Pathway to Japanese Literature

I Against an aching, crystal-clear blue sky, red dragonflies glided smoothly through the air. “Summer’s over, huh—” Nakano Gorou muttered as he entered the reed-screen hut of the monitor he’d grown familiar with.

“Honestly.” “Time to quit this line of work…” The deeply sunburned monitor, Mr. Kei, gazed with vacant eyes at the red dragonfly perched on the telescope barrel’s tip. Even this K Beach – once summer’s proud domain – began carrying autumn’s scent in its sea breeze as red dragonflies glided into view. The waves’ swell had grown markedly stronger; parasols and tents that once crowded every inch of sand now dwindled daily. Their very former vibrancy made the present desolation cut deeper.

“Well… guess I’ll borrow it again.”

“……” Mr. Kei merely shifted his eyes in a semblance of nodding and remained motionless thereafter.

Nakano wiped the eyepiece of the telescope fixed there and then quietly put it to his eye. As usual, he scanned steadily from the direction of the horizon. Offshore, though hard to see with the naked eye, there were two boats. However, that was all. This time, he turned it toward the right-hand cape and looked. “Looking through this telescope is quite a virtuous act—there’s something truly ‘rare’ to see here,” Mr. Kei had said with a laugh, but beyond that meaning, Nakano simply liked peering through telescopes.

It was merely a ground telescope with a small aperture and low magnification, yet simply peering through this simple tube brought the unseen world beyond into such vivid clarity that it felt within arm’s reach—a sensation he found delightful. If humans possess a desire to secretly enjoy something unknown to others, then the telescope is indeed a machine that allows one to savor precisely such an impulse.

――At the cape as well, there was nothing out of the ordinary. He spotted a man who appeared to be returning from fishing, but no matter how intently he looked, the fish basket seemed completely empty. But just as he was about to adjust the telescope's direction― Suddenly, he noticed an unfamiliar ship moored in a rocky recess. It was a sleek, white-painted ship of about ten tons. The area around that rocky recess formed an emerald-tinged abyss, and while he knew a ship of that size could easily moor there, today was the first time he had actually seen one present.

That ship, too, seemed unlike any ever seen in these waters. Though more than half hidden in the rocky recess—obscuring the stern’s name—the modern streamlined bow, clearly built for speed, swayed gently with the waves. “There’s an unusual ship here.”

Nakano took his eye away from the telescope and glanced back at Mr. Kei. Mr. Kei remained as ever, his sunburned face betraying not a trace of expression. “Hmm… probably a foreigner’s ship.” He gave a disinterested reply and didn’t even glance over. Nakano reluctantly peered back into the telescope.

“……” Before he knew it—even though he had only just looked away a moment ago—a figure had materialized on the ship in that brief interval. Moreover, she appeared to be a striking young woman clad in a pale dress; the wisteria-leaning-toward-azuki hue of her garment burned into his vision like sunlight glaring off waves. Nakano hastily wiped the eyepiece anew, adjusted the focus, and stared with rapt intensity. She was Japanese, a woman of about twenty. With jet-black bobbed hair fluttering in the sea breeze against the white ship’s cabin behind her, she leaned against the railing. Each time the salt wind swept across her form, her sculpturally balanced limbs swelled into soft definition through the lens.

And when her casually turned face and his own abruptly met head-on through the lens, Nakano involuntarily—though softly— “Ah!...”

he nearly let out an “Ah!...” That was how stunningly beautiful she was.

II

Then, as he gazed without even blinking, another figure emerged from the ship’s cabin—this time, a man. But he, too, was Japanese. What Mr. Kei had said earlier about it being a foreigner’s ship now appeared to have been a fabrication.

(What kind of man…?) Having adjusted the focus in that direction, Nakano now at last—

“Ah…” He had let out a gasp of surprise.

“What’s with you, Mr. Nakano…?”

Mr. Kei, apparently having heard it too, called out in a drawn-out voice. “Yeah, no—it’s nothing.” Nakano remained fixated on the telescope, his posture as if dangling from it, and muttered a reply without looking away.

