Tadashi Hirose "Minus Zero"

According to the calendar, it is December. We have reached the end of the year once again.
It is my monthly routine to write down my impressions of the works that left an impact on me, along with a summary of my Bookmeter stats once the month changes.
…Though I say that, I only managed to read one novel in November. I have broken my worst record yet.
Part of it was that I couldn't settle down due to neighborhood association work, including disaster drills at my apartment complex, but more than that, my role at work changed in October, which has further cut into my personal time.
By the way, I think this is the first time since I started using Bookmeter that I haven't read a single manga in a month, and I don't think that has ever happened even going back further than that.

Bookmeter for November 2025
Number of books read: 1
Number of pages read: 520 pages
Number of likes: 35 likes

The one novel I managed to read was the digital version of "Minus Zero" by Tadashi Hirose.
Actually, I didn't think I would be able to finish this within November either. I believe I started reading it little by little around August, and even by the middle of November, I had only made it through 75%. However, the tumultuous developments in the final act kept me swiping, and I finished the remaining 25% in just two days.

I started reading it with no prior knowledge other than that it was a time-travel sci-fi work.
The setting is Umegaoka, Tokyo, in 1945, near the end of the war. The story begins with a scene where incendiary bombs are raining down on the city during an air raid by the U.S. military.
The protagonist, Toshio Hamada (14 years old at the time), sees flames rising from the home of Mr. Izawa, a neighbor he is close with, and rushes over. Mr. Izawa is collapsed in a critical condition, and his daughter Keiko (17 years old at the time, whom Toshio secretly admires) is nowhere to be seen. On his deathbed, Mr. Izawa asks Toshio for a promise: to come to his laboratory at this time on this day 18 years later.
As promised, 18 years later in 1963, he visits the old Izawa residence (where someone else lives now) at the same time. When he is allowed into the detached building that was used as a laboratory at the time, he finds a metal box he has never seen before, and Keiko Izawa, who had been missing since that day, appears from inside the box looking exactly as she did back then. Keiko herself does not understand what has happened.
Toshio racks his brain trying to figure out what this all means. Keiko is bewildered. They decide to visit the old Izawa residence again on another day to investigate the mysterious box. Then, an accident occurs while Toshio is inside the box touching various things! The mysterious box begins to operate, and Toshio, trapped inside, is…!
That is how the story unfolds.

It was interesting, so if you are interested, please read it without spoilers. It is a time-slip story that makes you think of it as the "Back to the Future" of the Showa era. By the way, this work was published in 1970 (Showa 45).

From here on, I will write my impressions with a few more spoilers.

Well, you can guess that Toshio gets sent to the past or future due to a malfunction of the time machine, right?
Toshio is sent to the past. To 1932, long before 1945. Furthermore, another accident occurs there, and he becomes unable to return to his original time.
Toshio arrives at the idea that if he waits until 1945, there might be a time machine at Mr. Izawa's house that could return him to his original time, but the standard trope for these stories is that the future changes because someone who shouldn't have been there does something in the past. A time paradox.
For me, reading it without any prior knowledge, the way things turned out for 1945 and 1963 after Toshio was sent to 1932 was a surprising development.
The entire story is dominated by the mood of the early Showa era, and I found myself imagining scenes like an old black-and-white film, from the men's behavior and women's speech to the fashion and the cityscape. That was also somehow enjoyable.

By the way, does everyone remember the "7-Day Book Cover Challenge" relay posts that were popular on social media for a while? I think it was in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. I suppose the trend was for everyone to stay home and read books. (I didn't participate even when nominated because I'm not good at narrowing down my favorites or recommendations.)
Seeing a friend introduce "Minus Zero" in that book cover challenge made me want to read it too. It took me five years to finally finish it, though...

When I see a work that someone says is interesting or a work that someone recommends that piques my interest, I register it in my "Books to Read" list on Bookmeter to read later.
As of today, I have 10 unread books and 19 books I want to read. These are increasing at a faster pace than I am reading them...