La Gioconda

#1 lui and lua

　　It was a sunny morning in early October.

　I had forgotten to turn off the alarm on my cell phone and woke up at the usual time that I wake up on weekdays, but when I remembered that it was a holiday, I buried my consciousness again in the slumber covered by the sunlight through the curtains.

　I wondered how long I had been asleep in this way, and when I opened my eyes, the light coming through the bay window on the east side had already faded considerably. I sat up, stretched, and slid off the bed.

　I finished a late breakfast and lunch in the living room, still feeling sluggish and tired from the previous day's work, and returned to my room with the coffee my sister had made for me.

　I started up the laptop on my desk, checked my e-mail, and opened a Word file.

　It's always like this on my days off.

　My name is lui, and I currently work for an accounting firm near my house. I've been working there for about five years now.

　I entered a university of natural sciences because I was interested in biology itself, but I was not very good at doing experiments, so I gave up on being a researcher too early. Maybe I should have tried a little harder, but I guess there is such a thing as being unsuitable for oneself, isn't there?

　I chose to work in accounting because it seemed that I would not be unemployed of the workforce. Every company has to handle its own finances, and most managers probably don't want to do such tedious work.

　At the time, it was mostly an idea, but so far the job has not been too difficult.

　I am currently writing a novel as a hobby. I think I started writing about a year ago. I don't know why I suddenly felt the urge to do so. But I just couldn't help it. The process of tapping the keys on the computer and writing down my thoughts easily captivated me.

　Knock-knock.

"Sis, may I come in?"

　I heard the voice of lua, my sister six years younger than me. When I turned around, she was already inside. She was smiling a thin, somewhat fearless smile.

"You're doing it. What's the story this time?"

"Whatever you want. It's a distraction. Go away."

"Don't be so silly. You know, the stories you write are also the themes of my paintings."

　My sister is currently attending an art college. She has been good at drawing pictures since she was a child, and often won prizes in children's drawing contests sponsored by the city's board of education. When she brought home gold-colored trophies, plaques, and certificates, her face was dazzling, as if she were enveloped in a special light.

"You started this on your own, didn't you? Why are you doing it in the first place?"

"Because the stories you write are a little weird."

"Weird?"

　The stories I write do not belong to the pure literature category at least, if I may say so, they may be closer to the science fiction and fantasy genres. However, I do not express a realistic world of science that can be called a science fiction novel, nor do I create a punchy and fascinating world that can be called a fantasy novel.

　In any case, I know I am halfway there. But I never thought my sister would point this out to me.

　My sister often looks at magazines, but rarely reads books, including novels. Of course, I don't know if she called my novels Weird in the sense of being half-baked or not, but I am sure that even someone who does not know much about novels has some sort of discomfort with my novels.

"I'm sorry, sister, I didn't mean to offend you."

"It's okay."

"Don't make such a sour face. I really didn't mean it that way. I'm sure you'll find that your novels are often elusive, or rather, confusing. But ......"

"But what?"

"......, I feel something."

"You feel something ?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm trying to visualize it. Well, it's hard to explain with words."

"Hmm."

　My sister's words, "I feel something," echoed through my mind with a strange melody.

"What is it?　Is this the Mona Lisa, sister?" ＜pic 1＞

　She pointed to the wall right next to my desk.

"Yes, I put it up yesterday."

　An A4-size Mona Lisa [Note 1], which I had downloaded from the Internet and printed out on our printer at home, was in a small frame.

"Sis, I thought you didn't like the Mona Lisa ?"

"I don't dislike it. It's just, I don't know, there was a part of me that was kind of scared of it and avoided it. Until now."

"What's wrong?"

"I've been researching on the Internet for the past two weeks or so, and my view of this painting has changed completely."

"Wow, so much so that you want to keep it near you all the time?"

"Eh?　Yeah, well. Hey, lua, What do you think of this painting?"

"I don't know, I don't think it's bad. The colors are beautiful. But I myself have never wanted to paint a picture like this. It is also unnatural that the eyebrows and eyelashes are not drawn. To be honest, I don't know why this painting is so famous."

"I know. I was like that too. Hey, if you want, will you listen to my story about how I interpreted this painting to me ?"

"Yeah, sure."

　I printed out two images of Mona Lisa that I had downloaded earlier.