0.∞
White snow covered the earth.
A winter landscape that stretched out into infinity. The sky was jet black, though it wasn’t dark. Everything shimmered as if lit by pure, white sunlight.
A girl’s voice broke the silence.
“What happened to your dream?”
Somewhere, a pair of empty cicada shells clung to the bark of a tree.
After a moment, a boy’s voice answered back.
“What dream?”
Two sets of footprints disturbed the otherwise untouched ground, extending far into the distance—beyond sight.
“What do you mean! The only thing you used to ever talk about!”
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
Keshi Kagami, 18, walked shoulder-to-shoulder with his childhood friend Runa, trudging through deep snow.
Runa laughed, leaning in close with an incredulous look.
“You’re really gonna pretend, huh.”
Of the two, only Runa had dressed sensibly for the weather. She wore tan high-top winter boots over dark navy stockings that matched the pleated skirt of her school uniform. A burgundy scarf echoed the flush of her cheeks and nose, while her emerald coat brought out the soft, misty green of her irises. Her naturally wavy, light auburn hair was loosely stuffed beneath a hand-knit frog hat—two lopsided eyes stitched to the top stared ahead with a kind of childlike melancholy.
Keshi wore a pair of old, off-white sneakers with gray jeans—the knees long since worn through. His hands were jammed in the front pocket of a hoodie that was pulled up over his head, hiding his medium-length, messy brown hair. Even if its color had faded, it burned crimson against the all-white townscape. Like Runa, the cold was visible on his face, but Keshi seemed not to notice. He stared down at his feet with a troubled expression.
“I don’t know, Runa. That was so long ago. A lot’s happened.”
Runa’s eyes drifted up toward the pale gray sky. As she spoke, her hot breath formed new clouds above their heads.
“Yeah, I guess so. All that time doesn’t feel real to me now, though.”
Runa’s gaze fell back to Keshi, the corners of her mouth curled into a cheeky smile. Without warning, she leapt towards him, scooping up his arm and squeezing it tightly, burying her head into his shoulder.
Upon feeling her touch, Keshi froze in the middle of the street. He stood there, motionless, not acknowledging the sudden embrace.
Runa’s lips nearly brushed against Keshi’s earlobe as she leaned in and whispered,
“I never stopped searching for you…”
Keshi said nothing, body stiff, eyes fixed on something off in the distance.
“And look!”
Runa playfully swung Keshi’s arm around like a doll’s arm.
“I finally found you! Hee-hee!”
Keshi yanked his arm away, his expression suddenly angry.
“What are you talking about. You’re the one who left. Not me.”
Runa stared at Keshi with a look of surprise. After a long moment, her lower lip curled into a helpless frown.
“You’re still mad at me…”
Her eyes drifted down to her feet.
“Maybe if you knew how hard it was, you’d be a little nicer…”
Keshi stood still in the snow for a moment, then continued to walk on ahead.
“I did look for you then, you know!”
Runa called after him.
“For a long time.”
She clenched and unclenched her mittens.
“A real long time…”
Runa’s eyes narrowed, her cheer replaced by a deep sadness.
“Forever, even…”
Keshi continued to walk away with his back to her. After a long pause, his hood turned slightly to one side.
“It’s not your fault I got lost.”
Runa perked up.
“You got lost?”
“Sometime after you disappeared… I just kind of… stopped living my life.”
The sky reflected in his pupils gave Keshi’s dark eyes an empty clarity.
“For a while now, I’ve watched scenes play out in front of me, but it’s like I’m not really there… Like…”
Keshi found himself face-to-face with a snowman standing outside a residential home. He stared into the snowman’s beady black eyes.
“...I’ve been replaced by someone else.”
As Keshi continued on ahead, Runa, too, stopped to inspect the snowman. Behind it was a stone wall with the nameplate:
Matsuyoi.
“Now, when I look in the mirror, or see a picture of myself… I can’t tell who it is… or what I’m supposed to be looking at.”
With a mischievous grin, Rua grabbed a large chunk out of the snowman’s head, leaving behind a blank, featureless face.
“And if I stare too long… I vanish completely…”
As Keshi trailed off, he found himself standing in the middle of a culvert bridge that ran through the town. He furrowed his brow.
“Maybe that’s why you couldn’t find me. Or why I couldn’t find you.”
“Oh my god, stop!”
Runa’s perfect English snapped Keshi out of his daydream. As he turned his head around, a large snowball pelted him in the face, exploding over his head and neck.
Keshi stood there, stunned, brushing off the snow. A shadow fell over him—he found himself staring into the froggy eyes of Runa’s hat.
“I did find you! And I’m right here!”
Runa stood centimeters away, glaring up at him.
“HEY!!”
She shoved Keshi hard, causing him to lose his balance and fall backward into the snow. Keshi—still in a daze—looked up to see Runa standing over him, her small figure blocking out the sun.
Thick, heavy snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
“This is it. This is the moment.”
Runa stared down at him with a serious face.
“So say something. Do something. Something that isn’t all about poor, sad, stupid Keshi!
…Hmph!”
Runa collapsed to the ground with a whimper.
“I travel so far to find you, and this is how you act. Figures.”
Keshi just sat there, blinking in confusion. Runa scooped an armful of snow into a pile, fake pouting.
“If you curse me somehow, I’ll never forgive you.”
Keshi stared at her—as if for the first time—bewildered, almost smiling.
“What does that mean?”
Runa silently padded the pile of snow with a “you figure it out” expression.
Keshi finally cracked, a small laugh escaping as he spoke.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what my problem is.”
Keshi turned to look out at the snowy townscape, blinking, as if he had just woken up from a long, vivid dream.
No one else was out that day, giving the scene the feeling of an abandoned film set. It had been so long since he’d been back home, but everything looked just as it did, as if the snow had somehow preserved it. Keshi wondered how long it had been… years? No… He’d never been away for more than a few weeks… If ever….
After a long moment, he tilted his head to stare up at the falling snowflakes.
“...Keshi.”
Runa stared at him, her expression softened. Keshi seemed not to notice, alone with his thoughts. He closed his eyes, letting the snow fall down onto his face.
Her voice now carried an earnest, loving tone.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
When Keshi finally spoke, he seemed lost in yet another dream.
“...Hey, I’m starving. What’s your mom making for dinner tonight?”
Runa’s words echoed, as if from a distant memory.
“Casserole. Dad’s coming home. I guess you can come over too, if you’re nice to me.”
Keshi continued to let the snowflakes accumulate on his face, eyes closed.
“Yeah… that sounds good… Hey, where is your dad, anyway? It’s been—”
A horrified scream pierced the air—Keshi’s eyes shot open. Runa was gone. In her place, an unfamiliar girl in a black bodysuit cowered before him in the snow.
Keshi whipped his head around to see the four barrels of a strange-looking handgun pointed directly at his face.
Time froze.
The gun fired with a loud BANG.