Minami was on her way home, a pack of Worry Seeds in her hand. She’d found them tucked away in one corner of an unmanned vegetable stall. Each bag only cost a hundred yen, and the instructions on the back of the bag seemed simple enough.
Worry Seeds: Planting Instructions and Characteristics
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Prepare your soil and plant as many seeds as you want.
Water the seeds as much as you want.
Approximately one week after planting, Worry Leaves will be ready for harvesting.
Each Worry Leaf consumed will lead to a new worry in your life. If more worries are desired, simply eat more leaves. Worry Leaves can be enjoyed raw.
Seeds for a plant that made you worry when you ate its leaves… It sounded pretty crazy. Minami had bought them on a whim, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t interested in developing new worries. People were always saying she didn’t have a care in the world. And they weren’t wrong. She never worried about anything too seriously. It wasn’t until recently that she’d started to have doubts about this carefree lifestyle. Was it really all right for her to go on living like this?
What kind of a person lives a whole thirteen years without worrying? Other people and characters in books and TV always seem to have a lot more on their minds…
If worrying was normal—if it was something everybody else experienced—then Minami wanted to see what it was like for herself.
But it’s not like you can force yourself to worry about something… Whatever. I’m sure it’ll all work out! Not having anything to worry about is a good thing, right?
That was how Minami had always shrugged it off before.
Today, that all changed when she was out for a walk and spotted an unusual-looking butterfly. She’d idly followed it around for almost half an hour and ended up at an unmanned marketplace she hadn’t seen before. That was where she’d found the Worry Seeds, which came in two different varieties—Mild and Spicy. According to the description on the back of the bag:
MILD SEEDS WILL PRODUCE WORRIES THAT ARE EASY TO FIX. SPICY SEEDS WILL PRODUCE WORRIES THAT REQUIRE A LOT OF WORK TO FIX.
After thinking it over, Minami had left with a pack of Mild seeds.
“All right, let’s get these planted.”
Upon arriving home, Minami immediately took the seeds out into the backyard. The garden looked pretty neglected these days, but there was plenty of space and sunlight. There were even several abandoned flowerpots and planters around, ones that had been filled with soil but never actually used to grow anything. She found a small pot, put the seeds into the soil, and poured some water on them.
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A week later, the seeds had sprouted and produced a ton of leaves already. They were grass green with a subtle blue tint and slightly curly with feather-like edges.
Minami plucked one off the stalk right away. The scent of the plant filled the air. It was a distinctive smell, but hard to describe. It was like a cold breeze blowing across your chest, or the first hints of darkness in the sky after sunset.
“Ooh… Is it some kind of herb, maybe?”
Minami took in the aroma for a moment longer. Then she washed the leaf under the outdoor faucet and bit into it.
A scent that felt cool and dark and sorrowful tickled her nose. The leaf had a sweet, mellow flavor—a touch bitter, but spicy enough that it wasn’t bland. The different tastes all mixed together and spread throughout Minami’s mouth. There was a tingly feeling on the tip of her tongue that got stronger with each bite.
Crunch, crunch, crunch… Gulp.
Finally, she swallowed and licked her lips.
“Mm, that was pretty good. I could get used to this!”
The leaves tasting nice was all well and good, of course. But would they really have any effect on her mood?
Even if it turns out it was all made up, it’s not like there’s been any harm done, Minami thought nonchalantly.
But then…
“…Hmm?”
All of a sudden, she became aware of a strange, strained feeling in her chest, like a balloon was being inflated inside her. She had to let out a long sigh just to relieve some of the tension.
Her breath smelled like Worry Leaves. No matter how many times Minami sighed, the uncomfortable sensation wouldn’t go away. And she was feeling unusually restless.
What’s happening to me? It’s like… It feels like there’s something important I’m forgetting…
The unease and restlessness seemed to bubble up from the very bottom of her heart. She racked her brain, trying to figure out what might be causing it.
“Come to think of it…I’ve got a big test coming up next week.”
Just like that, everything clicked into place.
Minami didn’t like studying. And as a rule, she avoided doing things she didn’t like. When it came to tests, homework, or even just reviewing material she’d covered in class, she’d never given any of it much effort. She hadn’t seen any problem with doing things that way, either. So what if she missed some homework assignments or couldn’t answer questions when she was called on in class? No one ever died from getting bad grades. It wasn’t anything worth getting worked up about.
Now, though, she wasn’t so sure.
Is it really okay for me to keep on like this? I know I won’t actually die because of bad grades. Everyone has to die someday, so you might as well use the time you have doing stuff you enjoy. That’s why I always end up reading manga or something instead of studying. I…I thought I wouldn’t ever regret using my time like that, but…
Minami wasn’t going to live forever, but her life would still go on for a while. Maybe even longer than she thought. Sooner or later, she’d have to make big choices about her future.
If I don’t study, and I end up with bad grades, there’ll be high schools and colleges I can’t apply to… There’ll be jobs I can’t train for. What if I cut myself off from stuff I’d really like to do?
Choices like that were still a long ways away. But goofing off in the here and now would definitely limit her options later on. The thought made it hard to breathe. Like the air in her lungs was too heavy. Like there was a lump in the pit of her stomach, a void that stopped all her happier feelings from getting through.
This sensation… Could it be?
“Wow… So this is what it’s like to worry about something!”
It had worked. Minami had eaten a Worry Leaf and developed a new worry. Now she just had to figure out a way to fix it.
“The thing I’m worried about is falling behind in school and getting bad grades… In that case, there’s really only one thing I can do. I have to study!”
And she really did have to; she could no longer bear to stand around and do nothing. She hurried to her room, sat down at her desk, took out her notebook and textbooks, and began rereading everything she knew would be covered on the test.
Every day from then on, Minami studied long and hard. And her efforts paid off. When she finally got her test paper back, she was surprised at how good her score was. She’d gone from her usual position near the bottom of the class to the top twenty in her grade.