金賞：His Dream

金賞：Late for Christmas

銀賞：A Closet

銀賞：ChangeHis Dream
H・M
His dream was to buy his own house and to live abroad.
He thought of ways of living abroad every night. But hecouldn’t think of a bright idea.

One day he spoke about his dream to his wife. She said,“Oh, that’s great. I want to live abroad, too.” The next
week, his wife found a poster which said, ‘SPEECHCONTEST’ The winner will be able to have a house inAmerica!

They talked to each other, and then they decided toapply to the contest. The next month, they left home intheir car. They arrived at the airport and went to thedeparture lounge.

The next day, they arrived in America. He was very worried
about his speech. He said, “My turn will come soon.” Tenminutes later, his speech was finished.

His wife said, “I appreciate your hard work. Let’s go to the hotel and rest.” They expected
an announcement about the winner two days later.

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The next day, they went to the house which would bepresented to the winner. They wanted to look at it. The
house was white, and the neighborhood had a lot ofgreenery. They liked the house.

The next day, they went to a small hall to hear about the winner. He said to his wife, “Don’texpect too much.”
His number was twelve. Then the announcer said in aloud voice, “The winner is number twelve!”

He couldn’t believe his ears. "Am I the winner?" His wife
couldn’t believe her ears either. He said, “We can live inAmerica!”

Five years have passed since he got a new house. Now, they
have one child. They are happier than before. What is his next
dream? Now, his dream is to travel around the world with hisfamily.

3Late for Christmas
ぴかちゅ
A boy who had only one leg lived in a small house. Hisname was Jun. He lost his left leg in a traffic accident.

Today was Christmas Eve, so he hung a sock on the chest in
his room before he went to sleep. He went to sleep full of hope.
While he was sleeping, Santa came to his room. “What apretty boy he is! I must give a present to him.” Santa smiled andleft a box with a present inside. Then he wrote a letter to him
and put it in the sock.

The next day, Jun opened the box. “What? A present for me?” Then hefelt sad because he saw it was a bicycle. “I can’t use it! Because I don’t
have two legs… I don’t like Santa!” he shouted and threw away theletter in a toilet. The letter said “Merry Christmas!” It was written bySanta.

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At that time, Santa was watching and thinking about Jun.
“Why is he crying?…Oh…He doesn’t have two legs! I didn’t
notice that…That’s why he’s crying! I’m very sorry.”
Santa was in low spirits.

Then the night grew late. Santa come to Jun's house again.
Jun was sleeping in his bed. “I’ll give you one more present,”
Santa said.

The next morning, Jun got up and saw his leg. “Whaaaa…What!? I got a left leg!!” heyelled. His left leg was in the sock! It was given to him by Santa!
“Hey, Muuuuuuum!! Look at me!” He could run. His motherwas delighted with Jun.

He rode the bicycle all day many times. He always hada smile on his face when he rode it. Then he said, “Thankyou, Santa. I love this bicycle and my legs!!”

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A Closet
Winning River
There was a boy whose name was Tom. He was a normal
boy and didn’t believe in magic. So when his father, Ken,
told him that their house was a magic house, he didn’tbelieve it.

One day, when he was studying in his room, it happened. He
heard the door open slowly, so he stopped studying and lookedat the open door. Usually, there was an old closet. But that day,there was a magic door!

“Come in, my boy.” Someone’s strange voice spoke tohim. “Don’t be afraid. There’s no danger. You must come,or….” He was too afraid and scared to go to the door. So heclosed his eyes, hoping it was just a dream.
But it wasn’t a dream. The strange voice spoke to him
again. “Come, and find me. I’m not a dangerous person. If
you find me, you can be a special boy. Don’t you think it iswonderful?”

He was still afraid, but also he wanted to know what
would happen if he found the person. So he went throughthe door. But he couldn’t find anything, so he returned andslept.

6In his dream, he was in his room and noticed the door was openagain! This time, he could hear a girl’s voice. The voice said, “Gostraight, and turn left, stop for a while…”
Then, he saw a girl whose face was in pain.
He knew that she wasn’t a ghost, because she
had two legs. She pointed at him and said, “Atlast, you found me. You aren’t a normal boy
at all. You have strong power, the power ofmagic….”

