World After Death

[Trascription]

In March, just before we would be looking forward to our third year in high school, we were summoned to the Student Mobilization Workforce, and sent to the Toyo Koyo in Mukainada. On my way home from work one day, after a stretch of hard work, my vision suddenly blacked out and I fainted. From that day on, I had a high fever, and couldn’t get out of bed. The doctor who looked at my X-ray told me I couldn’t work at the factory anymore and needed to come for a shot once or twice a week.

On August 6, I was going to the clinic to get my first shot. I put on my school gym shirt, which had short sleeves and a sailor’s collar with a single blue stripe. I had sewn this shirt myself, and it was my favorite.

The bus line was not in operation due to a gasoline shortage. I had to walk from Uchida to the Hakushima streetcar station. The air-raid warning had been lifted, so with my air-raid hood in the left hand and my mother’s parasol in the right, I hurried my way along the river. When I came near Tokiwa Bridge, I heard a faint sound of an airplane. A couple of men behind me, who were looking up at the sky yelled, “It’s a B-29!” Then I heard them say, “That’s strange. Now there’s two planes — no, three!” Suddenly, there was a loud boom, and a powerful force threw my body high up in the air. As I was flying through the air I felt sharp pains all over my body as if hundreds of thousands of sharp knives were tearing my body.

I’m not sure how much time had passed. When I caught my breath again, a ghostly silence permeated the area. I imagined this must be what the world looked like after death. The first thing that came to my mind was that I had to go save my mother. I jumped up but then fell over. A thick brown haze hung in the air and I couldn’t breathe.

When I lifted my head, I saw that the dark haze was starting to let up near the river, so I headed in that direction. Through the grimy air I began to make out the silhouettes of people, one by one. There were some whose heads were split open, their whole bodies covered in blood. Others had their clothes torn off and were seriously injured. Their appearances were so awful that I had to avert my eyes. I finally made it to a sandbank by the river.

My whole body was in pain. There were particles of dust in my eyes, and I couldn’t keep them open for a long time. I realized my nostrils were plugged with sand and dust, hardened with blood. When I put my hands on my head, I found that all of my hair was standing on end, as if every strand were metal wires. The skin from my arm to my hand had peeled off sideways, leaving red flesh exposed, and my fingers were burned black.