The shore of Dragon God’s Lake was wrapped, since morning, in a stillness like someone’s held breath.
Kopo stood holding a bamboo broom, staring at the water’s surface. Usually it reflected the blue of the sky, but today a grayish green sank straight into it instead. Deep in the pond, the water lily leaves swayed heavily, and perhaps Dragon God’s water already knew of the great vortex growing over the distant southern sea.
“Kopo, your hands stopped.”
Mocchi came back with his bag full. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he clapped his muddy gloves together. Today was the town’s cleanup day. At the end of spring, everyone gathers to walk the pond’s shore, under the bridge, the corners of vacant lots. There was once a time when children’s laughter rang out here, elders watching and laughing along, and children running again at the sight. Now, the hands were few enough to count. Kopo glanced along the street. Four empty houses stood in a row, windows shut.
“Heard a bear showed up in the woods across the bridge yesterday. When a typhoon’s close, the mountain gets restless. Sometimes they come down this way.”
Mocchi said it quietly and walked on. Kopo followed his broad back, breathing in the scent of grass and earth, and somewhere beneath it, a hint of the sea. To the south, the sky was steadily thickening .
Past noon, Sonchō was waiting for the two of them on a bench beneath the weeping cherry.
“Feh-feh. Few hands, many places walked. That alone is enough.”
Kopo set his trash bag on the ground. The smell of grass, the smell of mud, and, from somewhere across the river, the smell of someone’s kitchen, all mingled together. Even after the storm came, this smell would remain. Even with a hundred people gone, the few who held bags here today had, without question, been here. Kopo looked up at the sky, wondering for a while where the center of the vortex might be.
Margin note: That night, at the foot of the bridge, a single bear’s footprint remained right beside the trash bags. It hadn’t touched them.
【Today’s Motif】
- Zero Waste Day: From the wordplay “go(5) mi(3) zero(0)” (garbage zero). An environmental observance day when cleanup activities are held across the country.
- Typhoon No. 6 (Chami) approaching: Moving west-northwest over the ocean east of the Philippines. Expected to approach Okinawa and Amami early next week.
- Sharp increase in bear sightings: Bear sighting reports have surged nationwide this spring. vigilance continues in communities near mountainous areas.
- Japan’s declining population: Preliminary results of the 2025 national census put the population at 123.05 million, a decrease of roughly 3.09 million over five years.
This is an English translation of “嵐の前に拾うもの”, part of Tales of Amencho Town (蛙鳴町奇譚).
