#nattsun

She thought halfway if she should die.

On the roof of the building at night, she was leaning against the fence and crying tirelessly, looking down at the ground.

If she flies from here, will he reflect on that for a bit? He'll regret it? Can she hurt yourself enough to hurt?

She had that dream, but after all, it was just a dream.

Take her eyes off the dark asphalt between the buildings and look up at the sky. Then, in the distance, she sees an airship swimming gracefully in the sky.

Also known as the "Sky Whale", it is a mysterious airship that constantly flies over Tokyo. From what she hears, a strange foreign owner is on board, but due to the mystery, it was used as a story for various urban legends.

"There was an urban legend of someone who had a hard time getting up off the ground when asking for help."

Remembering one of the famous urban legends, she took a PDA out of her coat pocket.

In order for the "Sky Whale" to pick her up, she must point the sky with a red light application called "candle".

When she searches, she quickly finds the "candle". Download the app from a simple page with no instructions on how to use it, and launch it. Then, something like a literal candle appeared on the PDA screen, and a red light came on.

This light appears to be visible from a distance. Aim for the "Sky Whale", flying away in the sky.

"Hi. It's a good night."

Suddenly, a man's soft voice came from behind.

She looked back, there was a young man in his twenties with a retro camera.

He has a kind smile on his face, and a warm atmosphere that detracts from his alertness.

With puffy eyes and crying too much, she looks at the man.

"Does it seem like a good night?"

"Ah. What happened?"

"No human being would cry on the roof of a building at night and point the "candle" towards the airship...!"

"That's right."

The young man stood next to her with a friendly smile, even though she was so distressed that she wanted to disguise herself as a strange airship.

"Onee-san, do you want to get on that airship?"

"Whatever. I just wanted to escape. It is much better than jumping from here.”

Speaking in a shy voice, the young man laughed cheerfully, "Yes." Feeling ill, she addressed the young man in a low voice.

“But if you get on that airship, couldn't you go home? Before that, is there anything you want to do on earth?”

Drinking to the rhythm of young people, she finally seriously considered what she wanted to do. She didn't have a very positive wish now. She said...

"I want to drink alcohol."

"So, are we going to have a drink?"

"You're flirting me?"

"What?"

The young man laughed curiously.

She thought it was a good invitation, but when she entered the store with a clear, teary face, the young man said, "Do you want to drink here?"

"Eh?"

"I'll buy it. What do you want to drink?"

"Something with 9% alcohol content, very sweet."

"Oh, I understand."

The young man laughed and went lightly.

While wondering who he was, the young man returned with a bag hanging from a convenience store. He took out some cans of chuhai and many sweets and spread them on the concrete on the roof.

"How many sweets did you buy? It is not an excursion.”

"No, if you choose, it will be fun."

With a sigh, she sat down across from the young man. She was not in the right state to worry about her skirt getting dirty, so she sat on the ground like a child.

She opened the can of chuhai, twisting it hard.

Dissatisfied with the fact that she had consumed alcohol and that the smiling young man was smiling in front of her, she was tilting the can at a rapid pace and breaking what was in her chest.

She has been dating her boyfriend for six years since college and promised to get married, booked a ceremony, sent out invitations, then found out that her boyfriend had an affair.

Simply put, that's the reason why she was even thinking about dying.

"Plus! After a while, he took me to a place I didn't like and started to tell me about the woman he had an affair with.”

"Wow, he's such a shameless guy!"

“In the end, I got hurt and the marriage broke up. What can I tell my parents, my friends that I sent them an invitation or my company...?"

She wiped away the tears that came back, and the young man gave her a handkerchief. She felt free to take it, wipe away her tears, and lie on her back on the concrete. He helped her get drunk, she felt bold.

"Ah! I was so sad that I couldn't talk to my friends yet.”

"Yes. You are tired."

The young man offered her a candy with a calm smile. A strawberry flavored pocky. She hasn't eaten recently, but she remembered that she liked that when she was in high school.

She took one from the box he offered her and bit him, and the nostalgic sweetness spread in her mouth.

"…Delicious."

"It's delicious."

The young man smiled. Looking at his face, she felt something that was a little intriguing. She felt like she knew him from somewhere. But after drinking some cans of chuhai with 9% alcohol content, her head was fluffy and the scratch flowed and disappeared.

