Tsucchi's "Taiko Kidan" 29th episode | Short story "Arekara..." Episode 2

～Since then...～ Episode 2

"Dad? Are you okay? Are you sick?"

Startled, I finally looked away from the screen of my smartphone, which was blacked out in sleep mode.

"No, it's okay. I got a call from an old acquaintance, and I was surprised. Let's go."

My daughter sat down next to me, looking a little relieved, but also a little surprised.
It takes about an hour to drive from Tokyo to the cemetery where my parents and wife are buried, and when I was working, it took about 40 minutes because the Shuto Expressway ran through it, but now most of that Shuto Expressway has disappeared. Thanks to this, central Tokyo has become a much cleaner and brighter city.
Thanks to the state of emergency declared for the new coronavirus, which has continued since 2020, all office workers have been forced to telework, and there is no longer any point in having a company in the city center.All companies are scattered to rural areas, and many have started to set up small headquarters in the hometowns of their founders. Thanks to this, tax revenues have increased for local governments, and as a result, the city has become more vibrant as many young families are moving to the city center.
A few hours a day, I sit at my desk, hit the keyboard, and have an online meeting, and then I'm done. Other than that, I go out to the fields with my children and wife and do creative work that is both a hobby and a profit.
An ideal life was unfolding in local cities around the world.
On the other hand, in central Tokyo, people who were born and raised here also live here and have created a unique culture. High-rise buildings that have lost their storefronts due to office move-outs are being demolished one by one, and are being turned into hourly parking lots.However, thanks to the decrease in traffic in Tokyo, there are always parking areas on the shoulders of major routes, and since they are all free, there is no reason for anyone to bother using paid parking lots.
As a result, the cold, ugly high-rise buildings made of steel and glass that had been built like bamboo shoots after the rain since the 1990s disappeared one after another, and their ruins became prime real estate with no one to take them, and within six months they would become wastelands overgrown with weeds.
This is where the Tokyo-born Edo kids come into play.
Although no one asked me to do this, I feel uncomfortable having a vacant lot in the town where I live. In this day and age, many working people in Marunouchi have long since hung up their suits and are devoting themselves to farming, the primary industry, on vacant land. Digging with the soil is a skill. So each of them used their own skills and materials to plant trees, create a pond, and lay a walking path on the site of a vast skyscraper, creating a large park that would welcome not only local residents but also visitors from other parts of the country.
Tokyo had become a major park city and was beginning a new journey.
I looked at the city of Tokyo, which had become completely open, and thought about the fact that he had contacted me. Twenty years ago, the request would have definitely been a request for work, but now I wonder what the request was. It's not like you're going to have a drink for the first time in a while, right? If that's the case, I'll be happy to accept your invitation.
There are still a few bars I'm familiar with, and thankfully I haven't been banned from drinking yet. Of course, drinking too much is prohibited. And wouldn't it be fun if you unexpectedly received a job request?
If I'm still needed, I'm willing to go anywhere. Besides, I still don't feel like my arms have slowed down. I really wanted to accept it.

When I suddenly looked around, the scenery around me had changed to a peaceful one.
A public cemetery located a little further back in Tokorozawa, Saitama will also be open soon.
The temperature inside the car is comfortable. The safety of self-driving cars is also quite reliable.
There is also a driver, but his role is more of a paramedic in case something happens to an old man like me. Of course, he is an excellent young man with a medical license. He is a very gentle and nice young man who always comes to pick me up. Once, I half-seriously said to my daughter, ``If I were to marry someone like that, I'd like to marry someone like that. What do you think?'', but she rolled her eyes and said, ``What are you talking about? She and I are almost twice as old in age, right? It's obvious that she's going to have a hard time in the future. That's impossible.'' The idea was quickly rejected.

"Dad, we're here! The weather is nice! It feels great."

When I got out of the car, a bit of cold wind caressed my cheeks.
It felt a little more autumnal than the city breeze.
I bought my mother and Naomi's favorite flowers at a shop in the middle of the cemetery and walked to the gravestone. There were more people than I expected.
Does this mean it's a good day to visit a grave?
The people who smile and say ``Hello'' or ``Thank you for your hard work'' are strangers.
This would have been unthinkable in this country just 20 years ago, but now...JapanNowadays, it is no longer unusual for people to smile and greet each other when passing each other on the street or anywhere. One reason for this is that people have abandoned SNS. Thanks to the anonymous aggression of social media, the world has finally realized this, at the cost of many precious sacrifices. It still has messenger and other functions, but posts on its homepage are subject to strict filters to prevent slander and abuse, and it has now become a public relations message board for the world government. Most of these include medical support, daily life support, and counseling for higher education.
When they arrive at the grave, they change the water, place flowers, and put their hands together.
When I looked up, I still wasn't used to this, but the deceased was speaking to me from an LCD screen embedded in the tombstone.
The content is derived by AI from the data of the deceased before he or she was alive, and it seems plausible that the person himself would have said it. I'm not used to this. In fact, I don't think I should get used to it. When my wife asks me, ``How are you doing? Are you eating well?'' I simply say ``Yeah'', and she brushes me off with something like ``Another curt response. But I'm glad you're doing well.'' I always feel helpless and quickly walk away from the grave.
My daughter looks at me with a bit of pity.

Come to think of it, back in the days before the coronavirus outbreak, there was a project that used AI to bring back national singers who had died decades ago, had famous lyricists and composers write new songs, and had the AI-powered singers sing and say plausible lines. I felt quite uncomfortable when I saw it, and remembered an article online about a famous singer-songwriter saying it was a desecration of the dead. I feel the same way.
I remember being angry that people's thoughts and creations are not such frivolous and cheap things.

