This page contains the synopsis and table of contents of the series of short stories entitled “Final Days of Summer” (残夏), originally written in Japanese by Masaki Hashiba (ハシバ柾), which I am translating into English.
The story’s original table of contents and summary can be seen here (in Japanese).
The synopsis below was written by me, but has been reviewed and approved by the author.
I have broken up the stories, each of which is published as a long chapter, into several parts.
Synopsis
A man, burnt out from excessive overwork, returns to his hometown to get away from it all. He soon grows bored and decides to visit a beach he used to play at as a child.
There he stumbles upon a man on the sand wearing strange clothes who speaks of even stranger things: he is at the beach to see the upcoming meteor shower, even though it is supposed to occur almost a week later.
But he finds an odd comfort in watching the sky at the mysterious man’s side and decides to return the next day to “wait for the stars” with him.
This is a pair of interconnected tales that span across time and space, sharing a sense of quiet peacefulness like what you feel when gazing up into the starlit night sky. While reading these you may begin to feel there is more out there––and more inside yourself––than you ever imagined.
Table of Contents
- Story 1: Stargazer (original)
- Part 1 (translation)
- Part 2 (translation)
- Part 3 (translation)
- Part 4 (translation)
- Story 2: Starfollower (original)
- Part 1 (translation)
- Part 2 (translation)
- Part 3 (translation)
- Part 4 (translation)