ボッコちゃん – BOKKO-CHAN
星新一小小说
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そのロボットは、うまくできていた。女のロボットだった。人工的なものだから、いくらでも美人につくれた。あらゆる美人の要素をとり入れたので、完全な美人ができあがった。もっとも、少しつんとしていた。だが、つんとしていることは、美人の条件なのだった。
ほかにはロボットを作ろうなんて、だれも考えなかった。人間と同じに働くロボットを作るのは、むだな話だ。そんなものを作る費用があれば、もっと能率のいい機械ができたし、やとわれたがっている人間は、いくらでもいたのだから。
それは道楽で作られた。作ったのは、バーのマスターだった。バーのマスターというものは、家に帰れば酒など飲む気にならない。彼にとっては、酒なんかは商売道具で、自分で飲むものとは思えなかった。金は酔っぱらいたちがもうけさせてくれるし、時間もあるし、それでロボットを作ったのだ。まったくの趣味だった。
趣味だったからこそ、精巧な美人ができたのだ。本物そっくりの肌ざわりで、見わけがつかなかった。むしろ、見たところでは、そのへんの本物以上にちがいない。
しかし、頭はからっぽに近かった。彼もそこまでは、手がまわらない。簡単なうけ答えができるだけだし、動作のほうも、酒を飲むことだけだった。
彼は、それが出来あがると、バーにおいた。そのバーにはテーブルの席もあったけれど、ロボットはカウンターのなかにおかれた。ぼろを出しては困るからだった。
お客は新しい女の子が入ったので、いちおう声をかけた。名前と年齢を聞かれた時だけはちゃんと答えたが、あとはだめだった。それでも、ロボットと気づくものはいなかった。
「名前は」
「ボッコちゃん」
「としは」
「まだ若いのよ」
「いくつなんだい」
「まだ若いのよ」
「だからさ……」
「まだ若いのよ」
この店のお客は上品なのが多いので、だれも、これ以上は聞かなかった。
「きれいな服だね」
「きれいな服でしょ」
「なにが好きなんだい」
「なにが好きかしら」
「ジンフィーズ飲むかい」
「ジンフィーズ飲むわ」
酒はいくらでも飲んだ。そのうえ、酔わなかった。
美人で若くて、つんとしていて、答えがそっけない。お客は聞き伝えてこの店に集まった。
「お客のなかで、だれが好きだい」
「だれが好きかしら」
「ぼくを好きかい」
「あなたが好きだわ」
「こんど映画へでも行こう」
「映画へでも行きましょうか」
「いつにしよう」
答えられない時には信号が伝わって、マスターがとんでくる。
「お客さん、あんまりからかっちゃあ、いけませんよ」
と言えば、たいていつじつまがあって、お客はにが笑いして話をやめる。
マスターは時どきしゃがんで、足の方のプラスチック管から酒を回収し、お客に飲ませた。
だが、お客は気がつかなかった。若いのにしっかりした子だ。べたべたおせじを言わないし、飲んでも乱れない。そんなわけで、ますます人気が出て、立ち寄る者がふえていった。
そのなかに、ひとりの青年がいた。ボッコちゃんに熱をあげ、通いつめていたが、いつも、もう少しという感じで、恋心はかえって高まっていった。そのため、勘定がたまって支払いに困り、とうとう家の金を持ち出そうとして、父親にこっぴどく怒られてしまったのだ。
「もう二度と行くな。この金で払ってこい。だが、これで終りだぞ」
彼は、その支払いにバーに来た。今晩で終りと思って、自分でも飲んだし、お別れのしるしといって、ボッコちゃんにもたくさん飲ませた。
「もう来られないんだ」
「もう来られないの」
「悲しいかい」
「悲しいわ」
「本当はそうじゃないんだろう」
「本当はそうじゃないの」
「きみぐらい冷たい人はいないね」
「あたしぐらい冷たい人はいないの」
「殺してやろうか」
「殺してちょうだい」
彼はポケットから薬の包みを出して、グラスに入れ、ボッコちゃんの前に押しやった。
「飲むかい」
「飲むわ」
彼の見つめている前で、ボッコちゃんは飲んだ。
彼は「勝手に死んだらいいさ」と言い、「勝手に死ぬわ」の声を背に、マスターに金を渡して、そとに出た。夜はふけていた。
マスターは青年がドアから出ると、残ったお客に声をかけた。
「これから、わたしがおごりますから、みなさん大いに飲んで下さい」
おごりますといっても、プラスチックの管から出した酒を飲ませるお客が、もう来そうもないからだ。
「わーい」
「いいぞ、いいぞ」
お客も店の子も、乾杯しあった。マスターもカウンターのなかで、グラスをちょっと上げてほした。
その夜、バーはおそくまで灯がついていた。ラジオは音楽を流しつづけていた。しかし、だれひとり帰りもしないのに、人声だけは絶えていた。
そのうち、ラジオも「おやすみなさい」と言って、音を出すのをやめた。ボッコちゃんは「おやすみなさい」とつぶやいて、つぎはだれが話しかけてくるかしらと、つんとした顔で待っていた。
【新潮文庫『ボッコちゃん』（日本・新潮社、1971年5月）より】
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英語に翻訳 – ENGLISH TRANSLATION
BOKKOCHAN – Short-Short Story by Shinichi Hoshi
The robot was well made. It was a female robot. Because she was artificially made, she was created to be as beautiful as possible. And because all kinds of elements of charm were incorporated into her creation, she was indeed a complete beauty. Noone had even thought about creating other robot. To create a robot that could work as well as humans was pointless. If he had the expenses to create such a kind of robot, he would have made it more efficient, and anyway there were lots of people who wanted to be employed.
