Chapter Text
As usual, the streets of Shibuya were bustling. Crowds and individual all wandered and gathered in different directions, the city being loud and busy. It brought a sense of familiarity, comfort, as you aimlessly let your legs carry you through the crowd. There was no purpose to your steps, earbuds keeping you distracted and entertained, but you kept walking nonetheless.
It’s not until you bump into someone that you’re finally pulled out of your reverie, eyes snapping up to catch sight of the person you carelessly ran into and mouth falling open to apologise.
They beat you to it.
“Ah, I’m sorry! I should have been looking where I was going.” His eyes meet yours, mouth curving into a small, apologetic smile. You can’t help but smile too – you found his nervousness endearing.
You’re so caught up you almost forget to apologise back.
“Oh no–” you quickly counter, “–I should have been paying attention to where I was walking. I’m sorry for bumping into you.” His lips part slightly as he smiles at you, doe eyes sparkling. He apologises one last time before he’s wandering off. You watch him go, see him disappear into the crowd, and a small part of you wants to follow him.
But you don’t.
Instead you turn, humming quietly to yourself.
You decide to take a walk down by the river.
It’s quiet when you get to the river. Hardly anyone is there and you can clearly hear the quiet beat of your earbuds. You feel calm. You decide to wander around for a while before you take a seat on the river bank.
There’s no purpose to you being here, not really. There was hardly any purpose to your actions ever, merely going along with life just as the river flows languidly downstream. With little intention and few obstructions, you were free to live life as you pleased, taking your path as it came.
Sometimes you wished you had the energy to change the normalcy of your life. You wanted something new, unfamiliar. Something that would leave your head spinning and have you desperately reaching and grabbing for the regularity of your prior life. You wanted something that would change you completely and forcefully mould you into a new person. You wanted past and present experiences to meld into one, to shape you into an amalgamation of who you were and who you could be.
You wanted change.
But you didn’t have the energy to change yourself, not that extremely. You only had the power within yourself to follow the non-conventional routine that you had so carefully structured for yourself. As much as you wanted change, the idea of unfamiliarity also scared you.
Nothing could reach into your glass box. And you weren’t sure whether or not you happy about that.
You’re so caught up in your mind you hardly notice how quiet it’s gotten. You almost miss the lack of people around you. The discomfort is hard to ignore though. The hairs standing up on the back of your neck, the heavy sense of dread forcing weight onto your chest.
For a moment, it feels like you can’t breathe.
I’m overreacting, you tell yourself. Everyone must be in the city. So you force yourself onto your legs and shakily make your way back into Shibuya. You feel sick to your stomach when you realise that there’s no one there.
You hunt for other people for a while, your throat dry and sore from shouting. You’re almost sure that you won’t come across another person and are all alone in the big city. Your earbuds don’t work anymore, so you dug through your bag and dished out a Walkman and some headphones. The quiet thrum of the music is the only thing keeping you sane.
You’re on your way to a subway station – you hope to catch a train to the next city and see if there’s anyone there that can help you – when you hear something.
Shouting.
Overjoyed, you find yourself screaming back, running towards the sound of the voice that’s also desperately shouting at you. For you. You’ve never run so hard and so fast in your life. You almost cry when you see them, all three of them. You almost run into their arms and laugh like you’re old friends.
But you don’t.
Instead you just smile at them while you try to catch your breath.
“I thought–” a pause, “I thought we were alone here.” You look up to meet eyes with the shortest one. He’s half hidden behind the tall blonde, and the moment you two make eye contact he’s looking elsewhere.
Still, you respond. “I thought I was alone too, I was just heading to the subway station. And then I found you guys.” Your throat hurts, it’s raw and crisp, but you need to talk; you need something to keep you grounded.
The tall one speaks up then, watching you warily. “Subway Station? Why?” You don’t know whether he’s curious or judging you, most likely both, but you’re too tired too care.
”I thought maybe I could get help from another city. I thought someone could help me.” You look up at them, all of them, a silent plea. Please help me.
The final one smiles at you – it’s then you recognise him as the boy you bumped into earlier – and you can’t help but smile too. He takes your hands in his, a promise, and it’s only then that you finally relax and take deep, even breaths. You’re safe now, you know it for sure.
”Arisu Ryohei,” he says firmly.
”What?”
”My name. It’s Arisu.” Your head is still foggy and barely registers his voice. It doesn’t help that Supersonic is ringing through your ears, the music hardly there but almost deafening. He takes your silence as a cue to go on. “These are my friends Chota and Karube. We were all together when–”
”When the people disappeared,” you reply warily.
The short one – Chota? – finally looks you in the eyes. He tries to smile at you, but everything almost becomes static in the haze of your mind. Nothing’s in focus and your chest is heaving.
Talk. Talk about anything, just speak.
“My name,” you almost shout, eyes desperately focusing on Chota and nails pulling at skin. “My name it’s–”
“Don’t force yourself,” it’s Arisu who speaks again this time. “We’ll be fine.”
And for a second, you almost believe it.