image image image image image image image

Some teachers give answers. Ayumi-chan gave us an odougubako — and taught me that the most important tools are the ones that help us see each other clearly.

Years later, I still don’t fix watches or draw perfect circles. But I keep a small box on my own desk. Inside: a marble, a dried petal, and a note that says, “Ask, don’t tell.”

Ayumi-chan didn’t lecture. She asked: “What do you carry in your own invisible box?”