Walking back from visiting the family grave during spring Higan, Kopo and Minico ate dumplings as they went.
“Were our ancestors cool, you think?”
“Who knows,” Minico said, turning his skewer . “Maybe they were clumsy , like you, big brother.”
“…I’m not clumsy.”
“You knocked over the flowers when we set them out.”
“That was the wind.”
“Three times.”
Kopo finished off a dumpling in one bite. It was sweet. From between the still-hard cherry buds , a hint of spring hung in the air.
“But even clumsy, they still managed to make it all the way here, huh.”
Minico said it quietly.
Kopo looked down at his feet. Beyond the railroad crossing, he could see the road along the weeping cherry-lined river.
“…Maybe so.”
The two small shadows stretched long across the evening stones.
Margin note: That night, Kopo carefully re-arranged, in his mind, the flowers he’d knocked over at the grave.
【Today’s Drop】
- Spring Higan (the seven days centered on the Vernal Equinox): A Japanese custom of visiting ancestors’ graves. In 2026, it runs from March 17 to 23.
This is an English translation of “帰り道の団子”, part of Tales of Amencho Town (蛙鳴町奇譚).