"Dreaming Without Keys" by Mizuki Tsujimura

Winner of the 147th Naoki Prize.
I often think about what a wide range Mizuki Tsujimura has as an author.

She has heartwarming works set in schools and workplaces like "Lonely Castle in the Mirror," "Anime Supremacy!," and "God of Slow Heights," but she also has thrilling works like "Zero, Eight, Zero, Seven" and "Blind Love and Friendship" that extract and depict the raw emotions and human aspects of women.

"Dreaming Without Keys" falls into the latter category,
and I read it in a flash, nodding and groaning to myself the whole time.

I wonder why women are so drawn to such hopeless men. While I think that, I also feel like I understand the feeling of being pulled in by the kindness they show when they slip into the gaps in your heart, or by a suspicious charm that makes them a little different from everyone else. This exquisite balance makes it impossible to just dismiss the protagonists as "completely hopeless," and I almost find myself feeling a faint sense of empathy. That is what makes it scary. And interesting.

It is a collection of short stories featuring people in various situations.
Married people, unmarried people, children, mothers.
They were all interesting, but personally, "Arson in the Tsuwabuki Minami District" left a strong impression on me.
It is a story about a woman who reunites at an arson scene with a dull man she met at a group date. The way feelings about marriage in one's 30s, the eyes of those around you, and the intertwining of self-consciousness, ideals, and reality are depicted is very realistic.
The feeling of peeking into someone's heart is something unique to Tsujimura's works.

It was very good. And it reminded me once again that she is an author whose other works I want to read one after another.