The early edge of autumn, the air was cool and the wind seeping through the window cracks was strangely refreshing.
The morning sunlight slanted across a corner of the old apartment's living room, dyeing the cups and newspaper on the small table a golden color. Reze was in the kitchen, propping up a small mirror to tie her hair. She had no part-time work today, and it happened to be the weekend.
“Hmm—good, this should do it.”
Tightening her hair tie, she muttered softly to herself.
A gray knit top, a black skirt, and thin stockings. There was no sense of the usual life spent in combat and surveillance.
Just for today, she wanted to look like ‘just a normal high school girl’.
Folding the mirror, Reze turned her head towards the living room.
Denji's faint snoring could still be heard from the living room.
“…Really, how long are you going to sleep?”
Reze shrugged her shoulders and strode purposefully over to Denji.
“Denji! Wake up! We said we were going out today!”
“Ugh… five more minutes…”
Denji’s voice from inside the thick blanket was more peaceful than anyone in the world.
“Five minutes? Lie. You’ll sleep for two hours straight, not five minutes.”
Reze chuckled and flung the door open.
On the bed, Denji was sleeping face down, half-twisted. His hair was a tangled mess like a lion's mane, and the blanket was halfway to the floor.
“…What a sight.”
Reze leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, looking down at him.
“Come on, wake up~ Today’s our date day, right?”
“Da… date?”
Denji rubbed his eyes and asked back in a half-asleep voice.
“Yeah, I told you yesterday. We’re going somewhere special today.”
“Th-that… was today…?”
“Ugh.”
Reze sighed and yanked Denji’s blanket off.
“Hurry up and wash up. If we miss the bus, it’s your fault, okay?”
Denji scrambled to sit up in bed.
“Okay! I’ll just wash up!”
Reze chuckled at his flustered appearance.
“Ha, really… living with you is like a comedy sometimes.”
A moment later, the two were putting on their shoes at the entrance.
Reze was leisurely putting on her strap shoes, but Denji was hastily shoving his feet into his sneakers without even stepping on the heels properly.
“Denji, your socks are mismatched.”
“Huh?! R-really.."
“Pfft, dummy.”
Reze laughed, holding her stomach.
Denji bowed his head deeply as if embarrassed.
“Let’s just… hurry up and go.”
“Okay, okay. You’re so cute~”
When they arrived at the bus stop, the cool morning air enveloped them.
The unique crispness of autumn brushed their noses, and the distant sky was clear and open.
When the bus came, they sat side by side.
Denji pressed his face against the window, looking outside, and spoke excitedly.
“Wow— It’s been a while since I’ve been on a bus, right? First time since we rode one when we were running away together?"
“Yeah, that’s right.. Back then we rode trains, buses, all sorts of things~"
"Right, that was the first time I rode one with you, Reze—"
Reze heard that and quietly lowered her eyes for a moment.
His voice was playful, but there was a hint of loneliness mixed in.
“…You’re a really weird kid. Saying things like that so casually.”
Denji shrugged his shoulders and laughed.
“But you know, this isn’t so bad either. Just riding a bus like this, going anywhere.”
“Hehe, right?”
Reze turned her head to look out the window. As they left the city center, trees gradually increased, and the air coming through the window became refreshing.
The place where the bus stopped was a large aquarium on the outskirts of the city.
The glass exterior walls glittered, reflecting the morning sun, and even from afar, you could see the shimmering blue light.
“What, is this today’s destination?”
Denji asked, his eyes sparkling.
“Yeah~ Surprised?”
“Yeah, it’s my first time at a place like this.."
As soon as they passed the entrance, a glass tunnel stretching to the ceiling appeared. Beyond it, the blue hue of a massive tank spread out as if pouring forth.
The sound of children laughing, the graceful shadows made by schools of fish, the blue light reflecting off the walls.
At the sight, Denji was speechless.
“Whoaaaa—!!”
He practically ran into the tunnel.
Reze chuckled and followed behind him.
“Really… you’re like a kid from the countryside coming to the city for the first time.”
“I told you it’s my first time!!”
“Alright, alright. Make the most of it~ Look around all you want~”
Each time they passed through the glass tunnel, light brushed their faces like waves.
Denji peered into the tanks here and there, marveling like a child, and Reze watched him quietly from a slight distance behind.
At that moment, a past battlefield suddenly came to mind.
A battlefield filled with blood, the boy who was laughing even amidst the roar of the chainsaw.
But now…
It was a time of peace, completely unlike that.
“…Denji.”
“Yeah?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Reze shook her head and smiled.
“Oh, a shark!”
In front of the large shark tank, Denji pressed himself against the wall, eyes sparkling.
“You like it that much?”
“Of course! Sharks are cool! …That guy comes to mind, Beam!”
“Beam?”
“Ah, the Shark Fiend who was my buddy when I fought you, Reze. He’d always chase me around going ‘Chainsaw man~!’. I thought I’d die from how annoying he was.”
Denji let out a hollow laugh, remembering that time.
For a moment, a strange longing for a comrade flickered in his eyes.
“…You’re a really weird kid.”
Even as she said that, Reze’s gaze didn’t leave Denji.
The blue light from the tank shimmered in her pupils.
A playful but… strangely warm gaze.
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