I mentioned the other day that I was doing an illustration for Fukui Shimbun’s New Year’s edition. They do a bunch of children’s stories and illustrations by local artists and authors, and I was lucky enough to be asked to do one of them. The title of my story is 「眠れない夜に」”Nemurenai Yoru Ni.”

The story is about a girl named Miki who can’t sleep so she starts to count sheep. However, all the sheep have come down with influenza, so she can’t count them. Instead she goes to a magic dream world and is transformed in a sheep herself. She offers to help the sheep by helping another young girl fall asleep, so in sheep form, she rides a shooting star to another house. The other sleepless girl turned out to be her classmate, whom she had gotten into a fight with earlier that day. The girl couldn’t sleep because she was upset about fighting with Miki. So sheep-Miki told her it was okay, and in the end everything worked out.

In any case, it’s a simple but cute story. And I hope my illustration goes well with it.

Nemurenai Yoru Ni