Early morning. A downpour fell upon the Trinity district. It wasn't a shower. The rain that had started at dawn was forecast to continue until evening. It was a rare occurrence in Trinity, where it usually only rained enough each spring for plants to grow.
Thick raindrops, closer to black than gray, spat out by dark clouds, knocked on the windows and soaked the ground.
Due to the heavy rain, shop owners opening early in the morning had to move busily. They placed umbrella storage for customers and installed doormats in front of their stores to wipe off wet shoes. But such weather inevitably meant fewer customers. The famous toast shop, usually bustling every morning, was no different.
People refrained from going out to avoid the sharply blowing cold wind and raindrops that soaked them thoroughly with just a little movement.
It was a gloomy morning.
Yurizono Seia, looking out the window, thought the same.
If there was one saving grace, it was that the graduation ceremony had taken place yesterday. If this downpour had happened yesterday, most of the graduation schedule would have had to be omitted. Then, the time to spend with juniors, family, and friends would have been reduced. Thinking about it again, it was truly fortunate. Because she didn't want the time spent with Kenji to decrease.
'Kenji.'
Thinking of that name, his face naturally came to mind. A playful appearance. Slightly sharp eyes and pale white skin. A firm body different from a woman's. Yet, an embrace that felt comfortable to hug. Seia chuckled as she recalled such things.
She turned her head slightly. The small wreath she had taken off to sleep came into her view. A wreath woven with white roses and baby's breath flowers. That was all its appearance, but the look in Seia's eyes as she gazed at it was utterly loving.
A gift from a loved one was that special. Seia picked up the wreath with a faint smile and put it on her left ear. Just that brought a sense of warmth. She flinched at the sensation, as if Kenji's rough hand was touching her ear.
"...I miss you."
Seia unconsciously muttered that, but her voice was drowned out and disappeared by the raindrops knocking on the window. It didn't matter anyway. She reached beside the bed and gently held her smartphone. Turning on the screen showed a picture of Kenji sleeping and the current time.
7:00 AM.
It would still be several hours before Kenji would wake up. He was surprisingly a heavy sleeper, so he'd probably stagger out of bed around 10 or 11. So she had to prepare to go meet him before then. That way, she could spend the day with him looking perfect. Mere raindrops couldn't become a breakwater to stop her footsteps.
'If I want to be there early... I should wash up now.'
To be by his side earlier and longer than the other two, she had to finish her washing immediately. Considering the time for makeup and choosing clothes, it would be better to prepare with a little margin.
Seia thought so and got up from the bed.
And at that moment. An electric current jumped in her head. With a *crack*, a sound like something burning, her vision flickered briefly. Her thoughts were abruptly cut off, and she felt an illusion as if something was boiling in her brain.
It was a familiar sensation to Seia. She often felt this just before having a prophetic dream. But that was always right before falling asleep, not after waking up like this. Dreaming while awake was strange to begin with.
However, the sensation she felt now was no illusion. Because it was familiar, she could only be certain.
Seia contorted her face and stared into her blurring vision. But there was no room to wonder why now. Because as her vision completely darkened, the dream began.
Forcing down a rising sigh, she closed her eyes slightly. Okay, even if she didn't like it, this precognitive ability had never harmed her. This time would probably be the same. Seia forced herself to think so and opened her eyes, which she had closed. It was to observe the dream that had started.
"..."
The location was an alley. She couldn't tell if it was in Trinity or another district, but it wasn't a good place. Insects floating in puddles on the ground and a few spiders crawling up the drainpipe made even Seia frown.
But the next moment, her eyes widened. Because a familiar face appeared in that alley.
Black hair longer than she remembered, eyes like embedded obsidian. Sharp eyes. Trembling cheeks. A forced smile.
There was no need to ponder. As soon as Seia saw the man's face, she realized it was Kenji. The atmosphere was a bit different, but it was undoubtedly him. However, there was no room to feel joy. Because someone was pointing a gun at his abdomen.
