Scene 1: The World That Didn’t Notice Me

My name is Amano Haruki, and I’m the kind of person people forget exists.

Not in the “blending in” sort of way—no, it’s more like… the world just decided I wasn’t worth remembering. At school, I sit in the back corner, the seat by the window—the cliché loner spot, I know. But clichés exist for a reason. No one talks to me, and I never talk first. I eat lunch on the roof, headphones in, books open, like I’m trying to disappear between the pages.

I wasn’t bullied. I wasn’t hated. I was…nothing.

I had my peace, though. After school, I’d walk alone past the outskirts of town, to a forgotten railway line that used to carry trains to the mountains. It was quiet there. Just wind, grass, and the occasional echo of cicadas screaming at the sky.

That’s where I met her.

Scene 2: The Girl and Her Sketchbook

It was early spring. The cherry blossoms hadn’t fully bloomed, and the world still had that gray-blue hue from winter’s ghost. I was sitting under the old railway bridge, reading a dog-eared fantasy novel for the third time, when I heard someone humming.

I looked up.

There, on the opposite side of the tracks, a girl sat with her knees hugged to her chest, sketchbook in hand, pencil dancing. Her long black hair swayed with the breeze, and sunlight filtered through the gaps in the bridge above, casting flickering shadows over her.

She didn’t see me at first. Or maybe she did, but didn’t care. She just kept drawing, her brow furrowed like she was chasing something with her pencil.

I should have looked away. I should have left.

But something about her kept me still.

Eventually, she noticed me.

“Oh,” she said, blinking. “You’re real.”

I blinked back. “...What?”

“I thought you were just part of the background.”

I frowned. “Most people do.”

She grinned. “Cool. That makes two of us.”

Scene 3: An Unexpected Conversation

Her name was Hikari.

“I like places like this,” she said, flipping her sketchbook closed. “Old, forgotten, a little broken. Feels like they remember things people don’t.”

“You come here often?” I asked.

She nodded. “When I need to breathe.”

I looked at her again. She was… strange. Not in a bad way. She didn’t seem nervous or embarrassed. She didn’t act like people normally do when they talk to someone they’ve just met. She was just… there, like a gust of spring wind.

“What were you drawing?”

She held out the sketchbook without hesitation.

It was the railway line, but… different. Overgrown with wildflowers, with stars hanging low in the sky. The bridge was covered in ivy, and a boy sat alone under it, reading.

Me.

“I like to imagine how things used to be. Or how they could be.”

I stared at the picture, words caught in my throat.

“Hey,” she said suddenly, hopping to her feet. “Do you like adventures?”

“...Huh?”

“You know, like finding lost places, forgotten stuff. Exploring.”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

Her eyes sparkled. “Good. Then let’s go find something tomorrow. Meet me here after school.”

And just like that, she walked away, humming again.

I stood there, stunned.

That was the first time someone had asked me to go anywhere with them in years.

Scene 4: The Beginning

That night, I couldn’t focus on anything. Her words looped in my mind like a melody I couldn’t shake.

“Let’s go find something tomorrow.”

“Do you like adventures?”

It was absurd. I barely knew her. She didn’t even ask if I wanted to. She just said it like it was already decided.

But the weird thing was... I wanted to.

For the first time in forever, the world didn’t feel entirely gray.

There was a spark. A flicker.

And her name was Hikari.

[To Be Continued]