太陽

Sometimes I feel as though the more I say I like her, the less I end up liking her; other times I feel as though saying it aloud everyday actually makes it more real. 

"How much?"

"As much as the sun"

I've given a variety of different answers to this question: as much as the whole world; as much as Japan; as much as the Pacific Ocean; as much as a ten-yen coin (I was in a bad mood). 

"The sun!  The sun! It's very big, yes?"

She beams.  Day after day she asks me the same thing, and day after day she reacts with the same delight.  I wish I could see a blueprint to the heart that responds with such undiminishing pleasure. 

But as a matter of fact, Yun is perfectly well aware.  She's perfectly well aware that the connection she and I share is not made up merely of the words we exchange.  Between us exists a world in which neither Japanese nor English nor Vietnamese intervenes.  It is a world that is unequivocally real--yet at the same time, seems impossible to believe.

- Aska Mochizuki, Spinning Tropics