【T.C.】【Luna on the Night-School Staircase】【Interlude】
Luna listens to the sound of the chime.
Keeng—koong—kaang—koong.
It is a digitized version of the chime from before the Great War.
This is Shirahato Private Night High School.
Luna’s mother once came here for a trial enrollment.
Her only wish was that her child might make some friends.
The atmosphere feels like a free school.
An elderly man sits nearby, along with women much older than Luna.
Some students look a little rough around the edges.
Others puff on electronic cigarettes.
Ignoring the tablets distributed to them, everyone is busy chatting.
Sitting next to Luna is Keiko.
She’s thirty-eight—soft, round, and cute.
Keiko hands Luna a juice.
“Here you go.”
Sweet orange juice.
It’s good.
“Thank you, Keiko.”
In the seat in front of them is Hibiki.
She’s one year younger than Luna.
Blue inner-colored hair, two piercings in each ear.
“Luna, you’re late today.”
“You don’t have to use honorifics,” Luna says.
“I’m younger than you…”
Despite her appearance, Hibiki is a quiet girl.
Because she’s quiet, she dresses that way—or so she says.
The chime rings.
Keiko speaks.
“Hey, Luna, let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, you should come over to my place sometime.”
“Your place…?”
“Yeah. Before the school festival…”
Hibiki is struggling to carry an enormous object.
She’s in the art club.
“I wanted to go to an art university,” she says,
“but my parents got divorced, and we ran out of money…”
They start climbing the stairs.
Keiko says,
“Hey, maybe we should all help—”
The moment she says it, the object collapses.
It falls—straight toward Luna.
A dazzling flash.
—Big brother.
A white, white illusion—
Luna lifts her right leg.
Then softly, precisely, she stops the falling object.
Silence.
And then—thunderous applause.
Luna blushes slightly.
—Big brother?
“It wouldn’t be right to break it,” he says.
“For that girl… or for Luna…”
And then, her brother quietly disappears.
Hibiki rushes over.
“I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
“I—I…”
“It’s fine. Really.”
“Thank goodness!”
“But wow—that scared me!”
“Did it…?”
“Of course it did!”
Luna smiles.
“But now you can paint,” she says.
“Even here.”
“You’re right!”
Luna and Hibiki laugh together.
Luna says,
“I’ll be coming here sometimes.”
---
Tokyo Chronicle — A Near-Future Nighttime Fable
Fujimoto @掌片 / note
A fable-like ensemble story set in the near future.
In a corner of the city, nameless people live on—
a tale of the night.
