Author Note
This is a short story inspired by Japanese folklore and mountain legends. It is a quiet story about nature, love, and promises that survive time.
enjoy.
The theatre lights were too bright.
Dust floated through the air above the stage as students moved across the wooden floor, adjusting props and scripts.
Voices echoed through the empty seats of the university auditorium.
At the center of it all stood Hikari.
A clipboard rested in her hands as she watched the stage carefully.
"Again," she said.
Her voice was calm but tired.
Two students stood under the stage lights, acting out a scene.
One of them was Yuna, dressed in a simple rehearsal costume.
She held a script loosely in her hand.
Yuna lifted her voice dramatically.
"You must learn to see beyond appearances!"
She pointed toward the actor playing the Beast.
"Because the heart can be more beautiful than the face!"
The Beast actor responded with exaggerated sadness.
Hikari rubbed her forehead.
"Stop."
The actors froze.
Hikari stepped onto the stage.
She adjusted the position of the Beast actor slightly.
"You're not angry enough."
She looked at Yuna.
"And you're not afraid enough."
Yuna crossed her arms.
"You realize this is still a student rehearsal, right?"
Hikari sighed quietly.
"The audience won't care."
Yuna studied her friend for a moment.
Hikari looked exhausted.
Dark circles under her eyes.
Shoulders tense.
The kind of tiredness that came from weeks of rehearsals.
Yuna suddenly clapped her hands loudly.
"Break!"
Everyone on stage looked confused.
"Break?" someone asked.
Yuna grinned.
"Director's friend order."
She grabbed Hikari by the arm and dragged her off the stage.
They sat together in the front row of the empty theatre.
Yuna leaned back in her chair.
"You're overworking again."
Hikari stared toward the stage.
"The show opens next month."
"It has to be perfect."
Yuna shook her head.
"You haven't taken a day off in weeks."
Hikari didn't answer.
Yuna pulled out her phone.
She tapped the screen a few times.
Then she turned it toward Hikari.
"Good news."
Hikari blinked.
"…What did you do?"
Yuna smiled proudly.
"I bought you a ticket."
"You're going on a trip."
Hikari stared at the screen.
A train ticket.
Destination:
Nagano Prefecture
"My grandmother lives there," Hikari said quietly.
Yuna nodded.
"Exactly."
She stretched her arms.
"Fresh air."
"Mountains."
"No theatre for a week."
Hikari frowned.
"I can't leave the production."
Yuna shrugged.
"Too late."
She stood up and grabbed her bag.
"Your train leaves tomorrow."
Hikari stared at the ticket again.
The name of the small village was written below the destination.
A place she hadn't visited in years.
Her grandmother's home.
At the edge of a mountain forest.
Yuna smiled at her.
"Trust me."
"A little time away might be exactly what you need."
Outside the theatre, evening sunlight poured through the windows.
Neither of them knew that the quiet mountain village was waiting for Hikari…
was home to something far older than the play she had been directing.
A wolf that had been watching humans from the forest for generations.
Author's Note :
Hey everyone!
Some of the stories I'm publishing now were actually written back in 2024. At that time I was experimenting with different ideas and themes, but I never published them anywhere. Recently I decided it would be nice to finally share them here.
These stories are shorter and written in a scene-style format, almost like a small drama or animated short story.
Here's the small plan for these stories:
1. Someone Who Remembers – a quiet sci-fi story about memory and what it means to be human.
2. The Wolf from the Mountain – a folklore romance about a mountain guardian and a girl from the city.
3. A Girl from Tokyo – the continuation of that story, where a promise finally brings two people back together.
4. The Girl from Seoul – a small spin-off story following Yuna and her own journey.
Most of these stories are standalone, but some characters appear across them.
5. The wolf and the city - Sequel of A girl from Tokyo.
I hope you enjoy these small stories while my main series continues. Thanks for reading and supporting my work! 🙂.