Even though it was Sugar Day, Sonchō didn’t put any sugar in his tea.
“I want it to stay bitter today.”
Kopo sat down beside him and peered into the teacup.
“Why? Don’t you hate bitter?”
“I used to like it. But just for today, I want to remember the bitterness.”
The March morning air still held a bit of a chill. On the stones of the plaza , the last thin traces of winter lay faintly white.
“Did something happen?”
Sonchō looked up at the sky. It was blue. Endlessly blue, an almost unbelievable blue.
“It was long ago. On a night under this same color of sky, a great fire, in a city far away—”
Kopo fell silent.
The two of them looked at the same sky for a while.
“…Should I put some sugar in for you?”
“Just a little longer, bitter is fine.”
Margin note: That day, without telling anyone, Sonchō pressed his hands together by the edge of the pond.
【Today’s Drop】
- Great Tokyo Air Raid Memorial (March 10): In the early hours of March 10, 1945, U.S. forces conducted a massive bombing raid on Tokyo. An estimated 100,000 people are believed to have died in a single night.
- Sugar Day: A wordplay anniversary from “3 (sa) 10 (tou).”
This is an English translation of “苦い砂糖”, part of Tales of Amencho Town (蛙鳴町奇譚).