Rescue

He was stunned.

He did not expect to catch her at all. He made eye contact with her. She was equally surprised, probably for another reason. Tears were running down her cheeks, her eyes actively producing more. He began to pull her up over the railing. She fought back, determined to complete the deed. “Stop..! Let me do this! Let me put my pain away once and for all…” She said, while bawling her eyes out. Mitsuru ignored her and used his body weight to pull her back to safety.

He had no idea what to say. It was a first for him. Nothing came to mind. All he could materialise to do is; hold her down so she does not try it again and try to comfort her. He left his left hand around her chest, restraining her, while his right hand rested on her head, like he was giving her headpats. “Hey! Hey. Calm down. Relax. It’s ok. It’s ok. It’s ok…” That appeared to do the trick. She started to calm down; her fighting spirit dying down, muscles relaxing. Mitsuru released his grip.

“Why…” The girl muttered. “Why did you stop me?!” She shouted. “I was ready, I planned it all out… You just had to ignore me as I fell, but you stopped me. So why?”

Mitsuru had no idea how to respond. “I didn’t want to see you fall.” He replied. That was the best he could produce. “I didn’t want to live with the fact that I let someone die, especially if I could have prevented it… Not again.” She didn’t contest the response. She just started crying again. Again, Mitsuru had no idea what to do. Al he could do was try and comfort her, but he had no idea if it was working.

When it seemed she had finally calmed down. Mitsuru let her go from his grip.

He stood up and walked backwards to pick up his groceries, keeping a constant eye on her in case she tried again. “Aw man my food’s messed up.” He looked inside the bag to see his bento completely messed up. He picked up the bag and walked back to the girl. She still sat there, dejected at her failed attempt. He noticed that once again she had nothing more than a sweater on. Reluctantly, he surrendered his coat to her, wrapping it around her shoulders. She was unresponsive at first, but her hands pulled the zipper tracks closer together. Mitsuru sat down next to her, mind completely blank. He wanted to ask a question, but he had no idea where to start.

“Hey. What’s your name?” Mitsuru asked.

“...Aika…” She responded, in a very low voice.

“Aika…” Mitsuru repeated. He looked down and around, thinking about her name. It had a little ring to it which he liked. “That’s a nice name.” Mitsuru muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. Embarrassed, Aika looked up at Mitsuru, A slight red hue appearing on her cheeks. She looked back down. “Thanks…” She muttered, still grasping at the fact Mitsuru complimented her name.

The pair sat on the bridge silently, unaware how to continue the conversation. Mitsuru’s instincts told him to just leave and go home, but he felt a sense of responsibility to at least see her off. Aika on the other hand felt the same. She wanted to just leave and try again another time, but she could not bring herself to do it. She felt a very slight, yet strong sense of relief. She could not grasp the concept of it. Even though Mitsuru is still a complete stranger to her, she felt comfortable sitting there, despite the wind picking up occasionally.

“Snow. It’s snowing.” Mitsuru said.

Aika looked up. He was not lying. Tiny white specs began falling from the sky, landing on and around the two of them. Both of them could not believe their eyes. AIka slowly reached out her hand, letting the tiny snowflakes land on her hand. Each white spec disappeared in seconds. She was mesmerised.

Mitsuru couldn’t take his eyes off her. Not only is her appearance attractive, there was something magical about watching what she was doing. It was like watching a puppy react to snow for the first time. Her curiosity and focus trying to piece together what was going on. He couldn’t help but feel like he was in a movie scene. As they sat next to each other, Mitsuru couldn’t help but feel the need to do something about the situation. A part of him wanted to leave right there and then after ensuring that Aika was fine, but he felt a sense of responsibility biting at him. He felt compassion.

In a sense, he wanted to offer more help than just seeing her off. He had a hunch that Aika didn’t want to return home that night.

Deliberation was all he was about at the moment. Both options were viable, but it depended on how he executed it. “I’ll do it.”

“Hey, Aika.” Mitsuru muttered, almost whispering.

“Yea?” Aika responded, turning her head to face Mitsuru.

“Do you maybe want to…” Mitsuru paused. “How do I continue this manoeuvre? Will she feel uncomfortable? I think she’ll think I’m exploiting her subtly. Exploiting her weakness, when all I want to do is help…”

“Do you maybe… want to stay over at my place? Just for tonight?”

Aika couldn't believe her ears. She was shocked and confused.

Slightly embarrassed, Aika looked away. She raised her hand to cover her mouth in shock. “I don’t want to like… I- i don’t want to put you on the spot you know? I’m not forcing you to stay over. I just felt like… you didn’t intend on returning home.”

Mitsuru went into full damage control mode, trying to recover the situation. “I think I just cooked it… Man I’m such a-”

“Yes…” AIka muttered while Mitsuru was overthinking himself.

“Sorry?” Mitsuru probed, not hearing her response clearly.

“Yes, I’d like to…” Aika responded. She lowered her hand, resting it on her lap. Mitsuru could make out a set of mixed emotions on her face. He could see a sense of deep relief, but it was being heavily suppressed. Her hand was showing it as well. Her hand was subtly shaking, trying to grab onto something, attempting to suppress her emotions.

He could sense that Aika was trying to hide something, but decided not to pursue his feeling. It’s just a one time thing, he thought. After tonight, everything in his life will go back to normal. He’ll go back to school again, make no new friends, and play more games until it was time for bed. Repeating the same vicious cycle.

He looked up. The clear, yet pitch black sky looming over. He could barely make out a single star, representing how he felt all the time up until this moment. As the snow continued to fall, his mind started drifting again, his imagination taking him to places he never would’ve been. He saw something, though it just flashed at the speed of light. It wasn’t a shooting star. He caught a very quick glimpse of a life that he thought he completely lost 3 years ago.

