Pathway to Japanese Literature

I

A port is a resting place for people traveling far across the sea; a train station is a resting place for people coming and going over land—both are bustling places.
When that port and train station come together, it becomes even livelier and more interesting.

It was in a plaza connecting the port and train station of a certain city in India.
At the port, ships came and went daily.
At the train station, trains came and went every hour.
And in the plaza, the flow of people never ceased.
All sorts of people passed through.
People from countries around the world passed through.

In a corner of the plaza, under the shade of an olive tree, Tony had set up his stall.
On a stall shop with planks laid over carts were displayed picture postcards, picture books, illustrated magazines, wooden and bamboo toys, ivory crafts, and more in abundance.
And Tony sat on a wooden box beside his stall shop, reading a book.

Tony was fifteen years old.
He loved reading books very much.
But those books were no longer picture books or illustrated magazines.
He borrowed difficult books from the used bookstore and studied them on his own.

When people stopped in front of the shop, Tony closed his book, looked up, and smiled brightly.
Because his smile was so charming, the people who stopped ended up buying something.

At midday, the sunlight glared down scorchingly.
But Tony’s stall shop was nestled in the shade of an olive tree.
When evening came, bright streetlights immediately lit up above.

One evening, directly across the plaza from where Tony was, a girl stood. She wore a plain straw hat and plain hemp clothes, but cradled a full armful of flowers in one arm. And she stood there motionless indefinitely.

Tony became curious and occasionally gazed in that direction. Only the red, white, and purple flowers were beautiful; the girl looked so lonely she might as well have been a wooden post. Was she waiting for someone? Did she intend to stand there motionless forever?

Occasionally, the girl would start walking a little.
But then she would hang her head and come to a complete halt.
Crowds of people passed by without so much as a glance.

Four or five drunken sailors passed by.
They stopped in front of the girl and began clamoring about something when suddenly they plucked two or three flowers from the bouquet she was holding and waved them overhead.
Then this time, they all tried to grab the girl.

The girl slipped away.
The sailors chased after her with staggering steps.
The girl ran around here and there, crossed the plaza, and hid in the shadow of Tony’s stall shop.
The drunken sailors, no longer paying any mind to the girl, went off waving the flowers as they headed away.

Tony stared intently at the figure of the girl standing there blankly.

“What’s wrong?”

When addressed, the girl suddenly began to sob quietly.

“You’re such an idiot. What’s there to cry about?”

The girl stopped crying and opened her eyes wide in surprise.
They were large, deep blue eyes.

“What were you doing over there?” Tony asked.

The girl remained still for a while, then answered.

“I went out to sell flowers.”

“A flower seller?
“So you’re a flower girl?”

The girl nodded, but in that very moment, tears once again streamed down cheeks.

“What a crybaby you are.
“How’s a crybaby’s flowers supposed to sell?
“Standing around like that won’t sell any flowers.”

The girl stared at Tony.
Tony said,
"You're still green.
You just started today, right?
Right?
Alright, I'm Tony the postcard seller. I'll let you use my shop a bit.
What's your name?"

“It’s Marie.”
“Hmm, Marie, huh?”

Tony tidied up one side of the stall shop and arranged the flowers Marie was holding there.
Then he took out the wooden box.

“You sit there and wait.”
“You can just look at the picture books or something.”
“They’re for sale, so don’t get them dirty.”

Tony started reading again.
Marie sat on the box in a daze.

Beautifully adorned men and women would pass by and stop in front of the shop.
The picture postcards, picture books, and crafts lined up alongside the red, white, and purple flowers were beautifully arranged.
All sorts of items sold well.

"How about that? They're selling well, aren't they?" Tony said proudly.

“Yes,” Marie replied with a bright smile.

Late at night, Tony stood up and stretched. And he handed Marie the money from the sold flowers and the remaining flowers.

“We’re done for tonight. If you’d like, come by again tomorrow.”

Then he put away the goods into the box, tidied up the stall, loaded them onto the cart, and pulled the cart away with a clatter.

