Asako Eguchi

I try to remember what your hand felt like on my back when I was a child. And now I place my hand on yours, bent from pain. Like landscaped gardens are meant to evoke the four seasons and the cyclical wonders of nature, I gaze at you, hoping to find us one more time.

Hanako always watches the other kids play but she is too timid to ask if she can join in. Then one day, Booger Gal rockets out of her and helps her nose into a new life.

The fourth-grade protagonist is going through physical and emotional changes and feels awkward as she can't help but compare herself to her friends. One day, she is blown away by her classmate Aya's swimming and realizes that she has feelings for her.

Even though I feel like I'm living in the now, here, I think I just end up being in nowhere all the time. And in the nowhere, I find the now and the here.

Things are kind of crappy right now. In Japanese, we say "hanakuso (nose snot)" instead of crap, though. Here's a dose of hope and giggles.

A little girl reflects on her last summer with her father at his funeral.

"You're right. There was a bug–I killed it." Late at night, only one voice wafts around the room. What lies on the other end of the telephone line is anyone's guess...

彼女と分かり合いたくて語りかける彼。でもいつものように、彼女は遥か遠くに感じられる。そんなはずないのに。彼女はテーブルの向かいにいるのだから。