I can’t do this anymore…
My body won’t move.
I try to speak, but no sound comes.
“Dad!
Dad!”
Someone is calling for me.
So it’s true…
Hearing is the last sense to fade.
Even at death’s door, that’s the kind of pointless thought that crosses my mind.
I’ve had a good life.
I’m leaving this world surrounded by my wife and family.
That’s enough.
More than enough.
I was born in the middle of the Shōwa era and lived to the age of eighty-eight.
I joined one of Japan’s leading electronics manufacturers, built a family, and devoted my life to my work.
Anyone would agree.
Nakajima Masaru lived a full life.
A life well spent.
I believe that too.
So isn’t it enough?
I’ve had my fill.
It’s time to let go.
…
If only I could truly believe that.
As even my thoughts begin to dissolve, the one desire that has always slept deep within my heart stirs awake.
I am satisfied.
Truly.
As a father.
As a working man.
I have no complaints.
But…
What about as a man?
Perhaps it’s childish to think such things at a time like this.
Even so…
I’ve always believed that if a man is fortunate enough to be born into this world, he ought to leave something behind.
Something history would remember.
I had my chances.
I spent my twenties and thirties at the dawn of the IT revolution.
There was even a time when I stood shoulder to shoulder with the president of a certain IT company whose name sounded more like a bank than a tech firm.
But…
I chose stability.
Do I regret it?
…No.
Not regret.
Just an admiration that never faded.
An attachment I could never let go.
So this is it…
Even my thoughts are…
Like the moment before falling asleep, my mind fractures, each thought becoming hazy and indistinct.
Even that final lingering attachment begins to fade.
I still…
Darkness swallowed my consciousness.