Beyond the old railway crossing at the edge of town, the weeping cherry trees stretched their branches over the river. Today, a new wind had reached Amencho Town from the city — something called an “AR (Augmented Reality) experiment.”
Kopo wandered around the station platform wearing a mysterious pair of glasses that the engineer Spice had practically forced onto him.
“Spice, can these really show me my ‘ideal self’?”
“…Strictly speaking, it’s a self-projection simulator using AR technology. It’s meant to test smoother movement through the station, but I fed in your rather excessive craving to ’look cool’ as data.”
Looking out across the station platform through the lenses, an unbelievable sight spread before him. Outlined in AR’s blue light, a sharp, upright frog with perfect posture — the ideal Kopo — was smartly guiding lost city tourists.
“T-that’s amazing… This — this is who I really am!”
Kopo puffed out his chest and started walking, chasing the afterimage of blue light. But reality is cruel. The confident step he took caught on Kirigaminen’s cool, chilly foot, planted right there on the platform, and Kopo went sprawling. His ideal self (the AR) spun off elegantly into the empty air and vanished.
“…Feh-feh. Kopo, it seems those glasses show ‘who you should be,’ but not ’the stone under your own feet.’”
Sonchō, eating a sakura rice cake on a bench, laughed, clearly amused.
“Sonchō… Am I always going to be this muddy old me, no matter how much time passes?”
Kopo stared at his muddy hands. Just then, some lost city visitors approached him.
“Excuse me, how do we get to Dragon God’s Lake…?”
Kopo hurriedly pulled off the glasses. There was no AR guide. His cool lens-projected self had vanished too. His face turned bright red, but he worked hard anyway, pointing with his muddy finger toward the mountains beyond.
“Ah — that way! There’s a steep slope, so watch your step…!”
The visitors smiled and said, “Thank you!” and walked off. There, in that moment, was a real “thank you,” far warmer than any blue AR light.
“Spice, I’m giving these glasses back. …Turns out I can point the way even without a lens.”
“…I see. Seems like the sensitivity of your heart was higher-resolution than the location data.”
As evening fell over the station, Keromi’s singing began to echo. On the platform, after the AR light had faded , a life-sized shadow of Kopo — proudly rubbing his muddy-fingered nose — stretched long across the ground.
【Today’s Motif: March 26, 2026】
- AR Navigation Technology Trial: Beginning March 26, 2026, at stations including Tokorozawa, an AR technology aimed at smoother movement through station facilities.
- Weeping Cherry Blossoms and Sakura Mochi: A scene and seasonal taste symbolic of late March, the season of Yayoi.
- Kirigaminen (a bear): Growing a little more active in the spring warmth, but still carrying the lingering chill of winter.
This is an English translation of “春の導きとARの青”, part of Tales of Amencho Town (蛙鳴町奇譚).