筑北村にコンビニは一つだけ。霧に沈む朝も、日が暮れたあとも、変わらない灯りをともしている。越してきたばかりの頃、まだ村の何も知らなくても、ここだけは知っている場所だった。慣れない土地で最初に覚えたこの灯りは、いまも帰り道の霧の向こうで、そっと待っていてくれる。
English
Chikuhoku has exactly one convenience store. On mornings when the village sinks into fog, and long after dark has settled, its light stays on — steady, unchanging. When I first moved here, before the roads meant anything and the faces had names, this was the one place I already knew. In an unfamiliar land, that small glow was the first thing I learned by heart. It still is. On the way home it waits quietly beyond the fog — not announcing itself, not asking anything, simply there, the way it has always been.
