Boy do I suck at writing... Got a sudden craving for ShigeMassu though; they're a nebulous, comforting concept at the back of my mind, I needed to at least give it a try.
Someone sent a letter to Kato-san sharing their worries: a person who is 18 now will automatically be considered an adult starting from next April because the age of majority in Japan is to be lowered from 20 to 18. "I don't know anything about the adult world, that's scary! What do I do??" Listening to sensei's response, I (aged almost 32 lol hi) got an urge to take quick notes.
Yuu, the woman who was having an emotional breakdown in the toilet in the 1st chapter, got betrayed by her friend Misa and a guy named Ryouta. Now it’s time for the reader to find out more about the latter two.
This chapter has 2 parts, both are written in first person. The first narrator, Michiru, refers to themselves using a gender-neutral pronoun ‘watashi’, and the reader is given small clues one by one, all leading to the revelation of Michiru’s identity.
Miacis is a genus of extinct carnivorous mammals believed to be the ancestors of dogs and cats. As for the second word of the title, according to Kato-san, as the stories of all the characters – each of the 'Miacis' – interweave, they create a whole symphony.
The 2nd fictional story in the book opens with a dialogue: “Why does everyone keep doing that?” – “You have to say a prayer” – “Man, I don’t get this idolatry”.
The essay collection that came out in 2020 includes 3 intermissions that were not published in the magazine serialization. The following is the summary of the first one.
*Apparently, Steed is a make of motorbikes that Shige has been fascinated with since high school, and I think the title can be roughly translated as "If I could, I'd go by Steed" :)
Sensei’s literary works deserve a skillful translator, but I hope this summary can still be helpful for anyone who’d like to know what kind of things he shares in this new magazine serialization.