The Turbulent Life of Katsuo / 30s / The Kosen Graduate's Story #2

英語版も作成してみました！日本語版もあるので是非読みやすい方を！

👆Chapter 1 (The Axis of My Life —) - Continued...

Chapter 2 | The Turning Point — A Choice I Didn’t Make, but Drifted Into

■ A Future Shaped by Results
When I entered junior high, nothing really changed. My days followed the same rhythm—swimming and cram school, over and over again. The results kept coming. I rarely lost at the prefectural level, and eventually, I found myself standing at the top of a national competition.

From the outside, it probably looked like everything was going exactly as it should.

Those results opened doors. Offers of sports recommendations began to appear—opportunities that, for most people, would have demanded a serious pause, a moment to think carefully about the future.

But I didn’t pause.

I didn’t really feel like I was choosing anything at all. As long as I kept doing what I was good at, the path ahead would take shape on its own. That was the quiet assumption I lived by.

At home, academics were always the priority. Gradually, without any clear turning point, the path of swimming faded into the background. What remained was a more “reasonable” direction—continuing on through academics.

I don’t know if I fully agreed with it.
But I didn’t resist it either.

■ The Option Called “Kosen”
Somewhere along the way, another option began to take form: Kosen, a technical college.

It wasn’t a completely new idea. My mother had mentioned it before—an alternative to the typical high school path. My grandfather had worked in construction and held professional qualifications, so the field itself never felt entirely distant.

Still, I wasn’t particularly drawn to anything. Not construction, not engineering—nothing stood out strongly. At most, I thought, It might be interesting.

Even so, the architecture department at Akashi Kosen was somewhat unique, and something about it lingered in my mind.

At the same time, I wanted to keep swimming.

Back then, Kosen didn’t have a strong reputation for athletics. Compared to regular high schools, it seemed like a place where continuing competitive sports might be difficult. From that perspective, choosing Kosen felt… uncertain. Almost like a compromise.

■ A Decision Made Lightly
In the end, what moved my path forward wasn’t a well-thought-out decision, but something much more casual.

At a competition, my mother had started talking with the mother of one of my rivals. In the middle of their conversation, the topic of Kobe Kosen came up.

“Why don’t you go together?” she suggested.

Later, when my mother told me about it, I didn’t feel anything particularly strong. No excitement, no resistance.

At that point, I still hadn’t made up my mind about anything. So my answer was simple.

If I can keep swimming, then sure.

That was all it took.

By the end of the summer in my third year of junior high, most of my classmates had already decided on their future. Meanwhile, I was only just beginning to see a direction—without even knowing which department I would choose.

It should have felt urgent.
But strangely, it didn’t.

And just like that, my path was set—not through careful thought, but through a series of overlapping currents.

I still didn’t feel like I had truly chosen it.
And yet, I was already moving toward the next stage of my life.