Kirby and Reading
These days, I am living my life by prioritizing my physical condition above all else.
Work has finally settled down, so I am unusually able to leave on time.
When I get home while it's still light out, I feel energized. I even find myself humming.
The period when I would collapse in the living room, lose consciousness, and then drag my body to the bath after midnight is slowly fading away.
Recently, I tried playing a Kirby game (3D) for the first time.
I am terrible at games and really dislike them. When I was in elementary school, I would almost cry while always finishing in last place in Mario Kart.
However, my experience with the Kirby game has miraculously continued.
The reason is likely that I am not being rushed.
In my daily life, I have a tendency to make poor decisions when I am rushed, so Kirby, which has few scenes involving fighting enemies or competing against others, allows me to proceed at my own pace without any strain.
I am also grateful that Kirby has the ability to "inhale."
As I mentioned earlier, I am truly bad at games, so I often drop my full equipment and then miss opportunities because I cannot re-equip it properly. At worst, I drop it once every minute. In the worst-case scenario, the item just disappears.
However, in Kirby games, you can gain an enemy's ability by inhaling them (though it must be terrible from the enemy's perspective).
Enemies keep popping up along the way. In other words, there is always a chance to try again.
Furthermore, Kirby also has a "Mouthful Mode" action.
The most famous one is probably the car-mouthful form, but he can also inhale stairs, arches, vending machines, and more.
Opening his mouth as wide as his small body allows, Kirby will inhale anything.
My favorite is Kirby when he has inhaled water. His whole body becomes large and round, and the way he wobbles with every jump is very cute.
The theme of this Kirby game is the rescue of the Waddle Dees.
I heard that Waddle Dees were originally on the enemy side, but in recent years, they have frequently appeared next to Kirby in merchandise illustrations, sometimes even pressing their cheeks together.
When did you two become such good friends?
The Waddle Dees on the friendly side this time are nice, but the reason I came to like Waddle Dees is the element of them being very weak enemies.
They have no special moves, you don't get anything even if Kirby inhales them, yet they are just cute little things that exist.
I thought they were the best characters. The world is peaceful because these little guys exist.
After returning home, besides playing a little bit of games like this, I read manga digitally or read physical books.
Many digital books are being published lately, but I am definitely on the physical book side. My concentration, which is already low, drops even further otherwise.
I am currently reading three books: "First, Let's Assume the Cow is a Sphere" by Yuba Isukari, "Private Investigator Manny Moon" by R. Deming, and "Kamori Kitan" by Kaho Nashiki.
Three books? Some of you might be thinking.
I belong to the group that likes to carry a book even during my commute, so I change the books I bring depending on my mood or the thickness of the book. As a result, it is common for me to read multiple books with completely different directions in parallel.
"First, Let's Assume the Cow is a Sphere" is a short story collection with a strong sci-fi flavor, and I think people who like Shinichi Hoshi or "Tales of the Unusual" will enjoy it. Regarding the impact of the title story, it is personally already a perfect 100-point work.
"Private Investigator Manny Moon" is a book I picked up because it was prominently displayed on a table at a bookstore I stopped by.
I don't know why it is being pushed so hard by the publisher at this timing, but I haven't read many detective novels lately, so I am reading it with a fresh feeling.
In the first short story, there were occasional insertions of "..." syntax like "I did...," so I thought, "It might be due to the translation, but if it stays like this, it might be tough."
Fortunately, it didn't bother me much from the second story onwards, so I am reading through it quickly.
The protagonist has a prosthetic leg but is very strong and always overwhelms his enemies. I am bad at action in games, but I welcome it in novels.
"Kamori Kitan" is one of the representative works of Kaho Nashiki, who wrote "The West Witch is Dead." A young man who lost a friend encounters mysterious phenomena one after another while spending time at his house.
It's not exactly a ghost story, nor is it a mystery. To summarize it as heartwarming leaves a bit of eeriness behind. It is a novel that depicts such an exquisite sense of distance, and I have read two-thirds of it now.
In terms of manga, it is similar to the atmosphere of Akiko Hatsu or Ichiko Ima. It is a novel I would definitely recommend to others.
Just recently, I finished reading a new book called "Chinese TikTok Folklore" by Toru Otani.
It seems the author uses TikTok during his fieldwork in China.
It was a very interesting book, but after reading the scene where the author tried hard to drink bird blood, I realized, albeit a bit late, that I probably could never become a folklorist.
Like this, I am living my life little by little every day. Next time, I want to post some photos for a change.