Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
Chapter 4 â Persuading Mother Enami\nVolume 2\n<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nâWhy are you sleeping there?â\n\n
I said it. I ended up saying it. I felt that I had to ask at least once, even though I would withdraw it as soon as I saw any sign of trouble.\n\n
âWhat do you mean?â\n
âThis is a small place, and I donât think itâs an appropriate place to sleep. If youâre not feeling well, I think youâd be better off somewhere more relaxingâŠâ\n\n
Essentially, this space is just a space set aside for pulling up a chair. You canât even tell she was there unless you look over the table, and more importantly, itâs not very hygienic. Considering the fact that there was garbage piled up all around here, it was a small space surrounded by a wall of garbage.\n
Not much air from the air conditioner could reach here. What on earth was she doing here?\n
Unlike what I had imagined, Mother Enamiâs mood was not dampened.\n\n
âThatâs not the case. Everyone feels at home in different places. Itâs just that this is the optimal place for me.â\n
âOptimal..â\n
âThatâs right. I like it here.â\n\n
As her health improved, her tone of voice became clearer. Her hair was shaggy, but she looked young for the mother of a high school girl.\n\n
âWere you staying here before the fever started?â\n
âItâs not like I moved here because I got a fever or anything.â\n
âFor how long? for yearsâŠ?â\n\n
Finally, there was a change in Mother Enami. I saw it several times, the stopping of time. I must not go any further.\n\n
âNo, itâs nothing.â\n\n
Itâs like a switch being turned on and off. Once the switch is turned on, something strange happens, but if you press it again, it returns to normal. It seems that the switch is in the past after all. Just knowing that is enough for me.\n\n
âIsnât cleaning a nuisance?â\n\n
If it was only garbage, Mother Enami would not complain. It seems that some of the trash that had been stored until yesterday had already been collected, and she did not particularly resist.\n\n
ââWhy? It wasnât a nuisance. Weâre better off without garbage.â\n
âYes, thatâs true. Sorry for asking a strange question.â\n\n
The things weâve thrown away so far have been recognized as garbage. If thatâs the case, it means that the broken furniture was not considered garbage. If someone throws away something that is not garbage without permission, it may be natural to be angry.\n
This person has her own rules. It doesnât mean that there is anything wrong with that.\n
A personâs perception is not absolute. Every human being perceives a world that is different from reality, just as we use words to lump together things that are made up of small molecules.\n
We must not just deny it.\n\n
âBut how did you end up hoarding so much?â\n
âBecause I didnât throw it away.â\n
âWhy?â\n
âBecause there was no point in throwing it away. Thereâs always garbage. Besides, if she really wanted to throw it away, that girl would have done something about it.â\n\n
For better or worse, she wasnât interested in throwing it away or keeping it.\n\n
âBut if you keep the trash around for a long time, it will smell and bugs will come out. In fact, some of the garbage was covered with insects.â\n
âThatâs rightâ\n
âBut, the reason it didnât reach the worst level was that Enami-san took care of it from time to time?â\n
âWell, yes, she did come here from time to time. Iâm not sure if she wanted to talk to me or not, but she would leave immediately. She was the one who gave me my food also.â\n
âI see. Didnât you want to do something about it?â\n
âI told you before, didnât I?ăGarbage comes out. No matter what you do, it always comes out. Even if you throw it away, it accumulates. Whatâs the point in throwing it away?â\n\n
Gradually, I couldnât understand what Mother Enami was saying.\n\n
âWhen you live, you consume something. When we consume something, something we donât need comes out. People call it garbage. There is a lot of garbage generated every day. No matter how much you throw away, you will never get rid of all the garbage. Then, you donât need to do it anyway. Because it doesnât matter. You donât pay attention to the unimportant things in your daily life, do you? Every time you take a step, do you think about whether or not ants are living underneath?ăYouâd go crazy if you had to pay attention to that. Thatâs why people divide their lives into two categories: things they do care about and things they donât care about. Isnât this the same thing?â\n
âThatâs right, isnât it? So, for Enami-sanâs mother, it didnât really matter, did it?â\n
âThatâs right.â\n\n
Even if there was a strange smell or an insect, she recognized that it was not important enough to pay attention to. Even if one didnât care about stepping on an ant, they would if it was a larger creature. A normal human being would want to avoid them, but for those who canât think of a good enough reason to go to the trouble of avoiding them, it might be judged as futile.\n
There are people in the world who live in garbage houses. They accumulate so much trash that their yards are overflowing with it, and they get complaints from their neighbors. The people who are interviewed on TV say the opposite. They say that there is nothing that they donât need.\n\n
So, this person is different from those people. Maybe this person was not interested in the current reality.\n\n
<hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide">\nTN: Double chapters today as well.. This sure takes me back.\n\n