short story (2/2)

“Yes.”

Izumi looked at me blankly.

“What of it?”

“So let’s say a character called Izumi came out in a novel. Depicted quite feminine throughout the whole thing, but she was really a man… is the big reveal. Izumi was actually his surname, is the truth. But if you get them to think Izumi’s his first name, it’s clearly a woman’s name, so the readers won’t notice Izumi=Man.”

“I see.”

Izumi nodded.

“So if we take your name Kouzuki. But we don’t give a reading for it, and spin it as a first name, perhaps we could get the readers to think you’re a woman called Katsuki.”

“That’s how it is.”

(TL: 香月 is more commonly read as Katsuki.)

Of course, reality wasn’t so.

My name Kouzuki Akira belonged to a bonifide man, while Utagawa Izumi was a bonifide woman.

“Ah, but…”

I turned it back to generalizations.

“With narrative tricks, no matter how pointless, no matter how easy they are for readers to see through, I think they have a value of their own. At the very least, in the entertainment that is narrative tricks, there’s a worth to be found in a different field.”

“And that is?”

“Have you ever heard of bias training?”

Izumi shook her head.

“Unlike you, I suck at English.”

“Oh right. Bias training is thought training to discover the unconscious prejudices and preconceptions inside of you. I heard it’s getting in fas.h.i.+on in the western world these days.”

“Meaning these narrative tricks work as bias training?”

“Right.”

I gave a strong nod.

“Gender-misconception tricks especially so. Let’s say there was a police officer named Makoto, and she was of the field’s s.e.xual minority, a woman. A narrative trick to make the reader think she’s a man is placed on the reader. Certain readers will notice she’s a woman, while others will keep reading a.s.suming she’s a man. In that case, a sort of effect is born.

The reader realizes that a ‘Police officer with a neutral name that happens to like women’ may just as well happen to be a woman herself. While we lead out everyday lives, there are some out there on whom difficulties come easier. It’s related to noticing all that.”

“I see. But how is that connected to works where a reader can easily see through the narrative trick?”

“Skeptical readers may notice the gender of aforementioned individual of their own accord. To us humans, who are a collection of prejudice, it’s a huge step forward.”

“Einstein.”

Said Izumi with a grin.

“Well that’s my field.”

I returned the smile. And I thought hers was quite a wonderful one. Her pale complexion, her lips slowly tracing an arc, it was fascinating.

Eventually, Izumi spoke quietly.

“But to those sorts of people… I mean, those minorities, even if it seems they’re living a special way of life from our eyes, to the people in question, it must feel quite natural for them.”

“You’re right,” I agreed.

“And maybe that’s what narrative tricks are there to teach us.”

She muttered.

“In the world of narrative tricks… of course, deceiving the readers is one thing, but… take the example from before, that individual doesn’t go out of her way to say, ‘even if I live this manly lifestyle, I’m actually a woman,’ and deny it. No matter how they’re reflected on another’s eyes, the officer is just carrying out her life as usual, and that may be a major thing the narrative trick teaches us.”

“Right.”

I gave a large nod.

“In that sense, even in the daily life we live, there may be a narrative trick hiding around the corner. In the domain we pay no mind to whatsoever, if looked upon from the point of view of a third person reader, there may be something we’re causing others to misunderstand.”

While we spoke, it became quite painful for me.

To shake off that feeling, I looked at the clock.

Around fifteen minutes until the start of first period’s review.

“What’s your first cla.s.s…?”

“I start second period. All the science supplementary lessons are like that.”

“I see, I’m first period. Well, I’ll be off then.”

“Sure.”

I took the tote bag full of textbooks in hand, and stood. Returning a smile to Izumi’s grin, I turned my back to her.

That’s no good, no good.

She is a childhood friend, and a friend I often talk to. But that’s all she was. That’s all I could let her be.

Regardless of what I say, I have a need to continue this lifestyle I’ve gotten my hands on. To support my wife and child, I’ll keep teaching English to these high school students. And that’s all I need to do for now.

Is it even alright for a teacher who’s about to turn forty to speak of love? In the first place, Izumi has a husband and child of her own.

A little troubled, I left the quiet staff room.

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