Part 1

At the doorstep of a Shibuya coffee shop, Akari shook the snow off the red umbrella. She left it in the stand outside and walked in. The coffee shop sat empty and dim, and soft light bathed a few tables while the corners sat in darkness. As she dropped her coat to her elbows, a shiver rose up her spine and shook her small body so strongly she whimpered. A blue-eyed boy she hadn’t noticed before smiled at her a long, warm smile. Akari responded with a fleeting smile, quickly lowered her eyes, bowed gently, and walked to the counter, blushing.

“I will have a chocolate cream tart and a latte,” she said. When the sum appeared on the screen, she tapped her phone against it, and a gentle jingle of digital coins confirmed the payment.

“It will be right up. Have a seat, please,” said the barista, bowing and extending his arm to usher her toward the tables. Steam rose from the espresso machine. She sat by a window, and outside, snow fell against the glow of Shibuya’s neon signs. It was just past eleven p.m., and it felt like the city was falling asleep. Looking at the slow, calm snow, her eyes began to close, too. She had been up since five a.m. and, after work, had to go to dinner with her gropy colleagues. All suits, all repressed salarymen, and all aroused after a drink, they asked for more drinks and salarywomen still had to serve them in the twenty-first century. They followed her to the bar, pulling at her arms, whisky on their breath, telling her what a wonderful colleague she was while pressing themselves against her.

The waiter brought the latte and the tart covered with chocolate shavings.

“Arigato,” she said and nodded, and her eyes met the eyes of the handsome, blue-eyed ikemen again. He smiled and raised his hand in a greeting but was caught in a sneeze. She giggled and lowered her eyes.

Half drunk and half asleep, she savoured the treat. She moved the wooden spoon in a circle around the edge of the tart, gently scraping the chocolate and the cream as they melted in the warmth of the shop. She slowly let the chocolate touch her lips, land on her tongue and melt. Half-adream, she sipped the coffee, and the coffee and chocolate mixed in her mouth, and she savoured and swallowed the sweet milk as if she knew this was the last food she would ever eat.

In her dream state, she heard the coffee shop door slam, and the ikemen was gone. She barely glimpsed his shadow along the window screen when she realized why the rush. Eight minutes to the last train. She would be stuck in the city if she misses it. She dropped the spoon next to the unfinished tart and coffee, put on her coat, grabbed her bag, and rushed out.

The wet snow fell swiftly across the bright neon signs, and green, yellow, and pink light stained the snow in the air and on the ground. Dark shadows moved in the corners under the buildings. She ran, and the snow stuck to her face. It melted and water ran down her face, down her neck, and down her body, soaking into the clothes. Water and snow blinded her. She ran. She raced to the firm thud, thud, thud of her boots on the wet asphalt, jumping over puddles, and scanning for cars quickly – right first and then left. Unfathomable dark shadows crawled across the road in the corner of her eye. Another block, passing more shadows, across the last intersection, over a puddle and into the road when giant tires screeched and an engine roared right in her ear. She saw the grill of the truck inches from her face and screamed when an incredible strength grabbed her and pulled her back so quickly, she heard the coat rip, and her arms and legs dragged behind like a rag doll shaken by a giant wolf. In flight, she screamed, and then landed with a thud atop a body. The truck passed with its horn blaring, the driver shouting, and the wheels running through a deep puddle that splashed ditch water over both.