“Bye.”

Marie stood there, steadily watching as he departed.

II

Tony would come to the plaza around three in the afternoon and set up his shop.
Marie would come after dark.
And the two of them amiably sold various goods and flowers.
They sold quite well.

During lulls in customers, both of them would sit on the wooden box—Tony reading books, Marie looking at picture books—and sometimes talk.

Marie’s father had been a sailor on cargo ships that traveled to China and Europe.
However, about two years prior, that cargo ship had gone missing, and along with the ship, the father had also disappeared.
It was presumed that the ship had sunk and the father had died.
Marie lived a lonely life with the mother, just the two of them.
They had always been poor, but now they became even poorer.
The mother was employed by other households and went out to work only until noon.
They moved countless times to small, cheap rooms in apartment buildings.
Before long, the mother fell ill.
When things became utterly unmanageable, Marie resolved to become a flower seller.

“I’ll work as hard as I need to. And I want to get Mother to take good medicine,” Marie said.

“Hmm, you’ve got to be a bit more patient,” Tony said.

“I’ll make this shop bigger before long so you can do lots of business.”

Instead of the stall shop in a corner of the plaza—a proper shop on the first floor of a fine building, with clean glass doors standing tall and bright electric lights glowing inside, filled with flower decorations and various goods arranged throughout. Rare flowers blooming in greenhouses, rare goods from all over the world—a beautiful shop straight out of a fairy tale.

The two of them imagined such things and talked about them.
And every day, setting up the stall shop in the plaza became enjoyable.

However, one evening, Marie did not come.
And then the next night, and the night after that...
Was she sick?
What could have happened?

Tony became worried.
Since he had once accompanied her home late at night, he knew where Marie lived.
Tony went to visit.

It was a large, shabby apartment in cluttered backstreets.
He climbed up dimly-lit stairs; it was a room at/the back on/the third floor.

Tony softly knocked on the door.
It was still and silent with no response.
Tony knocked on the door again.
He knocked a little harder.

After a while,the door quietly opened slightly.
Marie’s large eyes peered through the gap.

"Oh...Mr.Tony..."

Marie came running out and took both of Tony’s hands.
Her eyes were brimming with tears.

"What happened?"

"I’m sorry...
"But I’m happy...
"I’ve been waiting...
"Please...come inside quickly..."

Marie pulled Tony’s hand and entered the room.
It was a cramped and dirty room.
A large table, several small chairs, a cupboard, a kitchen area...
Marie opened the side door and led Tony into the next room.
There were two beds lined up, and on one of them sat a thin, pale woman.

“Mother, Mr. Tony is here!” Marie called out.
“I told you.”
“See? Mr. Tony came.”
“Look, Mr. Tony isn’t a bad person, you know.”

Tony had no idea what this was about but politely greeted Marie’s mother.

Marie had Tony sit on the unoccupied bed and told him everything that had happened so far.
The other day, a man had come to the old woman at the apartment’s front desk and left a small package, asking her to deliver it to Marie.
Marie took it and, upon opening it, was shocked.
There were a lot of gold and silver coins inside, and nothing else.
As for who had brought it, no matter how much they asked the old woman, they couldn’t figure out what kind of man he was.
A gentleman-like man with splendid attire… that was all she could say.
The old woman had been absent-minded and didn’t remember his face well.
They felt an inexplicable unease and were at a loss.
Mother began to worry.
She thought it might be to tempt Marie.
Since no one else had any leads, she suspected Tony.
She said Marie mustn’t go out flower-selling anymore.
She said that if Tony had no connection to that money and was a proper person, he would come to inquire here.
And so Marie had been waiting for Tony to come.

“Look, you have nothing to do with this, right? Besides, there’s no way you have that much money...”

Marie took out a paper package from the cupboard and spread it out there. There were a lot of gold and silver coins inside.

Tony crossed his arms and pondered deeply. He then grabbed some gold and silver coins and clinked them together.

“They’re not fake. They’re real money, aren’t they?”

