HanTsuki:Volume 1 Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Akiko-san, a girl and Akutagawa Ryunosuke (亜希子さんと少女と芥川龍之介)

"Fhuu---"

The breath I breathed out freezed immediately and dissolved into the air. I stopped and looked up in the sky. Although it was already five o'clock, the deep, dark winter morning sky was filled with lots of pridefully shining stars.

The star shining the strongest is called Sirius and is placed in the Southern Sky.

I don't know much about the names of those stars, but Tsukasa, a friend of mine, is pretty schooled in this field, so he teached me lots of things. Well, the only name I still remember is Sirius, though. I've compleeetely forgotten the rest.

After a short walk, I arrived at the shopping street.

It's eerily silent under this arcade.

It feels as if it was dead.

No---

It really is dead.

The area a bit off the station around here has grown lonely. Originally it was a lively shopping street, but now half of the shops have been shut down. The once brightly colored shutters are now covered with rust and aren't even opened during the day. Some are calling them in the sad way "The shops with the silvermantled shutters".

It wasn't like this, when I still was young. The people living in the center of the city came shopping in this street. There always were lots of guests enjoying the shopping, and merchants running about busily all the time because of this. I got excited just by walking below this arcade.

There is a scene that's still fresh in my mind. I think it was when I was about four or five years old.

I was walking around holding the hand of my mom. A lot of people were there and on high spirits. Just by enjoying the atmosphere I was already having fun and looked with big eyes at the people passing by and the shops. The the shopping street sure felt like the heart of the city.

Now it's just shadow of its former self...

I've only lived 17 years, but there are many memories of this arcade-covered shopping street. It was the book shop in this street, where I bought my first book. I went buying it with a thousend-yen banknote in my hands. It was in this street when I first went watching a movie in a cinema. A Sci-Fi movie, in which a smuggy ship's captain was the hero. It was the Sushi bar in the the heart of this street, where I drank sake for the first time. I think I wasn't even in elementary school at that time.

My dad made me drink the sake.

"That stuff's delicious! Want some?"

As the pure young boy I was then, I believed his words and drank off the about half-filled cup of original japanese sake.

Of course I broke down immediately after having done that.

My eyes spinned around, the world was shaking and everything became flabby. Even now I still remember it clearly. Looking at me collapsed on the floor, he started guffawing. Really, the worst dad existing.

Anyway, I've got many memories of this shopping street. So I feel a bit down seeing it dying out. A wind of the same kind as the one that is blowing though the street below the arcade, was also blowing through my heart---

Though I was quite fond of this time in the morning, when the city's still covered in darkness without any sign of life. That is because it's the only time I feel the things are at their right place, in contrast to when everything feels wrong in this world.

But of course that's just my subjective impression.

Biro---n! Biroroooo----n!

"U-Uwah!"

Because of the music playing all of a sudden I raised my voice unconsciously.

The source of the sound was my mobile phone.

I thrust my hands in a hot haste into my pockets, and cut its energy. I stopped it on the dot. It's not like someone called me. It was just the alarm clock function I set to five o'clock,

Fear started to well up within me.

(Oh shit, Akiko-san will get angry if I don't return soon...)

Driven by this fear I dashed off.

After slipping out of the shopping street, I hit upon an about waist-high gate, on which other side's the parking lot of the hospital. Several cars were stopped on there; I guess they belong to the night shift employees. And beyond this parking lot is the small hospital, which consists of three stories.

Behind several windows I could already see the light turned on.

Bearing the tension I quickened my steps. Leaving the main gate as is, I proceed to the right side of the building. The main entrance is locked at this time. I walked around to the back side, where I stumbled upon a brown door.

I open the door carefully... very carefully.

This is the sole place where you can pass through during the night.

I was prudent.

One time Akiko-san was lying in wait for me and attacked me with the bottom of her slippers the moment I entered. She blazed with anger and gave me a sermon for more than 20 minutes, while having me kneel on the hard ground. I was then lectured for more than twenty minutes. I mean, I am sick after all, so I wish that she'd be a little more caring.

Leaving the door open, I froze.

(Is it alright--?)

I paid attention to the noise I made.

I poked my head inside.

There was no-one there, just benches lined up neatly. It was the lobby. This place, which was so busy during the daytime, was now, as expected, quiet.

I breathed out in relief.

The first obstacle has been crossed.

I came inside, and after closing the door softly, I took my shoes in my hands and tiptoed down the dark corridor. About ten meters down, there was a left fork. It went on to become a slightly inclined slope. It was a slope for wheelchairs. For safety reasons, the floor of the slope was covered with rubber, and that made it hard for my footsteps to reverberate.

But, there's a difficulty with this slope.

Around its middle, the slope winded hard, and after that, everything was clearly visible from the nurse station.

I stood at the corner, and peeked around it. The lights were on in the nurse station, which was located at the end of the hallway. The nurse on duty was awake.

It was around ten meters from the corner to the nurse station.

I call it the 'Ten Meters of Terror'. There's nothing that I can hide with there. It's all over if the nurse looks this way. That line of sight would accurately blow me away.

Taking just one deep breath, I leaped out. While keeping my posture as low as possible, as well as making sure that my feet didn't make too much noise, I sprinted forth.

Ten meters.

Seven meters.

Five meters.

My heart pounded. Beacuse I was too hurried, I stumbled, about to fall. But, I somehow managed to regain my balance, and I put on more speed.

Three meters.

One meter.

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