'No.'
Her judgment was quick. Seia urgently flung her body toward the girl holding the gun. But this wasn't reality, and because of that, Seia's body passed through the girl's and rolled on the ground.
It was simultaneous.
-Click.
A chilling sound was heard. The sound of a finger on the trigger. Seia bit her lower lip hard and raised her head. Kenji forcing a smile and the girl with her head bowed came into her view. A tear fell from the corner of the girl's eye.
That didn't matter at all. Even if those tears were sincere, in Seia's eyes, they only looked like crocodile tears.
How dare, how dare she point a gun at who? Seia got up, grinding her teeth hard enough to shatter. Her pupils surged with murderous intent.
She knew this place was a dream. So what? Even if this was a dream, Seia didn't want to see Kenji get hurt. But how? How could she help him? There was no time to think. Another *click*, a tense sound was heard. The trigger had been pulled a bit more.
'No, no, no!'
Seia's eyes trembled as she placed her hands on the ground. But the girl's finger was faster than Seia could fully get up.
-Bang!
Flames shot from the gun muzzle. The bullet pierced Kenji's body and embedded itself in the wall behind. Blood gushed from between his teeth. Crimson bloodstains soaked the girl's face, and a fishy blood scent drilled into her nostrils. Seia also smelled that cruel scent vividly.
Her mind went completely blank. Her movements stopped abruptly, and from her unconnected lips, only syllables that couldn't form words leaked out.
-Finish it.
A voice was heard. It was Kenji's. He forced a smile and pressed the gun in the girl's hand against his abdomen again. The girl seemed to hesitate for a moment, but seeing Kenji's expression, she pulled the trigger again. Three more gunshots rang out.
Kenji's body collapsed. His back, leaning against the wall, slid down. Following that movement, a dark red bloodstain remained on the wall. Yet, Kenji was still smiling. Twisted in pain, his mouth covered in blood, but it was certain the corners of his mouth were raised.
The girl confirmed that smile. That was the end. Instead of treating Kenji, she mumbled her lips a few times and threw herself into the darkness of the alley. With that, her presence disappeared. But Seia had no strength to chase her.
"Ke, Kenji."
She crawled over and placed a hand on Kenji's cheek. But the dream, mere precognitive dream, didn't allow her tactile sensation. The proof was Seia's hand passing through Kenji and swiping through the air.
-Ah....
Kenji made a distorted smile.
-I miss the girls.
"Ah, aaaah..."
Tears welled in Seia's eyes. One drop of tear soon became a stream, and crying eventually turned into sobbing. Seia lay prostrate before Kenji's pale face, shedding endless tears. Kenji's breathing could still be heard, but she knew it was so faint it would soon fade away.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
Seia's cry scattered into the air.
And so.
She woke from the dream.
"Cough, keuhuk!"
Seia's eyes shot open. Her breathing, not regulated, became rough and disordered, and extreme muscle pain was felt in her limbs. Her heart pounded as if it would burst immediately. With a headache as if her brain was boiling, her vision momentarily spun. The body she had just raised fell face down on the floor again.
But her gaze was clear.
"I, I have to go."
Forcing her convulsing limbs to stand, she muttered. It was a statement whose intended listener was unclear. Seia trembled all over and left the house still in her pajamas.
While she was dreaming, time had already passed afternoon. People who weren't seen in the morning were sparsely walking the streets, and the quiet shops had taken in several customers. But Seia didn't pay attention to them. Precisely, she couldn't. She no longer had the remaining rationality to perceive that.
The gazes of the street all turned toward Seia. Her clothes, hair, and body soaked by the rain accentuated her pitifulness, but more than that, they added to her misery. Her face was so wretched that no one could speak to her.
Seia ran. She ran as her body led, as her legs moved. The place she arrived at was the kindergarten where Kenji stayed. The door wasn't locked. As if someone had smashed it, the door lay crumpled on the ground.
