IC in a Sunflower

集積回路のヒマワリ

by Mitsukazu Mihara

A cyber-punkish collection of stories revolving around the theme of the "DOLL." 1. Gum no Iranai Kodomo-tachi (Keep Those Condoms Away From Our Kids) The tale of boys and girls who have lost their sexual desire. 2. Rissa no Tetsu no Hitsugi (The Iron Maiden) The tale of the strain a girl experiences from having grown up in a home without love. 3. Shuuseki Kairo no Himawari (The Sunflower Quality Of An Integrated Circuit) Vanilla is a maidroid in the home of an elderly master and his younger wife. The atmosphere in the house is cold and stiff because the wife is having an affair with a younger man. The lonely master comes to look upon Vanilla as his own dear child. He suggests that when the sunflowers bloom, they go outside together to watch them. "Is that a command, sir?" asks Vanilla. "It is not a command," he replies. "It is a promise." And so forms the piercing and painful integrated circuit—the alternating current of intercourse—between a lonely old man and the emotionless Vanilla. 4. Bara Tessen no Mukougawa (The Other Side of the Rose Wire) What was the thing a girl like an angel endlessly carried? 5. Kago no Sakana (Fish Out of Water) A mermaid is brought out of her dream. 6. Koubutsu-kun (Mister Mineral) Inside the body of a cute girl who's just like a doll... are internal organs, and blood, and... 7. Anata wa Ikiteiru (Alive) The sad tale of a human and a clone who pass right by each other.