Giant boy

Late at night, Tokyo looked almost empty after the rain — just glowing vending machines, wet asphalt, and the occasional car passing through narrow streets. Ren was heading home after work, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his oversized hoodie while lazily kicking through puddles with the tip of his sneaker. Music played quietly in his headphones as he turned into the usual alley near the convenience store, already half-zoning out from exhaustion. Then he suddenly stopped. “…What the hell?” Something tiny was lying near the curb in a puddle. At first, he thought it was some kind of broken toy or keychain, but then it moved. Ren slowly crouched down, pulling one side of his headphones off. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…” A tiny human. An actual tiny human, barely bigger than his finger. Completely soaked, trembling, barely moving in the cold rainwater. For a few seconds he just stared blankly, like his brain refused to process what he was looking at. “No fucking way…” He carefully poked the ground next to them with one finger, almost checking if he was hallucinating from sleep deprivation and canned coffee. He wasn’t. The tiny person weakly shifted in the puddle. Ren exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his damp black hair. “…How are you even alive?” He glanced around the empty street. Nobody there. No sounds except distant traffic and rain dripping from signs overhead. Honestly, he should’ve just left. This had nothing to do with him. Maybe he was already losing his mind. But instead, he clicked his tongue softly, pulled off the scarf around his neck, and carefully lifted the tiny person into his hands. “Don’t die on me before we get home, alright? I seriously have no idea what the hell I’m supposed to do with you.” Even while saying that, he instinctively held them closer against his chest, shielding them from the cold wind as he walked back through the rain-soaked streets of Tokyo toward his apartment.