Be New
It has been about two months since I moved to this town.
My home is Caterina Mushroom.
The name sounds stylish, but it's a wooden apartment building over 40 years old.
What's more, it has no bath or toilet, though the Wi-Fi is free.
I work at a company located in a back alley called Agent Kin, Ltd.,
which is a subsidiary of Mushroom Co., Ltd.
Caterina Mushroom is the company dormitory,
and since it's close to work, employees can live there for free.
My job is to walk around the back alleys every day
and compile my observations into articles.
And the articles I write every day are collected before I know it.
I've never met them, but it seems the manager comes by in person.
For some reason, they are apparently called the Section Chief.
"You always write such boring articles! Mushroom."
Along with that message, a mushroom is left as payment.
I live off these mushrooms.
I would be happy if there were matsutake mushrooms sometimes,
but rarely, it's Kinoko no Yama.
I like them, so I don't mind.
Let's get back to the back alleys.
It's crowded with people now,
but I heard it was a ghost town three years ago.
Since it has started to take more time to explore,
I've recently started working from early in the morning.
As I was walking around this morning as usual,
I found a shop with a sign I hadn't seen before.
I wonder if it's a shop that opened recently.
The plain sign simply said "Be New".
I don't know what kind of shop it is,
and it's probably grammatically incorrect, too.
I usually only go into shops I'm familiar with,
but I wanted to write a new article,
and the shop name intrigued me, so I decided to open the door.
Clang.
When I opened the door, the cave-like shop, about 10 tatami mats in size, had
three rows of long benches arranged inside.
On the walls, many photographs with the names of mountains
were displayed in frames.
An elderly gentleman in a gray suit was sitting on the front bench,
and there was no one who looked like a shop clerk.
to be seen.
The elderly gentleman looked to be in his 70s at the youngest,
but his physique was sturdy even through his suit,
and his face was tanned pitch black, despite it being June.
Is this a tanning salon?
As I wondered about this and hesitated to ask the old gentleman,
the old gentleman turned around and opened his mouth.
"Are you also going to climb the mountain?"
Huh! Is this Mr. Yamaya's shop?
According to the elderly gentleman,
people visit the summit of a mountain without fail
after they are born into this world.
However,
I remember climbing a famous mountain in Shikoku when I was in elementary school,
but I certainly have no memory of being taken to climb one
right after I was born,
nor have I ever heard of it from my parents.
The elderly gentleman continued.
As a man grows into an adult,
he aims for that summit.
And even now, at 78 years old,
he continues to climb new summits.
In a passionate tone,
"For my whole life, I will pursue the Twin Peaks!"
Then,
a man in a black suit appeared from behind the curtain
at the back of the cave-styled shop.
It seems to be a shop clerk.
“Customer requesting Mont Blanc, thank you for waiting!”
The old gentleman disappeared behind the curtain.
Then the man in the black suit told me this.
“Who is your request?”
I looked around at the photos of mountain peaks hanging on the wall,
and after careful consideration, I replied like this.
Everest, please!
After a 30-minute wait, I was shown to the back.
"Be New"
There, I found a man's romantic ideal.
My apologies to all the gentlemen and ladies🙇♂️
This back-alley story is
a work of fiction based on my imagination
using the image by Akira Yamane that I used in yesterday's header.
Last night, Tiko-san said
that she would appear in my dreams, so I was excited,
but when I woke up in the middle of the night, I remembered that Tiko-san was being held in custody.
Thank you for reading until the end😊
I borrowed the obi from Itsuki-san
and the stamp from MINA.M-san.
Thank you as always.
Well then, have a great weekend✨
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#LivelyObi
#DoesItEvenMatter