“That’s right. It doesn’t matter if we use them… We can just think God gave them to us. If we have this much money, we can open a proper shop. We talked about it, didn’t we? About wanting to open a splendid, beautiful shop… Hey, let’s do it.”

“But since they left after mentioning your name, they must be someone who knows you…”

“But I don’t know anyone like that.
“It must be God. Definitely.”
“He’s taking pity on us.”
“Why not just think that?””

“Hmm... Anyway, it’s strange.”

Marie’s mother had been staring intently at Tony’s demeanor, but her suspicions now seemed to have cleared.
And then she expressed her gratitude for everything that had happened, and they discussed plans for the future.

Tony pondered deeply.
He crossed his arms and paced around the room.
And then suddenly, he stopped.

On the wall of the room hung a single photograph.
Tony stared fixedly at it.

“Who is this?”

“It’s my father,” Marie answered.

“So this is your father…”

“Yes, that’s right.
“Two years ago… the ship sank and he was gone…”
“I told you about that, didn’t I?”

Marie suddenly darted over.

“Do you know my father?”
“Oh... There was just someone who looked similar...”

“What kind of person?”

“Nah, it’s nothing…”

Tony moved away from the photograph and began walking again. Then, in a firm tone, he said:

“Anyway, you should keep that money stored away a bit longer.”
“And you should stay home and not go out flower-selling.”
“I have a good idea.”
“Just leave it to me.”
“I’ll make it all clear soon enough…”

III

Tony couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
The photograph in Marie’s house and a certain distinguished gentleman… they looked remarkably alike.
The one in the photograph wore a hunting cap and sailor’s clothes—plain attire.
The gentleman wore a fedora and suit, his diamond-like tie pin glinting, a gold watch chain draped across his chest, and tortoiseshell-framed glasses.
However, from the eyebrows down to the nose and mouth, they were exactly the same.

He was a strange gentleman.
When Tony was idling at his stall shop, the gentleman passed by alone, picked up various picture postcards and examined them for a while, then left without buying a single one.
Then he came back and said with a laugh.

“Don’t you want payment for the postcards?”

“Which picture postcard?” Tony asked.

“Ha ha ha, you’re so absentminded.”
“This one.”

He took out four or five picture postcards from his coat pocket.
They were all from Tony’s shop.

“See? You didn’t notice a thing, did you?”

“Oh! So you were the one who tricked me earlier.”
“Alright, try doing it again.”
“This time, I won’t be fooled.”

The gentleman fiddled with the picture postcards in his hands.
Tony was staring at those hands.
At the signal of “ready,” he had to determine whether they’d been taken or not—and if taken, where they were hidden.
However, the gentleman was so skillful that Tony simply couldn’t figure it out.
Just when he thought they’d been taken, not a single one was missing.
Just when he thought none had been taken yet, four or five were already tucked into the pocket.
It was exactly like a card trick.

“Wow, you do magic tricks?”

“Oh, it’s just a little diversion.”
“I’ll stop by again sometime.”
“This is all just play.”
“I don’t need any picture postcards.”

The Gentleman tossed out a silver coin and left.

After that, he would occasionally visit Tony’s stall.
He always seemed to have been drinking.
He’d play tricks with the postcards and amuse himself with Tony.
Tony gradually improved his skills.
The two became such good friends that they’d warmly shake hands.

And lately, that magician gentleman had stopped coming entirely. Since Marie had started working at the stall, he had never come again.

That gentleman had the very same face as Marie’s father. Marie’s father was supposed to have died two years ago, yet something didn’t add up. And then, the large sum of money that had been delivered to Marie from an unknown sender...

"That gentleman is suspicious—I’ll try to catch him…" Tony thought.

However, Tony had no idea where that magician gentleman lived or what kind of person he was. Tony was at a loss. He stopped setting up his stall and wandered through the town, particularly around the port area. He knew that gentleman often went out to sea.

After two or three days of fruitless searching, Tony went out late at night to the desolate shore at the edge of the port and leaned against its railing, lost in thought.

