【EN】The Land of Roots

By Senon Wakamiya
【EN】

A story about a boy who loved trains so much that he became a railroad crossing.

I loved trains. I loved them and loved them and loved them. On days I didn’t have to go back to the care facility, I could sit for hours in the platform waiting room, watching trains come and go.

I prayed to God. “When I’m reborn, I want to be a station.” I want to be a station that sees off countless trains.

If I become a station, then my mother—who stopped coming to see me—my little brother I’ve never met, and all the teachers at the facility… everyone, everyone will use me. They’ll pass through me. They’ll need me.

If being a station doesn’t work, I want to be tracks. If I become tracks, then I—who couldn’t go anywhere—can stretch on forever.

And if there were no tracks… if this world had no tracks, what do you think would happen? With no trains, you’d be stuck walking everywhere, forever.

That would be a problem, right? I want to be someone who keeps everyone from getting stuck. So I thought: “Fine. I can be reborn as tracks.” But only as my second choice.

Except… I became a railroad crossing. Yeah, it happens: getting rejected by your first and second choice. Sorry. I didn’t see that coming.

But it’s okay. I don’t mind. A railroad crossing is cool. Those yellow-and-black poles… and they even look like bamboo. You don’t get bamboo every day.

And a railroad crossing has an important job. If I broke down in the morning and the gates stayed down all day… do you understand the kind of chaos that would cause?

The first train wouldn’t come, and the station would turn into a Queen concert.

Even the woman in Mariya Takeuchi’s song “Eki (Station)” might never spot that familiar raincoat in the crowd—and there’s a very, very high chance her chest wouldn’t tremble in the twilight station.

A crossing matters. That’s why I’m proud. I grew up little by little, doing this job.

And yet… what’s wrong with you people? I lower the gates for a reason—so why do you try to crawl under them? With faces that pale. What are you carrying inside?

I do my job. When it’s time, I ring the alarm, lower the gates, and until the train passes through, I make sure no one crosses.

And still… why do you, again today, with eyes like you’re staring at some distant Tenjiku, force yourself through me?

Where do you think you’re going back to? On the other side is just the same small town as always. No matter how hard you try, realistically, there’s only Japan there—or at most, East Asia.

Why do you pass through me expecting the next story? Even if you ride the loop line around and around, the Land of Roots you’re aiming for is nowhere. Nowhere. It doesn’t exist.

Next time I’m reborn, I’ll be a luggage rack. Racks are nice. Cool.

(The End)

SENON ARCHIVE -まとめのまとめ-

Contents (EN)
① Gogyouka (Five-Line Poems)
② Transformation Begins in the Body (walking / meals / notebook)
③ Sergei (dialogue series)
④ Dialogues & Inner Comedy
⑤ Declaration / Meta

Index (EN):

GOGYŌKA-EN

他言語版 / Other languages

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【PT-BR】Português (Brasil):

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【ZH-繁TW】繁體中文（台灣）: