Chapter 2:
Words & Rivers
All Nights Are Sundays (for the girl in blue)
“So that’s it… I can’t even do that right… damn creepy old guy…” I muttered, crossing my arms like I was some statue glued to the open cash register. “Wait a second… am I seriously following advice from Aranara? What the hell is wrong with me?! This seriously must be my lowest.”
I grabbed the sides of my face hard—it was my little way of grounding myself in reality, and honestly, a step up. I mean, I used to yank my own hair out in moments like this.
The fact that I was even doing this screamed “crisis mode.”
I didn’t think twice about the inn owner or, like, going to the cops to report the whole thing. Of course not—I popped the register drawer open because the brainless idiot told me to.
“Shit… now I can’t go to the police. What am I supposed to say if they check the place? ‘Oh no officer, I didn’t come to rob anything, the place was just such a mess I couldn’t help my compulsive urge to organize everything.’ Yeah, that sounds super believable.”
My head was a runaway train.
No brakes.
On fire.
And the passengers were fighting each other.
Blindfolded, and with knives.
I knew exactly where that train was heading, so I picked the sanest thing I could find in the whole damn inn: rearranging the coffee cups so all the handles pointed left, upside down.
Then I spotted something on the temple stairs—someone around my age, kinda hunched over.
Probably from the weight of those backpacks. One was your classic influencer camping pack.
The other “backpack”? A girl. I’m only calling her that because there’s no way a normal human could carry both that load and another person up temple stairs.
“No. Not my problem. Not interested. Zero curiosity. Don't care at all about it.” That’s what I said—out loud—while already climbing to the second floor, with the coffee cup still in hand, just to get a closer look at whatever was going on.
Logically, all the rooms on the right side faced the mountain, no issue there. So the one at the very end should give the clearest view.
But of course the doors were locked. Obviously. And of course, in my curiosity-fueled sprint upstairs, I didn’t think to grab keys first.
I trudged back down the stairs with all the grace of someone who just got fired, dumped, and found out their kid wasn’t theirs.
Another "you lose" for the day’s scorecard.
So I went with logic.
[…Mnn… hello?…]
“Put Eiji on the phone.”
[Ugh… what now?]
“None of your business. Just put Eiji on already.”
[Fine… fine… Eijiiii, Sayo is annoying me on the phone again!]
“Annoying you?! You brainless idiot!”
[It’s not me calling at this hour, Sayo… yawn…]
“Because you’re too dumb to understand you need a prefix to call a cell from a landline!”
[What’s a prefix?]
“Seriously… you’re exhausting…” I rubbed my eyes, sitting on the floor behind the counter.
[Hey again… yawn… Something up? It’s weird you’re calling twice in one day. Actually, it’s weird you’re calling at all.]
“Eiji… uh… I just saw some guy climbing the temple stairs.”
[…Okay…]
“I just saw him.”
[I’m not getting what’s alarming here, Sayo.]
“He had a camping backpack—you know, tent and all the gear.”
[…Probably… yawn… just filming a vlog or something. It’s super trendy lately.]
“There are 120 steps to the temple, Eiji. And more to the top of the mountain.”
[Well… good for him… I still don’t see your point…]
“How much do those packs weigh? 30, 40 kg?”
[Roughly, yeah… depends what’s inside.]
“Right. And the guy wasn’t built at all—he was, uh… kinda like you.”
[Did you just call me scrawny?]
“What? No, Eiji, focus—I’m serious!”
[Okay, okay… so the dude’s probably pushing superhuman effort hauling all that up… it’s weird, sure, but possible. I’d take breaks if I was him…]
“A girl was clinging to his shoulders.”
[That changes things a bit… did you get a good look?]
“No, it was too dark, but she seemed a little taller than me…”
[Was she… moving? Or anything?]
“She wasn’t a corpse if that’s what you’re getting at.”
[Uhm… yeah, carrying dead weight would make it way harder, you know. Literal dead weight.]
“And he wasn’t walking like someone lugging almost 100 kg.”
[O-okay…]
[Eiji, give me the phone!]
[I’m talking—get off!]
[Eijiii, hand it over!]
“For fuck’s sake, this is serious—can you two stop acting like idiots?”
[Sayo.]
“What now, Aranara…”
[That girl is dead.]
“Don’t start with that bullshit… didn’t you hear me?” I sighed again. I hadn’t even noticed I’d been braiding and unbraiding my hair the last few minutes.
[You’re gonna lecture me about living and dead?]
“Ugh… I hate when you pull that card.”
[You’re gonna have to get used to give me the reason.]
“Once I confirm if you're right.”
[And I’m taking your word that you won’t yell at me for borrowing all your lightbulbs for an experiment I saw on TV.]
“Huh? But my—Aranara, what the hell did you do to my room!?”
[click.]
“The damn idiot just hung up on me…” I muttered to my reflection in one of the wall pictures, staring at the phone screen like an idiot.
Thinking about all this was gonna trap me in a loop, so I went with the least harmful fix: find the light switch, kill the lights, pick a room, and pretend none of this happened while I slept.
Maybe curiosity made me pick the last room on the right. And for sure, seeing the thin layer of dust on the bed made me use my backpack as a pillow, lie on the floor, and cover up with my jacket.
