No Longer Human ( PDFDrive )

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become. Or, as Shigeko had it, I had stopped being so
nice to Shigeko.
Without a word, without a trace of a smile, I spent
one day after the next looking after Shigeko and drawing
comic strips, some of them so idiotic I couldn't
understand them myself, for the various firms which
commissioned them. (Orders had gradually started
coming in from other publishers, all of an even lower
class than Shizuko's company—third-rate publishers,
I suppose they'd be called.) I drew with extremely,
excessively depressed emotions, deliberately penning
each line, only to earn money for drink. When Shizuko
came home from work I would dash out as if in relay
with her, and head for the outdoor booths near the
station to drink cheap, strong liquor.
Somewhat buoyed after a bout, I would return to
the apartment. I would say, "The more I look at you
the funnier your face seems. Do you know I get inspiration
for my cartoons from looking at your face
when you're asleep 9 "
"What about your face when you sleep? You
look like an old man, a man of forty."
"It's all your fault. You've drained me dry. 'Man's
life is like a flowing river. What is there to fret over?
On the river bank a willow tree . . .'"
"Hurry to bed and stop making such a racket.