People Who Talk to Stuffed Animals Are Nice by Ao Omae

Author:Ao Omae
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

The two of them played Smash Bros. It was the GameCube version. Mugito had taken her big brother’s copy from their parents’ house without asking.

That reminds me—was she going to do an extra year?

“No, I think I can just pick up the credits I missed next year, I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, I see. Huh. So you can just pick up the credits.”

“I’ll try taking the finals, too. Thanks for the notes.”

They both spoke without thinking too hard. They kept their eyes on the screen and manipulated their controllers at blistering speeds. They were fighting and did want to beat the other, but more than that, they were happy to be locked in this competitive battle dance. Each moment was burned into Nanamori’s retinas faster than he could think the words, It’s so pretty. For some reason, this happiness made him wish he had been born much further in the future. In the far-flung future when society is embedded in a kindness where no one gets hurt.

The two of them could stay wordless for any number of hours on end. A silence between comfortable companions wasn’t a problem to begin with, but filtered through their enthusiasm, it began to gleam. Basking in that light, impressed or dejected in turn, they ended up playing Smash for five hours. For the last hour, Mugito must have noticed that Nanamori felt sad about leaving, and they both checked the time on their phones every few minutes, loath to say goodbye.

But Nanamori thought it would be better not to make this day anything special.

“I’m gonna head home.”

As soon as he said it, he rushed out of her room.

When he entered the hallway, Mugito said, See you, and stood waving at the door forever, but he thought she would get cold waiting like that, so he opted not to wave back as he headed home.

The temperature outside was subzero. His body had been suffused with the warmth of the heater, so he was dizzy for a little while as the cold settled on top of him and the heat left. There was no one on the shopping street. It was the kind of silence that would improve a person’s concentration, at least until they got too cold. Nanamori stuffed Ghost inside his scarf to warm up. He veered a little north to go to the grounds of Shokoku-ji Temple and tried talking to the stuffed animal.

“I felt pretty awful listening to Mugito’s story. Really, I wanted to cry. I felt as bad as Mugito did, like her feelings were my own. Is that empathy, I guess? Is it important? I think it is. But I end up thinking that it’s just me going out of my way to get hurt. Maybe I just want to be able to tell myself that I’m not aggressive. If I’m hurting, I couldn’t be one of the bad ones. The thought that maybe I get hurt to make things easier on myself makes me feel even worse. But you know, I said I wanted us to share everything with each other, so who cares if I feel bad? I’m privileged.

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