"When you talk to me so realistically, it's hard to believe that Naomi has passed away. I'm sure she'll have a cake waiting for me when I get home, just like she always does."

My daughter must also have a complicated mind.
``I guess this device can't be turned off. I just can't get used to it,'' I said, and my daughter nodded yes, took my hand, and started walking.
We both felt a bit lonely, and we walked for a while in silence with our daughter, admiring the beautiful rows of ginkgo trees that were beginning to change color at the cemetery in early autumn.
Feeling a bit tired, I sat down on a bench, took out a health cigarette from my jacket pocket, and took a puff.
My daughter bought tea from a nearby vending machine and sat next to me.
“Now that I think about it, Dad, you left this in the pocket of the black jacket you took to the dry cleaners the other day. The lady at the dry cleaner took the trouble to deliver it for you.”
After saying that, my daughter handed me the tuning key for my favorite drum.
The drum key is made by a manufacturer in Taiwan and has a yellow grip that was ordered from an old and familiar store called Asakusa Drum City. When you insert the heavy, large key into the drum's tension bolt and turn it slowly, you can feel the subtle changes in the sound gently and reliably at your fingertips.

I like the feel of it, so I've been using this drum key for a long time. At first, I had always been using a ``High Torque Drum Key'' made by an American manufacturer called DW, which had the same shape but had a black grip, but one day, while browsing the shop site of an overseas boutique drum maker, I came across this lovely yellow key and immediately bought it. In the parlance of the time, it was a ``quick hit''.
After that, I used to love using this yellow key, but due to the coronavirus, all my work stopped, and I had fewer opportunities to turn the key. I remember giving one to my only student. He gave a ``Yellow Drum Key of Happiness'' to a student who was feeling depressed due to the coronavirus as a pun to encourage him. I remember how happy my wife and I were when we received delicious tea and a letter of joy from him.
After that, yellow drum keys became popular among my friends as good luck charms, so I asked Drum City to order a small number of them. It took quite a while, but I have fond memories of walking around and distributing what I had obtained to my close friends.
"Dad, let's go now. It's getting cold."
I was brought back to reality by my daughter's voice.
My daughter looked at me worriedly, and I said, ``It's okay, I was just immersed in my memories. Things like that happen more often as I get older.'' My daughter rolled her eyes again, and said, ``No, Dad. You're always immersed in your memories and don't move. You're always worrying about Naomi and grandma. You don't move, you ask, ``Are you really alive?''
The smile on his face as he speaks with a dry laugh hasn't changed at all since he was three years old. It's a reassuring smile. I really feel that my life has been supported by women.
First of all, I am grateful to my mother, then my grandmother and aunts, then my wife, and my two wives. And now she's my daughter.
Once I got into the car, I quickly drove through the suburbs at dusk and was back in Tokyo in no time.
Apparently he was asleep a little.
The facility where I live came into view, and as the car slid onto its facade, it turned into a small to medium sized building.ShaftA robot will greet you.
"Welcome home. Please give me your ID pass."
I held my palm up to the robot's face and a green laser scanned my hand, saying, ``Yes, thank you, I have verified your ID. Let me guide you to your room.''
The automatic door opened and I was about to enter the facility when my daughter said, ``I'm going home now.''
I have work to do, and I'll be back next week, so stay healthy. If you need anything, please contact me via messenger right away," he said, waving his hand. I responded with a smile too.
When I returned to my room, changed into my loungewear, and sat down on the sofa, I remembered the phone call. Come to think of it, I received a message.
When I opened Messenger on my smartphone, I saw an old familiar name there. When you open the main text, it says, “Next month.JapanForce a manned performance at Budokan. I want to reunite my former talented friends and achieve success. Waiting for contact," it said. I put my phone on the table and took a deep breath.
(Forced to hold a manned performance in this day and age...? What moved him so much? It's a big risk. Now, what should he do? Should he refuse? No, he can't do that... If that's the case, should he be prepared to abandon his current life...)
Outside the window, a starry sky that was unimaginable in the old Tokyo sky began to spread out. Knocking on the door is a robot and a human nurse who brought dinner.
The human nurse said, ``How have you been since you've been out for a long time today?Aren't you tired?Let me take your temperature and pulse.''When he held out his left hand, the nurse placed a thermometer on his wrist, and the robot took blood pressure and blood from his index finger.
``It looks like you've been walking a lot tonight, so I made you some meat. You can have a second helping of rice, too.'' I said with a smile as I saw the two of them leave the room, and I thought back to the ``manned performance.''

I found myself unable to stop being excited as I thought that I would be able to experience the same live performance that once made the audience so excited. This seems unlikely to be suppressed.
I picked up the yellow drum key that was next to my smartphone on the table and savored its weight for a moment.

～To be continued...? ~

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Well then, how are you all doing?
It was the second time I read Taiko Kidan in a row that I was inspired by the novel. What did you think? It is now August and a half
These days are extremely hot and extremely hot. In October, when this issue comes out, the colors of autumn are intense.
I'm sure your days will be more enjoyable.
Take a break from the world that has become so tense due to the coronavirus, and read a book or listen to music.
Every day is busy, but work has almost stopped as usual. Sakanaction
Things are slowly starting to move forward with the distribution of...
I'm sure everyone has different situations.
Please take care of yourself.
Peace of mind...
And will this novel continue? lol
We would be happy to hear your thoughts.
See you soon!