"Asamura-kun, may I ask you something?"
Ayase-san, who had come into the living room, addressed me as I was sitting on the sofa reading a book.
"Sure."
With that, Ayase-san gently plumped down beside me.
"It's rare to see you reading here."
"Every now and then."
It's 5 pm. Akiko-san had gone off to work. My father should probably be home soon.
I had been doing some prep for tomorrow's class until a little while ago, but I got stuck, so I came out to the living room to read a book and give my brain a little rest.
"So, what did you want to ask?"
"It's not a big deal. Just something I came across while reading here."
She said, showing me her textbook. It was a modern Japanese textbook.
"Look, here. It says, 'Casually grab a few apples', right?"
"Right. So?"
"How many is 'a few'?"
"...You do ask tricky questions."
"But I don't understand. Why don't they specify the exact number?"
"Like five, six?"
"Exactly. I mean, those are countable numbers."
"Well, you could count them, yes..."
Ayase-san had a personality that liked to think things through thoroughly. This sounds good if you call it seriousness, but it doesn't go well with artistic expressions like literature.
You could also say she wasn't used to such expressions.
"A novel doesn't have to state the objective facts, you know."
"Objective facts... like the number of apples here?"
"Right. It doesn't necessarily mean that the author hasn't decided the number, but by writing in specific number, unwanted meaning might occurs, or something like that."
For instance, apples often appear as a symbol of 'sin'. Needless to say, it was the trigger for Adam and Eve's expulsion from paradise. Whether the forbidden fruit was really an apple or not is up to the scholars, but in many works of fiction, it is treated as such.
So, if you write that there are seven apples, you might accidentally imply 'Could this be a metaphor for the seven deadly sins?' It's not always the right answer in a novel to clearly state the numbers.
"I see."
"Also, it could be an expression of a subjective fact, 'a few'."
Ayase-san tilted her head slightly.
Was that a bit too difficult?
"It's just my personal opinion, but I think humans, at a glance, can only accurately grasp up to two items. From three onwards, it gets dubious."
"Really?"
"Can you immediately tell if there are three or four items there? It's hard for me. Of course, I know there are people who can look up at a large building and instantly count the number of windows there."
"I feel I can count up to about four at a glance."
"I've heard that crows can intuitively count up to four. So, I'm probably below a crow. I don't have a very strong ability to grasp things instantaneously."
"Well, I'm not sure if I could accurately tell between six or seven."
"I think that varies from person to person. So, when they say 'a few', it could mean anywhere from three to six, depending on the situation. And when I say 'as a subjective fact', it implies that the person making the statement isn't consciously thinking about the exact number."
"Even though they bought it themselves?"
"It says 'casually grab', right? So, to the character, the exact number might not matter. You can infer that from this context."
"But it wasn't 'a lot'. So, 'a few'. If it was seven or more, it would be like buying a mountain of apples, wouldn't it?"
"So, it's written this way for a reason. Asamura-kun, you're really familiar with reading, aren't you?"
I found myself being looked at with eyes of admiration.
I squirmed uncomfortably on the sofa, feeling that I hadn't done anything to deserve such praise.
I could hear my old man's voice saying, "I'm home". The door leading to the living room opened.
"Oh, everyone's here. I bought a few taiyaki, let's eat."
Saying so, he placed a brown paper bag, which seemed to contain taiyaki, on the dining table.
"Well, I'll make some tea then."
I knew exactly what Ayase-san was going to say next.
"Asamura-kun, how many is 'a few'?"