There is a little hunger in all of us, though we are rarely hungry for the same things. What is desired becomes shelter, what is sheltered becomes sought, what is sought becomes danger, and even danger must look upward eventually. Desire passes like warmth between bodies, changing its nature with every touch. What is sweet nourishment to one tongue becomes an ending to another. What hunts today may be hunted tomorrow. The hunter moves under the illusion of control, forgetting that hunger makes lovers and prey of us all. The ones who build the table rarely sit at it, and in any chain of ambition, the distinction between the consumer and the consumed is drawn only by time. I wonder how many of our desires were ever ours to begin with. To be tempted is to believe, with conviction, that one can take without consequence, and exist outside the cycle. For now, nothing has been taken. Nothing has been lost. Offered is not the same as given. Given is not the same as free. Mizuyōkaii, 2026