Hanashiro… Hanashiro…!
Over and over again, I called her name as I ran through the tunnel, screaming it in my head even after my throat was too hoarse to make a sound. My entire body was on fire. I felt blood coursing through each individual finger. My heart called on every last cell in my body, pounding harder and harder to spur them into action.
Hanashiro… Hanashiro…!
I barreled into a sharp turn around the next corner, pushing the grip on the soles of my shoes to the absolute limit. I refused to slow down for an instant. The air whooshed like a wind front past my eardrums as I made this intense change in momentum, then pushed through that wall and proceeded at top speed down the next passage.
Hanashiro… Hanashiro…!
Rationally speaking, my muscles should have long since given out, yet they continued to confer their blessings, urging me incessantly ever faster, ever onward.
Hanashiro… You must be so much older and more mature by now. Do you still remember that fateful summer we spent together in high school? Y’know, it’s funny, to think back on how awkward our first interaction was. I said something really inconsiderate that any person but you would have been offended by. Yet for whatever reason, it just so happened to pique your interest so much that you followed me all the way into the Urashima Tunnel, where we had our first real exchange. From that point on, we were partners who shared an exciting secret. And over the course of our investigation, I got to know you pretty damn well. You had so many of the things I’d always wanted—so many of the things I lacked. You told me once that you really looked up to me, but from my perspective, I’ve always been the one looking up to you. You gave off a radiant glow like no one I’d ever known. With your intelligent grace, your brutal honesty, and all your adorable little quirks, you brought a splash of vibrant color to my dreary, monochrome world for the first time in forever.
That’s why I could never forget you. Even if you’ve moved on with your life and forgotten about me, I’ll never, ever forget you or those days we spent running like the wind beneath the hot summer sun. You were still only seventeen then, so it probably feels a world away by now, but for me it’s all still crystal clear. I’ll always remember those days and keep our memories close to—
All of a sudden, I felt a crunching in my legs as they gave out. Apparently, I’d finally hit my limit, and I fell—right at the top of a steep downward incline. I had to brace myself for impact.
I couldn’t. There was no time.
“Aw, shi—”
Before I could raise my arms high enough to protect my face, they took the brunt of the impact with the ground, and a searing pain shot through my wrists. Yet that alone wasn’t nearly enough to stop the momentum, and I did a full rotation in midair before crashing hard on my back. The fall knocked every last breath of wind from my lungs, and all I could do was let out a pathetic, breathy cough. Even still, I kept rolling downward, my battered body crashing repeatedly against—
I felt a snap in my brain, as at last the cord was cut, and my mind finally let go.