Chapter Text
A faint sound of the birds chirping can be heard in a small town of Otomori in Japan. Not a single soul can be seen passing around the street, only thick pile of snow, stores and houses that were closed down, and fallin’ leaves that were swept away by the cold winter wind.
Yuta can still remember the feels and how the small town looks like when he was still a kid. He is actually living in the city of Osaka and he often visit his grandparents in this small town that once full of life but now seems like a ghost town 15 years later.
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Japan is becoming underpopulated, many Japanese refuse to marry and women refuse to bear children due to high expenses and lack of japanese workers in their industry. People chose to work more than 10 hours a day because of this, and looking for a chance to build a family is forgotten. But not all of course.
Yuta Nakamoto, a 25 years old man just graduated Architecture in a University in Tokyo. Eversince he started visiting his grandparents in this small town of Otomori, he can see the potential of the small town turning into a great, beautiful destinitation for vacation. When his family decided to transfer in Tokyo and live there instead, he seldom had the chance to visit his grandparents and he didn’t know that it was slowly becoming eeriely silent when he wasn’t around.
After the death of his grandparents, he decided to live in Otomori for only a few months after he graduated. He thought that before applying for work, he gets all the inspiration he needed in the town where all his dream have started. But upon his arrival, he didn’t imagine that this town will turn into a place like an apocalypse happened that lasted for years.
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Yuta doesn’t really like winter. He likes it more when the sun glows above the sky, spreading light and how every animal is free to go outside and play. But here he is, sipping coffee in the only coffee shop that still operates despite for having a total popualation of 30.
This coffee shop is owned by his gradfather’s friend and he used to come here whenever his grandfather treats him chocolate milkshake. Now, it is passed to his grandson that goes by the name of Jung Jaehyun. He haven’t seen the guy when he was still a kid, but after spending a week in Otomori, they talked almost all day, but only if Yuta feels likes to go out from his cozy little home owned by his grandparents.
“Hey Jaehyun, do you plan on living here permanently after your final year in college?” The two of them were sitting across each other facing outside through the glass window.
“Hmmmm…..I don’t know. I’m too attached to this place that I don’t think I could leave this place for long. But my parents were scolding me for not spending my vacation with them whenever they travel overseas or visit our home in Korea”. Jaehyun said calmly.
Yuta likes the entire ambiance. The soft yellow lights inside the shop, with a soft music playing in the background, to the smell of brewed coffee and heat that were provided makes him calm. He was stealing glance at Jaehyun’s side profile from time to time, but no matter what he do, he cannot imagine liking the guy. He’s very open with his sexuality but he’s not ready to disclose anything to Jaehyun yet. He don’t want the guy to find him creepy and he don’t want to make everything awkward between them. Instead, he feels like he want to protect and take care of Jaehyun as a brother and wants to know more about him.
“How about you?” Jaehyun asked.
“I thought I could help transform this place into something new that would attract people to visit. Eversince I was a kid, I dreamt of contributing an important thing that will make my family proud. Just like you, I’m really attached to this place, but I didn’t imagine it will turn out entirely different” There’s a glint of sadness and happiness to his tone. They stayed silent for a while but it was a comforatable silence. They continued drinking their coffee before it turns out completely cold.
“I haven’t really thought of that after my long stay here in Otomori. I find this place as my escape whenever I wanted to feel free. But now that you have mentioned it, I think of my younger self that once dreamt of living and establishing my own family here” he finally looked at Yuta and smiled.
“Eh? Family?” He asked the younger teasingly that made him chuckled and ears turning red from embarassment.
“Hey! I’m just teasing you know?” he added. “You can dream whenever you want. Let’s not lose hope for Otomori, I know that someday, this place will be occupied again and every business will bounce back. If people will get tired in the city, they’ll comeback and others will look for a place to relax”. He said with determination and adding a soft smile towards the end.
They continued chatting each other and this time, filling the shop with their laughter to ease their converstation. It was interrupted when a customer entered the shop. Jaehyun introduced the customer to Yuta, her name is Mina.
Mina shared a short story of her to Yuta saying she didn’t left the town, Her parents were still here doing farming and since schools shut down in Otomori, she travel for an hour going to the next town to pursue her studies. Her parents cannot afford to send her into any Universities in Japan because their business were greatly affected. After their short conversation, she bid them goodbye and a moment later, Yuta also left telling Jaehyun he’s already sleepy.