However, in reality, his eye remained fused to the lens as though devouring it. Beyond that lens, standing on the ship’s deck, was a white-haired old man who could only be his uncle Hosokawa Sannosuke—the same uncle who had severed all contact since vanishing after the Great Kanto Earthquake fifteen or sixteen years prior. Though considerably more aged than Nakano’s memory of him from early middle school days, there could be no mistaking that face.

That his uncle—enshrined as a spirit tablet with the earthquake’s day as his death anniversary—was alive and well right there… Moreover, for him to be leisurely aboard a ship in such a place— And yet—why hadn’t he sent even a single postcard to the house— To begin with, his uncle Hosokawa Sannosuke was known to be an eccentric scientist who shut himself away in his laboratory, utterly cutting off contact with society—not to mention stubbornly refusing to accept a doctoral degree—but even so, vanishing without a trace from his collapsed laboratory and failing to send even a single notification to this day was already too bizarre; and on top of that, for him to now be cruising around this summer’s beaches in a sleek ship accompanied by a beautiful girl was an event beyond all imagination.

It was only natural for Nakano to be left speechless. Dumbfounded, Nakano removed his eye from the telescope, blinked a few times while gazing at the ship, then without even informing Mr. Kei, he leaped out of the elevated reed-blinds monitoring station and dashed off across the sandy beach. Because he wanted to get closer and confirm it. When he crossed the jagged rocks, the ship suddenly loomed before his eyes. Oddly enough, there was no ship’s name written anywhere. But such a thing didn’t matter at all. The person on the deck—

It was indeed his uncle, Hosokawa Sannosuke, without a doubt.

“Uncle—” “——” When his uncle raised his face in surprise, a flush of joy momentarily spread across his features. But then he didn’t utter a single word and lowered his face as if compelled. “Uncle! It’s Nakano. Nakano Gorou!” “Nakano Gorou!”

However, Hosokawa Sannosuke remained silent as ever—and not only that, this time he turned sharply away. Yet the trembling of his white temples—showing his age—seemed to speak of some intense inner turmoil. The beautiful woman beside them also seemed about to say something as she looked back and forth between the two men’s faces, but let her hand—raised halfway to her chest—drop limply again.

Among the people, there was an awkward tension as though glass partitions had been wound between them. Amidst all this, only the elegant white ship carrying the uncle and his companions cast a vivid shadow upon the low waves of the abyss and lay alive.

III Even though he had coincidentally met the uncle—who had given no contact whatsoever for fifteen or sixteen years—the man’s excessively distant attitude left Nakano himself feeling almost flustered. And though he had indignantly descended the rocks, by the time afternoon arrived and he gazed at the ship still floating quietly, Nakano found himself able to reconsider.

Earlier, he had been single-mindedly indignant at his uncle’s refusal to respond, but even so, the fact that Hosokawa Sannosuke—who in the past had never shown any expression, as befitting a scientist, remaining utterly calm—had allowed even a faint flush to spread across his face or revealed the trembling of his temples surely meant he had experienced intense turmoil within.

If that were the case, there must have been some reason his uncle couldn’t respond—couldn’t exchange words with Nakano. Perhaps it was precisely because of that reason that he had deliberately cut off all contact for fifteen or sixteen long years. (What was the reason—?)

Of course he didn't know. Nakano decided to go once more and at least ask that much. Earlier,the uncle might have been unable to speak further because that girl had been beside him.

After finishing lunch, he dressed properly in summer clothes for the first time in a while and walked along the rocky shore.

The white ship floated just as before. The area was eerily quiet; not a single human voice could be heard.

Nakano boarded the ship, muffling his footsteps. The first thing he noticed upon boarding—judging from the feel underfoot and other factors—was, to his surprise, that the entire ship seemed to be constructed entirely of duralumin or some similar type of lightweight metal. Somewhere, the sound of machinery was rhythmically clicking like a clock. He strained his ears for a while but could discern nothing else.

