The Easy Life in Kamusari (Forest, #1)

by Shion Miura

“Only the moon never sleeps. From the window, it peers in on my heart.”

My balls shriveled.

The air filled with all sorts of mingled fragrances: the sweetness of the clear water in the river, the green smell of grasses pushing up out of the soil, the scorched smell of someone burning dead branches. The faint smell of rotting flesh from animals that had died deep in the mountains in the winter. Everything was in motion, ushering in the coming spring.

I thought instantly of the Sea of Corruption—that vast, poisonous forest in the anime Nausicaä that chokes all living things.

I don’t have much spirit of resistance. Maybe it’s just too much trouble, or maybe I’m adaptable. You can’t really call it right or wrong, I think.

“You can’t go around planting trees wherever you feel like it and then just forget about them,” said Iwao. “You’ve got to think in terms of the cycle. Not doing any maintenance, just letting things go—that’s not ‘nature.’ You’ve got to help the cycle along, keep the mountain in shape, and that’s how you preserve nature.”

my heart and my cock speaking in one voice. I want you. I want you, Nao. Oh yeah.

It seems as if we do the same things over and over as the seasons change, but that’s not really true. That’s what I’ve come to understand over the course of this year. The mountains are different every single day. Moment by moment, a tree grows or withers. The changes may be subtle, but if you miss those subtle signs, you can’t grow healthy trees and you can’t maintain the woodlands in optimum condition.