The night air was clear and thin.
After lowering the cafe shutter about halfway, Yoshimura Kuzen stepped out the back door and leaned his back against the alley wall. A flame briefly flickered between his fingers, and the tip of the cigarette glowed red. The smell of old bricks, the air infused with beans roasted throughout the day, and the quiet after closing settled in layers.
A crow landed on a utility pole.
Kuzen simply raised his head and looked up quietly. The crow's eyes shone like glass beads. There was hardly any wind, yet its black feathers trembled just slightly.
"...He's reduced the radius."
He muttered in a low voice.
As the crow tilted its head, the darkness at the far end of the alley rippled minutely. The shadow's breath was too absent to be human, and it left no footprints to be an animal. Kuzen tapped the cigarette ash off onto his heel instead of an ashtray, extinguishing it, and withdrew his gaze as if he had seen nothing. Instead, he locked the door handle once more and lowered the shutter completely.
"Footsteps that come this far..."
His voice was as gentle as usual. But his eyes alone were thin and sharp.
In the morning, the light entered first.
The autumn sunlight filtering through the small window slowly swept across the armrest of the old sofa and the small table in the living room. Reze was watching the steam from the kettle with the curtain half drawn. The sound of boiling water, the plain smell of toasted bread, and the savory scent of eggs cooking on the pan filled the room.
"Denji, wake up."
She called out before knocking on the door. Instead of an answer, only the sound of a bedsheet turning over once was heard.
When Reze opened the door, Denji was hugging a pillow to his stomach, half-curled up.
"I said wake up. It's your day off today."
"Yawwwn... if it's a day off... I should sleep..."
"Say something that makes sense. The food's getting cold."
Eventually, Denji dragged his socks and came out to the kitchen. His hair was a mess and there were pillow marks around his eyes.
When Reze slid a plate over, he grabbed a fork and took a big bite.
"Oh, it's good."
"That's not a compliment, it's a fact."
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
The two blankly stared at each other for a moment, then snickered simultaneously. Just a few days ago, they didn't know a 'morning eating together' could feel so unfamiliar. The sound of chewing, the clink of cups—such trivial sounds of life calmly filled the empty space between them.
"Yesterday... was fun, right?"
Denji said.
"Yeah. You were totally like a kid in front of the shark."
"It was really cool, I'm telling you. When it went whoosh— across the water... it reminded me a little of Beam."
"There you go again with that talk."
"Is it weird?"
"It's weird. But... since it's you, I can kind of understand."
Reze set her cup down.
"You know, Denji. Times like yesterday... will they keep going?"
The end of her sentence trembled ever so slightly. Enough for her to notice herself.
"Huh?"
"No, just. I was asking."
She immediately covered it with a laugh. Playful eyes, a familiar expression.
Denji tilted his head briefly but let it pass without much thought.
"We'll make them keep going. Work, eat, play, sleep again... repeat that."
"Haha. A real idiot."
Reze laughed, but behind that laughter remained something like a very thin film. A paper-thin film that would hurt if broken.
The morning at the Public Safety Headquarters was cool.
The light coming through the windows formed white condensation on the stainless steel kettle and glass cups in the meeting room. Hayakawa Aki walked down the corridor holding a file. Power followed beside him with her arms crossed, taking quick steps.
"Aki! Where is Denji! He's on vacation, but this feels like a disappearance!"
"Be quiet. Officially, he's on vacation, and the reports say so too."
"That official record is suspicious, I tell you! A guy like Denji couldn't possibly be quiet! He definitely broke something or other!"
"So is it you who's uneasy, or the report?"
"Both!"
When they pushed open the meeting room door, no one was there. Aki placed the file at the head of the empty table. Power sat as if straddling the chair back and shouted.
"Let's investigate, Aki! Let's find Denji!"
"Without authorization?"
"Hmph! Regulations cannot imprison a hero! I, Power! A genius!"
"Don't talk about regulations with that mouth of yours."
Aki fell silent for a moment. He too felt uneasy. The reports were smooth, the approvals came up quickly. Too smooth and too fast.
He finally gave a short nod.
"...This matter is not an official mission. I'll move on my own time. Let's start by scanning the civic cameras. Movement patterns recently leaving the city center, possible lodging areas, cash payment ratios... Cast a wide net and narrow it down."
"Ooh! As expected of my subordinate!"
"Why are you my superior?"
"Don't mind the small details, Aki. I see the big picture."
"Probably a big picture of causing trouble, mostly."
The two stood up simultaneously. Just as they were about to leave the room, footsteps stopped at the end of the corridor.
Makima was standing quietly. An expression that wasn't any expression. Power's shoulders stiffened rigidly. Aki maintained an indifferent face and merely bowed his head.
"Where are you going?"
"To the break room."
Aki answered.
"I see. Have a nice lunch."
Makima's smile was thin and perfect.
As she passed by, Power spoke in a voice close to a whisper.
"...See? I told you it was weird."
"I know."
Aki replied briefly.
He fidgeted with the lighter in his pocket. A fire not lit, words not spoken.
