"Anyway, just give me your name. I want a name."
"Eh? Why?"
"It’s not fair that you’re the only one who knows mine."
I hesitated for a second, but I figured it wouldn't hurt.
"Fine. My name is Owari Tokoyo."
"Okay, Owari. You can just call me Mika."
"Is Himatsuri no good?"
"I hate being called by my last name."
Mika made a visible face of disgust at the mention of the name Himatsuri. I didn’t exactly have a hobby of doing things that bothered people, so I decided to go along with it and call her Mika.
"So, Owari. Did that guy do anything to you?"
"Nothing special. He just tried to pressure me into buying something suspicious."
At those words, Mika’s expression shifted instantly. She lunged forward and grabbed the front of my shirt.
"Something?! What was it?! Did you see the goods? The dealer’s face?!"
"Whoa, calm down!"
The questions rained down on me with the force of an incoming punch. Pressed by her overwhelming intensity, I did my best to get her to settle down.
"……Sorry. I lost my cool."
"It's fine. So, uh, you were asking if I saw anything."
"Yeah. Anything at all. If you saw something, tell me."
"Even if you say that..."
The streetlights in this area were few and far between, and the shadows were deep. Even with my eyes adjusted to the dark, I couldn't make out the face of someone hidden so deep under a hood. He hadn’t actually shown me his wares before the end, so I had no idea what he was trying to peddle.
"I’m sorry, but it was too dark to see anything in detail. He tried to sell me something, but he never actually showed me the product."
"I see……"
Mika looked visibly dejected at my answer, but she quickly pulled herself back together.
"Sorry. Looks like I wasn't much help."
"No, it’s fine. As long as you weren't hurt, that’s enough."
Even though she hadn't gotten the answer she wanted, Mika was being surprisingly considerate.
"My bad for stopping you."
"Well, I’ll be going then."
We weren't exactly in a relationship where we'd stand around and chat. Having said my piece, I turned away from Mika and started walking home.
"Hey."
I’d only gone a few steps when she called out again. I looked back, wondering what else there could be, and saw a small object flying toward me in a parabolic arc.
"Hm? Whoa!"
I caught the object, and my hands were met with a chill. When I looked down to see what it was, I found a bottle of strawberry milk. It was just a small plastic bottle of juice from a convenience store, and it was ice cold.
"It's thanks for talking to me. Take it."
Behind where Mika stood was an old, weathered vending machine. She must have bought it there and tossed it to me.
"Thanks, but……"
I wondered why, of all things, she had chosen strawberry milk. Not to be rude, but even if carbonated drinks were off the table, I felt like orange or grape juice would have been more standard choices.
"By any chance, do you like strawberry milk?"
"——!! Who knows?! Just be careful and get the hell home already!!!"
Apparently, I’d hit the bullseye.
Mika’s face turned bright red as she looked away, hiding her expression as she hurried off into the night. I watched her back until she disappeared, then opened the strawberry milk and took a drink.
The sweetness spread through my exhausted body, and I felt a little bit of the fatigue lift.
"Guess I’ll head home."
There wasn't much else to say after that. I made it home without incident, brushed my teeth, and crawled into bed.
However, if I were to add one thing, it would be that I probably underestimated the weight of what people call a fateful connection.
Naturally, my part-time construction job wasn't over yet. The night shift was scheduled for about two weeks, so after I slept and woke up, I headed back to work that evening.
When work ended and I was taking the exact same path home as the night before—
"Ah."
"Ugh."
I ran into Mika at the exact same spot, and she looked just as displeased to see me as I felt.
"You—why the hell are you still coming through here? You had that scare yesterday, didn't you?"
"Even if you ask why, it’s the way home from my job. I don't have a choice."
"Job? At this time of night?"
Certainly, considering my age, a job at this hour wasn't exactly recommended, but if we were talking about age, the same applied to Mika.
"You’re out walking around at this hour too, Mika. We’re in the same boat."
I hadn't heard her exact age, but she was likely around the same age as me. It couldn't be good for her to be out this late either.
"I’ve—well, I’ve got things to deal with!!"
"Ah, she’s running away."
"Shut up!!"
She probably couldn't think of a comeback. Leaving that childish remark behind, Mika ran off somewhere.
And so, a strange relationship began between us.
On the way home from work, in the pitch-black hours of the night, Mika and I would bump into each other on the exact same road. We didn't have much that resembled an actual conversation.
"You again……"
"That’s my line. This is the fastest way home for me."
It was a bizarre connection consisting of nothing but a few light barbs and quips. Though we both acted like it was a nuisance, neither of us changed our route—perhaps out of pride, or perhaps out of a strange sense of security.
