Youko opened her eyes.
She looked around her. Her room looked just as it always did. Nothing strange about that.
Weird. It was like she was waking from a very long dream.
She felt like she was forgetting something. Something very important. Like she had something stuck between her teeth that wouldn’t come out. She racked her brains for a while, but nothing shook loose.
Maybe staying up all night playing mobile games had given her nightmares.
Youko opened her phone. She reflectively tapped the Evo Gals icon, but it just gave her an error, refusing to launch. For some reason, she didn’t feel at all disappointed. She actually felt rather relieved.
She was starving. She opened the fridge but it was empty. Oh well. She’d have to pop down to the store. She opened the door and found the sun was just rising. It was a beautiful sunrise. She drifted down the road, feeling good.
“Ow! Hey, watch where you’re going!”
Her shoulder had bumped a woman drinking from a can of beer. This woman had rumpled short hair, and an androgynous face, like a prepubescent boy. It was kind of a cool look, really, but she must be really drunk, because her face was beet red all the way to the neck.
“What if something happened to me? That blood would be on your hands!”
Just hearing her voice annoyed Youko.
“Now, now, let’s all stay calm here.”
Fortunately, the woman’s companion stepped in to soothe things over. She was rather tall. Maybe even over 180 centimeters. She had long black hair that traced a gentle wave all the way down her back, soft eyes, and seemed a really peaceful person. She put her arms around the angry woman like she was calming a small child.
“Sorry. Once her fuse blows she loses all sense of proportion.”
The drunk woman swore under her breath but allowed herself to be pulled away. Both of them seemed familiar to Youko, somehow. She’d never met them before, but she felt like she had.
She was in a very odd mood today. Trying to shake it off, she did what she always did, and pulled her phone out of her pocket. The error was still on the screen. She tapped the screen a few more times as she walked.
“Look out!”
Thin arms wrapped around Youko’s waist, pulling her back. She was so shocked she dropped her phone.
A black shadow raced by, crushing the phone under it. The sheer weight of the vehicle ground the phone to dust. It was a six-ton truck, inches from her nose.
“Where were you looking? You almost died!” said the voice behind her. Youko knew that voice from somewhere. She just couldn’t remember where.
She turned around, and saw a petite girl, her arms still around Youko’s waist.
She’d almost died. As the realization hit her, fear came with it. Her knees buckled, and she nearly fell over.
“You can’t collapse here! Come on, on your feet!”
The girl held out her hand. She was wearing a blazer — she must be on her way to school. She had pale skin like porcelain, and the way the light hit it, it was almost blinding. Her hair was loosely bound at the back, but when it blew in the wind Youko could tell how clean it was. She felt suddenly ashamed that she hadn’t showered at all.
“Thanks,” she said, taking the hand, and rising to her feet. The feeling of déjà vu intensified. She’d never met this girl before, but for some reason she felt very important to her.
“Are you OK?” the girl said, peering into her face. “You’re crying.”
She was. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. Youko had no idea why. They were just quietly welling up with no signs of stopping.
“So are you,” she said, brushing her finger across the girl’s cheek. The girl was crying, too.
“Huh? Why... Am I...?” From her confused expression, Youko could tell the girl didn’t know why she was crying, either.
They stood there for a while staring at each other, letting the tears flow. Then, without another word, they embraced. Neither knew why, but both felt like they must never part again, no matter what happened.