Kays Translations

Just another Isekai Lover~

Chapter 77. Short Story – Memories of the Language Textbook

The plant-dyed shawl I borrowed from Grandpa Jill reminded me of a story from my old Japanese language textbook.

I used to love those textbooks. I loved them so much that I even begged my much older cousin to give me her old textbooks when she didn’t need them anymore.

Once, I talked about a story I liked, and they told me they didn’t know it. I was shocked—I’d assumed all textbooks were the same. But it turns out the content is a little different depending on the year.

During Japanese class, I liked reading ahead to the next stories instead of paying attention to the current lesson. For some reason, the upcoming stories always seemed more interesting than the one we were studying.

Among those, there’s one story I remember particularly well.

It was about dyeing fabric with cherry blossom wood.

I’ve forgotten the details, but I think the story went something like this:

To get a beautiful pale cherry blossom pink, you need bark from the tree before the flowers bloom. Once the flowers have opened, you can’t get that same color.

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Every time the cherry trees bloom, I remember that story. And I imagine the vivid pink sap flowing through the tree just before the flowers burst open—stored up just for blooming—and feel a tiny bit guilty about the idea of taking that color for dyeing.

That reminds me—there was also a story about a bus driver who planted a row of cherry blossom trees.

There used to be a row of cherry blossom trees in my neighborhood, and apparently it was the idea of the town council president at the time, and they raised donations by offering to put nameplates on the trees. The nameplates have long since decayed, but I heard one of the trees was planted in honor of my cousin’s child.

I also liked the stories in my textbooks about the beauty of simple tableware, about finding beauty in the flowing lines of patterns that are drawn without hesitation on mass-produced tableware.

I imagined the craftsmen repeating the same movements thousands, tens of thousands, or even more times. When I thought about that, I started to feel a kind of affection even for the cheap dishes piled in discount bins at the pottery shop.

Oh, and there was another one—about a master temple carpenter. I loved that story.

The way the master carpenter would read the natural quirk of the wood and use it in harmony with how it grew—it moved me deeply.

Maybe it was because I already knew I had quite a few quirks myself.

　Speaking of quirky stories, there’s one about people using batons to protect their fields from some unknown animal. For some reason, it has a lot of quirky characters that have stuck with me. I always think of it when I see news footage of people trying to save their fields from suspicious people or animals with batons.

Speaking of quirky stories, there was a story where someone used a sasumata pole to protect their fields from some unknown animal. The characters in that story were all really eccentric for some reason, and it stuck with me. Every time I see news footage of someone trying to fend off a suspicious person or animal with a sasumata, I think of that story. 　

I still remember quite a few stories from my Japanese language textbooks … And I find it kind of funny that I remember them this well. Some people might wonder, “Do language textbooks ever actually help you in life?” But I think they probably do.

That’s why I found myself wondering—Could I dye fabric using plum trees? Or with Kirara’s tree?

You hear about cherry-dyed cloth, but not so much about plum-dyed fabric.

I vaguely remember that loquats could also be used to dye a soft pink.

I’ve always been interested in plant dyeing, but I’ve never actually tried it, so I don’t have any detailed knowledge.

“Kirara, can I get some twigs from your tree sometime?”

Come to think of it, should I be pruning Kirara? Can she handle it on her own? She’s looking really healthy and well-shaped right now.

“Sure. That whole basketful?”

Kirara pointed to the basket she’d used to harvest plums before. Honestly, I have no idea how much I’d need.

“It’s just a trial, so maybe a little less than that. Like enough to fill this pot? Not right now, though.”

I wonder if, like with the cherry trees, it’s better to harvest the branches just before the flowers bloom. Well, I guess I’ll figure it out through trial and error.

“Let me know whenever.”

“Thanks.”

『What are you going to do?』

Mimi, perched on Kirara’s shoulder, asked me.

“I want to try dyeing… like a handkerchief or something.”