The robot was created as a mere hobby. The creator was a bar master. This master was the kind of person who, when he went home, did not feel like drinking alcohol. To him, alcohol was nothing more than a tool for work, and so he didn’t think of it as something to drink by oneself. He was making a profit off the drunks in the bar, he had spare time, and so he created the robot. It was just his hobby.
And it was precisely because it was a hobby that he was able to create such a sophisticated beauty. Her texture just like a real human and you would not even be able to tell the difference just by looking at her. Rather, when you saw her, she was even more than the real thing.
However, her head was pretty close to empty. The master could not handle even that part on his own. The most she could do was give simple responses, and as for her movements, the only thing she could do was drink.
When he completed the robot, he left her in the bar. Though there were table seats inside the bar, the robot was put inside the counter. This was because she had trouble showing her true feelings.
Because there was a new girl in the bar, the customers called out to her at first sight. Though she could answer properly when she was asked only her name and age, anything more was a problem. Yet still, there were no customers who could tell that she was actually a robot.
“What’s your name?”
“Bokkochan.“
“How old are you?”
“I’m still young.”
“How old?”
“Still young.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Still young..”
Because the customers of this shop were polite, no one asked her any more than this.
“You have really pretty clothes.”
“They’re pretty, aren’t they?”
“Would you like something?”
“I wonder, would I like anything?”
“Wanna drink a gin fizz?”
“I’ll drink a gin fizz.”
She drank a lot of alcohol. Moreover, she did not even get drunk.
She was a young beauty, a bit naive, and her answers were slightly cold. Customer gathered at the bar after having had been passed along information on the place. Bokkochan talked to one of the customers, who drank alcohol and also made Bokkochan drink.
“Do you like anyone out of these customers?”
“I wonder, do I like someone?”
“Do you like me?”
“I like you.”
“Next time, let’s go to a movie or something.”
“Shall we go to a movie or something?”
“When should we go?”
When she could not answer a question, a signal would tell the bar owner who would then hurry over to her.
“Sir, you shouldn’t tease her so much.”
When he said this the customer smiled and stopped talking to her.
The owner would sometimes squat down and from a plastic tube attached to her feet, would collect the alcohol and give it to the customers to drink.
However, the customers did not notice. Though she was young, she was a well composed girl. She didn’t flatter, and would not get drunk even if she drank alcohol. For these reasons, she became more and more popular and the amount of customers dropping in increased.
Amongst these customers, there was a certain young man. He had a crush on Bokkochan and began to frequent the bar, each time his feelings for her growing more and more. Because of this, his bills also grew, to the point where repayment became a problem, and he finally had to return home to bring up the money. His father was outraged.
“Don’t go there again. Go pay with this money and come right back. This is the last time.”
So he went to the bar to pay off the bills. Thinking that this would be his last night here, he drank alone, and as a signal of his parting, made Bokkochan drink a lot as well.
“I can’t come anymore.”
“You can’t come anymore?”
“Are you sad?”
“I am sad.”
“That’s not really true, is it?”
“It’s not really true?”
“I don’t know anyone as cold as you.”
“Nobody as cold as me?”
“Should I just kill you?”
“Kill me please.”
He pulled a packet of drugs from his pocket, put it in the glass, and pushed it in front of Bokkochan.
“Will you drink it?”
“I’ll drink it.”
So Bokkochan drank it right before his gazing eyes.
“You should die at your own hands”, he said, and as she responded, “I will die at my own hands”, he handed the money over to the bar master and left the bar. And the night went on.
When the young man got out the front door, the bar master called out to the remaining customers.
“From now on, all drinks are on me, so everyone please, drink as much as you like!”
Though he said it was his treat, he gave the customers the alcohol from the plastic tube, because it seemed like there would be no new customers coming anymore for that night.
“Yay!”
“Awesome!”
The customers and the girl in the shop made a toast. The master also took a glass out from the counter and drank a bit.
That night, the lights in the bar stayed on until very late. The radio continued playing music. However, despite the fact that not one person went home, only the voices of the people that died out.
Before long, even the radio said “Good night”, and the music stopped playing. Bokkochan murmured “Goodnight”, and with a naive expression, waited for the next person to come talk to her.
suzuchan
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