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October 8 - October 14, 2025
If you combined the kanji character for “go” with the one for “live,” you got a strange-looking word meaning “to pass away.” Somehow seeing this word was what had shaken Rintaro the most; it struck him as out of place.
Natsuki Books was a tiny secondhand bookshop on the edge of town. The shop didn’t lose enough money to be considered a liability, nor did it make enough to be considered a fortune. It wasn’t much of an inheritance.
“Books have tremendous power.”
“There are timeless stories, powerful enough to have survived through the ages. Read lots of books like these—they’ll be like friends to you. They’ll inspire and support you.”
“The name’s Tiger. Tiger the Tabby.” There was nothing more bizarre than a cat suddenly introducing itself to you, but Rintaro somehow managed to reciprocate.
“The important stuff is always difficult to understand, Mr. Proprietor,” said the cat, as if reading Rintaro’s thoughts. “Most people don’t get that obvious truth.
“With all these new titles to read, I don’t think I’m ready to leave the hikikomori life just yet.
This world throws all kinds of obstacles at us; we are forced to endure so much that is absurd. Our best weapon for fighting all the pain and trouble in the world isn’t logic or violence. It’s humor.”
“Don’t worry. It’s all a bluff. Behind a big impressive gate lives many a sorry excuse for a man.”
“It’s like they threw a whole bunch of stuff from all over the world together in one place,” Rintaro continued. “It looks like it’s full, but in fact it’s empty.” The cat’s response was very Zen. “There’s no philosophy behind it and no taste. No matter how rich and wonderful it all looks on the outside, when you take off the lid and look inside there’s nothing but a jumble of borrowed junk. It’s the worst kind of ignorance.”
Books have made me the man I am today. They’re my dear companions.
“He’s very skilled at spouting heaps of words, but they can’t all be true. There’s got to be a lie in there somewhere.”
Books have tremendous power. But take care. It’s the book that holds the power, not you.”
“It’s not true that the more you read, the more you see of the world. No matter how much knowledge you cram into your head, unless you think with your own mind, walk with your own feet, the knowledge you acquire will never be anything more than empty and borrowed.”
“Books can’t live your life for you. The reader who forgets to walk on his own two feet is like an old encyclopedia, his head stuffed with out-of-date information. Unless someone else opens it up, it’s nothing but a useless antique.”
“Somewhere there is a man who steadily acquires books from all over the world, then chops them up into tiny pieces,” said the cat solemnly. “He collects books and then mistreats them horribly. We can’t let him continue to get away with it.”
Helping people out may not be my forte, but when I hear that books need my help then I’m ready.”
Of course, everyone is eager to assert their own uniqueness, but since everyone is equally obsessed with asserting it, then there’s nothing unique about anyone. It turns out it’s impossible to distinguish between us.
“If stories aren’t read, they’re going to disappear.
“Reading isn’t only for pleasure or entertainment. Sometimes you need to examine the same lines deeply, read the same sentences over again. Sometimes you sit there, head in hands, only progressing at a painstakingly slow pace. And the result of all this hard work and careful study is that suddenly you’re there and your field of vision expands. It’s like finding a great view at the end of a long climbing trail.”
Hurrying means that you miss out on many things. Riding a train will take you far, but it’s a misconception to think that this will give you more insight. Flowers in the hedgerow and birds in the treetops are accessible only to the person who walks on their own two feet.
She was never one for diplomacy when feelings were concerned;
she was being pointedly unfriendly, but Akiba seemed amused.
Cats are, by nature, creatures of will. They don’t come and go at the convenience of human beings.”
“Because they don’t sell,” he concluded. “Bookshops aren’t volunteer organizations. They can’t survive if they don’t make sales, and that’s why books that don’t sell just disappear.
In today’s world, people don’t have the time or the money to spend on ‘literary masterpieces’ or any fabulously long tome. But at the same time, reading is still fashionable. It confers status. Everyone wants to brag about reading some difficult book. And so, we publish our works with these people’s needs in mind. In summary . . .”
