Go

by Kazuki Kaneshiro

“The days of acting all high and mighty just because you’re a man or ridiculously old are over.”

“The circle you made with your fist is roughly the size you are. If you stay inside that circle and take only the things within your reach, you can go through life without ever getting hurt.

“Boxing is the act of breaking through the circle with your own fists and taking something from outside it. Outside is crawling with tough guys. And while you’re trying to get something, someone else might come inside and take something of yours. It hurts to hit and hurts to get hit. Fighting is a scary thing. Now do you still want to learn to box? You know you’re safer staying inside that circle.”

A tree that is unbending is easily broken in a powerful storm.

I didn’t believe in the power of the novel. A novel could entertain but couldn’t change anything. You open the book, you close it, and it’s over. Nothing more than a tool to relieve stress.

“A lone person devoted to reading novels has the power equal to a hundred people gathered at a meeting.” Then he’d continue, saying, “The world would be a better place with more people like that,” and smile good-naturedly. And then it felt like maybe he was right.

“But you should live a random life. I mean, your life has already veered off the rails. I wish you’d keep on veering and see where it takes you. You’re someone who could pull that off.

“Nationality isn’t much more than a lease to an apartment,” I said. “If you don’t like the apartment anymore, you break the lease and get out.”

The voices of minority people had no way of reaching the top, so they had to find some way of making their voices louder.

“Not a bad thing to know something about darkness. You can’t talk about light without some knowledge of darkness. Like your buddy Nietzsche said, ‘He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.’ Keep that in mind.”

‘Any man in his youth should apply himself to amusement to his heart’s content. Too long a time in a forest of words will leave him trapped and unable to escape.’”

“Because men are busy asking out their top choice earlier in the week. When they strike out, they go, ‘Hey, she’ll do’ and call the fallback girl later in the week. Women have to say no when that happens, or they’ll be seen as convenient. See?”

What was prohibiting me from going to North Korea? The deep ocean? The tall mountains? The big sky? It was humans. The sons of bitches that put themselves there and roped off the territory as their own were the ones keeping me from seeing my uncle. Can you believe it? Everyone’s always talking about how the technology boom has brought the world closer, but I still can’t go to a place that’s only hours away.

I’m a lion. A lion has no idea he’s a lion. It’s just a random name that you people gave him so you can feel like you know all about him.