Snapping back to reality, Mitsuru got up onto his feet. Aika still had a deep face of dejection. A weird emotion taking over. Half a sense of gratitude, care, compassion. The other half, the feeling that after accepting what is being offered, that an all seeing eye is constantly discriminating against her every move. It persisted everywhere she went. Not just accepting Mitsuru’s generous offer, but wherever she went, be it at school, home or just walking the streets. The voices in the back of her mind were growing ever stronger with each passing day. She had enough of it.

She wanted it to end. All of it.

The constant sense of discrimination, the voices telling her to kill herself, along with other harmful remarks.

But, for whatever reason, she felt a sense of comfort. All of the negativity that she had before built up over time seemed to have just disappeared magically. “Why… How… how did all the negativity just disappear? This sensation. It feels so weird, but I like it.” She had no idea what was going on, why all the negativity disappeared, and how it happened. But she knew one thing about it; it had something to do with Mitsuru’s presence.

“You mean… just from him, I can feel this much better?” she started questioning herself, firmly believing that the voices have finally won over. She wasn’t having lucid dreams, nor did the voices win. It was all real, just that she hadn’t noticed it.

Mitsuru finally had enough of sitting around, finally getting up on his feet. Aika, still feeling embarrassed about what happened 10 minutes prior, had her head down, but she couldn’t help but look up at Mitsuru. From the side on, it looked like a scene from a movie; Prince Charming finding the long lost Princess. Mitsuru stretched his hand out for Aika to grab on to. “Come on, let’s go.” Mitsuru said, hurrying Aika along. She was taken aback, not only from Mitsuru showcasing such a gesture to her, she struggled to comprehend that she was finally on talking terms with someone.

Slowly, Aika reached her hand out, laying it onto Mitsuru’s palm. He gently tightened his grip around Aika’s hand. The warmth felt weird, but relaxing at the same time. Her hands, from feeling like an ice cube suddenly felt like it was being put into a nice warmer. Mitsuru pulled his hand up, lifting Aika off the ground.

As the movement continued, Aika steadied herself, getting onto her two feet, finally arriving at a standing position. As the pair looked at each other, making solid eye contact, a subtle, yet deep connection started to form. Somehow, they could feel such a thing, even though they didn’t know each other up until that point.

“Let's go.” Mitsuru broke the awkwardness of the situation. He didn’t want to stay around anymore on the bridge. Something about that environment brought about memories that he didn’t want to remember, but he definitely could’ve said it in a more gentlemanly way.

AIka quickly followed behind, keeping a distance of about a metre behind him. Her mind raced. “Where is he taking me? Where are we going? Why are we walking this route? What is he planning to do with me? Is he going to demand services from me?” All of the thoughts were valid enough for her to make a break out of the area, but she couldn’t help but follow him; all for one simple thing. Home. Somewhere that she could rest for the night, knowing that she was free from her old, toxic environment.

As they walked the vacant streets, the wind picked up occasionally, but it was nothing Mitsuru couldn’t handle. He was more worried about Aika however. She wasn’t wearing any proper winter clothing; only basic sweatpants which under such conditions won’t hold up. As a result, he constantly hurried Aika, even though she was following as fast as she could. They passed some landmarks suggesting that they were getting close to home. The photographer bridge, the junction, and the indoor bicycle park. Soon, they arrived at the doorway to someone’s home.

“Here it is, My home. I live alone, so you don’t have to worry about any other residents besides myself. Mitsuru reached his hand out, using the thumbprint scanner to unlock the door, revealing a small, yet tidy and simple abode. Nothing in particular stood out from the average Japanese home. A shoe rack, a step to get into the apartment, and a small walkway between the step and door. As Mitsuru took off his shoes to enter his home, Aika couldn’t help but explore every inch of the entryway. Everything was new to her. As she looked around, she noticed a photo standing close to the shoe rack.

Looking closely, it was a photo of two people, a guy and a girl. She immediately recognised Mitsuru standing on one side, but the other girl; no idea who she was. She could easily tell that they were close, smiling and posing for the camera enthusiastically. Clearly they were having a great time.

“Mitsuru isn’t exactly trying to hit me up. Could it be because he already has a girlfriend? I mean, he does kinda look the type.”

Mitsuru had already long entered his home, but Aika hadn’t made it past the entrance. Curious, he backtracked to the entrance to see her fixated on a photo with unwavering focus. “Aika?” Mitsuru said. She snapped back, turning around to see Mitsuru standing behind her. “Oh! Sorry…” Aika quickly darted into the apartment, walking past Mitsuru. Instead of following behind, Mitsuru walked up to the photo of him and the girl. Picking the photo frame up, he said. “Hey… Chisato. I hope you’re doing well up there.”

He set the photo back onto the mantle, before going to see what Aika was up to.

Inside the apartment, Aika continued exploring the place, wondering what each item does. “Hey Aika, you can take a shower first.” Her face immediately turned bright red after hearing what he just said. “I-Is he going to peep at me? Or… or… or-” “I’m not gonna peek or try anything.” He knew what Aika was thinking without even having to hear what Aika was thinking out loud. He just knew.” She immediately calmed down.

Mitsuru went to grab a fresh towel from the cabinet and prepared the bathroom for Aika. Meanwhile, she put her bag down to take out a fresh set of clothes she had packed. Looking over her shoulder, she had a hunch. “There’s no way Mitsuru would do this just because. I doubt it. He’s definitely going to try something.” She dug further into her bag to find a box cutter that she had packed for emergencies. Picking it up, she quickly snuck it into her pocket before walking over to the bathroom. Standing near the door, Mitsuru was waiting for her. She quickly hid her hand in the pocket where the box cutter sat, ready to respond to any aggression made by Mitsuru.