Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru prologue

It’s finally here! Another note that this book translation will probably take a while and not update all that regularly. Hopefully it will not take another year (who am I kidding, it will). I haven’t watched the anime but I probably will while I’m translating to avoid the work of figuring out how to translate terminology make sure I’m getting things right.

Full list of translations

Translation Notes

1. Loop Line No.8 is a road in Tokyo.

2. Edokko means someone who was born and raised in Tokyo. As for why I left this word untranslated, see the below note.

3. Yamanote and Shitamachi are the traditional names for two areas of Tokyo. Yamanote is the upper-class area and Shitamachi is working class. They are more divided by class and culture than geographical boundaries. Shitamachi was the center of Edo, the old name for Tokyo, and the two terms gradually got conflated, so Edokko can also refer to those who are born in Shitamachi.

Even in this place, which was only about twenty minutes of walking distance away from Loop Line No.8 (1), the air was perfectly clear at night. One would find it hard to believe that announcements warning of photochemical smog constantly played on the mornings of days where the weather was nice. In the residential area, where small detached homes were lined up in rows, had a few scattered streetlights, and it was completely quiet.

As he followed the complex and narrow one-way roads, Kiyose Haiji looked up at the sky. There was no comparing it with the starry skies of his hometown, Shimane, but even so, there were certainly fine grains of light there.

Even a shooting star would be nice. He thought that, but the sky stayed still.

The wind blew across the base of his neck. It was almost April, but the nights were still cold. The chimneys of his usual public bathhouse, Tsurunoyu, rose on the other side of the low roofs of the houses.

Kiyose stopped looking at the sky, tried to tuck his chin beneath the lapels of his padded kimono and sped up.

The waters of Tokyo’s public baths were incredibly hot. Like all other days, Kiyose soaked in the bathtub after he washed his body, but then got up immediately. An old man, a plasterer who was a regular of Tsurunoyu, laughed at the sight of him from the washing area.

“You get in the bath way too quickly as usual, eh, Haiji!”

Though he paid a hefty fee, getting out just like that was also an annoyance. Kiyose sat down on the plastic chair in the washing area once again. He looked into the mirror and shaved with the razor he brought with him. The plasterer leisurely passed by him from behind, then groaned as he soaked into the bathtub.

“They say that since the old days, for a true Edokko, (2) the temperature of a bath is just right when the water just about bites at your ass!”

The plasterer’s voice echoed in the high-ceilinged tiled room. There were no signs of life from the women’s bath. In the attendant’s booth, the owner of the bath had been pulling out his nose hairs for some time, as though he had a lot of free time. It seemed that the only patrons there were Kiyose and the plasterer.

“That saying, I’ve always thought it was clever, but I do have a doubt.”

“What’s that?”

“This isn’t Shitamachi. It’s Yamanote.” (3)

Kiyose finished shaving and approached the bathtub again. While restraining the plasterer with his gaze, he twisted the faucet and added water to the boiling bath. The liquids with different temperatures mixed together as they swayed. After confirming that, Kiyose submerged himself into the bathtub. He took a position next to the faucet and stretched his legs out in the bath, now at a safe temperature.

“Being able to tell the difference between Shitamachi and Yamanote means that you’ve gotten used to living here.”

The plasterer seemed to have given up on the recapturing of the faucet. He avoided the water that was getting tepid and moved all the way to a position diagonal to Kiyose.

“It has been four years now, after all.”

“How’s Chikusei-sou? It seems to be full this year, yeah?”

“There’s still room for one more, but who knows.”

“Being full is good.”

“Yes.”

It really is, Kiyose thought. This is the last year. And so, the greatest chance comes around. One more person. He scooped up the water with both hands and rubbed his face. I need one more person, no matter what.

The water stung his cheeks, perhaps because he got a rash from shaving.

Kiyose and the plasterer exited the bath together. He leisurely walked on the street at night with the plasterer, who was pushing his bike along. Thanks to the hot bath, he didn’t feel cold at all. Just when Kiyose was wondering if he should take off his kimono, he heard distant sounds of jumbled footsteps and angry voices from behind.

When he turned around, he saw the figures of two men on the other side of the narrow path. To shake off the man who was yelling about something-or-other, the other man ran towards him with a precise stroke. That man approached Kiyose and the plasterer in the blink of an eye, and just when Kiyose saw that he was a young man, he immediately passed by them and ran off. After a considerably long delay, the man in a convenience store apron chased after him.

The young man who brushed against Kiyose’s shoulder wasn’t out of breath at all. Without thinking, Kiyose tried to run after him, but the voice of the plasterer, thick with reproach, dampened his momentum.  

“Man, these shoplifters sure are awful.”

When he said that, sure enough, Kiyose realized that the male employee chasing the young man was yelling, “Catch him!” But Kiyose’s ears weren’t able to recognize those words as meaningful sounds.

It was because he was completely captivated by the running of the young man who was sending his legs forth powerfully, like a machine.

Kiyose snatched the bike handles from the plasterer and wrested it away from him.

“I’m borrowing this!”

Leaving the astonished plasterer behind, Kiyose pedaled standing with all his strength, pursuing the traces of the young man who had disappeared into the dark.

It’s him. The one I’ve been searching for a long time for…is him.

A fire of conviction ignited in Kiyose’s heart, like magma wriggling out of a dark crater. He couldn’t lose sight of him. On that narrow road, only the running path of that man shined. Like the Milky Way that crossed the night sky, like the scent of sweet flowers that enticed insects, it showed the lingering Kiyose which way to go.

Struck by the wind, Kiyose’s kimono swelled. The running man was gradually illuminated by the bike’s light. Every time Kiyose pedalled, the circle of white light shook left and right over the man’s back.

His balance is excellent. Desperately suppressing his excitement, Kiyose observed the man’s running. It seemed like a straight axis was passing through his spine. His limbs beneath his knees stretched well. His shoulders were not uselessly stiff, and his flexible ankles caught the impact from landing. Though light and supple, it was a powerful run.

Seeming to feel Kiyose’s presence, the man turned around slightly beneath a streetlight. Kiyose, seeing that profile that emerged from the night, let out a small “ah” sound.

Was it you?

A feeling that even he didn’t know if it was joy or fear swirled in his chest. He could clearly foresee that something was just about to begin.

He sped up on his bike and came next to the running man. Like he was being manipulated by something that was far away. Like he was being driven by a call that came from a deep, deep place within him. The question was uttered from his mouth before Kiyose noticed, independent of his will.

“Do you like running?”

The man suddenly stopped running and froze, turning to Kiyose with an expression that was both troubled and angry. A pure light dwelled in his completely black eyes that hid an intense passion and directed a question back at him.

What about you? Could you answer that question?

At that moment, Kiyose realized something. If happiness, beauty or good things existed in this world, then for me, they would take the form of this man.

The light of conviction that hit him continued to illuminate his heart for a long time afterwards. It was like the glow of a lighthouse cast onto a dark and stormy sea. A single beam of light continued to indicate Kiyose’s path.

Constant, without changing.

Chapter end