Pathway to Japanese Literature

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The Boy of Subsequent DaysAuthor: Murō Saisei

Original Title	後の日の童子
Author	室生犀星
Genre	Modern Short Fiction
Author Type	Male Author
Summary	In a twilight world where shadows linger like unspoken truths, a spectral Boy visits a grieving couple, his presence as fragile as the red flute he carries but never plays. Each evening, he appears at their gate—a pale figure trembling with unearthly longing, his corn-silk hair catching the dim light. Shakugoro and his wife cling to these fleeting moments, their joy tinged with sorrow as they notice his fading form and footprints swarmed by millipedes, ominous signs of a bond unraveling. The Boy’s questions haunt them: “Why do I exist like this?” His ghostly innocence blurs the line between memory and reality, especially when a living child—his mirror image—enters their lives, stirring unease. As nights deepen, the Boy’s visits grow fainter, his silhouette dissolving like mist over rice paddies. The couple’s desperate hope to hold him collides with whispers of an inevitable farewell, leaving them suspended between grief and the eerie comfort of his whispers in the dark. A haunting meditation on loss, where love persists even as shadows fade.