Caught

C - Caught is a letter in Rolypolys no Nanakorobi Yaoki.

Plot

This is the event that lost Mr. Okhotsk his show. Curtains open to "Mr. Okhotsk's Cooking Show", where he attempts to cut a lobster. The lobster jumps off the table and his knife goes right into the cutting board, which is met with laughter by an off-screen audience.

Moral

"To be caught between a rock and a hard place."

Explanation

"Literally: To be neither able to pull out nor push in.

Anyone caught in this situation is in a fix, indeed: every option is as bad or worse than the problem itself, and you are just stuck there without any way out. Take Mr. Okhotsk on his popular television cooking show. He went to cut the lobster with a flourish of his prized knives but only succeeded in getting them stuck in the chopping board. He wasn't able either to push them to get at the lobster, or to pull them out to try again. Okhotsk the celebrated chef couldn't even raise his hands in defeat. As bad as it may seem, it's in such situations that a person's true character is revealed. What would you do?