Neon District: Redux

Epilogue

       Snowflakes drifted softly from the sky as Yuka wandered down the frosted-over sidewalk. It was odd, she thought, to see it snowing like this as back in the District all it did was rain. The chilled water patted against her face with a puff of smoke having escaped her lips. It had been two years since her and Eiji left the Neon District, but it felt like only yesterday when she bid her family goodbye.

       As she headed down the crowded sidewalk, she found herself within a winter festival. Stalls that sold a plethora of items from homemade dishes to handmade clothes lined the street with onlookers hustling to check them all out. Yuka halted in front of a booth that advertised those salty potato tornados.

       Her heart beat out of her chest from the sight.

       It almost felt like déjà vu, that her mind was playing tricks on her, but it was... "You promised me, so I'll see you tomorrow!" Kindy's voice echoed in Yuka's mind. That day four years at the District festival where she deemed it the best day of her life. It pained her that she broke her promise to that little girl, but...

       "Are you interested in buying anything?" the booth clerk asked her.

       Broken out of her trance, Yuka hesitated. "Oh, uh..."

       Within the back of her mind, she heard Sam. His tender and soft voice whispering to her. "Today is a special day and we never do anything like this, so I figured why not?" She remembered the way he smiled, and how his eyes sparkled.

       Yuka grinned. "Yes, I'd like two of those tornado things please." The clerk exchanged her money for the potatoes and then Yuka was on her way back down the sidewalk.

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       Yuka pressed the button on the intercom in front of the apartment before it buzzed, granting her access to the apartment. She entered the cramp room to see Eiji kneeled at a kotatsu, who watched out the sliding glass window at the snow fall.

       "I hung my laundry outside to dry, but I forgot to bring them inside before it started snowing. Now my clothes are all wet," Eiji complained as some sort of greeting. He pouted at the dress shirts he had lined up along his space heater. What a dumbass; that's a sure-fire way of burning down the apartment.

       Yuka rolled her eyes and shoved the potato tornado into his hand. "Eat it before everyone else shows up. I only bought enough for the both of us."

       He laughed and they ate the salty snacks in silence. Once he was finished, he placed the stick on the kotatsu and gazed over at a shrine in the corner of the room. A framed photo of Sayuri rested amongst a selection of candles that burned brightly in the dimly lit space. His eyes was so full of endearment as he looked at the photo that it hurt Yuka. "Have you heard anything about the District on the news lately?" he asked, his tone no more than a whisper.

       She shook her head. "No. Not a thing."

       He let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "You said everyone was on their way?" he asks, removing his eyes from the shrine to look at her.

       "Yes, they are," she told him. She knelt at the other end of the kotatsu and joined Eiji as they watched out the window, the snow now falling in heaps. She smiled and hugged her leather jacket closer to her body.

       They should be here soon.

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Original upload: October 16th, 2024.