On a night at the beginning of August, Mikiya came by without any notice.
"Good evening. You look lazy as always, Shinjiku"
The sudden visitor stood by the door as he gives a boring greeting with a smile.
"I just saw an accident on my way here. A girl jumped from the top of a building, a suicide. I heard it's happening a lot quite recently but I never thought I'd see one myself. Here, put this in the fridge."
He throws me a plastic bag from a convenience store as he unties his shoes by the door. Inside are two strawberry Haagen Dazs. I guess he means I should put them in the fridge before they melt.
While I was slowly checking out what's inside the bag, Mikiya has taken off his shoes and has already come inside.
My house is a room in a mansion. If you go past the hallway, which isn't even a meter long, you get to the room where it's both my bedroom and my living room. I glare as I follow Mikiya, who is quickly making his way to my room.
"Shinjiku. You skipped school again today, right? I don't care about your grades, but you won't be able to pass unless you attend at least the required days. Did you forget about our promise to go to college together?"
"Do you have the right to order me around about my school? First of all, I don't remember that kind of promise, and you've already dropped out of college." I glare at Mikiya while I say so. He looks downcast while trying to come up with words.
"... Uh, if you say 'rights', there aren't any rights for anybody, but..." Sounding sophisticated, Mikiya sits down.
He tends to let out his true feelings when he's on the defense... it's something I remembered just recently.
Mikiya sat down in the middle of the room. As I sat down on the bed behind him, I laid my body across it. Mikiya still has his back turned to me. I thoughtlessly look at Mikiya's back, which is a bit small for a guy's.
This guy named Kokuro Mikiya seems to be my friend from back in high school.
In the fast age full of youngsters where many things get famous and then go away quickly, Mikiya was a rare kind of person that kept the image of a student.
He doesn't dye his hair or let it grow long. He doesn't get a tan or wear accessories. He doesn't carry a cell phone or play around with women. He is around 170cm or so. His kind-looking face is more on the handsome side and his huge black glasses make that feature stand out even more.
Even though he is dressed normally and he is out of school, he might look good enough to catch a few people's eyes if he actually dressed himself up.
"Shinjiku, are you listening? I saw your mother too. You should go visit the Ryougi House at least once. I heard that you haven't even contacted them since you got out of the hospital two months ago."
"... I don't care. It can't be helped cause I can't really take in the fact. We'll just feel more distant even if we see each other. I still feel weird talking to you, so there'll be no way I'll be able to keep up a conversation with those strangers."
"Geez, things won't get any better if you keep acting like that. You'll be like this forever if you don't open up your heart to them. It's not right for a family to live so close together and yet never talk to each other."
I frown at those words.
He says "not right", but what exactly is "not right"? There's nothing illegal in what's happening between me and my parents. It's just that the child has gotten in an accident and lost all memories. We are proven to be a family under the law and by papers, so I'd assume there's nothing wrong in between us.
... Mikiya always worries about how other people feel. Although I think that is just pointless...
Ryougi Shinjiku has been my friend since high school.
Our school was a famous private high school which taught a lot of students who went to a good college.
When I went to see if I got in the school or not, the name Ryougi Shinjiku stood out so much that it stuck in my head and we ended up being in the same class. Since then, I became one of the few friends Shinjiku had.
Our school did not have uniforms so everyone expressed themselves by how they dressed. Within these people, Shinjiku stood out.
... Because Shinjiku would always be wearing a kimono.
Its simple form fit Shinjiku's shoulders and it made the classroom feel like an old-style house just by having Shinjiku walk through it. Some of the students had rocker-style outfits, but in front of Shinjiku, such an outfit had less value to it than the first edition of the magazine "STYLE". I think just this explains what kind of a person Shinjiku is.
"Suicide by jumping off something. Would that be considered an accident, Mikiya?" Mikiya gets himself together after that meaningless rant and seriously starts thinking about the question.
"Hmmm, I'm sure it's an accident... but you're right. I wonder what that is. Since it's a suicide, the person is dead. But as long as it is that person's will to do so, the blame is only on that person. But since falling from a high place is an accident..."
"It's not a murder or an accidental death? That's ambiguous. They should have picked a way that wouldn't trouble others if they were going to kill themselves."
It seems my words angered Mikiya a bit as he takes a glance behind him, towards me.
"Shinjiku, it's not nice to talk badly about dead people."
His voice is not to scold me, but it is said in a plain tone. I saw that response coming a mile away.
"Kokuro, I hate your common sense talk."
Naturally, my response gets a bit harsh. But it doesn't seem like he cares at all.
"Wow, its been a long time since you called me that."
"Really?"
Mikiya nods.
I call him two things: Kokuro and Mikiya. I didn't like the sound of "Kokuro"... although I don't exactly know why.
In the small silence that formed during my pondering, Mikiya clapped his hand as if he remembered something.
"Oh, speaking of rare things, my sister Azaka saw it."
Not understanding what he's talking about, I make a frowning face.
"That thing. The girl at the Fujiyoh building, the one they say is flying around. You said you saw it once too."
Oh, I remember now.
From around three weeks ago, in the sky above an expensive mansion in the office district, a human-like form could be seen. The fact that Azaka saw it too must mean it really does exist.
After I was in a coma for two years after that accident, I was able to see things that were "not supposed to be there". As Toko would put it, I am not seeing them, but rather observing them. In other words, it seems that I am able to perceive at a higher level with my eyes and brain, but I don't care about all the explanations.
"The thing at the Fujiyou building, I saw that thing a few times. But I haven't been around there for a while, so I don't know if it's still there."
"I see. I go by there a lot but I never saw it."
"You can't see it 'cause you're wearing glasses."
"I don't think glasses matter," frowns Mikiya.
His reaction was so warm and pure. That's probably why it's harder for him to see those kinds of things.
But boring incidents keep on happening like people falling and flying. I don't understand the meaning behind all that, so I question out loud.
"Mikiya, do you know why people fly?"
Mikiya shrugs at my unexpected question and answers in a normal tone.
"I don't know why they fly or fall, because I've never done such things before."