My first encounter with Umehara Umekori was at the bookstore closest to my house.
The novel I was reading at the time was coming to an end and I was looking for the next book to read.
The local bookstore was small and only had a few hot sellers and new publications. The bookstore near the station had a better selection, but I liked the local one.
“It was written by a high school girl who lived around here.”
The owner of the bookstore told me.
Sometimes there were bargains like this.
I picked up the book. The title of the book was “Throat and Cola”. It seemed to be their debut novel, and they had won the newcomer’s award.
“Umehara Umekori…..
”It was interesting, and more importantly, I wanted to support her because she’s a local.”
The good-natured shopkeeper broke into a smile.
It seems to be a coming-of-age novel. I picked it up and read the synopsis.
I wasn’t particularly attracted to it, but I decided to buy it.
And when I read it, I found it to be quite interesting despite its rough edges.
When the second one came out, I bought it in book form and read it.
In short, it’s a miracle.
It was much more interesting than her debut novel.
I finished it in one sitting, and as soon as it became available in paperback I bought that too.
I had recently finished the second volume of the book and lent it to Rino-chan.
“That…. Umehara Umekori.”
“That’s what I said! Young man, do you doubt me?”
I’m currently walking down a dark street with a blonde college student.
Both sides of the road are rice paddies, and we will soon enter a residential area.
“Not what you imagined?”
A blond woman in a cream-colored dress.
If the author’s introduction is true, she is twenty years old and she is in her third year of college.
She made her debut as a novelist in her third year of high school and released her second novel in her first year of college.
“No, it’s ambiguous that they even exist….Is that your real name?”
“That’s right.”
“Then, Umehara-san….Why are you in such a place?”
“Because it’s my hometown.”
The bookstore owner was telling me the truth.
“Well, I moved to Tokyo when I started high school…..”
“Could it be that your debut novel, ‘Throat and Cola’ is set in this area?”
“Ah, this area….Nishizono, to be exact.”
I was surprised.
I had a feeling of deja vu, but it was set in the town I grew up in.
Umehara-san, who was walking beside me, was short in stature but still had a mature air about her.
“There is a park around there that is famous for wisteria, right? I have a memory of my first date there when I was in junior high school.”
“Eh? But the characters in Throat and Cola are high school students, right?”
“That’s because it’s a novel. It’s fiction….Even so, I didn’t expect you to know me.”
Umehara-san muttered with deep emotion.
She smiled happily as she looked at me.
“I’m happy about that.”
“Ah, no….”
“How are they? Are my novels interesting?”
“They’re very interesting!”
After that, I explained to her what I found interesting about them.
Whenever I complimented her, she smiled shyly.
“You read it twice….”
“Aren’t you going to release a new one?”
“Yes, I will.”
That’s when Umehara-san answered.
The lights of the station came into view. It was Okunashi Station.
I wanted to stay and talk a little longer, but that was not possible.
“I’ll definitely buy it.”
“Thank you.”
Okunashi Station is not a very prosperous station.
There is only a roundabout and a few stores.
“I didn’t get the last train….”
That’s what Umehara-san mumbled.
It’s not that there were no trains. She probably means that there are no trains to return to Tokyo.
“Are you okay?”
“Are you worried about me, young man?”
She calls me a young man, but she’s not that older than me.
Showing her white teeth, Umehara-san shook her head.
“You can’t make fun of the adults, okay? I’ll just go into town and find a hotel.”
Of course, it’s normal.
The book seems to be selling well, and there are even rumors of a movie being made.
“U, um….If you’re staying here, can we talk some more?”
I was surprised at my own behavior.
It was a chance to meet with my favorite writer.
I had a lot of things I wanted to talk about.
After giving it some thought, Umehara-san looked around the station.
“Okay, but where are we going to talk?”
“…True”
There is nothing in front of the station.
“Oh, are you hitting on me?”
“Eh? Ah, no….I’m not trying to hit on you…I just wanted to talk with you.”
“Sorry, sorry, I was just kidding.”
The little older girl laughed briefly and looked me in the eye.
“That’s right…..I’m having trouble with my new work, too. That’s why I wanted to talk to someone like you.”
“Like me?”
“I’m writing now….”
As she cut her words off there, Umehara-san looked at me with round eyes.
“Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”
“I understand.”
“Then, I’ll tell you….It’s a sequel to ‘Throat and Coka’.”
“Eh? But in that one, the heroine dies at the end, right?”
Silence fell between us.
“Do you think so, young man?”
“Yes….”
Yes, I do.
The heroine of her debut novel, “Throat and Cola” is never described as dead.
It seems like that, but everything was subjective by the main character, the man.
As a reader, I hope she is not dead. It ends with that feeling.
“She wasn’t dead…?”
“Honestly, I wanted it to stay unanswered.”
I wonder if that was the publisher’s intention.
“Do you want to talk about that too?”
“Yes.”
“Are there any reasonable hotels around here?”
“Eh? A hotel?”
