Status Updates From Self Portraits: Stories (Ja...

"Whenever I'm with people, no matter how great my mental or physical suffering, I try desperately to create a happy atmosphere."

"I told myself it was I, the social outlaw for whom appearances were of no importance, who would fight for the couple to the bitter end."

"I went so far as to tell myself that if this child's eyes remained closed for the rest of her life, I would give up all thoughts of literature and personal glory to be permanently at her side."

"Men are strange creatures, I thought as I tugged at the weeds."

"Fools like you just make this world all the harder to live in."

"I couldn't die. Not till I'd paid back every last loan."

"If I suffer, I don't talk about it much. I may suffer even more than before, but I wear a smile."

"Being the type of man I am, I'm never going to be successful or rich. But this home of ours is something I intend to maintain and protect."

"I have nothing worth boasting about. No learning to speak of. No talent. My body's a mess, my heart impoverished."


"A lot of people have written me off as a spoiled, selfish child, but how many really know how I've suffered inside?"

"I think it was just that the maiden was more in love than he was."

"Without the setting sun, dawn could never be born."

"For all the mindless flattery, calling him the Konoe of Aomori and whatnot, no one really knew the loneliness inside him."

"To love someone is to put your life on the line. I don't take it lightly."

" 'Thanks. I won't forget you, pal.'
My suicide was postponed for another month."