Who is this guy?
Standing in front of the mirror in an unfamiliar bathroom, I stared intently at the reflection of an unfamiliar face. The slightly sloppy hair coming down to eyebrow level had about a 6:4 ratio of not trying to trying. The eyebrows themselves gave an impression of stubbornness, but the pair of eyes below them, which were a little on the large side, looked like those of a kind person. Farther down were rough lips that seemed to be completely isolated from the concept of moisturization, and behind all this was a stiff neck.
For some reason, on one of the cheeks a large bandage had been stuck on, and, upon gently touching it, a dull pain ran throughout my face. It hurt, yet still I did not wake up. My throat was severely parched. I twisted the faucet on and gulped down water collected in both my hands. It was uncomfortably warm and smelled like pool water.
“Taki, are you up?”
Hearing a man’s voice suddenly from afar, I let out a little yelp. Taki?
“… You were on breakfast duty today, weren’t you? What the h.e.l.l are you doing?” As I peered timidly into what looked like the living room, a middle aged man wearing a suit glanced at me briefly before dropping his gaze back to his meal and tossing that question my way.
“S-Sorry!” I apologized reflexively.
“I’m going to head out. There’s some miso soup, so help yourself.”
“Ah, okay.”
“Even if you’re late, make sure you go to school,” the man said as he quickly gathered his dishes, put them on the small kitchen counter, walked past me standing frozen at the entrance towards the foyer, put on his shoes, opened the door, stepped outside, then shut the door. It all occurred in a flash, faster than a black kite could get out one chirp.
“… What a weird dream,” I said out loud, then looked around the room once more.
All over the wall, pictures of designs of bridges or buildings or various other structures were posted. On the floor, magazines and paper bags and cardboard boxes lay messily scattered about. Contrasted with the Miyamizu household, which boasted cleanliness on the level of a venerable ryokan (although that was all due to Grandma), it gave off the impression of a lawless wasteland. The room itself was rather small, so I guessed it must have been an apartment.
I don’t know where all the source material for this dream came from, but it seemed pretty realistic. My imagination must be great. Maybe I could be an artist or something in the future?
Pirorin!
As if responding to my musings, the electronic dinging of a message being received rang down the hallway. Panicking, I gulped and dashed back into the bedroom. A smartphone had fallen beside the sheets, and on the screen a short message was displayed.
Are you still at home? Run! – Tsukasa
Eh? What what? Who is Tsukasa?!
First things first, I need to go to school. I looked around and spotted a boy’s uniform hanging by the window. But the moment I took it, I realized an even more urgent issue.
Ahh… why does it have to be now?
I need to go to the bathroom!
I let out a sigh heavy enough to make my entire body collapse. What is it with boys’ bodies?! I somehow finished my business with the toilet in one piece, but my body was still shaking from anger. Why is it that the more I tried to pee, the more I tried to adjust aim with my fingers, the harder and harder it got to let anything out?! Am I dumb?! Or is this guy just weird!? Ahh, I had never even seen one before! Despite all my complaining, I still am a shrine maiden!
Hanging my head at the unbearable disgrace and holding the tears back, or rather failing to and spilling a few, I changed into the school uniform and opened the apartment door. Anyways, let’s just get out of here, I thought, and raised my eyes.
— And then.
By the sight before me,
My breath was stolen away.
I gulped.
I was standing in what seemed to be an elevated corridor of an apartment building. Beneath my eyes lay the green expanse of a park. The perfectly untainted sky was uniformly painted a vivid cerulean blue. And on the border where the green from below and the blue from above clashed, buildings of all sizes stood lined up, almost like rows of neatly folded origami. In every one of those buildings were detailed, elaborate windows, carved into the sides like st.i.tched patterns. Some windows reflected the blue of the sky, some carried the deep green of the trees, and some glittered in the rays of the morning sun. The small red pinnacle visible in the distance, the rounded silver building somewhat resembling a whale, and the shining building which looked like it was cut out of a block of pure obsidian were surely all famous, sitting vaguely somewhere in the back of my memory. Also faraway, seemingly toylike cars formed into an orderly flow, weaving between the buildings.
The scene before me was far more beautiful than what I had imagined, or anything that I had seen on TV or in movies. Or perhaps I had never seriously tried to visualize it, but there it was: the citys.p.a.ce of the largest metropolis in j.a.pan. Deeply moved, I could do nothing but utter a single word.
“Tokyo.”
I took a deep breath and squinted my eyes at the dazzling, radiant world in front of me, as if I were staring straight into the sun.