letter in Inversion

Are you doing well, you? I am doing well, I. This is the first time since inversion was made a strict offense that I have sent a letter like this. They say you will be caught by the secret police immediately if you do not use inversion. I heard that letters are censored, too.

Even though we are apart, I am reminded of the days I spent with you. You healed my heart, which was lonely and all by itself. It is not enough, no matter how much I thank you. I wish from my heart for your happy new life, you.

It would be a lie to say I am not lonely. That is how big your presence was, you. I understand that I can no longer meet you. Even so, I cannot stay without telling you. I know that this is my selfishness.

I am frustrated to convey these feelings in inversion. I do not care if I am caught. If I do this, it will surely convey how strongly I am thinking of you. I love you from the bottom of my heart.

The Starry Sky String Telephone

My only regret was that I couldn't hear her voice saying 'I'm off' one last time. It has been ten years, but he remembers it well. Because of a phone call he received, he couldn't see her off at the entrance as he usually did.

He loved her skillful hands, as she was always crafting things at home. She made various crafts to delight the children at the kindergarten. She used paper cups, milk cartons, toilet paper rolls, and the like to make toys.

Even after she was gone, he never missed his evening walks. It was because he still felt like he was walking with her. He saw a streak of light in the starry sky. He thought it was a shooting star, but it slowly descended toward him. It was a paper cup.

A thin, glowing blue thread stretched from its bottom into the night sky. He picked up the paper cup. When he held it to his ear, he heard a gentle voice. It was only one word, but it was enough. He covered his mouth with the paper cup and said, 'Have a safe trip.'

The Grateful Chicken

'I will never forget this kindness for as long as I live,' the chicken said in a gravelly, low voice. When it had been abandoned and was being pelted by cold rain inside a cardboard box, a young man had lent it his umbrella. The chicken watched the back of the young man as he walked away in the rain.

'What a kind gentleman. I must return this umbrella,' the chicken vowed under the umbrella. From that day on, the chicken did not move a single step from that spot. If it walked three steps, it would forget the kindness. It waited for the young man to pass by again.

On windy days and rainy days alike, the chicken stood like a guardian statue waiting for the young man. One day, a large stray cat appeared before the chicken. Sharp claws and fangs attacked. Even so, the chicken did not move a single step. 'I must return this umbrella!'

When the young man passed by again, the chicken was tattered. When he picked it up, the umbrella was warm. At the animal hospital, the young man became its owner. Looking at the young man's face as he slept early in the morning, the chicken whispered, 'I will never forget this kindness for as long as I live.'

Magic in a Biscuit

Summer. One year before the end of the war, my brother and I, who had been evacuated, managed to get a bag of biscuits. For us, who could not eat white rice and were living on barley rice bulked out with potatoes and beans, the sweet biscuits felt like a blessing from God.

There were fifteen biscuits. My brother and I decided to eat one each every day. My brother was a magician. When he put a biscuit in his pocket and tapped it, it would multiply into two. My brother always gave the extra biscuit to me.

Every day, I thought only about the biscuits. He could only use his magic once a day. I remembered those fifteen days when my brother multiplied the biscuits in his pocket long after the war had ended.

The other day, while sorting through my late brother's belongings, I found a notebook. It was a diary from the war. Reading the journal, I finally realized. My brother couldn't use magic at all. My brother hadn't eaten a single biscuit.

The Hundred-Year-Old Squirrel

Autumn. A hundred-year-old squirrel visits a young forest it does not know. Its fellow squirrels had passed away long ago, and it had spent a lonely time. Realizing that its own time to be welcomed was finally approaching, the squirrel arrived at this forest in search of a place to fall into a long sleep.

The squirrel does not realize it. This is the land where the squirrel lived in its youth. Where the squirrel sat, there once grew a tree that was its best friend. It was a comfortable tree, and they had intended to spend their whole lives together. Until the great forest fire occurred.

The day the autumn sky scorched. To escape the flames, the animals fled the forest, but the tree could not move. While being swallowed by black smoke, the young squirrel buried as many nuts as it could, as deeply as it could, from the tree that was its best friend.

The squirrel forgets about the nuts it buried. However, this is not a forest it does not know. The autumn leaves rustle in the clear autumn breeze. Watched over by the children and grandchildren of its best friend, the hundred-year-old squirrel closes its eyes. It smelled like the forest of its memories.

The Acorn Hatter

A day when you made a boring mistake. You look down. Even if the blue sky after a typhoon has passed is clear, your heart does not clear up, and you cannot bring yourself to look up. While taking a walk to clear your head, you see a shop you don't recognize. It was a hat shop. You try entering the shop.

"Long time no see," someone said to me. However, there is no one in the shop. When I looked toward the voice saying, "I'm over here," there was a small shopkeeper next to a sun-bleached retro cash register. It was an acorn. "Take your time looking around."

I gaze at the autumn-colored hats lined up on the shelf. As I pick up a vibrant hat, the mistakes of this gloomy day come to mind. Before you know it, the shopkeeper is perched on your shoulder as you sigh. "You look like you've had a rough time." You offer a bitter smile.

The shopkeeper whispered in your ear, "When you're alive, there are days when even basking in the sunlight feels painful. That's why I run a hat shop. It's okay to walk with your head down on days like that. After all, that's how you found me a long time ago, isn't it?"

#ShortStory #ShortFiction #Story #Reading