The port was dotted with many ships here and there, their lamplights flickering on the surface of the sea.
Through the gaps between them, another motorboat came speeding at a tremendous pace.
Straight toward the desolate shore where Tony was, it came.

"What a strange boat...," Tony thought, and hid in the shadows.

Eventually, the boat reached the shore.
At that moment, a car came driving along the coast and stopped where the boat was moored.
A ladder was set from the boat to the shore, and a man climbed up.

That's him!
Tony nearly cried out.
Illuminated by the spotlight, that profile and figure were unmistakably those of the magician gentleman.
Tony held his breath.

A man who appeared to be the driver got out of the car, exchanged whispers with the magician gentleman, and the two of them climbed down the ladder into the boat.
After a while, four or five men came up carrying a large box, loaded it onto the car, covered it with a blanket, and all returned to the boat.

Tony quietly emerged from the shadows, slipped into the car, and hid under a blanket beside the box.

The magician gentleman and man who appeared to be a driver came up from the boat, both boarded the driver’s seat, and then the car started moving at full speed.

Four

The car entered the town, entered the courtyard of a large building, and came to a stop before an iron door.

The magician gentleman and the man who appeared to be the driver got out of the car, crouched at the iron door's threshold, and exchanged a secret signal.
Soon after, the door opened, and four or five men emerged.

“How’d it go?”

“Went smoothly.”

After exchanging those words in low whispers, they all moved to the car’s side, opened its door, and removed the blanket from atop the box.

Tony steeled himself.
With the air of someone who had just woken up, he sat up and stretched.

The men buzzed with commotion.
One of the men pointed a pistol at Tony.

Rubbing his eyes, Tony got out of the car, looked around, spotted the magician gentleman, and ran over to him with a cheerful expression.

“Oh, it’s just the postcard stall boy.
“Why were you in a place like this?”

“Ah! Uncle, please help me!
“Some weird guy’s been stalking me.”
“I ran away desperately, and since there was a car by the coast, I hid inside it and ended up falling asleep—but he might chase me all the way here.”
“Please, Uncle, help me!”
“You’ll keep me safe，Uncle.”
“I won’t let go of you anymore.”
“When that guy shows up, chase him away for me, will you?”

And Tony clung to the gentleman’s chest.

They all looked around.

“What kind of guy?” asked the gentleman.

“He’s a weird guy． He’s cross-eyed，with a squashed nose and a mouth slit all the way to his ears． He’s about two or three meters tall，and his clenched fist is as big as a dog’s head．”

“He’s practically a monster!”

“Yeah, he’s a monster.”
“He might even have horns!”
“That guy’s been stalking me constantly.”
“Please help me!”

Tony clung even more tightly to the gentleman’s chest.

The group appeared troubled.
They exchanged hushed whispers.
The gentleman said.

“Then I’ll let you stay at my place tonight.”
“And I’ll send you off tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, you do that. I’ll be safe as long as I’m with you, Uncle.”

The group carried the large box from inside the car and entered through the iron door. There were stairs, and when they went down them, they found themselves in a basement hall. Large tables were lined up alongside luxurious chairs. On the tables lay scattered sake bottles, glasses, and playing cards, while swords and guns hung on the walls. In the next room stood several beds lined up in rows. It resembled a dormitory. Tony was promptly put to bed right there.

In the hall, the men from earlier stayed up late drinking and playing cards.

Tony let out a loud "Wah!" and shouted at the top of his voice.
The magician gentleman entered.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uncle, you gotta stay with me or I won’t have it. He might come, and I’m scared.”

“Is it the monster?”

“He could show up any minute now.”

“What a hopeless coward you are.”

The magician gentleman left, then eventually came back and lay down on the bed next to Tony.

"Uncle, have you ever been truly scared?"

“There sure are.”

“When were you most scared?”

“Let me see… Two years ago, when the ship I was on got caught in a storm and sank—when I was thrown into the open sea, clinging to a single plank in the pitch-black night as I drifted—that’s when I was scared.”