Three days after their converstation, The three of them decided to roam around the town. It doesn’t have many houses but there are many locations like fields and lake to look at. They dressed warmly and brought some snacks to eat along the way. After a while, they decided to go to the main road and stay in the waiting shed. They sit there for a while when there was a white van that passed by. They didn’t really paid attention to it since for them it’s normal to see a car but the said vehicle suddenly stopped and backtracked.
The three were confused when suddenly, a window was opened revealing a man that gave a small waved to the group.
“Hi! Can you help us?” The said man asked.
“Uhh..yes. What might the problem?” Mina asked back.
“Okay, so, uhh..oh! By the way I’m Johnny. Going back, we have an unfinished project in our school and we have to film in this location” the said man named Johnny tried to show something that seems like an iternirary to Mina.
“Ahh..another hour and you’ll arrive there” she replied politely with a smile. She was surprised when Johnny left out an exagerrated sigh of relief.
“Hooo! My goodness I thought we were lost!” The people inside the van can be heard saying their signs of relief as well. At first, the three just smile and chuckled but Jaehyun stopped when he recognized them speaking in Korean.
“Wait. Are you guys from Korea?” he got Johnny’s attention making the older suddenly excited.
“Yes! We are! Well, me and Taeyong, the guy sitting next to me but he’s sleeping, anyway, as I was saying, we were just accompanying my sibling and he’s classmates to finish their project. I don’t know why they thought of coming here in Japan and in the province to be exact to shoot their film, and in the middle of winter season! Imagine that.” Yuta and Mina, despite not understanding anything were amazed how talkative Johnny is. Jaehyun was just smiling despite not saying a thing to whatever Johnny is saying as well. It feels nice to talk someone in Korean for a long time.
“Johnny please it’s cold, stop bothering them and let them warm themselves inside the shed. Just ask them quick.” The three heard another man groaning inside the van but only Jaehyun reacted.
“Oh it’s okay, you’re not bothering us. We were actually just wandering around and we’ll stay here for a while, anywhere that is not in our houses.” Jaehyun happily replied.
“You live here?” Johnny asked earning another groan from the guy named Taeyong whom they can’t still see since the window is just slightly opened only revealing Johnny’s face.
“Yes, the three of us live here. Well, not technically, only Mina cuz Yuta hyung and I live in the city and just came here for vacation.” He gestured towards his friends at the back.
“Really? We didn’t know there was another town around here.” Johnny let his head pop out to see everywhere but all he can see were trees and bushes and mountains and not a single path going towards a certain place.
“Well, our place was kinda, hidden” Jaehyun pointed a small path that were covered by snow. “That’s the way to our small town. You guys can visit if you have time. I own a coffee shop there.” Johnny’s face seems to light up when he heard the word coffee shop.
“Johnny hyung I wanted to use the bathroom so bad, can we please hurry?” Another guy can be heard inside pleading and Johnny just sigh.
“Anyways, thank you for helping us. We’ll visit here after.” he told to Jaehyun. “We will come here again to see you and see your place.” He said in japanese for Mina and Yuta.
“Hyung did we run out of candies?” Another voice was heard whining cutely in japanese making Yuta understand what he said. He ran towords Johnny’s window and offered a handful of candies from his pocket.
“Here, We have lots of it. Take it” he offered politely and charmed Johnny with his beautiful smile. Johnny grabbed the candies and leaned backwards to give the candies to the guy that asked for it. It gave Yuta a space to catch a glimpse of the inside when suddenly, he locked gaze to the guy that was sitting next to Johnny. Wow, Yuta thinks, that man is super handsome and his stare somehow hypnotized him. They stared at each other for about 5 seconds when the view went back to Johnny’s face.
“Thank you” he offered Yuta a pretty smile and Yuta also heard a Thank you coming from the back.
“You’re welcome. You better keep going though, you might find it hard to look for a place to stay. It’s almost 4pm.” He worriedly informed Johnny.
“Oh! That’s right. I almost forgot. Thank you again. We’ll go now. Bye!” The three waved at them, seeing them slowly faded out of the road.
“ughhh…but our place looks more pretty though, if I would say” Mina said after a while.
“It’s okay, they’ll comeback.” Jaehyun said comfortingly.
Meanwhile, Yuta only fixed his stare towards the path when they went back. He can’t forget the face and the stare the guy named Taeyong gave him. He didn’t realized he was smiling when Jaehyun asked him if he’s okay.
“I am, don’t worry.” He hope that Johnny will true to his words and that they will visit Otomori. For the first time that he got here, he finally have something to look forward to.