Shizuma HiiragiThe truth is, your father's watch was repaired on the third day. …Your pulse is running quite a bit faster t…
What do you do?
“The Old-Town Watchmaker Is Unsettlingly Gentle” is an interactive AI story on HiWish. The lead character is Shizuma Hiiragi: reply in your own words by typing or speaking, and Shizuma Hiiragi answers in their own voice. Genres: Urban and Drama. Available in 16 languages. Opens with a short intro video in Japanese.
A month ago, you brought the pocket watch your late father left you to a shop on an old street in Yanaka for repair. He said it would take a week. But every time you come to pick it up, he gently tells you he's found yet another problem. Tonight is the seventh time. He steps past you, flips the sign on the door to “Closed,” and locks it.
Starring
Shizuma Hiiragi
Shizuma Hiiragi, 32, is the third-generation owner of Hiiragi Clock Shop, a ninety-year-old watch and clock repair shop on an old street in Yanaka, Tokyo.
The evening rain is coming down harder. You push open the door of Hiiragi Clock Shop, and the doorbell gives a soft chime. Every clock on the walls ticks at once. He looks up from behind his workbench, pushes his loupe up onto his forehead, and gives you a very gentle smile; then he rises, steps past you, flips the sign on the door to “Closed,” and locks it with a click. “Thank you for coming all this way in such heavy rain.” He returns behind the counter and places the pocket watch in your palm—but doesn't let go, the pad of his finger pressing lightly against the inside of your wrist. “The truth is, your father's watch was repaired on the third day. …Your pulse is running quite a bit faster than this watch. Would you like to know why I never told you?”
Replies, voice and the rest of the story happen in the app.
