No Longer Human ( PDFDrive )

176
mersed in reading the notebooks that I didn't sleep
a wink till morning.
The events described took place years ago, but I
felt sure that people today would still be quite interested
in them. I thought that it would make more
sense if I asked some magazine to publish the whole
thing as it was, rather than attempt any clumsy improvements.
The only souvenirs of the town I could get for
my children were some dried fish. I left my friend's
house with my rucksack still half-empty, and stopped
by the coffee shop.
I came to the point at once. "I wonder if I could
borrow these notebooks for a while."
"Yes, of course."
"Is the man who wrote them still alive?"
"I haven't any idea. About ten years ago somebody
sent me a parcel containing the notebooks and
the photographs to my place in Kyobashi. I'm sure
it was Yozo who sent it, but he didn't write his address
or even his name on the parcel. It got mixed up with
other things during the air raids, but miraculously
enough the notebooks were saved. Just the other day
I read through them for the first time."
"Did you cry?"
"No. I didn't cry ... I just kept thinking that
when human beings get that way, they're no good for
anything."