Plate 1:
Boxes
Scene 1
YASAKA KAZUKI had three habits that he refused to budge on. Everyone had habits like that, however big or small: things like eating taiyaki from the tail first, washing your arms first in the bath, or starting a mystery novel by reading the ending first. It didn’t matter if anyone else understood them; they were absolute and binding.
Kazuki was currently holding a cardboard box in his arms, one that featured the logo of a major international distribution company. Dressed in his breezy school uniform with blue stripes around the sleeves, cradling that ordinary box in his hands as if it were something precious, he began to cross the great bridge that stretched out over the Sumida River.
If someone visiting Asakusa for the first time stood on the red Azuma Bridge and took in the surrounding area, they would be greeted by a strange, mismatched landscape. The Sumida was sandwiched between two wards. On one side was Taito Ward, with its Kaminarimon, or Thunder Gate, numerous historical buildings, and traditional industries. On the other side, where Skytree was located, was Sumida Ward, populated with eccentric, futuristic buildings. The odd sight of the past and future mashed together was normal to Kazuki, who lived in Asakusa for fourteen years now.
Really, there were only three things that were important to Kazuki.
“Good morning! ✩ Every day is happy! And with your lucky selfie, you’ll have even more happiness on your plate! It’s me, Azuma Sara, dish! ✩”
The Matsuya department store came into view just as he finished crossing the bridge. It featured a large screen, from which drifted the sleepy voice of a girl.
“Here we go! What will be the item for today’s lucky selfie?”
The girl on the monitor began to dance to a mysterious tune. She wore a headdress that looked like a plate decorated with a ribbon, and a boldly arranged kimono with a tulle skirt that swayed as she moved. Azuma Sara was a local idol, and this program was named after her—Asakusa Sara TV.
Kazuki froze, eyes intense with emotion as he gazed at the girl on the screen. It was a quiet, special moment, removed from the morning’s hustle and bustle.
“Duh-dun! It’s a box, dish! ✩ The more boxes you have, the happier you’ll be! ✩” A roulette wheel spun, finally landing on a tile with the word “box” written on it. The girl danced around a CG background, surrounded by paper decorations and a cartoon mascot made in her likeness.
The light turned green, and Kazuki continued walking, pushed along by the wave of people.
“…A box, huh?” He glanced at the box in his hands, but just as quickly abandoned the idea. No, not good enough, he thought. The more boxes, the better. He couldn’t allow himself to compromise his mission.
“You’ll have even more happiness on your plate if you send your lucky selfie to someone you care about, dish! ✩ Okay then, have a wonderful day, and may you have lots of luck dished your way!”
“May you have lots of luck dished your way…” he echoed.
Kazuki’s wish, unnoticed by anyone else, was meant for only one person.
His three habits were:
1. Walk around holding a box.
2. Check the lucky selfie horoscope.
And finally: 3. Exchange selfies with that person every day.
He opened the messaging app on his phone and typed into the conversation box: It looks like I’ll be able to clear today’s mission quickly, dish! ✩ The “dish” and star emoji were tacked on for added charm. He hoped that was forgivable, since there was only one person in the world he’d send such cutesy messages to.
The word “read” appeared beside Kazuki’s message, and the child on the other end soon sent him a reply accompanied by a cheerful sticker.
Good morning! ✩ Let’s share happiness with each other today as well!
That was all the motivation Kazuki needed to do his best today. Honestly, he didn’t care if it was sickeningly cutesy; no one else knew about this relationship, and he’d gone into it knowing he could never let anyone find out. But that was fine. It was enough for him to have this connection.
Kuji Toi broke rules, carefully and yet boldly.
The high-rise parking lot, barely spitting distance from Skytree, was largely deserted during the day. A faded sign gently admonished readers to Beware of Car Vandals, but that was scarcely enough to persuade Toi to abandon today’s prey—a Lexus with a polished sheen that looked entirely out of place in the shabby garage.
He lazily folded back the hood of his black sweatshirt, and then smoothly pulled out a gleaming silver ruler from behind his back. Without hesitating, he jammed the object right into the window frame of the immaculate Lexus.
Bang, clack, bang, bang…Pa-chik!
Wait…Pa-chik?
His hand froze at the absurd sound. Slowly, he twisted around to look in the direction of the noise, only to find a girl standing there in a strange pose. No—it wasn’t the pose that was strange. The clothes she wore were fantastical, as if she jumped straight out of a television set. She had a headdress that looked like a plate and a kimono boldly altered to include a mini-skirt. While he admittedly had zero interest in trending fashion, he could tell at a glance that this outfit wasn’t normal.
