Before dawn , Amencho Town lay wrapped in deep fog. March 29th. On a day the calendar marked “Work Uniform Day,” Spice the engineer rolled up the sleeves of his usual coveralls and set to work inspecting the waterway leading to Dragon God’s Lake.
“…Good. This should hold up against the spring floodwaters.”
It was solitary work, caked in mud and oil, with no one around to praise him for it. But in Spice’s eyes was quiet pride in effort accumulated where no one could see.
Just then, from beyond the fog came a sharp sound cutting through the air — “shh, shh.”
Looking over, Kopo was on the muddy ground, desperately practicing footwork steps. His arms and legs trembled , his breathing ragged; not a trace remained of his usual frivolous “I want the girls to squeal over me” attitude.
“Kopo, what are you doing, at a time like this?”
“…Oh, Spice. Well, it’s just — I watched a figure skater and the soccer national team on TV yesterday, and they were amazing. I want to stand, too, in a moment like that — the kind that sets the whole world on fire.”
Kopo leapt again, and fell over gracelessly. Mud smeared his face, but he got right back up.
“But I’ve got nothing. Just a cowardly frog trying to look cool. So… at the very least, I figured I’d fall ten thousand times where nobody’s watching.”
Spice looked back and forth between his own dirty work uniform and Kopo’s mud-covered body.
“…Ichiryu-manbai day, huh.”
“Huh?”
“Today’s supposedly the day one planted seed comes back ten thousandfold. That clumsy fall of yours, too — stack it up ten thousand times, and maybe someday it turns into a real leap.”
Spice, uncharacteristically , let the corner of his mouth lift just slightly.
At that moment, the fog cleared, and the morning sun lit the surface of the lake. By the lake’s edge, Sonchō had taken off his top hat and was quietly offering a prayer. Perhaps the once-reckless adventurer had also crossed countless “mud-caked nights” to arrive at the calm wisdom he now carried.
“Feh-feh. A fine morning. Even the Dragon God must be pleased today, with the smell of hard work in the air.”
From somewhere far off, Keromi’s singing voice drifted in. In a town where no one else was awake yet, she too seemed to be working her voice raw, polishing a new song.
There was no flashy stage here, no roaring crowd. But in the morning of Amencho Town, a sound rang out — muddy and unglamorous , yet every bit as noble as any world-class stage: the sound of quiet groundwork .
【Today’s Motif: March 29, 2026】
- Work Uniform Day: A wordplay anniversary for March 29. A day of gratitude for people who work in unnoticed places.
- Ichiryu-manbai Day / Day of the Tiger: An auspicious day when small efforts are said to lead to great results.
- World Figure Skating and Japan’s National Soccer Team: Attention on the passion of athletes chasing the top, and the unseen groundwork it takes to get there.
This is an English translation of “泥まみれの勲章と、一粒の輝き”, part of Tales of Amencho Town (蛙鳴町奇譚).