Earthlings

by Sayaka Murata

It’s really hard to put into words things that are just a little bit not okay.

She was in the position of educating me and ruled over me, but at the same time she herself was also being judged as a tool of society.

I wanted to finish it quickly, study harder, and get closer to being once of society’s components.

I’d thought I wasn’t yet a fully fledged member of the Factory, but actually I was already one of its tools after all.

“Have you ever had the feeling that you want to get inside someone else’s skin?”

“Plenty of people look squarely at things they don’t want to see and live with them.”

Why so virtuous now? You’re just a regular adult, after all. All you have to do is ignore it, just like any other regular adult.”