The Lecture Continues

I wash the rice.

Mornings in the six-mat room begin with washing rice, no matter how much the world changes.

A year has passed since the certification ceremony.

If I started listing everything that has changed, I'd never finish.

The Rank System gained a column for "strength that doesn't fight." There are apparently more than 3,000 people certified by the training division nationwide now. At last, the veteran explorers across the country who have fed newcomers and taught them the tricks of the trade have received their "papers to make people trust them." Genbu's training wing opened its doors free of charge to lower-ranked explorers, and the standardization of retreat criteria crossed the sea this year. As for explorer fatalities—according to Makabe-san, they have seen "the largest drop since statistics began being collected."

Some things haven't changed, either.

This apartment with its ¥58,000 rent. All seven of them told me to move, but I refused. The hallway is just the right width for practicing toe exercises.

The notebooks in the cardboard box by the wall numbered a little over a hundred—no, that's a lie. I counted them last week, and there were 120.

I turn on the rice cooker and power up the streaming equipment.

5:58 a.m...