Even though our departure times must have varied slightly, we always encountered each other.
Seven days had passed since that first meeting.
I was walking the usual path home, but lately, I’d had more to worry about.
"What, you again? I’m getting sick of looking at you."
"Mika……"
Mika threw out her usual jab, but looking at her face made the words die in my throat.
"Hah, what? Lost your tongue?"
Despite the lightness of her words, she looked terrible. The dark circles under her eyes grew deeper every day, and her gait was strangely unsteady. Her body even swayed occasionally.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"Ah? What are you talking about? Of course I am."
She probably hadn't had a proper night's sleep since the day I met her. She spent her days active in the Himatsuri-gumi and her nights searching for something. No matter how young and sturdy she might be, everyone has a limit. Mika was clearly at hers.
"I’m asking because you don’t look fine."
"Hah, mind your own business……!!"
Mika brushed off my concern and kept walking.
For a second, I thought about seeing her home, but if she didn't want it, it would just be meddling. If I forced the issue, she’d only reject me. I went home with a lingering sense of unease in my chest.
The next day, I finished my shift as usual and headed back, but things were different. When I reached the usual spot, Mika wasn't there. It was past the time we usually crossed paths, but I couldn't feel a single person's presence.
Had she finally reached her limit and taken a rest, or had she changed her route because I worried too much yesterday? Either way, she was nowhere to be found.
"Tch!! Dammit!!"
It wasn't like Mika and I were close friends. We were just people who happened to pass each other on the street. "Strangers" was a more accurate description than "friends," yet I felt like leaving her be would leave a thorn in my heart.
I decided to wait here for a bit—just for one hour. This wasn't for Mika's sake; it was for my own peace of mind.
I leaned against one of the few streetlights and opened my phone to check the time. In moments like this, time felt like it flowed incredibly slowly. One minute felt like ten, and ten minutes felt like an hour.
I’d been waiting for about an hour and twenty minutes when I heard footsteps in the distance. I looked up reflexively and saw a bright red light. The light approached slowly, swaying as it came, until it finally illuminated the owner's face.
"What…… you’re…… pretty late…… today……"
Mika looked at my face and tried to smile. But her face was deathly pale with exhaustion. Even that smile looked like nothing more than a twitch.
"Hey, Mika!!"
"I’m going now…… so you…… be careful……"
Mid-sentence, Mika’s body lurched. She was pulled down by gravity, collapsing toward the concrete.
"Look out!!"
I instinctively thrust my arms out and managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Owa……ri……?"
"Good grief. Let's move."
Mika didn't even seem to understand what had just happened to her. Exasperated by her recklessness, I pulled her arm over my shoulder and started walking to a different location, supporting her weight as we went.
Our destination was the nearest park. When we arrived, I helped her sit down on a bench. Once she was resting, her breathing became slightly more rhythmic.
"Is there something you want to drink?"
"……Coffee. Black."
"Black? Well, if you say so."
I was surprised by the choice, but I went to the vending machine in the park to get it. I bought the requested black coffee and some water, then, just in case, a strawberry milk before returning to her.
"Here, coffee and water."
"Sorry……"
"It's payback for the other day. Don't worry about it."
Mika gulped down the water first, then opened the coffee and took a tiny, cautious sip.
"Bitter……"
She scrunched up her brow as soon as it hit her tongue. That was definitely not the reaction of someone who actually enjoyed black coffee.
"I bought something else, too. Want to swap?"
"No. This…… this is fine."
"I see."
She seemed to have some sort of fixation on it. If she insisted, I wasn't going to force her to change. I sat down next to her as she continued to take small, nursing sips of the coffee.
"So, what happened?"
"……Nothing."
"Someone who has 'nothing' wrong doesn't just collapse in the middle of the street."
Right now, Mika was in a state where no one would accept "nothing" as an answer.
"It’s none of your business, anyway."
"Listen……"
It was true that Mika and I weren't particularly close. It was questionable if we were even friends; at best, we were acquaintances. But even with an acquaintance, if someone you know is about to fall over, you support them. I couldn't just abandon a girl who was clearly suffering right in front of me.
"Even if we're just acquaintances, I'm going to worry if I see you're in trouble. And yeah, I might not be involved, but precisely because I'm an outsider, there might be things you can talk about."
Right now, I wasn't a Hero, a member of the Himatsuri-gumi, or a Villain—I was just an ordinary guy. Because I had no stakes in her world, she could vent about things she couldn't say to the people she actually knew.
"It’s fine, just tell me what’s on your mind for now."
"……Fine."
Whether she was being more honest than usual because she was weakened or because she actually wanted someone to listen, I didn't know. Either way, I prepared to listen to her story.