Bullet Train

by Kōtarō Isaka

When in reality, the US and UN determine their course of action based not on any sense of mission or moral obligation, but on a calculation of profit and loss.

‘Although, eventually Thomas tricks Arthur and he does have an accident.’ ‘Then what good is he?’ ‘But Thomas says something smart.’ ‘And what’s that?’ ‘Records are made to be broken!’ ‘Not a very nice thing to say to someone whose personal record you’ve just broken. Thomas sounds like a real jerk.’

‘Which is always true. It’s not my fault that trouble follows you around. You could be about to cross a foot bridge and try stomping on it just to make extra sure it was stable and you’d end up hitting a bee that was resting on the bridge and it would sting you and you’d fall into the river. It’s always like that with you. I bet you’ve never played golf, right?’

‘We’re all in the same line of work. McDonald’s knows all about Mos Burger. Bic Camera knows about Yodobashi Camera. Same thing. And our world is pretty small. There aren’t too many people who’ll take on any job someone needs doing. I heard about you and Maria from that old fat go-between.’

Whether it’s war, genocide, or revisions to the law, in most cases people don’t notice until it’s already happening, and they feel like they would have protested earlier if they only knew.

As for Kimura, everyone in his life was either an enemy or someone who gave him a wide berth, so at first he didn’t know what to make of these other parents, but eventually he came to regard them as being on the same team, all sitting on the same bench.

‘I’m not trying to embarrass them. It’s more than that. It’s like, how can I put it? I want to make them feel despair.’

The conductor makes a puzzled face. His hat is too large, which makes him look like a little boy who loves trains and somehow got a job on the Shinkansen.

‘I agree,’ says the woman. ‘I don’t like children who brag about not crying at movies, because no one cries at movies when they’re young. People don’t start getting weepy over nothing until they’re older. I never cried at the movies when I was young, no one does. If someone wants to brag about not crying, they should do it when they’re old. Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to start sermonising.’