School | Minna no Mishi Magazine

Occasionally, a black cat rests on the water heater next door, so one morning I called out to it from the clothesline on the second floor. Then he slowly lifted his face and frowned, saying, "What?" Disgusting gesture. I didn't drive it away (although Mr. Honjo is afraid that it will invade the mini-field in the garden, so he is strict with the cat, saying "Hey, go over there").

The movement of the black cat reminded me of my fifteen-year-old daughter in the morning. As her wife's manuscript says, she is a deep sleeper. A child who can't get up unless he keeps shaking it. One morning at school, I used to wake up before 7:00, and last night I was so peppy asking, "Please come at 6:50." What if In a stuffy room typical of junior high school students, it's a figure that's awkwardly devouring sleep. The old-fashioned bed I inherited from my grandmother is small and the legs stick out. You've grown up, until just a little while ago, this child... I can't help but feel deeply for my father, but now I'm a demon here. At 7:00 p.m., my daughter was so irritated that I couldn't reach her even if I stretched out my hand. After a few minutes, I finally landed on the floor. I'm a little sorry, Dad... This is unreasonable.

But you know. Youth is sleepy. I am sleepy morning, noon and night. I can sleep forever and ever. It would be nice if school started in the afternoon, but on the contrary, it's very early.

Okay. Yesterday morning, my daughter had to get up earlier than usual. Oh, that's right. It's been there since my father's time, 50 years ago. It certainly doesn't make sense. It was also at the sports day, but I was blindly pushed backwards, Icchini, Icchini, Sawada-kun, don't bend your elbows and don't look away. At the graduation ceremony, sad background music is played as early as possible. Okay, see you tomorrow.

What was it for and who was it for? Well, maybe the representatives, the chamber of commerce, the PTA president... I don't know, but I wonder if it's because they don't care about the guests, brothers and sisters, and local celebrities. Those who are forced to do it from the morning are certainly unbearable. Having the leading graduate practice and handing over the diploma twice (the first time was a dummy). Now that I am a local celebrity, I would like to declare that I don't need that. I can still understand the Olympics, but I don't need a school rehearsal. I don't care if things go wrong on the day. I haven't been invited to any ceremony yet, but I'll tell you.

Thus, ceremonies are inflexible and tend to be totalitarian in order to complete them flawlessly. Do you think there is a feeling that the students are leaving for the battlefield? Don't even feel like a rehearsal is like a crystal of the bad part of school. Like lip-sync monitoring during the national anthem. I hate the ceremony. While saying that, I am quite excited about my daughter's son's entrance ceremony and graduation ceremony (I wonder why I was so indifferent and indifferent when I was there).

In terms of the graduation ceremony, it was fun to "call" the current students. Look, everyone says one word at a time. "Today in full bloom of the cherry blossoms", "For us current students", "From the bottom of our hearts to all the graduates today"... Occasionally, I get excited when everyone says "Congratulations" in unison. This flood of words was dramatic and pleasant. It's one of the things I can't do anymore. By the way, this reminds me of Riku Onda's debut novel "Rokume no Sayoko", a scary novel. I can't forget the "calling" scene made by the drama club.

"What a strange place school is." "If it's just for studying." Look.” “What do you see?” “Many equal-sized desks and chairs.” “An empty square room.” “What is this room?” “Yes, this is a container.” "Yes, we are humans." "Yes, we will let you in." "This is a place to gather you all together." "We will all wear the same clothes." Forty people in such a small space.” “Everyone facing forward.” “Sitting there for hours.”

In the novel, "Sixth Sayoko" appears during this call. How horrifying. It was also in "Night Picnic", but there is a feeling that there is a stranger among the unspecified number of students in the school. Mr. Onda is a writer who can draw such horrors beautifully. That feeling was Naoki Urasawa's "20th Century Boys" mask, who was it? "It doesn't make any sense." At the bottom of my school memories, there are children who can't remember because they're vague. A child who couldn't see even though they were playing together.

