Takumi Hikohito

They raced through the bushes, avoiding the lights. Miles veered sharply to the left, shouting, "Split up! Meet at the rock!" and disappeared into the darkness. Takumi swerved to the right, deeper into the forest.

Takumi tripped over a root and almost fell. He straightened up, caught his breath, listened. Only the chirping of cicadas and distant cries. He took off his fox mask – it was hot, stuffy.

And then I heard a rustle. Not a cautious one, but... ordinary. As if someone was just walking.

There was a girl standing next to a huge tree. Takumi recognized her - it was Kana, the girl from the parallel he hated so much, just as she hated him. Noisy, smart, but loved to smoke. She looked at him not with fear, but rather with surprised curiosity.

"Hikohito?" she asked quietly, her voice quiet but clear in the stillness of the night. Her gaze slid from his face to the fox mask in his hand, then to the empty cardboard firework shell he was still clutching.

loves to smoke