On February 8 (Wed.), the 1st year high school IG course students were treated to a lecture by Manabu Makime, author of "Kamogawa Horumo" and "Princess Toyotomi," both of which have been made into movies.

All students gathered in the main hall, fully prepared for this day, having read "Writing Essays When the Wind Blows" from the essay collection "The Pedometer" and the short stories “Gojo-Syuttatsu" and "Miyako Oji Kakeru" and were ready to go.
　Mr. Makime proceeded with his lecture by answering questions submitted by the students in advance. He then spoke about his motivation for becoming a novelist, his profession as a novelist, etc., in a way that firmly reached the students' hearts. He also chose the best essay from among those written by the students in advance and explained what was good about it. In the question-and-answer session at the end of the lecture, he talked about the difference between writing an essay and writing a novel, and he told the students who wanted to become novelists that "full-time writers are a vanishing profession," and he spoke with both severity and warmth. The 50 minutes flew by in a flash.

In fact, Mr. Makime had not given a lecture to high school students for a long time, because not many students had read his works and the response from the students was not very positive when he was asked to give a lecture at a certain high school. Mr. Makime said, "I was happy that the students actively asked me questions such as, 'What are you doing while you are writing? As for me, it was a very gratifying day that gave me the courage to be myself."

　We are sure that a whirlwind of the Makime World will be taking place at our school in the future.