Nails and Eyes by Kaori Fujino, translated by Kendall Heitzman (Pushkin Press) ~Ernie Hoyt

Kaori Fujino is a Japanese writer from Kyoto. She made her literary debut with a story titled いやしい鳥 (Iiyashi torii) which won the 2006 Bungakukai Prize and was later published into a book of the same name. The title roughly translates to Pleasant Bird in English.

Nails and Eyes is her first book to be published in English. It was first published in the Japanese language in 2013 by Shinchosha with the title 爪と目 (Tsume to Me), which directly translates to Nails and Eyes. It also won the Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most prestigious literary award.

The book is a collection of three short stories, the first being the Nails and Eyes. The other stories that follow the Nails and Eyes are What Shoko Forgets and Minute Fears. It is difficult to categorize the stories as they all include blends of science fiction, thrillers, and horror. 

Nails and Eyes is narrated by a young girl who had just lost her mother. Her father invites the woman he’s been having an affair with to come live in their home and to take care of his daughter. The daughter relates the story of how the woman became a part of their lives. It is hard to tell if the daughter is talking to the woman or just sharing her observations of the interaction between her father and the young woman. 

“I can’t marry you.” That’s what her father had told the woman on the first day of their affair. She was so surprised that she could only respond by saying, “Oh.” The father continues to explain why he can’t marry her. He says, “I have a child. She’s still a little girl.”. The woman could care less if the man had a child or not and just nods and answers, “OK, I understand.”

However, things would change a year and a half later. It was the father who found his wife’s body. He had come home one day to find his three-year old daughter sleeping in the middle of the bed in their bedroom. When he prodded her awake and asked where Mommy was, the daughter only replied, “I don’t know” and drifted back to sleep.

The father called his wife’s cellphone and was surprised to hear the ringtone nearby. He then went out on the balcony where he found his wife, frozen stiff and lying on her side. The police could find no evidence of foul play and the fingerprints they found on the patio door was of the mother, the man, and the daughter. When questioned by the police, the daughter said she could open and close the latch. Her mother’s death was ruled as an accident. 

The woman does move in but she’s indifferent to the man’s daughter. The daughter seems rather indifferent to the woman as well but the daughter follows the woman’s every move. The ending may leave the reader surprised, shocked, and confused as well. 

What Shoko Forgets is about a woman who had a stroke about six months ago and now finds herself living in different facilities. Shoko is currently sharing a room with three other patients but there seems to be one extra person in the room tonight - a man. He whispers in her ear, “Shoko, you always pretend you’re asleep”. Shoko thinks to herself, “Always?”. Shoko then remembers that they go through this every night. However, it appears none of the other patients are aware of the man’s visits. Shoko is not even her name. Who is this woman and what is she going through?

The final story, Minute Fears is a modern tale of an urban legend. A young boy named Daiki doesn’t want to be left at home alone even though he had no problems staying alone in the past. However, he wouldn’t tell his mother what’s wrong. He could only mumble, “Mum, don’t leave me!”. He tells his mom that she could leave after Dad gets home. The Mom still wanted to know why but he wouldn’t tell her. It would be the father who would finally get the words out of Daiki. 

Daiki was at a pocket park in the afternoon. The story of this particular park is that if you don’t leave it by 4:44pm in the afternoon, you will be cursed. Even if you were with a group of people, you had to get out of there by 4.44pm“and anyone who happened to be the only kid in the park at 4:44pm would definitely be cursed. Today, Daiki found himself alone at the park at 4:44pm!

The kids believe the curse was coming from a little girl. Unfortunately, no one knew what her story was. What was the curse like? The girl would call the victim at home at night. If they pick up the phone, she would say, “Hey, come out to the pocket playground and play.” The kid would say, ”No way!” then hang up. There would be another call, the same voice, the same line - “Come out to the pocket playground”. 

The ghost of the girl would call again and say, “Come out to the pocket playground. I’ll pick you up and we can go together”, “Come out to the pocket playground. I’m almost at your door”, “Come out to the pocket playground. Come on, open up, come on”, and the last time she speaks, she says, “Now let’s go over to the pocket playground together.”

The mother had been calling her husband but Daiki wouldn’t let him answer the phone. After the mother gets home and talks to Daiki, she discovers that he still believes he’s cursed. Even though it’s in the middle of the night, the mother says to Daiki, “Now let’s go over to the pocket playground together”....

Three stories, three different genres. Each story is unique in its own way. Each story gets the reader thinking about what happens next. Fujino does not provide the answers. It is all left to your own imagination.