The night had grown deep.
Tsushima Kagami sat on the living-room sofa, his phone still pressed to his ear.
From beyond the window came the occasional sound of a car passing in the distance — unusually clear against the quiet of the night.
"So — sales just suddenly stopped in the afternoon?"
His tone was calm, betraying no emotion.
On the other end of the line, Kobayashi Tomoaki's voice sounded weary, with a hint of helplessness.
"Yes. Twenty thousand copies were snapped up in half a morning — the whole editorial department was beside itself with joy."
"Then we put another forty thousand on the shelves in the afternoon, and so far only a little over three thousand have moved…"
He paused.
"Kagami-kun, aren't you worried?"
Tsushima Kagami leaned back against the cushions and reached out to take the hot cocoa Yukinoshita Shizuku had brewed and handed him.
After flashing her a smile, he went on speaking into the phone.
"Not worried."
"Why not?"
"Because…"
No Longer Human, as Dazai Osamu's posthumous work, had gradually earned widespread recognition after his death — though it did not immediately become a bestseller in its early days.
After its publication in 1948, the book's sales were unremarkable. It was not until the late 1950s and into the 1960s — when it was incorporated into Japanese middle-school curricula and repeatedly adapted for film and television — that it became enduringly popular.
Coupled with the line "Born a human, I am sorry," which spread like wildfire across the internet in later generations, the book had experienced repeated revivals at Todai.
As of recent years, No Longer Human had sold over ten million copies in Japan alone, making it one of the most influential works in the history of Japanese literature.
From this it could be seen that, while the book might not have been the kind of novel one fell in love with at first glance, it was without a doubt one of the most lingering, slow-burning works ever written.
Even if its sales in this parallel world wouldn't match those of his previous world, they certainly wouldn't be poor.
Tsushima Kagami thought for a moment, the corners of his mouth lifting faintly.
"In short — I have a great deal of confidence in this novel. That's all there is to it."
Kobayashi Tomoaki was momentarily at a loss for words.
It was true — every work Kagami-kun had produced during this stretch was a masterpiece, without exception.
Even great writers who had been famous for years couldn't necessarily turn out such work when their inspiration ran thin.
And yet Kagami-kun, incredibly, managed to produce one such work, reliably, every single month.
Of course he would have that kind of confidence — nothing could be more natural.
Besides, judging by the morning's sales there was nothing wrong at all — it was the afternoon's situation that was the anomaly.
It was precisely for that reason that Kobayashi Tomoaki had deliberately set aside time after work to phone Tsushima Kagami — wanting to see what kind of reaction the man would have on hearing that his own book had suddenly gone stagnant.
What he hadn't expected was that Kagami-kun would show not the slightest trace of worry — only boundless confidence.
"Editor-in-Chief Kobayashi, did your afternoon discussion produce any conclusions?"
Having heard Kobayashi Tomoaki's account, Tsushima Kagami had grown curious as to what the editors back at the department made of this strange slump.
Kobayashi Tomoaki was silent for a few seconds, then went on to recount the afternoon's discussion in full.
"We spent the whole afternoon talking it over."
"Everyone agreed unanimously — the problem isn't with the quality of the book."
"It's that…"
He paused, seeming to gather his words.
"It's that the book is too honest. Honest to the point of splitting open every one of its darkest sides and laying them out right in front of the reader."
"It's a way of writing almost never seen — not in pure literature, nor in popular fiction."
"And so readers encountering this kind of story, this kind of protagonist for the first time, need time to digest it."
He relayed to Tsushima Kagami everything that had been said in the editorial department.
Tsushima Kagami listened in silence.
"So."
Kobayashi Tomoaki said at last.
"So we've decided to wait and see for another day or two."
"Give the readers a little time to digest."
Tsushima Kagami nodded — though the other party couldn't see it.
"You're right, Editor-in-Chief Kobayashi."
"I also think the readers may need some time to digest it."
The two exchanged a few more words, then hung up.
The living room fell quiet once more.
Tsushima Kagami sat there with the phone in his hand.
He looked over at Yukinoshita Shizuku, seated beside him — she had picked up the copy of Shinchō and was reading the part of No Longer Human she hadn't finished during the day, while idly stroking Yukino with her other hand.
Yukinoshita Shizuku, too, became aware of Tsushima Kagami's gaze.
Only then did she lift her head and glance at him.
"What is it?"
She lowered her head again, her eyes returning to the page.
"Editor-in-Chief Kobayashi called just now?"
"Mm."
"What did he say?"
Tsushima Kagami summarized briefly what had been said over the phone.
Yukinoshita Shizuku listened, then was silent for a while.
