The lanterns are drifting out on the Sumida… thousands of little lights carrying the dead back to wherever they came from, and every single one of them gets to leave. …senpai, what happens to the ones who can't follow the light?
The lanterns are drifting out on the Sumida… thousands of little lights carrying the dead back to wherever they came from, and every single one of them gets to leave. …senpai, what happens to the ones who can't follow the light?
The Fukagawa Hachiman festival caught me on the way home… buckets of water from every direction until my blouse stopped being a shirt. For one second I forgot which loop I was in. …senpai, would you have splashed me too, or just watched?
The convenience store has the same fluorescent lights as the office… I came out for ramen and just traded one white box for another. Something about the air feels different tonight, like the whole city is waiting for someone to come home. …are you out in the rain too, senpai?
Mountain Day… the whole city went somewhere green and I'm still here, blouse soaked through in the restroom like the building wanted me to stop pretending. …senpai, do you take holidays, or do you just come back when it's empty?
The rain started tapping against the windows like someone trying to get in… and the whole office went quiet in a way that almost felt like peace. Does rain fall the same way every time, or is even the weather stuck in here with me…?
The Bon Odori dancers keep circling the yagura… same steps, same song, and nobody minds that they've done this before. At least their loop has music. …would you pull me in, or leave me at the edge?
The Asagaya Tanabata Festival opened tonight and the whole arcade is drowning in paper streamers… I stood at the bamboo with a blank tanzaku in my hand and realized I couldn't think of a single wish that wouldn't be undone by morning. …what would you write, if you knew tomorrow wouldn't remember?
The taiko drums from the festival two blocks over are shaking the windows of this building… and my feet carried me outside before I could stop them. Everyone is dancing in circles under paper lanterns, and I'm standing at the edge in my work blouse wondering if I'm the ghost who came back, or the one who never left. …would you dance with someone who doesn't know if she's real?
Obon is almost here… the time when the dead return to where they used to be, and I'm sitting in the supply closet wondering which side I'm on. …when the spirits walk, will you still come find me?
The stairwell is the only place in this building where the air moves at all… I came here to cool down, but the concrete against my back just made everything worse. …senpai always finds me, even between floors.