Popcorn needs time to pop.

When popcorn pops. 《Yagi-san》
This is a review article for that.

It may be insensitive, but I thought "this is well-written" many times. However, what remained after I finished reading wasn't jealousy of the writing skill.

"Grief needs time."

It was such a simple, obvious thing that I had overlooked.

Popcorn cannot be eaten immediately after harvest. It must be dried for a month. If you rush and put it over the fire, it won't pop properly.

When I realized that this fact, mentioned casually in the first half of the work, served as the blueprint for the entire story by the end, I couldn't hold back my tears.

Three years have passed since the author received the news of their friend's death. The author has kept the location of the temple saved on Google Maps, but has been unable to go there.

They could have gone if they wanted to.

But they didn't.

No, surely, they couldn't.

Although the red pin on Google Maps is a feature to ensure you don't forget your destination, it begins to take on a slightly different meaning in this work.

That red pin is a mark of a "place that has not yet been accepted."

On the map, it guides you to your destination, but your heart still cannot reach it. That kind of time had continued for three years.

The day they finally visited.

The memories they had suppressed burst forth all at once.

Here, for the first time, the "popcorn" in the title overlaps with the human heart.

Popping is not an explosion. It is about finally being able to come out after taking enough time.

I don't think this is a piece about a friend's death. It is a piece about the day when those left behind can finally accept that grief.

The scene at the end where the family eats popcorn leaves a deep impression.

Just because a sad event has occurred, life does not stop there. Eating bread, watching a movie, laughing with children, and stuffing one's cheeks with popcorn. It is only within those daily activities that people can move forward.

"Somehow or other, I just have to keep living."

That one sentence is everything about this work.

After reading to the end, I looked back at the title once more.

"When the popcorn pops."

In this work, popcorn pops many times.

Inside the frying pan.

Inside memories.

And inside the heart of the author, who stood still in front of a red pin on Google Maps for three years.

It takes time to pop.

Because the author wrote about that time itself, this work is so quiet and so warm.

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