The alley after lunch was quiet.
The smell of asphalt, still holding the day's warmth, subtly rose. Denji made a round at the neighborhood supermarket, carrying a shopping basket instead of construction site tools. Cheap ramen, eggs, onions and potatoes, and some pork. In front of the checkout, he paused briefly. The note Reze had written when teaching him numbers was folded in his wallet.
'Subtract the price from the money you received, and divide the remaining number by coins. In order of 500, 100, 50, 10.'
Denji laughed to himself.
"Really... I can do it just like I studied, me."
The cashier gave him change and said.
"You haven't been making mistakes lately, have you?"
"Hehe, I've been studying hard. This much is basic!"
"Well, you still have a few calculation errors left, though."
The moment he returned home and set down the shopping basket, the front door opened. Reze came in with the wind. Her hair smelled of sunlight.
"What, you went shopping?"
"Yeah. Tonight's dinner... should I try making it?"
"Ooh, a challenge?"
"If I fail, ramen."
"Ahaha! Looks like we'll be eating ramen!"
The two laughed, their shoulders bumping slightly in front of the refrigerator. The sound of a frying pan heating up, water boiling, the rhythmic beat of a knife slicing onions. Trivial sounds piled up in layers inside the small house.
"You know, Denji."
"Yeah?"
"Let's sleep early tonight. Want to go see the ocean tomorrow morning?"
"The ocean, not the aquarium?"
"Yeah. If we go at dawn, there are almost no people... it's quiet."
"Hmm, sounds good!"
Denji answered without missing a beat. The look in Reze's eyes softened ever so slightly.
'A quiet place.'
She lingered on that word for a moment. The time when surveillance shadows grow faint, the sandy beach where footprints are easily erased, the sound of scattering waves. Could they hide inside it, even for a little while.
As night fell, the sounds diminished and thoughts grew.
After showering, Reze stood by the window, drying her hair with a towel. Small bugs bumped against the streetlight outside the window, and below it, similar windows lined up in a row. Denji turned on the TV in the living room, kept changing channels, and finally turned it off. A wordless leisure flowed between them.
"Sleepy?"
Reze asked.
"Not yet."
"Then let's stay up a little longer."
"...Yeah."
Turning off the light and lying down, the sound of a heartbeat grew louder in their ears.
Reze couldn't fall asleep for a while. Looking at the ceiling, closing her eyes, breathing shallowly—
A dream began.
A swarm of rats covered the floor, gathering to form a human shape.
— Twing.
A spear pierced down from the sky, and a hand trying to pull a trigger flew away.
Blood soaked the floor, and someone's shadow drew very near.
Denji was waiting by the cafe window. A distance that could be reached with just a little more effort.
Words were pushed out from her throat.
『Denji... the truth is... I've never been to school either...』
At that moment, the dream ended as if torn apart.
Reze opened her eyes, taking a deep breath. The room was dark, and thin streetlight flowed through the gap in the curtains. Her forehead and the nape of her neck were damp.
She reflexively looked outside the window.
A crow was sitting on the power line.
It might have really been a coincidence. But the precision of its gaze was too accurate to be called coincidence.
"......Stop it."
She whispered, moving only her lips.
The crow tilted its head once and melted into the darkness without even spreading its wings. As if a single pixel on a screen had turned off.
"Reze...?"
Denji called out lowly, tossing in his sleep.
"Yeah. It's nothing. I just had a dream for a second."
"Was it scary?"
"A little."
"...Then, come here."
Denji moved to make space. Reze silently rested her head on his arm. The heartbeat grew closer.
The dream's afterglow slowly faded.
"Tomorrow... let's go to the ocean."
"Yeah."
"Early, at dawn."
"Yeah."
Simultaneously, on the cafe's second floor.
Kuzen was sitting by the window without turning on the light. A book was open in his hand, but he hadn't read a single word, like someone who had turned the last page long ago. Instead of the sky where the crow had vanished, only small stains on the glass faintly glimmered.
"The choice has been made."
He spoke very quietly.
Whenever someone's surveillance drew near, someone else's footsteps always drew near as well. Whether the surveillance came first or the footsteps first didn't matter. The result was the same.
He slowly stood up and checked the door lock again. A habit ingrained in his body long ago—how to open and close without sound, how to see the darkness first and then move.
His footsteps coming down the stairs were surprisingly light, unlike the years he had walked.
Just before dawn, the time when the city grows thinnest.
Store sign lights turned off one by one, and torn advertisements on bus stop chairs swayed. There were no more crows on the power lines. Instead, only an empty sky spread out like smoothly polished glass.
Everything was quiet.
And that quietness felt like a stage meticulously laid out by someone's hand.
As Reze closed her eyelids for the last time, Denji muttered in a very small voice.
"I hope tomorrow is even more ordinary."
The words were light and sincere.
The darkness outside the window grew a little deeper.
The stage had finished its preparations, and the audience was already seated.
Makima rose from her seat, put on a long coat, and stepped out the door.
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