Library Chapter 03 | The Man Who Wants to Understand Everything Before Acting

A weekend evening. On the balcony,
Akira stood frozen before a mountain of laundry.

He didn't mind the act of hanging it up itself.
He liked the process of the pile shrinking,
and found it calming to watch the laundry sway in the breeze.

However, there was one thing bothering him before he started.

“...They don't match.”

Holding the clothespins, his thoughts came to a halt.
Even though they go into the same washing machine,
why do only the socks go missing?

Starting to hang them without knowing the reason
just didn't sit right with him.

That was when the window slid open with a clatter,
and a voice flew out from inside the room.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, I'm fine. ...Well, I'm fine, but”

Akira lifted a sock slightly.

“Why is it that the socks never match up?”

“How should I know?”

The reply was immediate.

“But don't you think it's structurally strange?
They go into the same machine, yet they don't end up as a pair.”

“Why don't you ask the socks?”

“Huh?”

Akira fell silent for a moment.

“...No, that's not the issue here.”

“Is that so?”

His wife stepped out onto the balcony
and took a towel from the laundry basket.
She snapped it open with a flourish.

“First, you have to get your hands moving.”

“But the reason—”

“You can figure out the reason while you hang them.
After all, you haven't made any progress at all.”
As she said this, she began hanging the towels one after another.

“...Well, I suppose so.”

“But still, I like to have a plan...”

“They'll dry while you're thinking about it.”

“...”

Just as Akira fell silent,

with a soft thud,
something dropped onto the floor.

“Oh! There it is!”

It was the missing half of the sock he had been looking for.

Meanwhile, his wife went to the washing machine
and reached inside.

“There's another one here.”

She moved her fingers along the side,
and easily plucked out the other one that had been stuck to the wall.

“Here you go.”

“Oh...”

“So it wasn't a structural issue after all...”

He couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

“I see...”

Seeing this,
his wife gave a playful wink.

“Life, you know, is something you sort out as you go.”

“...You're right.”

Akira paired the socks he had received and hung them up.

The evening breeze gently swayed the hem of his shirt.

Akira's Library Edition

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