What really caught his attention wasn’t the clear distress in her large, round eyes, but the cellphone clutched in her hand.
“You…you took a picture of me just now, didn’t you?” His voice flooded with anger, forming words that were less a question than an accusation, one that he was already certain was true.
“I didn’t take a picture.” Her conflicted expression seemed fragile, somehow, as if she might disappear if he touched her.
But that wasn’t important right now.
“Don’t play games with me. Give me the phone!” Toi demanded.
“I can’t!” Her eyes, formerly sweet as candy, became unexpectedly firm as she refused. She had a Sara mascot strap attached to her cellphone, which bounced as she moved. “I have to complete my mission for them, dish!”
Dish? Toi’s thoughts froze at hearing that strange word thrown in at the end. The girl used that opportunity to turn and take off running.
“The more boxes, the more happiness, dish!”
Her black hair bounced as she ran, her feathery skirt flipping up to reveal supple thighs and, just a little further up—
No, that’s not what he was supposed to be focusing on!
“Stop right there!” Now that he’d finally come to his senses, Toi sped after the girl who was quickly putting distance between them.
“Please, allow me to connect with them today as well…” Kazuki whispered.
Before him stood a gleaming, golden statue of a kappa. A kappa might seem an odd choice for a statue, but this was Asakusa’s Kappabashi Kitchenware Town. Taito Ward’s historical buildings and traditional industries had no shortage of kappa objects that had been left behind over the years, to the point where it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call the area a kappa battleground. But the golden majesty of the kappa enshrined in this plaza gave it an impressive presence, superior to the other, lesser kappa that filled the district.
Why was it gold? And who created it in the first place? No one knew, but at least its appearance gave off the sense it was divine. Kazuki occasionally came here to pray in front of Kappa-sama’s statue.
“Hey!” An angry cry rang out through the small plaza.
Kazuki glanced back to find a boy standing at the plaza’s entrance, anger and rage obviously thrumming through him.
“Hey, did a girl in a weird outfit come by here?” the boy in the hoodie asked, marching closer one step at a time, a long, narrow weapon gripped in his hand. He was kind of terrifying.
“N-nope,” Kazuki replied, completely uninterested in getting involved in the mess. Unfortunately, he then made a vital mistake by readjusting his grip on his cellphone. The strap on it slipped out of his fingers, dangling in the other boy’s view—the same strap that they had, with the Sara mascot on it.
The other boy’s sharp eyes took notice, and his expression darkened even more. “That phone… I knew it, you have some connection with that girl!”
“I-I’m serious, I have no idea who you’re talking about!” Please, make him leave me alone! Kazuki prayed inwardly. God, Buddha, Kappa-sama!
“…I’ll run you through!” A sharp, gleaming light slid down the metallic stick in his hand. Kazuki’s prayer seemed about to go unanswered as the boy leaped forward to attack, brandishing the weapon.
Fwoosh!
Kazuki escaped by a hair—actually, no, he lost a few as he narrowly managed to evade the first swipe, clinging to the feet of Kappa-sama’s statue. That was the second mistake he made that day—and the biggest one of his life.
Krak!
The statue was balanced on one leg, and the ankle of that leg just snapped.
“Whoooa?!”
Bwoooosh!
Kazuki and the broken statue fell in a tangled heap. As soon as they hit the ground, a strange smoke billowed out around them. It consumed the boy in the hoodie as well, filling the entire plaza.
When something unforeseen happens to a person, they nearly always react in the most stereotypical of ways. The two boys were no exception, screaming in unison, “What the heck is thiiiis?!”
When he came to, Kazuki found himself at the back of a classroom, sitting at the desk closest to the window. This was his seat, in his classroom, at his school—Asakusa Sara Junior High.
“It was a dream?” His mind, still in a haze, wandered to the box. Panicked, he whipped his head around, only to discover that his precious box was where he always left it, safely tucked under his desk. “What a relief.”
As long as the box was safe, he didn’t care whether the whole thing had been a dream or not. Kazuki unconsciously classified things into two categories: things that were important to him and things that weren’t. Anything that landed in the former category, he clung to, tight enough to crush them. One might generously call him single-minded, but to put it bluntly, he was obstinate.
“Kazukiiii!”
The person that now entered the classroom didn’t fit neatly into either of Kazuki’s categories.