Nakano stood still thinking, but abandoning his initial plan to search for his uncle, he hid his body in the shadow of a nearby box that appeared to contain life-saving equipment. He had decided he would see just what kind of place his uncle was living in—that was why. Another factor that had made him so easily resolve to stow away seemed to be the influence of that beautiful girl who had been aboard the ship earlier… And how many minutes had passed? It hadn’t been even ten minutes, but Nakano noticed the sea breeze had grown strangely chilly. Come to think of it—though faintly—the ship seemed to be vibrating.

(Oh, has it started moving…?)

While he was thinking this, the speed appeared to be increasing rapidly. A wind pressure so intense it threatened to blow him away came bearing down. Startled by the wind pressure that made breathing impossible, Nakano managed to leap toward the hatch a few steps away and tumbled headlong into the ship’s interior in frantic desperation.

He finally managed to catch his breath. The ship seemed to have surged forward at an unimaginably fierce speed. Then—perhaps alerted by the noise of Nakano tumbling inside—when the cabin door opened, it was that beautiful girl who peered out. “Oh…”

Over there, upon seeing Nakano—leaning against the wall and breathing heavily with shoulders heaving—she seemed utterly startled. “Ah, I must apologize for earlier… While I was thinking I wanted to see Uncle again, it started moving before I knew it…” With a quick dip of his head, he formed a smile designed to elicit goodwill. “Oh! You were on deck this whole time…? How did you not get blown away?” “Goodness… What tremendous speed. And since it started so smoothly, I had no idea when we actually began moving.”

He took a breath and— “Even so, there’s absolutely no engine noise.” “Engine—?” She echoed back, then immediately nodded to herself. “We don’t use such old-fashioned things—this is an electric ship, after all.” “Ah, I see… So it’s running on batteries or something after all…” Nakano realized that the reason this ship had such a sleek, streamlined shape was precisely because it lacked a smokestack.

“We don’t use batteries—such heavy, space-hogging things.” “Huh… So what kind of mechanism does it use…?”

“How should I put it… Let me think… It receives power wirelessly and uses that to operate.” “Ah…” “In other words, it’s receiving broadcast power like a radio, you know.”

“...That’s ingeniously conceived. But does this ‘power broadcasting station’ actually exist?” “It exists, but its existence isn’t what makes us move…” “...I understand.” “It was your uncle’s invention.”

“Ah, Uncle—Uncle Hosokawa’s—” “Yes…”

“Wh-where is he?”

“Shall I show you to that machine room…?” “Ah, no—later is fine.” “I am Nakano Gorou.” “You heard it earlier, didn’t you? Ohohohoh! My name’s far more unforgettable—Koike Keiko!” “Koike Keiko—Ms.” “Yes—even backward it’s Koike Keiko… Unforgettable, right? Ohohohoh!” She was a bright girl who seemed utterly devoid of worries or bashfulness.

IV

Hosokawa Sannosuke, now with a magnificent head of white hair, was leaning alone against a large desk in an opulent room resembling a captain’s quarters.

“Ah, you…” When he saw Nakano—who had been guided in by her—he seemed to involuntarily start rising from his seat but immediately wiped the expression from his face.

“Why have you come here—” “While I was distracted, the ship had started moving... and I was talking with Ms. Keiko for a bit.” “This is troublesome… We’re already a thousand kilometers from land.” “There’s no time to turn back now.” “A thousand kilometers—?” “Th-that far…?” “That’s right—this ship is far faster than any airplane you’ve imagined. It moves at speeds comparable to sound—three hundred forty meters per second. At this rate… we’ve already traveled nine hundred fourteen thousand meters in thirty minutes—”

Hosokawa Sannosuke now turned his gaze toward Keiko. "Why didn't you tell me sooner this man had boarded?" "...I was careless."

She made what was likely her first-ever bashful face, gave a quick bow, and left the room. “This is troublesome… We’re heading somewhere no outsider should see.” Uncle began pacing around the room, deep vertical wrinkles gathering on his forehead. This habit, too, was etched in Nakano’s memory. Uncle had often done the same thing in the past whenever he had something on his mind.

“Where on earth are we going?”

