𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚎𝚝𝚑 [𝚔. 𝚋𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚐𝚘𝚞 𝚡 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛] [𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚞]

𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎

𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗: 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 -- 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚝𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚌

𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚍. 𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎

The night was washed in a comforting silence. It wasn’t very late, only being about 7:30 or so, but with the coming winter, the days were shortened. It wasn’t cold either, so I just opted for a thin jacket over my long-sleeve shirt. My hands were snug in the pockets of my joggers, my fingers tracing over the design on my wallet as I walked down the street.

There were few people around, walking on the opposite side of the road or coming from stores and into their cars. A woman passed me, her hand holding a small child’s who waved at me as they passed. I smiled and waved back, making the boy giggle and hide in his mother’s leg. She smiled, putting a hand on his head as they waited on the bus.

Entering the small convenience store, the bell above the door jingled, making the owner call out with a greeting and a ‘take your time!’. Now, I know my mother said to get actual food, but...chips and sweets technically were classified as foods. Just not healthy ones.

Weaving through the small store, I contemplated the things that I wanted to eat for the night. Did I want some chocolate? Something sour? Or sweet? Pretzels or potato chips? Oh, they had those really good onigiri here too. I could get one of those…

The bell jingled again, and since I was always so easily distracted by sounds, I looked up curiously. A figure entered, hands in their jacket pocket, hood pulled over their face, and the jacket was zipped up past their chin. I really didn’t think much of it. They must have just been colder than I was. No big deal. Wasn’t any of my business.

Turning back to the array of food, I opened one of the coolers, reaching for a bottle of marble soda when I heard it. It was so quiet at first, I didn’t catch it, but I heard it more prominently the second time.

A small tap, then a small clink. A tap, then a clink. Tap, clink. Tap, clink. Tap, clink.

I turned my gaze to the counter. The same person who walked in was leaning against it, tapping their palm on the counter, then their wrist. At first, I thought they were wearing a watch, which would have explained the clink sound, but no.

They had staples on their wrists. The person stood to their full height, which, based on the signs, counter, and shelves height, placed them at 176 cm or 5’9 ½. Based on their posture, stature, and large hands, I deducted they were male. The man reached up, pulling the hood down to reveal a head of black hair, darker than Keiji’s. He sighed, unzipping his jacket as he peered over the counter.