The Fresh Green of Mount Aoba and the Vanishing Footsteps

This is a dialogic narrative based on historical events. A grandfather, a witness to the 1950 Tohoku University Eells Incident, passes down the silent memory of his turbulent youth to his grandson, Ritsu, in the year 2026.

Episode 2: The Vanishing Footsteps

"That night, we were in a dark clubroom, laying the stencil sheet over the mimeograph file, clutching this very stylus."

My grandfather pointed a slender, fragile finger at the rusted stylus in my hand.

"Gari, gari... The sound of the iron tip scraping the wax, the faint vibration catching on the grid of the file—it felt as though it was echoing directly in my skull."

Under the light of a single bare bulb in the darkness, the pungent smell of black printing ink mixed with the hot breath of my comrades.

"Defend academic freedom."

With every letter we carved, we believed without a doubt that we were moving history, shaping the future.

But on the morning of May 2, 1950, reality shattered with a deafening roar.

When it was discovered that the university president had concealed Dr. Eells' visit, the lecture hall at Tohoku University instantly erupted into shouting and swirling heat.

Over six hundred students packed the room, their fervor seemingly scorching the ceiling.

On the stage stood Dr. Eells, wearing a cold, almost pitying smile.

"He"—my closest friend—was the first to rush the stage, reaching out for the doctor's microphone.

"Hey! Come on, you too!"

When he spun around, his eyes held the same straight, piercing light they had under the bare bulb in our clubroom.

And yet, I couldn't move.

The moment the shadows of uniformed police officers appeared at the entrance of the lecture hall, the blood drained completely from my fingertips.

"If I get caught here, my life is over."

Consumed by that damp, clinging terror, I let the flyers in my hand slip to the floor and took a step back, melting into the crowd.

That was the last time I ever saw him.

In the days that followed, fourteen students, including him, were expelled or suspended, taken away by the police.

The footsteps of the friends who had been laughing beside me just yesterday vanished abruptly from the streets, from the campus.

I chose silence. I survived by pretending to be an ordinary, quiet student, as if nothing had ever happened.

Afterword & Next Episode

Thank you for reading Episode 2.

The overwhelming fervor that filled the lecture hall that day, and the fateful choice of the grandfather who fled the moment he saw the shadows of the police.

Leaving behind the vanishing footsteps of his comrades, how did he walk through his subsequent successful life and meet the grandmother?

In Episode 3, the grandfather will speak of his life as a man, and the deep love of the grandmother who embraced his wounds entirely.

📖 Next Chapter:https://note.com/ttukumoo/n/n86da5d05d18a
📖Previous Chapter:https://note.com/ttukumoo/n/n1e6a61f9b48a
🌐OriginalJapanesehere:https://note.com/juicy_laelia8513/n/n6802331b0400

"Thank you so much for reading to the very end!"💗