It's Just a Tree

—And so, the boy begins to face the meaning of "life"—

“We’re here!”
Hearing my mother’s shrill voice, I rub my sleepy eyes.
After six hours of being rattled around in the car, it feels like I’ve been dragged to this camp today.

“Alright, Dad and Mom are going to start preparing the BBQ right away!”
My father is somehow more excited than his son. “First, we have to carry the luggage,” my mother says with a happy laugh.

And the one watching all of this with cold eyes is me, the kid.
Why, you ask? What is a city boy supposed to do for a whole day in a shack like this without even Wi-Fi? I’m sure you can eat grilled meat in Tokyo, too.

When I step out of the car, the damp air wraps around my nose.
Whether it’s rain or fog, the weather in the mountains is usually bad. Ignoring my father, who says, “Let’s chop some firewood together,” I head into the cabin.

It smells like sawtooth oak. I think it’s strange that it smells like that even though it’s a house. But it’s better than being outside.
As I walk across the vast floor, it creaks under my feet. In the back, there are three futons laid out. When I lie down, I can feel the hardness of the floor, which is a big difference from my bed at home.

There are no games.
I can’t use my smartphone either.

Since there is nothing to do,
I have no choice but to stare blankly at the light brown ceiling.

As always, from outside,
I can hear voices that are full of energy, completely out of place with the weather.

Sigh. I let out a big sigh and closed my eyes.

Hey, hey, hey there

What is it?
Did you come to wake me up already?

“You’re noisy,” I say as I sit up, feeling the chilly air.
Huh!?
When I look around,
the whole area is a thicket of trees.

The wind passing through the trees sways them as if whispering.
As I stare intently at my surroundings, I am suddenly addressed from behind with a “Yoo-hoo.”

When I turn around,
there is
a girl about my age.
She has a spirited face and her skin is a little tanned, but her eyes are round and bright,
and I think to myself that she would probably be considered cute if she were in my class.
Looking closely, behind the girl,
there is a circle of about twenty or thirty little children.

Trying to ask the questions that have been rattling in my brain since a moment ago,
“Where am I?”
“Who are you?”
the girl smiles and says,

“We used to live here.”

Oh, I see...
Wait? You “used” to live here??

“That’s right. From now on, we all have to go our separate ways and move. We’re just about to leave now.”
Indeed, the children talking over there look somewhat somber. A few are even crying.
I remember a boy who transferred into my class last month. I think the teacher said it was due to “adult circumstances.”

“Where are you moving to?” I ask.
Then the girl’s face lights up with joy and she says,
“I’m... it’s a secret! I’m moving to an amazing place where everyone can be happy!!” she tells me with an excited expression.

I see, that’s good then.
I’m sure it will be a fun move.

“Kunu-chan, it’s time to go!”
Called by someone, she replies, “I’m coming soon,” and then says,
“I have to go now. Oh, since we finally met, I’ll give you an invitation to where I’m moving! You must come!”
Saying that, she places something in my hand.

“...chan? Mom is coming in now.”
At the familiar voice, I wake up with a start.

“Oh, so you were holding it, Sho-chan. That’s good.”
Ah, I look at my right hand.
My hand is clutching a key.

I sit up and look around.
This is, of course, inside the cabin.

What was that experience just now?

“Hey Mom, while I was sleeping, did anyone come into the cabin?”
If not, was that a dream?

“No one came in! You lock the door, Sho-chan, so I had to get the master key to come in.”

I see. I look at the key in my hand again.
It says “Kunugi” (Sawtooth Oak) on it.

When I ask, “What is this name?”
“That’s the name of this cabin,” she tells me.
“The cabins at this campsite are each named after a tree.”

Kunugi, huh.
Ah, I see.
Feeling like I understood the true nature of that dream a little bit,
I felt happy.

I look at the floor where I was lying just a moment ago.
As I stare at the grain, it starts to look like a human face, and I gently trace it. Deep within the smooth texture, I could truly feel “life.”
“Mom, actually... I feel like I was talking to someone just a moment ago.”
“Oh, Sho-chan, you were just dreaming. It must have been your imagination, right?”

I can hear the sound of firewood being chopped from outside. Surely the firewood was also a big tree once. This place was once a thicket, no, the home of Kunu-chan and the others.
Their lives have changed form and are connected to the cabin and the firewood.

On my way to the door, I can’t help but smile.

“That’s right, it must be ‘just a tree’ (a play on words for ‘imagination’ in Japanese)!”

The BBQ meat, the firewood burning in the fire, and the cabin.
Many lives are surrounding me.
The camping trip is starting to get fun. I’m sure there are many lives on the other side of the door, too.
“Dad, I’ll help you chop the firewood too!”
I dashed out into the land of life.

The cloudless blue sky was watching over the boy.

Actually, the whole thing is almost two thousand characters.
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