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His legs worked at a mechanical pace, feet hitting the pavement with a rhythmic drone, but all Kakeru could feel was a cool mist flowing against his skin. It tinged the edges of his vision, only flickering out when he would breathe it in, feeling it rejuvenate his lungs for a loaded second before it would embrace his periphery again.
Light peeked through trees and pierced the fog, and he ran towards it until his chest begin to heave, legs struggling to carry him any further. He fell to the ground and let the mist caress his vision as he waited. Empty thoughts slipped away from him like sand through shaky fingers, piling under him to count time. All he could do was stare at the grains and try to figure out how many were there through the darkness, which was slowly giving way until they were bathed in an ocean of gold, the pounding of footsteps coming in waves. Kakeru finally tore his eyes away from the sand to look up for relief.
Instead, he found a light even more blinding.
Haiji.
He barreled ahead of Kakeru, beckoning for him to stand, and Kakeru’s legs lifted the rest of his body up, carrying him of their own volition.
As hard as he tried, he couldn’t catch up. He felt an overwhelming urge to laugh, but if he did, the current of haze rushing against him would just carry it away. His legs churned on as Haiji suddenly stopped, turning around to beam and wave at him. It cut through the current, and the friction sent Kakeru keeling over again.
But this time, he didn’t hit the ground.
Haiji beckoned for him to look up, but he couldn’t bring himself to. If he did, everything would fade away before he was ready. After all, the stars were already reflected in Haiji’s eyes.
By the way…Kakeru, do you have a girlfriend?
Of course not! Where did you get that idea from?
Well, the night sky was just so pretty…
And Kakeru reached out like a man who wanted to drown, clinging onto Haiji for dear life as an indomitable force dragged him back to the surface.