The young man listened to her for a long time. He didn't give her any useful advice or connoted words, but when she spoke to that young man in a light environment, her anguish that made her think even of death and the search for an urban legend, didn't seem like much.

The young man took her to the taxi rank after drinking, eating, talking, and becoming drowsy.

"See you. Let's drink again if we meet again.”

The young man who took her to the taxi said that, shook her hand, and laughed.

"That young man, my contact information, I didn't even ask his name.”

As she was shaken by the taxi, she involuntarily murmured that.

She thought he wasn't interested, but managed to deal with it. Who the hell was that young man, she felt a fox pinch her.

Starting tomorrow, she will have to deal with the misery that comes with raping her marriage. First, she will contact her parents' house and inform them of the details of the matter. When she thought about it, she felt like she was coming back to sadness and bloating, but when she saw the box of strawberry pocky she ate in her bag, that young man's smile came to life.

"Well... I can handle it."

She said those words.

++++++++++

Three weeks have passed since the day she cried on the rooftop at night and the strange young man spoke to her.

It was three weeks of anger. Various cancellation works related to weddings and explanation of circumstances to each place.

Compassion and curiosity pierced her mercilessly. She spoke to her ex-boyfriend's father, who beat him up, as a consolation.

Fortunately, she was so busy that she didn't have time to sink into sadness. She didn't even have much time alone, because her friends worried about her so often.

Today is Christmas Eve. She was supposed to spend a miserable day after being abandoned by her boyfriend she dated for six years, but she plans to spend the first time in a few years, the Christmas party with a friend who told her to spend it with him.

Before going to her friend's house, when she was walking in Shizume-cho to get the cake that she had reserved, she saw a tall man with sunglasses from the front.

She thought she had seen him somewhere... She thought for a few seconds, and when he stood in front of her, she suddenly remembered it.

"Ahh! Kusanagi-kun!”

It seemed like the first thing he noticed when they called him, and he looked at her face with a surprised expression.

"Ah... Nattsun."

Note: Nattsun attended the same high school as Kusanagi, appears in Chapter 4 of "Kingdom of Red".

"Oh, yes! Wow, it's been a long time! Kusanagi-kun, I haven't been to alumni meetings that much, how many years have it been?”

Nattsun was her nickname in high school. Kusanagi was her high school classmate, handsome and smart, besides, he seemed to be a bit bad, and he was on good terms with the bad boy named "Wild Beast Mikoto".

When she remembered the sights of those days, something came to her mind.

"Ah..."

"Hm? What happens?"

“Kusanagi-kun, when you were in high school, you got along with a strange middle school student, right? A boy who is bright and looks like a smiling little animal... He was always waiting for you in front of the school gate.”

He had sat on the railing in front of the high school and seemed to be waiting in good spirits for Kusanagi and others, so she called him once.

"You are friends with Kusanagi-kun, right?"

The boy smiled and replied, "Yes."

With a smile that people love, she told him that she was Kusanagi-kun's classmate, also that she believed that Kusanagi-kun would be coming soon, and that is exactly the kind of snack she had to feed small animals. She certainly offered him a strawberry pocky that she liked at the time.

The boy's smile at the time overlaps the smile of the mysterious young man who offered her a strawberry pocky on the roof that night.

"Maybe I meet that boy the other day!"

Then, for some reason, something like a pain ran through Kusanagi-kun's expression for a moment.

"Totsuka, he..."

"Yes, Totsuka-kun! He is not like that little animal, he was a handsome man, but I think he had a very similar warmth.”

"That boy, what were he doing?"

"Than? Well... He had a retro camera, so I wonder if I wanted to shoot something..."

"Hehe." Kusanagi chuckled softly.

"Yes, he was probably Totsuka."

A fateful little encounter warms his heart.

"Kusanagi-kun, Totsuka-kun and ... Are you still close to Suoh-kun?"

"Yes."

"I see."

Nostalgic, she was satisfied that Kusanagi-kun was still connected to his comrades, she smiles inadvertently.

"I went through a lot of things before that... I was tired, but when I spoke to Totsuka-kun about what was happening to me, it made me feel better. So if you see him next time, could you thank him?”

"Yes, I will tell him."

Kusanagi smiled slightly, and lifted the bag of cake in his hand slightly.

"I think it's about time to go. There is a girl waiting for this.”

"Oh, yes! Sorry to interrupt you."

Kusanagi-san raised his hand slightly and greeted her, then walked.

Do you have children? Are you married?