When he woke up, he found himself in his father’s room.
“I can’t understand what my dream meant.” he said tohimself. “But I will find out someday.”

After a few days, he found the answer. He really hadpower! He could light a fire and make the wind blow. His
power was very useful, and he helped many people with it.

After that day when he got his power, he didn’t see the magicaldoor. But sometimes, he heard the girl’s voice. Her voice wasn’t likea ghost's, but like an angel's. He often looked at the closet to see ifthe door was there.
...If you have a closet, you should look at it many times. You may beable to get power!

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Change
Wonder Land

When I was a young man, I made the biggest mistake of my life.
Forty years ago I got married with Sala. We met at the camp which
was held by our college.

After we got married, we moved to North America. At firstshe was beautiful, did housework well, and looked very happy.
But this was wrong.

Because she was born in a big city in America, she couldn’t get
used to country life. It was difficult for her. After two years, Marywas born. She was my daughter.

But suddenly Sala changed. One day, when I was on business,
Mary couldn’t stop crying. But Sala was too tired to take careof her and when she noticed Mary crying, she scolded Maryand went mad.

When I got our house, Mary cried and said “Mom wants tokill me, Mom wants to kill me!”8

When I heard that, I couldn’t stop myself from taking aknife and killing her. So I was sent to prison and sentenced
to life imprisonment.

But this winter, I was taken ill. Then I was sent to ahospital. And I always regretted marrying her and I wanted
to change my life.
Suddenly it happened. My eyes were blinded by glare.

And I could hear “I” talking with my friend about the camp. It was
the day before I met her. I knew what I would do. When I began towalk to talk with “me”, I hit a cupboard. So, “I” stopped talking to
my friend. “Who is there?” “I” said. “I don’t know if you willbelieve me but I come from future, and I want to talk with you. In
other words, I am you and I know your future.”“I” was very surprised at this, but I told him my story. I don’tknow if he will go to the camp or not, but I know my life changed
because I am disappearing now.

9Mike 先生からのコメント

His Dream
This is a great story that shows us that it is possible for our dreams to come true if we try hard anduse our talents.

When I was reading it, I really wanted the couple to win the contest, and I was

happy when they did.

I hope that their new dream of traveling around the world will also come truefor them.

Late for Christmas
This is a great Christmas story with a happy ending. It is different from other Christmas stories
because Santa doesn't just give the boy a toy, but gives the boy something very special.

The writing

about the boy and Santa is very nice and detailed, because the story shows us how the boy and Santa
are feeling as well as what they are doing.

A ClosetThis is an exciting story that has a mood like a story from the Arabian Nights, with secret doorsand dreams and magic powers.

I think that everyone who reads this story would wish that theycould have the same experience as the boy and receive magic powers that they could use to help
other people.

ChangeI enjoyed this story very much.
to terrible violence.

It has a lot of different moods and settings, from happy family life

It starts out like a realistic story, and then suddenly, near the end, there is an

exciting change and it becomes a fantasy story. I hope that the man will not make any big mistakes
in his new life.

10宮下先生からのコメント

His Dream
夢は叶うと思わせてくれる明るい作風のストーリーです。会話文を効果的に挿入しながら、数年間を追っていきます。長い文章と短い文章のコントラストが、文章によいテンポを与えてくれています。

Late for Christmas
人の本音が端的な言葉で表され、心温まるストーリーに仕上がっています。衝撃的な導入部分と、その後の丁寧な心の動きの描写、感動的なラストなど完成度の高い作品です。この構成力、発想力に才能を感じます。

A Closet
人の心の中には、実は本編のような力があるのだろうかと思えてくる魅惑的な作品です。
パンクチュエーションを巧みに使っています。読者をも巻き込んで進んでいくこのストーリー、続編もぜひ手がけてほしいです。

Change
どんでん返しに最後までハラハラドキドキさせられる作品です。現代社会の問題点を風刺しているかのような側面もあります。残酷さに驚きながらも、人生はやり直しがきくという希望も見えてきます。

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