Let’s talk about books.

How many books can you read in a day?

Say, if you read for the entire twenty-four hours.

If you read one book an hour, twenty-four books every day, by the end of the year, you could have read up to eighty-seven thousand, six hundred books.

If you were to read all the books published in Japan in a single year, you would have approximately read eight hundred thousand books.

So if you can finish a book every six minutes, you can read up to two hundred and forty books every day. By the end of the year, you’ll have read eight hundred seven thousand, six hundred books.

These figures unfortunately don’t include old publications or publications outside Japan.

Yes, it’s an impossible dream trying to read every book in the world.

It’s simply not humanly possible.

More books are born into this world every day. 

If there are people, there will be more new books.

It’s not something humans can change anymore.

Books were made by humans, yet we have no control over them.

Of course, these are just assumptions.

To conquer all books is just a dream.

Maybe it’s not even a dream either.

Neither is it as sweet as an illusion.

It’s inappropriate to call this ‘wishful thinking’ too.

More like someone recklessly using a flimsy raft to venture into the ocean.

Or like someone stupidly trying to throw a rock onto the moon.

In this war, people write more new books.

Not just read, but they weave a story together.

The stories that don’t get published are thrown into the pits of despair and that is a true portrayal of the no-end battle of books.

Novels, manga, encyclopaedias, new books, picture books, magazines, manuals, strategy guides, artbooks, short stories, poems and essays. 

Text books, dictionaries, anthologies, recipe collections, reference books, medical guides, photo albums, biblical scriptures and navigation guides.

No end to books, a huge variety to chose from.

People only chose a couple of books from that huge variety.

It’s not like they’re picky or something, they simply just choose the ones they want to read.

They aren’t discouraged when a certain book isn’t what they’re looking for.

It is very common for people to do so.

This story is about willpower.

To never give up in front of hardships and no matter what, be still able to smile, and still having their unwavering judgement.

Yes, this is about how to be proud of oneself and how to never succumb to this or that person’s story.

“This is extremely exaggerated. Why so many profound thoughts? Enjoying books and their stories is the most important thing here.”

“Hey, you’re an author. Think about it a little more.”

“Eh? When could an ordinary household pet even talk? Come here. You can decide whether it’s your front or back, left or right paw. You choose.”

“Do you want to poke me? Do you really want to poke me?”

This is a story that you’ll die if you don’t read.

A story about a person jammed between life and death.

“Stop! Don’t poke me! I’m against animal abuse!”

“You’re exaggerating again. I’m lightly prodding you. Besides, I’m pretty sure scissors are used for cutting, not poking things, right?”

“Then why are you poking me?”

“Oh, do you want me to cut you up instead? Oh, I see, then come here……”

“No way! Do you have nothing else to do apart from cutting or poking me?”

This is a story that I’ll die if I don’t write.

A story about a spirit jammed between dreams and reality.

“Ow, I really can’t stand this! Since you’ve got so much time to do this, why can’t you write another book instead? Everyone’s waiting for it!”

“Geez, I’m having fun right now.”

“You may be having fun, but I’m having the shock of my life! Okay okay, go and write. Aren’t authors meant to write?”

“You don’t understand a thing!”

Maybe you could say it's……

Something stranger than reality,

Something even stranger than novels,

That is, this story.