Our classmate, Kashiwade, has eight hands.

We call him Yatsude.
As I recall, he was everywhere.
Always tucked away in the shade.
The dusty biology laboratory. The long corridor.
The darkness of a mountain cabin. The sign that disappeared at the cultural festival.
The suspicious person down by the riverbank. Coarse sugar and baking soda.
Whenever we remember those days,
Yatsude is a quiet presence around the empty school building.

In April 2020, the performance of “in the days of fatsia japonica” was postponed due to the spread of coronavirus. A work in progress exhibition was subsequently held in which the actors and production staff members who were supposed to participate in the performance exhibited newly created works, based on what had emerged from the creative process so far.