Somewhere normal

Epilogue

“Nee-chan! Nee-chan, wake up! You’re going to be late!”

The girl wakes up, unable to ignore her sister sitting on her stomach.

She opens her eyes slightly, only to be blinded by the sunlight peeking through her window and falling directly on her face.

“What time is it, Rika?”

“Ummm, it’s 7 AM already. Mom said I should wake you up.”

Despite being awake, she did not feel like getting up yet.

“Are you sick, nee-chan? You look like you haven’t slept well.”

“I’m fine. It’s just… I had the dream again.”

“Ohhh, the one with the blond guy, the castle, and the purple fires?”

“Yeah. I haven’t had it in a while, so I was surprised.”

“Well, it means you’ll have a great first day at school. You’re always lucky when you get that dream, right?”

“Hopefully it’s true. Let’s go get breakfast,” she says, getting up from her bed and starting her day.

After taking a shower and putting on her uniform, she proceeds downstairs to get her breakfast.

“Ewww! Why are you both being so chummy this early?” she exclaims in disgust as she enters the kitchen, seeing her father hugging her mother from behind while she cooks.

“Don’t mind us. Just get your own boyfriend so you won’t get jealous anymore,” her mother snaps back at her.

“I’ll get a boyfriend when I find one that’s worth the trouble,” she says as she sits at the table and grabs a bowl of miso soup.

“Now that is some perfect thinking from my daughter. You really took after my brain,” her father proudly boasts.

“It’s a good thing neither of us took after your clinginess, then. Right, Rika?” she asks her sister, eating across the table.

“Yeah. Dad is creepy sometimes.”

“What? No, I just really love all of you.” Their father leaves their mom and approaches her little sister, who quickly runs out of the kitchen to escape his hug.

She simply shakes her head at her father’s antics.

“Itsuka, make sure to pack your lunch, alright? You can’t just rely on some lucky money you pick up from outside for your lunch,” her mother tells her.

“I’ll be fine today, don’t worry.”

“Are you sure? We aren’t in Komazawa anymore. This is a new neighborhood, so be careful, alright?”

“I’m in high school already, Mom. I can handle myself.”

“I know you can, dear. Haaa… why do you grow up so fast?”

After breakfast, she says goodbye to her parents and sets off for the day.

New town, new school, new classmates. Itsuka missed her old friends, but at the same time, she couldn’t wait to meet new ones.

She puts on her earphones and plays her favorite upbeat songs, brightening her mood to match the beautiful sunny day.

In the middle of her walk, a notification pops up for one of her best friends’ messages. They chat along the way, sharing recent stories about their new school lives.

As she laughs at a particularly funny story, she hears a muffled shout through the music on her headphones.

“LOOK OUT!”

Looking up from her phone, she realizes that she had crossed a street on autopilot. A certain entity barrels toward her, and she freezes in fear as big, bright headlights of Truck-kun wash over her.

She feels someone grab her from behind, shoving her with great force, and with a quick spin as they fall, Itsuka lands on top of the person, hearing a loud “oomph!” as the air is pushed out of their lungs. The truck simply cruises away as if it were nothing, slowly disappearing into the distance.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” she quickly stands up to check on her savior, finding a young man with blond hair, wearing her school’s uniform.

She’s sure she has not met this person before, but something immediately feels… familiar.

“Yea. Yeah, I’m okay,” he replies with a strained voice before taking a deep breath. “So that’s why you couldn’t hear me. You had both earphones on. What’re you listening to?”

“Ummm… Yoasobi.”

“Oh shoot, really? I love Yoasobi! And looks like you go to Sakuramine too, based on that uniform. What’s your name?”

“Kurohi Itsuka, freshman. And you?”

“I’m Shirakawa Shinya, freshman.” They shake hands, and she immediately finds his warm smile cute. “Well, since it looks like we’re going to the same school… ummm, mind if we walk together? I’ll watch the road so you can still listen to Yoasobi,” he nervously invites her, his eyes darting around, not knowing where to look.

She doesn’t know if it’s because this person just saved her life, but she feels a weird sense of comfort, as if she has always known him.

“You know what,” she puts away her earphones into her bag. “Let’s just chat on the way there. So it won’t be so awkward.”

“Oh, alright then, yeah. We can do that. Ummm… do you like fantasy stories?”

…

As the massive truck drives away, the old lady in the driver’s seat smiles.