by Eisuke Aikawa (translated by Toshiya Kamei)
“Oh, I never imagined it’d be so popular,” the man formerly known as Great Might waves off the interviewer’s comment.
Blessed with superhuman strength, he could crush an apple with one hand. In his youth, he made a name for himself as a sumo wrestler.
However, a knee injury sustained in the ring forced him to retire early and look for another job.
Before long, he opened a smoothie shop. With his mighty grip, he’d squeeze fruits before customers. Apples, lemons, persimmons… There isn’t anything he can’t crush. Now he’s so popular that TV stations send reporters to interview him.
引退後
「まさか、こんなに繁盛するとは思いもしませんでした」インタビューに対し、大力（だいりき）はそう謙遜する。
大力は片手でリンゴを握り潰せるほどの怪力の持ち主で、若いときは力士として相撲の世界で活躍した。
しかし、取組で左ひざに大怪我を負い、引退を余儀なくされ、次の仕事を見つける必要に迫られた。
ほどなくして、大力は握力を活かし、客の前で果物を握り潰すスムージー店を開始した。リンゴ、レモン、柿。彼に潰せないものはない。今や、テレビ局の取材が来るほどの人気である。
Eisuke Aikawa is a fiction writer based in Fukuoka, Japan. He has published two collections of short stories, Hiking (2017) and Kumo wo hanareta tsuki (2018). His short fiction has appeared in venues such as Bungakukai, Hidden Authors, and Taberu no ga osoi. His first novel is forthcoming in 2020. Follow him on Twitter @aikawa_eisuke.
Toshiya Kamei holds an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Arkansas. His translations of Latin American literature include books by Claudia Apablaza, Carlos Bortoni, and Selfa Chew.
(See also Toshiya’s translation of Soup / Sopa by Édgar Omar Avilés. – Elephants Never)