“Where on earth? Well... There’s no helping it. It’s an island in the Pacific—one not on any map, of course.” “Does such an island exist?” “It does exist. Of course, it’s far removed from regular shipping routes, and since it’s a low-lying island, you wouldn’t notice it even if you came right next to it.” “Have you been there for ten-odd years?” “What are you doing there?” “...I’ve been conducting research at someone’s request.” “To keep the secret, we agreed to cut off all contact... This time too, I went to buy necessary supplies, thinking crowded places like that K Coast would actually draw less attention—but your presence there was the end of my luck.”

“But judging by things like this ship, it seems you’re engaged in something quite large-scale. Who exactly is managing it?” “I can’t give the name—you’d recognize it immediately. To put it plainly, he’s a wealthy man who, after his ship wrecked on returning from America, was finally rescued… though they say his mind turned a bit strange.” “In truth, after discovering this island while adrift, he feigned mental instability to leave the mainland and gathered people like us to build a grand scientific nation there.” “In that sense, the earthquake became an unparalleled chance for scientists to vanish en masse.” “Most of those reported missing back then are now vigorously pursuing research here.”

“...This sounds like a fairy tale.” “Do not speak foolishly. ...Though from your perspective, it may indeed seem like a ‘fairy tale.’” “But nothing else can match this ship’s speed.” “You now exist within the highest velocity humanity has ever attained.” “There could be no clearer account than this.”

“…………” “A speed of 340 meters per second—the same as that of sound—is nearly equivalent to the Earth’s rotational speed.” “Therefore, if this ship were to sail against the Earth’s rotation, we could remain forever unaware of night… I daresay it’s likely the greatest speed achievable within the atmosphere.” “That’s incredible… But even so, there’s absolutely no vibration at all．Do you not even consider waves an issue?”

“Waves? Ha ha ha!” Uncle laughed for the first time. “Don’t be absurd—if it were truly sliding across the sea’s surface, it could never reach such speeds. This ship actually flies about five meters above the water. The reason it’s shaped like a ship is ultimately to avoid attracting people’s attention…”

As he spoke these words, they suddenly felt the speed decreasing, and the slow, rolling swells of waves began to reach them. "We’ve landed on the water?" "Yeah, we’ve arrived at the island." "What kind of island is it…" Nakano rushed to the window and peered outside. However, there—whether to the right or left—was nothing but the boundless open ocean, not a speck of an island in sight— "Not yet, is it?"

“No—it’s right there.”

“But it’s nothing but open sea as far as the eye can see…” “The island’s been hidden—to keep the philistines from getting close.”

“You’ve hidden the island?” “That’s right. In other words, we’re using a mirage—an artificial mirage—to make the entire area appear as open sea.” “Hmm…”

“This seems rather interesting, don’t you think? For example—enemy planes come to raid Tokyo in massive formations. Defense planes scramble up, but they can’t possibly shoot them all down. About half break through into Tokyo’s twilight skies, scattering poison gas bombs and explosives like hail until the whole city falls into chaos and becomes a complete wasteland… Then it turns out we’d floated all of Tokyo over the Pacific using an artificial mirage! The enemy risked their lives carrying bombs from afar just to dump them into the ocean—how’s that? Isn’t it an intriguing plot?”

Hosokawa Sannosuke was unusually talkative. While admittedly an intriguing story, Nakano Gorou found himself completely distracted by Keiko's eyes peering through the door cracked open behind him and his imaginings of the island's unseen form concealed beyond the artificial mirage, leaving him utterly absorbed.

