Sins That Breathe: A Naoki Prize-winning work! Ichiho Michi: I wanted to portray "sin" as a feeling everyone has experienced to some degree.

 
▍To live is to err.
▍But is a person who has made a mistake always guilty?
 
#Sin and Kinship
Fifteen-year-old Yuto surely never imagined his twenty-year-old self would be living such a miserable life. He dropped out of college and barely scraped by working part-time soliciting customers for an izakaya. One day, a heavily made-up woman approached him. Yuto basked in the pleasure of the chance encounter until the woman said she was also from Osaka and her name was "Inoue Nagisa." Impossible. It must just be a coincidence of names. After all, that Inoue Nagisa was already...
 
#Sin and Solitude
It's true that her husband, who was supporting the family during the pandemic, was having a tough time, but if she looked even a little relaxed, he'd think she was slacking off. Yuri secretly opened Meets Deli. The delivery driver today wasn't him. This sense of anticipation was like a gashapon. Each time she waited for the delivery driver's avatar to appear, she felt a tingling sensation akin to an electric current, feeling truly "alive."
 
#Sin and Pity
Ah, I'm already dead. It seems I died fifteen years ago in a torrential rainstorm, and my bones were only recently discovered, but I don't remember anything. I returned home and inadvertently overheard my mother yelling into the phone: "I still haven't recovered the money that child stole from me!" What did that mean? I planned to run away from home? Every time I recalled something, the number of things I didn't understand only increased, and I was so scared, but I had nowhere left to go.
 
#Sin and Bonds
Ever since he was laid off from the restaurant, Koichi had been holed up at home. One day, his son came back from playing, holding a "charm" given to him by an elderly person living alone nearby. It turned out to be an old 10,000-yen bill. His son said the old man complained that the housekeeper's miso soup was too salty and that he had many charms in his drawer. Koichi started making soup again after a long time...
 
#Sin and Blessing
His mother was worried about the neighbor's wife, possibly because her newborn had passed away. More than that, Tatsuro was troubled by his mother's suspected symptoms of dementia and his high school daughter's pregnancy, as she insisted on keeping the baby. At this time, Tatsuro received news that his mother had fallen down the stairs. His mother said she fell herself, but the surveillance camera captured a woman rushing out of the apartment...

#Sin and Hope
On a cloudless Saturday, we met at a suburban station, and "Winter at the Zoo" drove to pick us up. The trunk carried a shichirin grill and charcoal freshly bought from the supermarket—it really was a car suitable for camping. As we drove towards the mountains, we chattered away—even though we were about to die.

▍Michi Iho's "sin" is like a cold—
▍everyone has had it.
 
"One of the roles of a novelist is to see what falls outside societal norms and common sense. Like a drop of water that inevitably escapes, no matter how carefully you cup your hands around water—that's the drop I want to portray in my work."
──Michi Iho (Interview with "VERY")
 
People who want to disappear fulfill each other's wishes. A housewife becomes obsessed with handsome delivery men. Taking money from a controlling mother and running away.
Caring for an elderly person living alone with an eye on their savings. An underage pregnancy where the girl insists on keeping the baby. Helping someone who doesn't want to live commit suicide.
Is that fallen drop of water adultery, fraud, or standing by and doing nothing? Or is it loneliness, bonds, and hope?
"Mistakes" don't necessarily stem from malice; perhaps they are simply the fluctuations between fortune and misfortune, yet still an attempt to move forward.
And in those undefinable sins, perhaps we all—see ourselves.
 
