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The next station is an eternity away, or so it feels like it is. He's not sure how long he's been on these trains, chasing station after station to see one woman who's not even there. He had been prepared once, with a map and a route outlined in red, and stations written on a piece of paper, with the times of the trains listed. But eventually, he had given up.
He had been chasing her for too long. And if he had learned anything at all, it was that a detailed plan for chasing her would never work. He was just winging it nowadays.
He was getting older, as well. He could feel his bones beginning to freeze and make crackling noises, and his face was starting to wrinkle. He was aging too fast because of the world, and because of his impossible quest of finding her.
As much as he wanted to, he couldn't do this forever. She was a woman who was made of dreams and imagination, the kind that once you saw them, they were gone. And you'd never find them again.
The trains were barely running. Cars and other methods of transportation were starting to be myths, now, and only existed in lonely minds. The occasional sound of a passing car could be heard once a year, or so it seemed. It was a miracle trains were still running, and Junpei had an intuition they wouldn't be running for much longer.
He had never tried chasing her by train before.
He had chased her every other way he could think of, and each time he returned home without even a glance of her. There were letters stacked in piles. Letters that he had written but had no clue where to send.
And now that he was on this train, he decided to check every station possible before they became abandoned and turned into dumps for corpses.
His eyes were starting to grow heavy with the need for sleep, and he was very hungry. The time on his watch was there, but it didn't matter now. He guessed he had been on these trains for over six hours, with only snack foods to keep him at bay. He had been up since too early this morning, and he hadn't been able to eat.
When he went looking for her, he couldn't eat. All he could do was think.
There was too much at stake, and after that there were what-ifs, and billions of them. He could spend days thinking about what-ifs and their details, and which were most likely and which were just fantasies.
Many were just fantasies. All of the most likely ones didn't end very happily for Junpei, as they all ended sad and desolate, with him continuing to chase her.
He let out a sigh. The train was cold and empty, and there were a lot people getting off here. He got off, reluctantly, and looked around the station. Nothing that even looked like her. The station was even colder, and even more desolate than the train itself. There were a few bodies around, creating a stench, but Junpei didn’t care. That was normal, and it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.
He climbed back onto the train, with at least a dozen other people and a few children. It was starting to fill up, surprisingly, and there were people waving goodbye from outside of the train.
It certainly was a strange day.
Tired, he leaned against a window and stared at the other people who seemed more like holograms than reality. It was a nice sight, really, and he could feel himself smiling just a little bit. It was nice to know there were some people left.
And then he saw it.
Her.
Her purple coat was long, and her hair was winded. It almost seemed shorter, but he could barely concentrate. His vision was starting to blur, and all he could seem to care about was that she was standing there.
She was real.
Her smile was that of one who had seen too much, and she looked older too. There were more wrinkles on her face, and he noted that that was understandable, and her whole stature seemed older.
They were both a little bit more grown up, but they were still just people staring awkwardly at each other.
There’s an aura of freezing air, suddenly, and he notes how silly he must look to her, eyes widened at just the sight of her, bundled in coats and layers to keep him warm, with some stupid look of shock on his face. He must really look like a total dork.
But then again, it’s all pretty appropriate. He hasn’t seen her in years, hasn’t heard from her in forever, and all he wants to do now is jump off this stupid train –
Until it starts to move.
That’s it.
That’s Akane for you.
She didn’t want a confrontation, she’d only deal with it if he had found her, but she brought herself to him, and now he was playing by her rules all over again.
Her smile is sad, and her eyes don’t show signs of welling up with tears, but there are large pieces of sadness reflected in them as she waves goodbye to him, like some sad, silly wife.
He scrambles, trying to look at her for as long as possible, and she eventually disappears from sight as the train moves forward. But she stood there for as long as she could, waving goodbye, and there’s a piece of him that is happy with that because that’s as much of her as he’s going to have.
.
.
Then, about a month later, Junpei gets a letter from her, in a large envelope and on a large piece of paper. It seems like a waste of space, because there in the middle of it is one simple message written in her curvy handwriting.
I’ll be waiting.
Love, Akane
P.S.: Cherry blossoms fall at the rate of five centimeters per second. Just thought that’s something you should know.