“Crabs”

The narrator describes seeing crabs at their all-girls high school in Japan, particularly during rainy early summer days. These crabs, gray-green with sand-colored shells, emerged from a nearby river and wandered the school grounds, corridors, and even classrooms. The narrator was fascinated by their presence, while classmates reacted with avoidance, exaggerated steps, or laughter. Many crabs were crushed on the road leading to school, their shells emitting a strong odor as they rotted in the sun. The narrator sensed a connection between the crabs and a former shoreline, now buried under the school. The school janitor later confirmed that the area had once been part of the sea, explaining why crabs kept appearing. The crabs seemed lost, searching for something that no longer existed in their environment.

The school janitor, nicknamed the old girl by students and some teachers, was responsible for cleaning up the school, including removing dead crabs and their shells. She worked outdoors, wearing overalls, a straw hat, and a towel around her neck, often using pruning shears. Students gossiped about her harsh treatment of live crabs, claiming she threw them into the incinerator with tongs, producing a strong, briny smell. The narrator later learned from her that the school grounds had once been part of the sea, which explained the crabs' presence. The janitor shared memories of her childhood, when the area was still a beach where people collected shellfish. She expressed frustration at ongoing land reclamation projects, despite a shrinking population, and advised the narrator to 'be strong' and 'put on weight,' hinting at hardships to come.

The narrator learns from the janitor that the school's location was once part of the sea, with the shoreline extending to where the buildings now stand. Decades earlier, the area was filled in using methods that seem archaic today: workers dumped trash, junk, and sand into the sea, then used horses to trample the mixture until it solidified. More sand was added by truck, raising the ground level. The janitor recalls her parents collecting shellfish on the beach when they were young, and notes that land reclamation continues today, despite a declining population. She questions the purpose of these projects, suggesting they reflect a disregard for the natural environment. The narrator later finds a stone marker near the school, engraved with faded letters, marking the old shoreline.

While sitting near the stone marker marking the old shoreline, the narrator notices five round, red nodules stuck to the stone, resembling salmon roe in shape and color. They are about 1 centimeter wide, with a firm, rubbery texture and liquid inside. The narrator speculates that these might be crab eggs, laid by a crab that had traveled to the former shoreline to reproduce. The narrator pries the eggs off the stone and pockets them, observing that they do not break easily. Later, at university, the narrator shares this story with a biology major, who laughs and corrects them, explaining that crabs carry their eggs under their bodies in a protected cavity, as most do not survive. The narrator had mistaken the nodules for eggs, though their true origin remains unclear.