２３ Ｊｕｌｙ， Ｋａｏｒｕ Ｈａｙａｍｉｎｅ
文字数 3,621文字
Pierrot the Thief Steals the School
Pierrot was a thief who only stole things with no value. But really, he was the man who ran Nishizawa Books (which everybody knew).
This day, too, he was minding his empty shop as usual. At his feet, his dog, Goro, let out a big yawn.
Then an elementary-schooler came in. “I’m Student Council President Shōta Yoshikawa. Pierrot the Thief, I want you to steal the school.”
Surprised, the man asked why. Yoshikawa told him that, thanks to the coronavirus, all the events at school were being canceled. No field trips, no swimming class, no camping. . . .
“School is so boring now that it’s worthless.”
“I see just what you mean. There are a lot of preparations I need to make, so can you wait a week or so?”
After Shōta left, the man took out
The next day, Shōta’s teacher summoned him.
“Do you want to try planning your own Sports Day?”
Shōta used an online meeting system to gather opinions from the other kids.
“I want to have Sports Day.”
“I want to, but how?”
“I want to run a race.”
“But just wanting to won’t get us anywhere.”
“It would suck to get in trouble for practicing.”
“But if it’s our own Sports Day, maybe it would be worth getting in trouble.”
“Let’s think of a Sports Day we
“How about a relay with kids carrying the ends of a two-meter pole?”
“We could put long strings in the backs of our shorts and see who can steal the most!”
“An obstacle course that includes hand-washing, gargling, and ventilating!”
“We can leave out greeting the attendees.”
“Let’s get our teacher to help.”
Shōta collected all the ideas and wrote a proposal for “A Sports Day We Can Actually Do Together.”
A week later, Pierrot checked in with Shōta.
“About stealing the school—”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m busy now, so. . . .”
Shōta had to get ready to present the Sports Day plan at the faculty meeting, so now was no time to be pulling off heists.
Relieved to hear that, Pierrot put away the teacher mask he had made using
Goro responded to Pierrot’s idea with a big
Translated by Emily Balistrieri/Arranged by TranNet KK
Kaoru Hayamine
Born in Mie Prefecture, 1964. Upon graduating from Mie University’s Faculty of Education, he worked as a teacher at an elementary school, and after looking for books that would inspire his students who disliked reading, he began to write his own stories. Won honorary mention at the 30th Kodansha Children’s Literature New Face Award for “Kaitō dōkeshi” (Pierrot the thief). His works include the Meitantei Yumemizu Kiyoshirō jiken nōto (Ace detective Kiyoshirō Yumemizu’s casebook) series, the Kaitō kuīn (Queen the thief) series, and the Tokai no Tomu & Sōya (Tom and Sawyer of the city) series, as well as
Pierrot was a thief who only stole things with no value. But really, he was the man who ran Nishizawa Books (which everybody knew).
This day, too, he was minding his empty shop as usual. At his feet, his dog, Goro, let out a big yawn.
Then an elementary-schooler came in. “I’m Student Council President Shōta Yoshikawa. Pierrot the Thief, I want you to steal the school.”
Surprised, the man asked why. Yoshikawa told him that, thanks to the coronavirus, all the events at school were being canceled. No field trips, no swimming class, no camping. . . .
“School is so boring now that it’s worthless.”
“I see just what you mean. There are a lot of preparations I need to make, so can you wait a week or so?”
After Shōta left, the man took out
Easy
Disguises
for
Dummies
and began to make something.The next day, Shōta’s teacher summoned him.
“Do you want to try planning your own Sports Day?”
Shōta used an online meeting system to gather opinions from the other kids.
“I want to have Sports Day.”
“I want to, but how?”
“I want to run a race.”
“But just wanting to won’t get us anywhere.”
“It would suck to get in trouble for practicing.”
“But if it’s our own Sports Day, maybe it would be worth getting in trouble.”
“Let’s think of a Sports Day we
can
do!”“How about a relay with kids carrying the ends of a two-meter pole?”
“We could put long strings in the backs of our shorts and see who can steal the most!”
“An obstacle course that includes hand-washing, gargling, and ventilating!”
“We can leave out greeting the attendees.”
“Let’s get our teacher to help.”
Shōta collected all the ideas and wrote a proposal for “A Sports Day We Can Actually Do Together.”
A week later, Pierrot checked in with Shōta.
“About stealing the school—”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m busy now, so. . . .”
Shōta had to get ready to present the Sports Day plan at the faculty meeting, so now was no time to be pulling off heists.
Relieved to hear that, Pierrot put away the teacher mask he had made using
Easy
Disguises
for
Dummies
and said to Goro, “Well, shall we go home and prepare to steal the coronavirus, then?”Goro responded to Pierrot’s idea with a big
Bark!
Translated by Emily Balistrieri/Arranged by TranNet KK
Kaoru Hayamine
Born in Mie Prefecture, 1964. Upon graduating from Mie University’s Faculty of Education, he worked as a teacher at an elementary school, and after looking for books that would inspire his students who disliked reading, he began to write his own stories. Won honorary mention at the 30th Kodansha Children’s Literature New Face Award for “Kaitō dōkeshi” (Pierrot the thief). His works include the Meitantei Yumemizu Kiyoshirō jiken nōto (Ace detective Kiyoshirō Yumemizu’s casebook) series, the Kaitō kuīn (Queen the thief) series, and the Tokai no Tomu & Sōya (Tom and Sawyer of the city) series, as well as
Baibai
sukūru
(Bye-bye school),Boku
to
miraiya
no
natsu
(The summer of me and the shop of the future),Kaerisorajō
no
nazo:
TRICK
seishunban
(The mystery of Kaerisora Castle: TRICK young reader edition), all published by Kodansha, among others. His most recent work isRemu
no
sekai
wa
surippu
suru:
Akai
yume
e
youkoso—zensōkyoku—
(Remu’s world slips: Welcome to the red dream—prelude—).
