Journey Under the Midnight Sun

You know how the sun rises and sets at a certain time each day? In the same way, all of our lives have a day and night. But it’s not set like it is with the sun. Some people walk forever in the sunlight, and some people have to walk through the darkest night their whole lives. When people talk about being afraid, what they’re afraid of is that their sun will set. That the light they love will fade. That’s why you’re frightened, isn’t it?

When you wander in the dark too long, you start to see things that aren’t really there.

Nothing like that.’ Ryo shook his head. ‘It’s just… sometimes I feel like I spend my life under a midnight sun.’

This is what they mean when they talk about people drifting apart,

Yukiho shut herself off from the world, never showing her true self to anyone, and Ryo… he was still crawling through the darkness all these years later.

The girl who let no one close, closed off to everyone.

So why had Ryo chosen that particular name as an alias? He would have to ask Ryo himself to know for sure, but Sasagaki’s pet theory was that Ryo saw himself living a life of betrayal. His choice of Akiyoshi’s name was a self-deprecating inside joke.

Watch the shrimp and eventually you’ll find the goby, that was his belief.

She gave birth not because she wanted a child, but because there wasn’t any good reason to get an abortion. She had got married to Yosuke in much the same way – because she thought it would save her from having to work. Yet the role of wife and mother had been far more confining in its tedium than she had imagined. She didn’t want to be either of those things. She wanted to be a woman.

‘No, there never was a sun in the sky over me. It’s always night. But not dark. I had something in place of the sun. Maybe not as bright, but enough for me. Enough so I was able to live in the night like it was day. You understand? You can’t be afraid of losing something you never had.’