V

Accompanied by Koike Keiko, Nakano Gorou marked his first step onto Nisshō Island—a scientific haven concealed beyond the artificial mirage—only to be immediately startled out of his wits as he stared wide-eyed. Having heard it called an island of science, he had imagined a starkly utilitarian landscape reminiscent of concrete factory zones—but upon taking a single step through the barrier of the artificial mirage, what unfurled before him was Nisshō Island: a garden blooming with such riotous floral splendor that it seemed to embody the very phrase “a hundred flowers vying in brilliance.” In the bright southern light, cherry blossoms and wisteria, gladiolus and dahlias, golden lace and balloon flowers… the sight of all four seasons’ blossoms competing in full bloom at once was a splendor that defied ordinary expectations. And beyond them stretched laboratories of tempered glass with dreamlike contours—

But what astonished him even more were the approximately ten girls who had come to greet them—each one, without exception, identical to Koike Keiko smiling beside him, as if stamped from the same mold. Twins might carry a certain comical charm, but seeing ten girls with identical faces and figures lined up in a row left Nakano feeling nothing but an oppressive weight.

“What on earth is this…?”

As Nakano stood dumbfounded, Keiko looked up at his profile with apparent amusement. “Heh heh heh.” She laughed in truly delighted fashion, like a mischievous child who had successfully tricked their mark.

“Quite a spectacle, isn’t it?… When I first arrived, it felt like my shadow was wandering everywhere—so strange… But I’ve gotten used to it. There are times when it’s actually convenient—if I play a prank, no one can tell who’s who anymore.” “...But how on earth did they manage to gather so many identical people?” Nakano had, in truth, felt a profound emotion from the very first moment he laid eyes on Keiko—a sensation as if he had collided with his ideal woman, one that made him believe he would never encounter a greater woman in his entire life. But seeing these women—identical to Keiko—lined up in such a dazzling row left him with a vertiginous sensation, as if his very vision were spinning.

“We didn’t gather them—they were created.” She calmly stated something outrageous.

“Created—?” Nakano started and looked around again. Yet for artificial humans, they were far too well-made. Far too well-made. He didn’t know how all-powerful this secret scientific realm might be, but he simply couldn’t believe every single one of these people had been manufactured.

“When you say ‘created,’ do you mean they’re artificial humans—” Instantly, a tremendous commotion erupted. “Oh my, how awful!”

“Oh please—as if we’re artificial humans…” “He looks a bit flustered.” “Hey, Ms. Keiko—what’s this person’s name?” “Tell us already—what’s the harm?” “Aren’t you handsome?”

The *Keikos*, who had been lined up in a row, all started talking at once. The mischievousness remained utterly unchanged even on this scientific island. Nakano knew that blood was rushing to his head. Amidst all that, "As if we're artificial humans..." Only those words rang clearly in his ears. (If they aren't artificial humans... then—) If that were the case, he couldn't grasp what Keiko meant by "created."

Nakano was holding his head and was on the verge of fleeing. If Hosokawa Sannosuke, who was directing the unloading of cargo from the ship, had not come at that moment, he might have truly fled.

After saying something, the uncle drove the ‘Keikos’ toward the laboratory.

“What’s all this commotion so soon after landing on the island…”

“I don’t quite understand either.”

When Nakano questioned the meaning of "created,"

“Ah, I see—that’s how it is. This is Ms. Keiko’s fault for not explaining properly.” The uncle shot Keiko a brief glare, “Unfortunately, even on this island, we haven’t yet managed to create artificial humans with that level of sophistication.” “After all, those are real women… It’s just that our plastic surgery has advanced enough to freely alter the beauty—or lack thereof—of people’s faces.” “Even when discussing beauty or ugliness in a face, the features—two eyes, one nose, and one mouth—remain unchanged in their basic structure.” “In short, it’s a matter of how those features are arranged.” “If we arrange those features appropriately, even homely women can become peerless beauties in an instant… But it’s not like we can tweak them back and forth like reversible trinket adjustments—hence the need for a model.” “The one selected as that model is Ms. Keiko here.” “So that’s why rows upon rows of identical beauties ended up being created…”

“I see—”

Nakano finally comprehended. At the same time, he felt a certain satisfaction—just as he had thought, she was beautiful enough to be made into a model even here on Nisshō Island. "But really now—when we suddenly run into each other on the street like that, it makes my heart skip!" "That may be so, but consider it a modest levy—" "Well..." She—her cheeks like rose petals—deliberately turned away.

VI

Guided by his uncle, Nakano passed through a garden where flowers of all four seasons bloomed in profusion and proceeded toward the laboratory.

