May 28, 2026

I am riding bicycles with a friend along a forest road where many conifers grow. From the left side, light is coming in like sunlight through leaves, threading through the deep green of the conifers.

We are heading for a school in the mountains, come to a fork, left and right, and choose right.

But right goes downhill, and we go along with momentum, but end up back at the very start of the slope.

We turn back to the fork and this time choose left, which, since we are coming back from the right, is now straight ahead.

Left goes uphill, and after going on a while we reach a fine three-story wooden school building.

114 years have passed since it opened, but it is solidly built, and the black that has soaked into the wood over the years has taken on a luster and is beautiful.

The open side of the U shape faces the school gate. The gate is a little to the left. Several cars are parked in the parking lot and teachers are standing there.

When we were about to go home, the teachers also went home by car.

The viewpoint changes, and I am watching a student there setting fire to cardboard. That student seems to be an odd one at that school, but an excellent student.

The fire lit with a match burns extremely well, perhaps because it is dry. There doesn't seem to be any particular reason for burning it.

The viewpoint changes again, I am back in Tokyo, and I am watching a report from a helicopter on the news.

The school building had burned away without a trace, and perhaps snow had fallen, it seemed to have become just bare ground covered in white.