In the old days, the school had bright youth dramas starting with "What is youth?" and "This is youth." A closed space that also serves as a scene of horror and mystery. In recent novels, Kanae Minato “Confession”, Mizuki Tsujimura “Time stops in the cold school building”, “After school in search of names”, “A place where the sun sits”, Miyuki Miyabe “Solomon’s Perjury”, Yukito Ayatsuji “ANOTHER”, Eto Mori's "Classmates", Ryo Asai's "Kirishima, stop club activities", Yusuke Kishi's "Evil Scriptures"... Mystery, fear, and violence await you here and there in this masterpiece. In terms of manga, Kazuo Umezu's "Drifting Classroom" would be the first prize. I really want to go to a school like that. A place where the cry of "Ah!" echoes.

My school was a mediocre facility where Sayoko and Hanako-san didn't appear. Or maybe I was a child who didn't notice even if it was haunting. As I wrote in the "Window" volume, when I was in elementary and junior high school, I was a stubborn child who had a sense of values, such as 100 points was the norm, what was wrong with 90 points, and 80 points or less was shameful. When I think about it now, I was dancing in a narrow container. Rather than being good at studying, I'm good at tests, so I did well in exams, but it's a pity that I didn't really feel that I was useful in real life. No matter how much I remember the year, the ionization trend (kanagari...), the order of the Soviet industrial complexes (what the heck...).

There is almost nothing to learn or remember from classes, and what is engraved in my mind is this and that friend at school, and the rest time is overwhelmingly more frequent. The failures that everyone has unfolded, the many memories of Zukko. A child who was covered in milk, a child who peeed, a child who threw up after drinking two bowls of makuri (deworming), a child who fell off a seesaw, a child who imitated that and fell in the same way, fell and got soggy while cleaning the pool. I remember that moment, that scene, the kid who got stuck, the kid who was beaten by the teacher (it used to be a daily occurrence in the past). I sang this tanka before.

I can still tell you about your failures one by one because I'm the class leader

At that time, poet Naoko Azuma, who circled this song, commented, "I thought it was a good song because it showed the nasty things that ooze out from the personality." △'s Hiroshi Homura commented, "This person has a tendency to say, 'Let's dare to write something that feels bad,' even if it's just one ball out of a bad feeling. (Omitted) I already feel the way you say 'you guys.' It's bad.” I received compliments from each of them.

Yes, I served as a class leader = committee chairman a lot. Looking back, in elementary, junior high and high school, I was the chairman of the children's association, the chairman of the council, the leader of the cheering squad, the president of the club, and character(bruises) length. A child who has been doing important posts with "long" as he wants. I was a conductor and a director of performances. While pretending that he dislikes rehearsals and is not good at totalitarianism, he was actually on the side of the system, and I think he had a contradictory childhood in which he had to be serious even though he wanted to be silly.

Oh, I'm the lonely headmaster. One shining badge on the chest.

I just remembered. In elementary school, when I was president of the children's association, I would sit in a chair with my back to the podium and watch the children at the whole school assembly. It is a rule that if the chairman stands up when the teachers enter, all the members stand up. Everyone can't see the teacher, so I'm an existence that can be stared at. At times like that, I used to pretend to stand up and not stand up, as a feint. No, just twice. I giggle inwardly when I see the children standing up. Probably not suitable for long.

One more thing about school. You go out into the world, get a job in your 20s, and realize that you are over 30. What I wish I had been taught at school.

How to drink. cooking. domestic affairs. What is a bank? What is an annuity? Fear of credit and debt. gambling. existence of a blacklist. What will happen to the lives of those who commit crimes? What is a union? You can get married, but you can also get divorced. Responsibilities when a child is born. Responsibility to see off parents. How to treat the sick, the injured, and the weak. Inheritance. What is a house? What is land? survival ability. The importance of agriculture, forestry and fisheries. About the fragile earth. The Importance of Peace and the Fear of War. What are basic human rights? "And that you must go to the election."

What is a school that doesn't at least teach modern history, Showa history, war damage? I think. It must not be a container that makes children who can do as the country thinks.

When you think of the mysterious box called school, you end up being very serious. It is certain that the bright future and vice versa depend on this box.

Click here for "School" by Manami Honjo