The laboratory, constructed of hard glass, had flawless lighting. Above ground, it appeared to have only one floor like a Heian-style residence, but in reality was an expansive structure with dozens of subterranean levels. All basement rooms were equipped with cold light lamps. These lamps used one hundred percent of their energy for illumination, rendering them incomparably more efficient than ordinary electric lamps that wasted most energy as heat while utilizing mere percentages for light. Furthermore, temperature and humidity were precisely regulated, with purified air circulating refreshingly. The sole disappointment was Keiko having vanished unnoticed at some indeterminate moment...

The uncle paid no heed to such matters and pressed forward so briskly that he gave Nakano no chance to look back. A placard labeled “Room 256” hung on the first door they pushed open. And when the door was opened, a small animal suddenly came clinging to their feet.

When he reflexively stepped back and looked closer, it was unmistakably an elephant, though no larger than a small dog. "Ah!" he thought, raising his eyes—and there, reflected in his vision this time, was a monstrous cricket that seemed as large as a calf. There seemed to be various other creatures as well. But before he could get a good look at them, the cricket rubbed its plank-like wings together and began an ear-splitting, discordant trill like a cracked bell. Judging by how it began its trill, it seemed to be a bell cricket rather than a regular one, but there was no time to confirm this. Nakano had turned pale and rushed out the door.

“What do you want to do?”

Nakano was still out of breath. The area around the foot that had been licked by that puppy-sized elephant’s pitifully thin trunk still seemed to be tingling. “What is this... a house of horrors?” “It’s hard to sum up neatly, but this room researches the fundamental question of why things have fixed sizes—why rabbits stay rabbit-sized, mice stay mouse-sized, and so on.” “No matter how much you improve their nutrition, you can’t create dog-sized fleas—nor can you produce sea bream as small as tiny fish no matter how deficient their diet. This research is nearly complete—we can now create bell crickets as large as cows and elephants the size of puppies.”

“…………” “You look utterly dumbstruck,” he chuckled. The uncle gave a knowing chuckle and lightly tapped Nakano’s shoulder as he remained silent.

“Well then, let’s head over there…”

Once again, they proceeded steadily down the long corridor and stopped before a room labeled “Room 502”. “This room has recently claimed quite a few victims—”

“Victims—?”

Nakano, wondering just what might come flying out from inside, hesitated for a moment but still peered in timidly, drawn by that morbid curiosity.

There lay a large, silver, submarine-like object, about seventy to eighty percent assembled.

“It’s the lunar rocket—the second one.”

“You mean... the second one?” “The first one ended in failure.” “Because of a tenth-of-a-second miscalculation, we caused a terrible mishap.”

“You’re saying it was just a tenth-of-a-second difference?” Nakano asked again. “That’s right—that’s what makes it such a terrible mishap. The average distance to the moon is roughly 380,000 kilometers. If you were to launch the rocket at 500 meters per second, it would take roughly eight days and twenty-one hours. A speed of 500 meters per second is something you can’t even begin to imagine. Moreover, the initial velocity required to achieve such speed is truly tremendous—someone who’d get knocked over by a city train’s sudden start would end up slammed against the floor and killed instantly when the rocket launches. However, we’d developed a preventive measure. But during the first rocket’s launch, they erred by a tenth of a second—a one-decimal-place miscalculation in timing—so that when the rocket finally reached the moon, there was a discrepancy of roughly 75,264 kilometers. A terrible mishap. So that’s why the first rocket ended up flying into empty space—where the moon had already passed…”

“And then... what happened to it?” “Since it failed to reach the crucial moon, that Nisshōjima Dai-Ichi-Gō rocket still flies through the endless universe.” “Through pitch-black darkness at minus 270 degrees—” “Of course, with their oxygen and food long depleted, the rocket—now a coffin carrying fifteen Earthlings’ corpses—keeps flying onward.” “In space’s vacuum, nothing stops it.” “It moves eternally... meaning it’s become a star.”

Even Hosokawa Sannosuke fell silent and solemnly closed the door.

