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DRAWN MOCHI VOLUME 1 CHAPTER 1.1: A DRAWN MOCHI TURNED INTO A REAL MOCHI
T/N: So, things to remember:
“ A/N: ” are the author’s notes, and
“ T/N: ” are the translator’s notes that may or may not include useful information. Sometimes I make comments because I just cannot help it.
The perspective is usually the main character’s unless you see this “ ~___’s Perspective~ ” and tells you who’s perspective it is.
If you see “italicized texts”, it means that it is in the third-person perspective. However, it is usually only for short sections. So, enjoy.
On the day that summer vacation was approaching, I stopped by an art supply store on my way home from school and went straight to my teacher’s house. I went to my teacher’s house to drop off the art supplies I had just bought. And to paint a picture.
I unpacked the paints I had bought with my lunch money this week and went to the canvas.
…I do an oil painting for the first time that day.
I’ve only just started getting money for lunch since I started high school, so I can finally afford to buy oil paints and other art supplies.
All through junior high school, I drew pictures using only pencils. My teacher once tried to buy me some art supplies, but I refused because I felt too bad about it. I was renting a room in their house, and I couldn’t cause him any more trouble.
So, the only art materials I can use are a pencil, which I insist on using as a writing implement, and a notebook that was given to me at school (i.e., my parents don’t know it exists). The backs of unwanted prints. The ground uses a tree branch. The concrete floor and rainwater. In those kinds of places.
…And then I went to high school, and “as many art supplies as I could buy with the 2,500 yen I was given for lunch for the week” was added to my belongings.
It is not free. But it was surprisingly fun.
At first, it was just colored pencils and drawing paper, but then I started buying a set of watercolor tools. The watercolors I used at elementary school were thrown away… so I bought a new set. I learned for the first time that there was paper for watercolor painting. The art supply store that my teacher showed me was full of things I didn’t know, and I enjoyed just being there.
After coming up with the idea of buying art supplies with my lunch money, I slowly began to get my tools together. After the watercolor tools, I bought some acrylic paints. I was going to buy back the ones I used in middle school.
And then… now I’m finally working with oil paints.
First, an easel. Then the canvas. I bought brushes and palettes, then oil, and then today I bought paints.
I’ve always wanted to try oil painting… I was interested in it because I had never used it before, and moreover, I had always admired oil painting when I saw people in the art clubs at my junior high school and the high school, I just entered this year painting in oil.
“Oh. I see you finally have everything you need, even the paints.” (Teacher)
When I was struggling with oil paints and just an old art book and reference book in hand, my teacher appeared.
My teacher was an adult who was different from my parents and the people at school.
He never got angry when I was painting.
Not only did he not get angry with me, but he lent me a room in his house as a place to stay. He even pulled out his old art textbooks and reference books and lent them to me. My textbooks have been thrown away, so I have been drawing pictures using the old textbooks he lent me.
“Tougo. Did you hold back on your lunch money again?” (Teacher)
“Yes.” (Tougo)
He laughed, a deep belly laugh. This was always the same conversation. But he never stopped me.
“Seriously, you’re doing pretty well, right? But unfortunately, human beings are creatures that die if they don’t eat.” (Teacher)
He then placed a cup of barley tea and a plate of re-heated mochi in front of me.
“These are leftovers from last New Year’s, but they are a great source of energy. It’s mostly carbohydrates. If you don’t not hate it, eat it. And contribute to the consumption of mochi in my house.” (Teacher)
“I will, thank you.” (Tougo)
Sometimes I get more “energy source” at my teacher’s house. I was so embarrassed that he had to lend me a room in his house, have me stay there, let me leave my belongings, and even receive food, but I couldn’t help it, because my teacher does not like mochis. Unless I eat it, mochi will never disappear from this house.
And there are soumen noodles. My teacher cooks some and makes me eat all of it, saying with a sullen look on his face, “They sent them to me again this year.” He doesn’t seem to like somen. While I was eating somen, he was sipping mentsuyu [A/N: a Japanese noodle soup base] . It’s definitely bad for his health, but I don’t stop him. Since, even when I skip lunch, he doesn’t stop me, so I don’t stop him when he drinks mentsuyu. That’s the kind of relationship we have.
“And you should also eat your vitamins. We have a good harvest this year. Thanks to you.” (Teacher)
He then placed a plate of cherry tomatoes in front of me. These tomatoes are from the field behind our house. I know because I help take care of them.