▍Michi Iho's Must-Tell Stories
"Writers are strange creatures; the more painful, the more agonizing the memories, the more they feel compelled to write them, like an obsession. Perhaps it's my meticulous nature that makes me feel it's not worth it if I don't write it down, always unable to resist turning over and licking those most bitter candy balls. Because living is a struggle to extract a drop of sweetness from it—that sweetness might be hope, or human kindness, or the bond between people."
(Excerpt from the Traditional Chinese Edition Preface)
 
▍Unanimously Recommended by Taiwanese Writers, Major Bookstore Staff, and Book Lovers

The book contains many heavy themes, but the author's brilliance lies in writing about these "sins committed for survival" with such lightness and warmth, as if they were just taken off us. ...This is a heartwarming masterpiece that makes one exclaim, "Life is absurd!" while reading, yet also feel an irresistible urge to embrace the world. Even guilty souls can learn to breathe again the moment they find their kin.──Novelist | Liu Chih-Yu
 
Wow, the Naoki Prize is no joke. In the cunning comedy, a hint of uterine prolapse-like fatigue emerges. I'd call it feminism living in a mental asylum.──Writer | Lu Yu-Chia
 
Teacher Iho doesn't show off, doesn't overdo it. She simply and lightly tells you about the world after the pandemic, the people, the ghosts, the distorted daily trivialities.
So light, yet so intimate. So light, yet it can pierce the heart.
...The days before the pandemic are already history, and what was lost will not return.
But we still have stories, we still have ourselves.
We still have sins, enough to sustain us through life.──Writer | Hsiao Wei-Hsuan
 
Each story is worth pausing to consider what the outcome would be if it happened to oneself. ...We've all wanted to commit a crime, but what ultimately stopped us might have been that breath of humanity within us, or someone's kind act in life, or perhaps the sky we inadvertently looked up at.──Eslite Bookstore Staff | Chun
 
The last story was absolutely brilliant. ...Although the six stories revolve around lives destroyed by the pandemic, each character depicted by the author is so close to life and vivid. There are no excessive twists and turns in the narrative, as if it is happening right now and continuously. That's why it's particularly exciting and enjoyable to read, and even more relatable. It makes you can't help but think, "So that's how it is, if that's the case..."──Eslite Bookstore Staff | Hsiao Miao
 
The characters in the book are all ordinary people, each with their own regrets and worries. Some wounds don't need to be forgiven; they just hope for understanding and comfort. ...Life is not perfect, but there is still hope. This is a good book that leaves you wanting more and is worth reading.──Dian Jiao Shi Books Buyer | Meng-Ru

The author uses short stories to describe people's behavior in the post-pandemic era. The content details the background and each character's thoughts, revealing their ugliest side. While change is not a bad thing, it must develop in a positive direction, otherwise it will be impossible to adapt to a changing environment.──Dian Jiao Shi Zhongli Branch Deputy Manager | Working Mom Ya-Lin
 
I secretly love Michi Iho's writing; after reading, there's always a sense of brightness. If her previous work, "Stay Where the Light Is," was the bright sunshine after a rain, fresh and transparent, "Breathing Sins" is like being in a pitch-black night where you can't see your hand in front of your face, until your eyes adjust to the darkness and you realize a faint but firm light is flickering in the distance, bringing hope.──National Chengchi University Bookstore Tainan Branch Bookstore Staff | Panda
 
Even though they are short stories, they are so captivating that you can't put them down! These six stories are squarely in the gray area of moral failings and proven guilt. In addition to exploring the minor sins and evils of everyday life, the plot arrangements are like a roller coaster ride. The first part of the story slowly climbs, planting seeds of suspense, and the sudden twists at the end are astounding and elicit gasps of surprise. It's truly exhilarating to read!──Book and Food Home
 
The thoughts deeply hidden in the characters' hearts, perhaps you and I have also harbored them, but never dared to speak them aloud. The author wrote these "thoughts" into a novel, which unexpectedly gave me goosebumps. However, continuing to read evoked another profound feeling—immense sorrow.──Reading Book Account, Book Lover | Chen Tzu-Ying
 
The protagonists of the short stories are like miniatures of ordinary people in real life. Through their perspectives, they reveal "sins" that cannot be clearly defined by law but genuinely exist, making them particularly thought-provoking.
Closing the book, I found a seemingly ordinary dialogue from the first story deeply etched in my mind: "I just feel that everyone has it pretty tough."──Book Explorer | Froggy