And then,

“Ah well—this time we’ll succeed.” “We’ll soon plant and display*¹* the first Japanese flag on the moon.” “This time let me guide you to the plastic surgery room I mentioned earlier…”

7

The room’s number was No. 665.

“Come on, inside…”

The uncle steadily proceeded inside. Nakano followed. Upon hearing that this was the plastic surgery room where they created beauties identical to Keiko, Nakano narrowed his eyes even more intently and passed through the door.

It seemed there were more rooms further inside, but the first one had the feel of a hospital examination room. Moreover, whether the cosmetic procedures on the beauties had already been completed or not, the chairs lining the walls were occupied by rather unattractive men who stared fixedly at Nakano as he suddenly entered, whispering among themselves in low voices. Hosokawa Sannosuke paid no heed to this and went to a bald old man in a white coat who was reviewing medical charts at the back. After exchanging hushed words for a while, the two men nodded at something and beckoned Nakano over.

“Wh-what do you mean…?” “Could you lie down here for a moment?” He pointed to something resembling a surgery table beside them. “Wh-what? H-here?” “You object?” “No, there’s nothing wrong with me.”

“You can’t back out now—that’s unacceptable. That’s why I brought you here without a word… because I intended to ask this of you…” “Wh-what are you going to do?”

“It’s nothing serious—I just need you to be a model briefly.” “Model—?”

The moment Nakano fully grasped the meaning. On the chairs opposite sat a row of unattractive-looking men attempting to replicate Nakano’s handsome features down to the last detail. According to his uncle’s explanation, it seemed he had brought him to this island precisely for that purpose. He had been brought here as a specimen. Nakano tried desperately to flee. He thought he had dodged swiftly—but even faster than that movement, the bald doctor seized his right hand in an iron grip.

“Ah—!”

The reason he thought this was not only because he had been seized but also because he felt a sharp, needle-like pain.

At the same time, his body suddenly went limp. An extremely strong drug must have been administered. In his hazy consciousness, Nakano faintly remembered being carried onto a platform and something pressed against his entire face as though taking a death mask…

×

Nakano felt the scorching sun beating down and finally awoke.

His body still felt weightless—. But this time, he realized it was because he was on a boat out at sea. (Why am I on a boat…?)

Straining hard, he finally managed to sit up. As his vision gradually came into focus like adjusting a lens, Nakano suddenly started and stared wide-eyed. Right before his very eyes, the man manipulating the oar was—as if peering into a mirror—the spitting image of Nakano Gorou, a man without the slightest difference. “Oh, you noticed…” At that voice, he opened his eyes wide again—it was Koike Keiko, at the stern steering the rudder.

“Ah... you too...” “Yes... I ended up coming here after all...”

Keiko stared fixedly at Nakano’s face with a faintly pleased look. “Well then—since you’ve noticed as well, Mr. Nakano, I’ll take my leave… In about ten minutes, a Japanese steamship will pass right by here, so there’s no doubt…”

The man who looked just like Nakano stood up after saying that, bowed once to the two of them, then plunged into the sea and swam away with swift strokes.

Nakano hurriedly looked around. However, no matter where he looked, they were right in the middle of a vast, boundless ocean, and he couldn’t imagine being able to swim all the way through it.

(That’s right—Nisshō Island, concealed by the artificial mirage, was right nearby…)

he realized. However, no matter how much he strained his eyes to look, he ultimately could not discern it.

—When he thought about it, it had been like a long nightmare. But since the beautiful Keiko was smiling right before his eyes, it was definitely not a dream. A steamship that had appeared as a tiny speck on the horizon must have finally spotted this drifting boat in the vast ocean. It approached while sounding its steam whistle.

As Nakano waved vigorously alongside her, he was struck by the thought that on Nisshō Island, men who were his spitting image were living together and falling in love with women who looked exactly like Keiko—and suddenly, he was overcome by the urge to look around once more. He quietly pinched his own thigh. (I’m real… but is this Keiko truly genuine—?)

And—….

(“ユーモアクラブ” October 1939 issue)