She didn't care. Seia hurriedly moved her steps toward the room where Kenji stayed.
But there was no one inside. As if it had been that way from the beginning, the room where Kenji stayed was clean. Only a bed and a few sets of clothes existed, leaving no trace of human warmth or scent.
He was gone. He had disappeared.
Kenji had disappeared without a word.
Where did he go? Kidnapped? Or imprisoned? Murdered? Surely, surely the future seen in the dream hadn't already come true?
Prophetic dreams always come true. There are no exceptions. Seia knew that better than anyone.
"Ah, no. No, no, no, no!"
A chilling scream filled the kindergarten. Seia let go of even the last bit of rationality she held. She hurriedly left the kindergarten. Then she ran again. There was no destination. To find Kenji, to find just one person, she ran recklessly through the Trinity district.
Her body was already weak. She had consumed stamina with the prophetic dream, and even that wasn't enough; she forced her body, which needed rest, to overexert itself. Her body's endurance could only fall to its limit. Of course, if she regained her rationality, she could maintain the body's sturdiness, but she had no such leisure.
-Crunch.
Shattered glass fragments dug into Seia's foot. A burning pain heated her head, but she kept moving. As her foot moved, a trail of blood followed, and the pouring rain washed that blood clean.
-Crunch, crunch.
The embedded glass pieces went deeper into her flesh. She tried to grit her teeth and endure the pain, but eventually, Seia's body collapsed on the ground. Along with it, her smartphone, which she had kept in her pajamas, spilled onto the asphalt road.
"Ah, aah..."
She wriggled and crawled to pick up the smartphone. The screen was shattered, but Seia paid no mind and went into her contacts to call Kenji. It was an unconscious action. But a part of her mind wished desperately that he would answer.
She hoped he would answer the phone with his usual calm tone, hear about the current situation, and let out a flustered, hollow laugh. Then get angry asking why she did that, let out a deep sigh, and say he'd come to get her.
But.
[The subscriber's phone is turned off. You will be connected to voicemail after the beep.]
As the rain washed away the blood, the electronic sound from the speaker erased Seia's hopes. No matter how many more times she called, the voice that came through remained unchanged.
-Thud.
The strength left Seia's grasp. The smartphone that had hit the ground flowed away along the stream leading to the sewer. It disappeared without a trace down the hole. Seia blankly, just blankly, watched that sight. She couldn't tell if what was flowing from her eyes were tears or rainwater.
She lay there, collapsed on the ground, quietly getting rained on. The thick raindrops beating her whole body and the thunder-like sound of rain bleached her mind clean.
"Uh, excuse me..."
Someone approached her. An ordinary student. She tilted the umbrella she was holding slightly toward Seia and extended something she held in her left hand to her.
"This, this... I think you dropped it."
"..."
Seia's empty eyes turned toward the girl.
The item the girl held was a wreath. A wreath made of white flowers.
The wreath.
That Kenji had given her.
"...Ah."
Seia extended a trembling hand and grasped the beautiful wreath. The artificial flowers, though thoroughly soaked by the rain, hadn't lost their vitality or scent. So, it felt all the more wretched.
"...Huek."
Water pooled in Seia's eyes. There was no need to wonder if it was tears or rainwater.
A blurred sob broke through her lips. That sound soon changed like the cry of a wounded beast. It was wretched, miserable, and painful.
"Sob, haaaaaang! Aaaaaaaaa!!"
The girl sobbed. For a long time, until the sun set, until there were no more tears to squeeze out, until eventually she fainted from exhaustion, she shed endless tears on that spot. As if believing that if she closed and opened her eyes, Kenji would be looking at her with a worried expression, as if all this was a dream, she vomited all the negative emotions contained within her onto the world.
But three days later, after waking from her faint, there was still no one by her side.
That day.
She lost one emotion. Lost forever, impossible to recover without that one person's help.
The name of that emotion was 'love.'