“Damn it… why does this shit always happen to me?” I tossed and turned. The floorboards kept creaking, but the noise didn’t bug me—unlike Eiji’s house, at least here I knew the floor wasn’t gonna collapse under me.“… I can’t sleep…”
I grabbed the sides of my face hard—it was my little way of grounding myself in reality, and honestly, a step up. I mean, I used to yank my own hair out in moments like this.
The fact that I was even doing this screamed “crisis mode.”
I didn’t think twice about the inn owner or, like, going to the cops to report the whole thing. Of course not—I popped the register drawer open because the brainless idiot told me to.
“Shit… now I can’t go to the police. What am I supposed to say if they check the place? ‘Oh no officer, I didn’t come to rob anything, the place was just such a mess I couldn’t help my compulsive urge to organize everything.’ Yeah, that sounds super believable.”
My head was a runaway train.
No brakes.
On fire.
And the passengers were fighting each other.
Blindfolded, and with knives.
I knew exactly where that train was heading, so I picked the sanest thing I could find in the whole damn inn: rearranging the coffee cups so all the handles pointed left, upside down.
Then I spotted something on the temple stairs—someone around my age, kinda hunched over.
Probably from the weight of those backpacks. One was your classic influencer camping pack.
The other “backpack”? A girl. I’m only calling her that because there’s no way a normal human could carry both that load and another person up temple stairs.
“No. Not my problem. Not interested. Zero curiosity. Don't care at all about it.” That’s what I said—out loud—while already climbing to the second floor, with the coffee cup still in hand, just to get a closer look at whatever was going on.
Logically, all the rooms on the right side faced the mountain, no issue there. So the one at the very end should give the clearest view.
But of course the doors were locked. Obviously. And of course, in my curiosity-fueled sprint upstairs, I didn’t think to grab keys first.
I trudged back down the stairs with all the grace of someone who just got fired, dumped, and found out their kid wasn’t theirs.
Another "you lose" for the day’s scorecard.
So I went with logic.
[…Mnn… hello?…]
“Put Eiji on the phone.”
[Ugh… what now?]
“None of your business. Just put Eiji on already.”
[Fine… fine… Eijiiii, Sayo is annoying me on the phone again!]
“Annoying you?! You brainless idiot!”
[It’s not me calling at this hour, Sayo… yawn…]
“Because you’re too dumb to understand you need a prefix to call a cell from a landline!”
[What’s a prefix?]
“Seriously… you’re exhausting…” I rubbed my eyes, sitting on the floor behind the counter.
[Hey again… yawn… Something up? It’s weird you’re calling twice in one day. Actually, it’s weird you’re calling at all.]
“Eiji… uh… I just saw some guy climbing the temple stairs.”
[…Okay…]
“I just saw him.”
[I’m not getting what’s alarming here, Sayo.]
“He had a camping backpack—you know, tent and all the gear.”
[…Probably… yawn… just filming a vlog or something. It’s super trendy lately.]
“There are 120 steps to the temple, Eiji. And more to the top of the mountain.”
[Well… good for him… I still don’t see your point…]
“How much do those packs weigh? 30, 40 kg?”
[Roughly, yeah… depends what’s inside.]
“Right. And the guy wasn’t built at all—he was, uh… kinda like you.”
[Did you just call me scrawny?]
“What? No, Eiji, focus—I’m serious!”
[Okay, okay… so the dude’s probably pushing superhuman effort hauling all that up… it’s weird, sure, but possible. I’d take breaks if I was him…]
“A girl was clinging to his shoulders.”
[That changes things a bit… did you get a good look?]
“No, it was too dark, but she seemed a little taller than me…”
[Was she… moving? Or anything?]
“She wasn’t a corpse if that’s what you’re getting at.”
[Uhm… yeah, carrying dead weight would make it way harder, you know. Literal dead weight.]
“And he wasn’t walking like someone lugging almost 100 kg.”
[O-okay…]
[Eiji, give me the phone!]
[I’m talking—get off!]
[Eijiii, hand it over!]
“For fuck’s sake, this is serious—can you two stop acting like idiots?”
[Sayo.]
“What now, Aranara…”
[That girl is dead.]
“Don’t start with that bullshit… didn’t you hear me?” I sighed again. I hadn’t even noticed I’d been braiding and unbraiding my hair the last few minutes.
[You’re gonna lecture me about living and dead?]
“Ugh… I hate when you pull that card.”
[You’re gonna have to get used to give me the reason.]
“Once I confirm if you're right.”
[And I’m taking your word that you won’t yell at me for borrowing all your lightbulbs for an experiment I saw on TV.]
“Huh? But my—Aranara, what the hell did you do to my room!?”
[click.]
“The damn idiot just hung up on me…” I muttered to my reflection in one of the wall pictures, staring at the phone screen like an idiot.
Thinking about all this was gonna trap me in a loop, so I went with the least harmful fix: find the light switch, kill the lights, pick a room, and pretend none of this happened while I slept.
Maybe curiosity made me pick the last room on the right. And for sure, seeing the thin layer of dust on the bed made me use my backpack as a pillow, lie on the floor, and cover up with my jacket.
“Damn it… why does this shit always happen to me?” I tossed and turned. The floorboards kept creaking, but the noise didn’t bug me—unlike Eiji’s house, at least here I knew the floor wasn’t gonna collapse under me.“… I can’t sleep…”
Please sign in to leave a comment.