I was given a suspension of prosecution.
I sat on a bench in the waiting room of the Prosecutor’s Office, feeling miserable and not at all happy, waiting for the arrival of the “flatfish” who would pick up my case.

I could see the sunset sky through the high window behind me. 　flying in the air in the shape of the character for “woman. [# page break] Third handwritten note 1. 　One of Takeichi’s predictions came true, and one did not. The less honorable prophecy that I would fall in love with him came true, but the blessed prophecy that I would become a great painter did not come true. 　I was only able to become an unknown, poor cartoonist for a poor magazine. 　Because of the incident in Kamakura, I was expelled from high school, and I lived and slept in a three-mat room on the second floor of Flounder’s house. ) After that, he was completely cut off from his hometown, and Flounder was always in a bad mood, never smiling even when he smiled at his own amorous laughter. It was a terrible change that made me wonder how people could change so easily, or rather, how funny they could be. Don’t answer the door. Anyway, don’t get out! 　That was all she kept saying to herself. 　Flounder seemed to think that he might be suicidal, in other words, that there was a danger that he might follow the woman and jump into the sea again, so he firmly forbade himself from going out.

Flounder seemed to think that he might be suicidal, in other words, that there was a danger that he might follow the woman and jump into the sea again, so he firmly forbade himself from going out. 　The house of Hirame is located near a medical school in Okubo, and even though the signboard says “Seiryuen, a calligraphy, painting, and antique dealer,” it is only one of two houses in a building, with a narrow store frontage, a dusty interior, and a lot of unrefined junk (although Hirame is not dependent on the junk in his store for his business). ) He rarely sat in the store, and usually went out in the morning with a shy look on his face, leaving a seventeen or eighteen year old boy alone, who was his watchman. Whenever he had free time, he would play catch with the neighborhood kids outside, but he seemed to think the upstairs residents were idiots or crazies, and even lectured them to himself. He listened and obeyed with a tired or impressed look on his face. I had heard some rumors about this from people in my own family, but I was not so interested in what happened to other people. However, I am not very interested in other people’s personal affairs, so I don’t know anything deep about it. However, there was something in the boy’s eyes that reminded me strangely of the eyes of a fish, so perhaps he was really the secret child of a flatfish, ……, but if so, the two of them were a very lonely father and son. Late at night, they would go upstairs and eat soba or other dishes in silence, without telling me. 　At Flounder’s house, the boy always prepared the meals, and only the meals for the troublesome person upstairs were placed on a separate dish and brought upstairs by the boy three times, and Flounder and the boy would eat hurriedly in the damp four-and-a-half-mat room under the stairs, with the clinking of dishes and the clinking of small bowls.

At Flounder’s house, the boy always prepared the meals, and only the meals for the troublesome person upstairs were placed on a separate dish and brought upstairs by the boy three times, and Flounder and the boy would eat hurriedly in the damp four-and-a-half-mat room under the stairs, with the clinking of dishes and the clinking of small bowls. One evening at the end of March, the boy was eating a meal. 　One evening at the end of March, Flounder was sitting downstairs with an unusual bottle of sake, wondering if he had made an unexpected profit or had some other trick up his sleeve (even if both of those two guesses were true, there were probably several more reasons, too, which are beyond my ability to guess at). The master of the feast admired and praised the sashimi of tuna, not flatfish, and offered a little sake to the indolent residents. 　What are you going to do now? 　I didn’t answer him, but picked up some sardines from a plate on the table and gazed at the silver eyes of the small fish, and my intoxication began to wear off.

What are you going to do now? 　I didn’t answer him, but picked up some sardines from a plate on the table and gazed at the silver eyes of the small fish, and my intoxication began to wear off. 　I felt a longing for freedom, and suddenly felt as if I were about to cry. 　After I came to this house, I no longer had any reason to act the part of a clown, but simply lay in the midst of the scorn of the flounder and the boy. I had become a dopey-looking housemate. 　I was almost a dopey little houseguest. So, you can be rehabilitated with your mind. If you change your mind and seriously ask me for advice, I will consider it. 　There is such a complicated, somewhat fuzzy, escape-associated, subtle complexity to the way Flounder speaks, or rather to the way all people in the world speak, with their almost futile vigilance and myriad canterings, that I always find myself perplexed and in the mood of not giving a damn. I was always in the mood of not giving a damn, and would make fun of the situation by making fun of the situation, or just leave it all to them with a silent nod of the head, so to speak. 　I learned in later years that all that would have been necessary was for Flounder to have simply reported to me as follows, and I felt depressed at his unnecessary caution, or rather, at the inexplicable vanity and otei of the people of the world.

I learned in later years that all that would have been necessary was for Flounder to have simply reported to me as follows, and I felt depressed at his unnecessary caution, or rather, at the inexplicable vanity and otei of the people of the world. 　All Flounder had to do at that moment was to say, “I’m not going to go to a public or private school, but I’m going to go to a private school, anyway. 　You must enter a school, whether government or private, starting in April. Your living expenses will be more than enough from your country when you enter a school. 　I found out much later that this was the case. And I would have done as I was told. And yet, because of Flounder’s rather cautious and roundabout way of speaking, things got strangely complicated, and the direction in which I was going to live changed as if it were a different one. 　If you don’t have the intention of seriously asking me for advice, there is nothing I can do about it. 　What kind of consultation? 　I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.

What kind of consultation? 　I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. 　It’s something you’ve got off your chest, isn’t it? 　Such as? 　Like, what are you going to do with yourself? 　Should I work? 　No. How do you feel about that? 　Because even if you want to go to school, …… 　Of course, you need money. But the question is not about money. It’s how you feel. 　Why didn’t you say at least once that the money is supposed to come from the country? I thought that one word would have decided how I felt, but I was in the middle of a fog. 　What do you think? 　Do you have any hope for the future? 　I don’t think the person being cared for would understand how difficult it is to take care of a single person. 　I’m sorry. That’s very worrisome. Once I have taken care of you, I do not want you to be half-hearted. I want you to show me how determined you are to follow the path of rehabilitation. For example, if you seriously ask me for advice regarding your future plans, I will be happy to discuss them with you. However, if you are strong-minded, have a clear plan for the future, and consult with me, I am willing to help you, even if only a little, for the sake of your rehabilitation.

However, if you are strong-minded, have a clear plan for the future, and consult with me, I am willing to help you, even if only a little, for the sake of your rehabilitation. Do you understand? 　Do you understand how I feel? What in the world are you going to do now? 　If they don’t put me upstairs, I’m going to work. …… 　Are you seriously saying that? 　In today’s world, even if you graduated from the Imperial University, …… 　No, it doesn’t make you a salaried man. Then what are you? 　A painter. 　I said that boldly. 　Huh? 　I will never forget the sly look on Flounder’s face as he smiled with his neck wrinkled.