On the plate, which was not that big, there were more than ten cherry tomatoes piled up.
…I looked at the little pile of red tomatoes, but I stopped eating them.
“Oh, Togo, you don’t any? You don’t dislike tomatoes, do you?” (Teacher)
“I don’t dislike them.” (Tougo)
I put the ceramic plate with the small tomatoes on the table next to the canvas.
“I want to draw.” (Tougo)
My teacher laughed. He laughed happily and loudly.
“Hahaha, yes, yes. I won’t stop you. Just make sure you eat it after you draw it. It is an important part of our culture that those who helped enjoy the food.” (Teacher)
“I will.” (Tougo)
While I started sketching, he sat down on a chair and looked at me.
“…It is said that human beings are creatures that die if they don’t eat, but on the other hand, there are also human beings who can die without eating, even in the presence of food. I almost do it myself sometimes.” (Teacher)
He said that and laughed again.
“I’m sure you are like that, too. Even if you were about to die, you wouldn’t be able to stop drawing.” (Teacher)
“Yes.” (Tougo)
That’s pretty much other’s nature. Like my teacher, I am too.
“I won’t stop.” (Tougo)
Even if I was stopped, and scolded, all my tools were thrown away… Even if it was of no purpose, I still draw.
“Even if I die, I will not stop drawing.” (Tougo)
Volume 1: Even if I Die, I Will Not Stop Drawing
I woke up in a daze. I felt like I was dreaming about something, but I couldn’t remember what. I’ve heard that dreams are a way of organizing memories, and I wonder if forgetting them means that I’ve completed the process of organizing my memories.
“…I had a dream about the past, but I had forgotten something, maybe I had not yet completed sorting out my memories.” (Tougo)
But when I woke up, I understood.
Maybe, I was not done sorting through my memories. If anything, it’s more than a dream. However, my memories are completely foggy.
I’ve never seen a forest like this. Where am I?
The forest was a real forest. Everywhere was all forest.
Looking up, I could hear the leaves rustling and shaking. The countless leaves on the branches were green in the sunlight. The sunlight falling through the leaves shone on the fluffy soil characteristic of the forest.
…This, I wonder where I am.
There is no forest like this near my house. I live in a high-rise apartment near the train station, so there is no such a spacious forest in my neighborhood.
Does this mean that someone carried me here while I was sleeping? What for? Or am I a sleepwalker and came here on my own? But it’s a strange place to have come on foot. There is no place like this within walking distance.
…So… where was I before I came here in the first place? Was I really at home?
Anyway, something is wrong with this. Something is definitely wrong happening.
But… well, okay. I don’t think I’ll get anywhere thinking about it here.
Let’s walk for now. I think it’s okay to start thinking about it.
I walked. And on my first step, I noticed that I was wearing normal shoes.
They were the shoes I wear to school. And when I took a closer look, I saw that I was wearing my school uniform. Black pants and a white shirt. And my school jacket. All of them were nothing out of the ordinary.
Well, whenever I’m wearing clothes that aren’t school uniforms, I’m almost always in my pajamas, so it was daytime before I came to this forest…
…Well, okay. At any rate, I’m glad I’m not completely naked.
After walking about 100 steps, I noticed some plants.
“So many plants I’ve never seen before…” (Tougo)
What does it mean that I found a lot of plants that I have never seen before just after walking 100 steps?
This is a big deal. It is strange no matter how I think about it.
There are strange plants growing here that don’t seem to be in any of the botanical books. If this were not a dream, it might be treated as the great discovery of the century.
Inside the bell-shaped flower, which looks like it is made of milk-colored glass, there is a ball that glows like a miniature light bulb, like a lamp. If someone had said, “This is some desk lamp.” I would have understood, but this thing is growing out of the ground.
Some of them are like giant mushrooms, rock-hard. If someone said, “This is a desk here,” that would also make sense. What are they made of? Stone? At least it feels completely different from shiitake mushrooms and king oyster mushrooms…
Also, a toy-like flower that starts dancing when something makes a sound. What was it, a Flower Rock ‘n’ Roll [T/N: It’s a real toy] ? There was a real flower version of that. They dance to the sound around them. Flowers. They’re dancing.
…No matter how I look at it, it’s strange.
I don’t know what to say, I’m not talking about the level of “I found myself in a strange place” or “Maybe I’m sleepwalking” or something like that.
Could it be that I was sent to another world?