“And then what happened?”

“I was rescued.”

“Who by?”

“The people I’m with now.”
“What do you take us for?”

“Hmm, what could it be… Bandits? Pirates? Smugglers? Rebels…”

“Hahaha! You got it—we’re actually pirates.”
“If you tell anyone, they won’t let you live, got it?”

“It’s okay.”
“I won’t tell a soul.”
“Being a pirate must be pretty exciting.”

“But in return, it’s a life-risking job—dangerous work.”

“Then why don’t you quit?”

The gentleman did not respond.
Seeming to have fallen into deep thought, even when Tony tried to talk to him, he wouldn’t engage.

V

The next morning, Tony woke up early.
And he woke the Gentleman beside him.

“You promised to take me home, didn’t you?”

“But you can go back alone by noon, can’t you?”

“No way! That guy—the monster—might come out again!”

“You’re such an idiot.”

Even so, the Gentleman came along with him.

The two of them walked on.
It was a beautifully clear day, and the morning sun shone brilliantly.
The Gentleman was smoking a cigarette, and Tony was whistling.

Tony was pleased with himself.
He had pulled off the deception perfectly.
Leading the Gentleman along, he reached the vicinity of Marie’s apartment.

When they arrived before the building where Marie lived, the Gentleman halted abruptly in astonishment.

“Do you live here?”

“Yes, that’s right.
The stairs and corridors are dangerous—you never know when that monster might show up.
Please take me all the way to my room.”

They climbed the narrow stairs to the third floor, went to the back room, and Tony suddenly opened the door and brought the Gentleman inside.

Hearing the noise, Marie came out.

The Gentleman and Marie exchanged looks and stood there frozen like statues.
Marie suddenly leaped into the Gentleman’s chest.

“Father… Father… You were alive.”
“Father… You really came back for me.”
“Father…”

Marie, while crying, rushed into the next room.

“Mother! Father is here—Father’s…”

The mother jumped down from the bed.
The father also rushed into that room.
And the three of them hugged each other while shedding tears.

The father, as if his strength had given out, kneeled there and pressed his face into the bed.

“Forgive me.
The other day, I caught sight of Marie, but even when I tried to reach out, she didn’t come.
I’ve become part of a pirate crew.
When the ship was wrecked and sank, after being rescued by pirates, I ended up joining their crew.
When I came here, I searched everywhere for you, but couldn’t find you.
And it’s part of the pirates’ code—we’re not allowed to meet with family members.
Because meeting with family members could lead to leaked secrets or faltering courage.
That’s why even when I caught sight of Marie, I didn’t call out to her.
Forgive me—it’s my fault.”
My chest felt like it was boiling over.
As a final gesture, I sent you that package of gold coins—you must have received them.
Beyond that, there was nothing else I could do.
Once you join a pirate crew, leaving becomes an act of betraying everyone…
Ah, what should I do?
“What should I do…”

He was sobbing.
Mother was also crying.
Marie was also crying.

Tony turned his face away and gazed out the window, but at that moment, he deliberately laughed cheerfully and said:

"You’ve finally fallen for my scheme, haven’t you? The whole monster business was all made up. Don’t start crying now—you need to stay strong. Since you’ve already met your family and broken the pirates’ code anyway, why not just cut loose and make your escape? You could even hop on a train and get far away, you know. I’ll handle everything after this. I’m Tony the postcard seller. Tony from the streets—fooling pirates is child’s play!"

Marie's father wiped his tears, stood up, and grasped Tony's hand.
Marie also grasped Tony's hand.

Tony exchanged handshakes with everyone and said:

“You must escape by train right away.”
“I’ll take care of the rest.”
“…Well, starting today, I’ll set up the stall in the plaza again.”
“Goodbye.”

Shaking off everyone’s attempts to stop him, Tony left.

When he stepped outside, Tony felt slightly lonely.
But, whistling cheerfully, he walked away.
He was a lone city boy.
He was heading out to set up his stall shop in the plaza.