“Cheap digests and abridged versions sell like crazy.”
“For those readers who desire a bit of stimulation, the best way is to do it with pornographic passages or gratuitous violence. And for those who lack imagination, adding a simple ‘this really happened’ does the trick. Your circulation is increased by several percentage points, and sales soar.”
“There’s a big difference between the books you value and the ones that the rest of society wants,” he said with pity in his eyes.
“Nobody’s interested in truth or ethics or philosophy. People are worn out from living. All they want is either to be stimulated or healed. The only way for books to survive in such a world is for them to metamorphose. Dare I say it? Sales are everything. No matter how great a masterpiece, if a work doesn’t sell it vanishes.”
Your feelings about a book don’t determine its value. The number of copies in circulation does. In other words, in our society it is the banknote that is the arbiter of value. Those who forget this rule and try to embrace something idealistic have no choice but to drop out of society altogether. It truly is a shame.”
nuances. If you really think of books as nothing but scraps of paper, then you ought to quit this job. But I hear from you that you are committed to changing the form of books so they will survive. That means you like books. That’s why you’re still sitting there.
Outside the sky was cloudy, but somehow the air was bright, not only in contrast to the dimly lit shop, but also because Rintaro’s aunt always managed to bring a sunny disposition with her that warmed any chill.
There was no sunshine, but the glittering flakes made everything seem bright.
But time is merciless in its passing. This was something that Rintaro understood all too well. No matter how sad, how painful, how nonsensical a thing might happen, time refused to stand still and wait for him. Somehow he had just drifted along until here he was today.
Our last quest goes beyond saving books.”
“Being able to express shallow words of sympathy in a sweet voice doesn’t make someone a caring, compassionate soul. What’s important is the ability to have empathy for another human being—to be able to feel their pain, to walk alongside them in their suffering.”
Logic and reason are never the best weapons in an irrational world.” “Humor is, right?”
“A book that sits on a shelf is nothing but a bundle of paper. Unless it is opened, a book possessing great power or an epic story is mere scraps of paper. But a book that has been cherished and loved, filled with human thoughts, has been endowed with a soul.”
“A cherished book will always have a soul. It will come to its reader’s aid in times of crisis.”
“It’s a sad old world, don’t you think?” said the woman, staring off into space. “People accessorize themselves with books, or stuff themselves with their knowledge and then toss them away. Others think if they pile the books up high enough, they’ll be able to see further.
“In the past it was a matter of course that books had souls. Everybody who read books knew that they did, and they would exchange souls with each other.
I do know that books have helped me many times. I’m the kind of person who tends to dwell on the past, and I give up way too easily, but somehow, I’ve made it this far because books keep me going.”
“Books teach us how to care about others.”
“Books are filled with human thoughts and feelings. People suffering, people who are sad or happy, laughing with joy. By reading their words and their stories, by experiencing them together, we learn about the hearts and minds of other people besides ourselves. Thanks to books, it’s possible to learn not only about the people around us every day, but people living in totally different worlds.”
“Don’t hurt anyone. Never bully people weaker than yourself. Help out those in need. Some would say that these rules are obvious. But the truth is, the obvious is no longer obvious in today’s world. What’s worse is that some people even ask why. They don’t understand why they shouldn’t hurt other people. It’s not a simple thing to explain. It’s not logical. But if they read books they will understand. It’s far more important than using logic to explain something. Human beings don’t live alone, and a book is a way to show them that.”
“I think the power of books is that—that they teach us to care about others. It’s a power that gives people courage and also supports them in turn.”
“Because you seem to have forgotten,” he resumed with all the strength he could muster, “I’m going to say it as loud as I can. Empathy—that’s the power of books.”
“Even if you try to destroy a book, it doesn’t disappear that easily. Right now, in places all over the world, people have connections to books.
“If you find it difficult, it’s because it contains something that is new to you. Every difficult book offers us a brand-new challenge.”