My Ability Is Called Tick

I’m Shi. You can call me Toki.

One night, I was reading the hardcover edition of Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human.

As everyone knows, a hardcover edition contains not only the title story, but also other novellas and short stories, such as “Villon’s Wife” and “The Setting Sun.”

After finishing the last story, “Goodbye,” a cheerful breakup story that was completely different from the oppressive tone of the previous ones (and had already been abandoned), I discovered with indignation that I still hadn’t finished my homework.

The house was especially cold in the middle of the night.

I sat on an empty bed, despondent.

So I threw my head back and laughed, then burst into tears. Overcome by wild swings between joy and sorrow, I grabbed the alarm clock from the desk, loudly sang a hymn to the Virgin Mary, and deluded myself into turning the clock back several hours, pretending time had gone in reverse.

And then.

I appeared in a strange place.

Also known as: “Go, Boy, Save Oda Sakunosuke!” “How to Save Oda Sakunosuke” and “The Oda Sakunosuke Rescue Plan”

Theme: A happy ending, yay!