Did his phone run out of battery?
Four hours ago, that was the first thought that appeared in Matsuzaka Satou’s mind.
Four hours later.
The sun had already set.
Dinner time had already passed.
The storm had already ended.
Satou had already called that number four times.
But every time, the answer she received was the carrier’s automated message, calm and steady like the marble floor beneath her feet, without the slightest change.
The sky had long since darkened, and the evening rush-hour crowd had already scattered.
The moisture left behind by the heavy rain condensed on the station canopy.
Satou sat somewhat blankly inside the station, gripping her phone so tightly that her knuckles turned pale.
She did not know whether something had happened to her nephew or what.
At one point, she had considered taking a taxi to that big sister’s house herself, only to realize that big sister had never told her where she lived.
Calling big sister was also within Satou’s options.
But she remembered the last thing big sister had told her.
“We’re going to the Arctic for a trip, so please forgive us if our hospitality is lacking.”
“So…
can a Japanese number even reach the Arctic?”
Satou stared at the number in her phone and thought.
Should she try for now?
No…
Maybe they did this on purpose?
Satou felt that was not impossible.
Maybe they wanted her to give up on her own and had staged this whole thing.
After all, who would just so happen to go on a trip to the Arctic right when they had agreed to adopt someone?
And so far away too.
Besides, the adoption paperwork had not even been completed yet.
A lot of the documents were still inside her suitcase.
On top of that, big sister had said her son would come pick Satou up, but all she had sent was his phone number.
She had not even sent a photo of her son, which meant Satou knew nothing about her nephew’s appearance.
How was she supposed to know who he was?
Thinking of that, Satou sighed.
“Aunt, you really are unreliable as always.”
But her aunt had already gone to prison.
Sighing here would not help anything, so she had to think about what to do next.
Should she go back the way she came and discuss going to an orphanage with the police?
Or should she try living alone in Tokyo?
Two choices appeared in Satou’s mind.
An orphanage?
Satou’s parents had died in a car accident when she was very young, so she was an orphan in the truest sense.
If her aunt had not taken her in out of boredom, she would have gone to an orphanage long ago.
So after going around in circles, was she going back there after all?
But she was already fourteen.
Legally, she might still count as a child, but in reality, who would truly treat a half-grown girl like a little kid?
The police had not accompanied her here because of that too.
So Satou knew an orphanage would only see her as another problem.
Another burden waiting to be arranged somewhere.
Orphanage, pass.
“Then I’ll stay in Tokyo.”
Satou said it to herself calmly.
No matter what happened, she rarely showed any major emotional reaction.
If it were a normal girl her age, she probably would have crouched on the ground and cried by now.
A terrifying ability to endure.
Even Satou herself found her own endurance frightening.
But maybe, right now, she was a little close to breaking?
After all, her mouth tasted a little bitter.
Bitterness was a dangerous signal.
Satou took a deep breath and decided to distract herself and change her mood.
On her flip phone, she browsed the search engine website’s little ad recommendations.
During those long four hours earlier, she had been using this method to kill time.
By the way, the phone belonged to her aunt.
Since her aunt had been locked up in prison, Satou had naturally inherited the few possessions she had.
“Looks like Tokyo has a lot of talent scouts.”
Satou saw an interview about underground idols.
A little idol named Ai said she had been discovered by a talent scout in Shibuya, Tokyo, and that was how she became an idol.
“I should be pretty good-looking too, right?
The boys at school always stare at my face, so I should be kind of cute, right?”
Satou switched her phone to selfie mode.
Her delicate face was reflected on the screen.
Satou was not wrong.
She really was quite cute.
Her years of poor nutrition had unexpectedly made her skin especially fair.
Together with the baby fat that still lingered on her oval face and lips as full as pink petals, it was as if all her skill points had been poured into cuteness.
At fourteen, she stood at that delicate boundary between childhood and adolescence.
She had a slender frame, a slim figure, long legs, and a fragile, blooming charm that made her look even more eye-catching.
More importantly, her hair was pink.
It was like a touch of maple-syrup red added into pure milky white.
That was the color pink.
On top of that, she had a strand of ahoge curving forward like a crescent moon.
She had also tied two small buns on top of her head.
It was a hairstyle so cute it practically counted as a crime.
This was cuteness where one plus one became greater than two.
“Cute, huh?”
But beauty is for outsiders.
Satou stared at her own face and only felt it was ordinary.
Because those eyes were too empty.
Her expression was also stiff.
Compared with that idol named Ai, she looked like a living corpse.
So becoming an idol was not something someone could do just by looking good.
She had to be able to smile.
So Satou lightly pressed her lips together at the camera.
The girl on the screen smiled.
Gentle and elegant, but…
“So ugly.”
That was what Satou said.
A smile forced out like that, a smile produced only by matching the atmosphere, could never compare to one that came from the heart.
But she had never smiled from the heart before.
She could not even imitate it properly.
So becoming an idol was definitely impossible.
Then what kind of job could she find in Tokyo to survive?
She was young, had no money, and had nowhere to live…
Satou sighed and called her nephew again.
This was already her fifth time calling.
“The number you have dialed is currently switched off or outside the service area.
Please try again later.”
As expected, it was still the same.
Satou returned to the seats provided by the station.
Fortunately, it was warmer inside the station than outside in the rain.
Even if she lay down on the seat and slept for the night, it should be fine.
And so, Satou really did lie down.
She placed her shoulder bag behind her head and slowly curled up on the cold metal bench.
The curve of the seat pressed painfully against her shoulder blades, but Satou only sighed softly.
She had always been used to enduring things.
But…
Why did her chest feel strangely blocked?
Satou suddenly remembered the time she had a fever as a child.
Her aunt had left her on a clinic bench and walked away by herself.
Back then, her chest had felt blocked too, but she could not describe that strange feeling.
And now, that feeling has appeared again.
Which meant…
“I was thrown away again.”
Satou stared at the white ceiling light above the station.
In this world, it seemed like someone named Matsuzaka Satou really had no reason to exist.
She was all alone, connected to nothing and no one.
Her heartbeat sped up, and her eyes felt a little damp.
Satou curled into a ball on the bench, her pink hair covering her face.
The girl looked like a flower soaked by rain.
[Sorrow] appeared above Satou’s head.
But her voice remained calm.
“So I can’t be an auntie after all.
Bye-bye, nephew.
I hope your phone being off doesn’t mean you died in a traffic accident on the way here.”
It was not a curse.
This was just a concern from an aunt, right?
Satou yawned.
But just as she was about to close her eyes, her phone suddenly rang.
Satou’s body trembled.
She picked up the phone, but the number on the screen was a long string of digits.
At a glance, it clearly was not her nephew, Ayanokouji Ren.
However, the number still looked somewhat familiar.
It seemed a little like…
Big sister’s?
Satou pressed the answer button.
The moment the call connected, a confused and panicked voice came from the other side.
“Satou-chan, did Ren come pick you up?
Why is his phone turned off?”
Satou froze.
Messy thoughts spun around and around in her mind.
In the end, she could only say three words.
“He really died?”
…