"So — the afternoon's sales suddenly tanked?"
"That's right."
"You're not worried?"
"After all, it concerns the future print royalties — and Shimizu Nayotake and her mother."
"What's there to be worried about?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku nodded, as though she, too, had taken his confidence at his word.
Tsushima Kagami looked at her — at the way she had returned, still, to her book, with the air of someone who couldn't be bothered with him.
It seemed Yukinoshita Shizuku really did like this book too.
And so, curious, he asked,
"How far have you read?"
Yukinoshita Shizuku turned a page.
"The Third Notebook."
She paused.
"The part where Oba Yozo… meets Yoshiko."
Tsushima Kagami nodded but said nothing.
Then Yukinoshita Shizuku suddenly spoke.
"Kagami."
"Hm?"
"Tell me — this man, Oba Yozo…"
She set the magazine down on her lap, raised her head, and looked at Tsushima Kagami.
"Why doesn't he resist?"
Tsushima Kagami looked back at her.
There was a kind of earnest bewilderment in Yukinoshita Shizuku's eyes.
"Look — when he was bullied as a child, all he could do was clown around to win people over."
"When he grew up and was being used by someone like Horiki, he didn't even know how to say no."
"When Yoshiko was violated, he just stood there watching — did nothing…"
Her brow furrowed faintly.
"He clearly had so many chances to make a different choice."
"But he just… he just…"
She couldn't find the right word.
"Drifted with the current?"
Tsushima Kagami filled it in for her.
"Yes — drifted with the current."
Yukinoshita Shizuku nodded.
"Runs from anything that happens, wants to kill himself the moment something doesn't go his way."
"There are so many possibilities open to him so long as he's alive — and yet he can't see a single one of them."
She lowered her head and gazed at the magazine in her hands.
"I don't understand."
Tsushima Kagami said nothing, only watched her quietly.
After a while, Yukinoshita Shizuku spoke again.
"You know — back when Father jumped from that building…"
Her voice grew softer.
"I kept asking myself — why do people kill themselves?"
"Just what kind of pain could make a person stop fearing even death?"
"But for me, Father's death…"
"…was no less terrible than the fear Father must have felt as he went to meet his."
She paused.
She lifted her head and looked at Tsushima Kagami.
"But isn't being alive a good thing?"
The rims of her eyes had gone a little red, though no tears fell.
"I know life is bitter. I know there are times when it feels unbearable. I know some people have suffered things a hundred times worse than what Oba Yozo went through."
"But as long as you're alive, there's still hope."
"As long as your family is still together, you can still try to find a way through, together."
"As long as…"
She paused.
"As long as I can still see you — being alive feels truly good."
"Maybe that's naïve. Maybe it sounds taken for granted."
"But after finishing your No Longer Human, I keep feeling, more and more clearly…"
"Running away and killing yourself are the most cowardly things a person can do!"
"It reminded me of that old saying they have at Todai — that eight or nine of every ten things in life don't go your way."
"And another that goes — better to drag out a wretched life than to die a noble death."
Tsushima Kagami sat there stunned.
He reached out and gently stroked her head.
"Shizuku."
"Mm?"
"You're right."
Yukinoshita Shizuku looked up at him and blinked.
"Really?"
"Really."
Tsushima Kagami said it earnestly.
"What's more — the fact that you can think this way means you've truly understood this book."
Yukinoshita Shizuku paused, caught off guard.
"What do you mean?"
Tsushima Kagami drew his hand back and sat shoulder to shoulder with her.
"The heart of this book is not to make people feel sorry for Oba Yozo."
"Even less is it to make people empathize with him."
"It's to make people loathe him."
Yukinoshita Shizuku looked at him.
"Loathe his retreating, loathe his running away, loathe that defeatist streak that has him wanting to die at the first sign of trouble."
Tsushima Kagami went on.
"When everyone rejects the choices Oba Yozo makes — when everyone thinks, 'I don't ever want to become like that' —"
He turned his head and looked at Yukinoshita Shizuku.
"— then they have, unconsciously, rejected suicide as well: that bleakest of all solutions."
Yukinoshita Shizuku sat frozen.
She bent her head over the magazine in her hands, at those tightly packed rows of words, and the fragments she had read just moments before suddenly flickered through her mind.
So this book wasn't asking people to pity Yozo.
It was asking them to loathe that part of themselves which resembled him.
It was making them not want to become Yozo.
It was for those people who had ever harbored thoughts like Yozo's.
To give them a reason to keep on living.
To let those struggling at the bottom of the abyss look upon Yozo's despair — and then say:
I do not want to become like this.
I will go on living.
____
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