Kusunoki was 10 years old and despised by his classmates. Believing himself to be smarter than everyone else, during that time in elementary school the only person he felt was on his wavelength was Himeno — who he thought was too pretty and smart for the class — and she was also disliked by her classmates. While everyone either avoided them or talked about them behind their backs, the two of them basically did the same, interacting with each other, and having the best times of their lives.
Ten years later, it would turn out to be the only time where they could find enjoyment in life.
We follow Kusunoki, who’s completely in a state of wretchedness. Ten years ago he and Himeno made a promise that they both would become better, that something great would happen to the both of them. They also promised that if they couldn’t find anyone, they’d get together. Well, aside from one letter of correspondence in that 10 year span, they never talked to each other as they each encountered their own problems.
Since the story is told from Kusunoki’s perspective, we know he’s estranged from his family and is unexceptional. Whatever skills and smarts he had as a kid disappeared the older he got. Now he wastes his time going to college and a job, without any idea of what to do aside from that. Well, aside from reading good books and listening to good CDs, which he begins selling so he can put food in his belly.
That’s when an old man brings up a tale that Kusunoki remembers his teacher mentioning to the class back in school — selling your lifespan for cash. Back then his teacher asked to the class how much they felt their life was actually worth — Kusunoki didn’t really take part in the discussion. Now he learns from two different people that you can actually sell it…and Kusunoki buys it. He believes them, goes to the location they said, and Kusunoki is assessed by a young woman of his value.
“Three hundred thousand yen ($2,893.16)”.
If that sounds like a lot, it is…if he sells 30 years and three months of his life to get it. Where did he go wrong aside from venturing over here? Learning that no, he’s not actually worth three hundred million like he believed, he’s only worth ten thousand yen a year (about $96.44). What a life huh? But he in the end sells 30 years of his life, leaving the next three months to figure out what to do with his cash. And what does he do on the first day? Boozes it up!
Three Days of Happiness‘ overall theme regarding life, death, and value does have interest, alongside its concept of selling your life span (you can also sell or buy your health and time). It might’ve been best to lean into that supernatural aspect more, but will get to that a bit later. We all know the usual guarantees — life, death, and taxes — so putting a price on lifespans seems illogical since we should be valuing our life. But life never goes the way you expect. And unfortunately for some, it turns out extremely poorly. You grow up thinking you’ll become something, and turns out you’re just another human on this Earth that’s ordinary. Or you find yourself losing your way due to circumstances, which we see in this read.
There is a bit to think about when reading this novel, but by the end of it, this wasn’t such a worthwhile experience. I’m of the mind that if you must make your protagonist or the characters unlikable, let it be in a way that doesn’t bore me to tears. Or have something else that sticks out. Three Days of Happiness has neither. Kusunoki is too miserable and very much a personality that’s hard to care about, so when things begin to change for him about 2/3 of the novel, it was hard for me to believe it was earned. At the start he has a monitor — Miyagi — a seemingly robotic, unfeeling young woman who’s done this job before of watching people sell their life span and eventually die, and that’s about it in terms of people who dominate this novel.
Did Himeno show up again? Yes, and it definitely turned out worse for her than it did for him. I won’t go so far as saying she should’ve been the main focus, but alternating perspectives might’ve been better since, due to his anti-social life and becoming estranged from his parents, the story is basically about Kusunoki and Miyagi, and it wasn’t very interesting. He has one or two people he might’ve known over the past 10 years that he tries to reach out to, but that’s it. So when the shift in his life changes, and especially regarding how Miyagi reacts to him, it was hard to buy. It’s certainly possible for someone to be more thoughtful about their future when they know death is imminent. It just didn’t seem that believable for it to happen for Kusunoki.
Now I get back to the selling life span thing…which I mostly wish we got more information about. Like how is this possible? Who is this organization? How are they doing it? Is it actually just Kusunoki losing his mind? Ok, so no one can see Miyagi except Kusunoki — so is she even human? Maybe if the narrative was a little stronger this could’ve been ignored, but overall the actions and events are very tedious (digging up letters that were buried in school, festival trips).
So really, it all comes down to these characters and by the end, maybe Miyagi was one to like based on her past. Otherwise, this wasn’t exactly anything to chew on. Well, the concept is something to think about, but Three Days of Happiness doesn’t have much to stand on aside from that.