I have a lunch shift the next day but am a bit disappointed to learn Yuki is off. The restaurant is slower than it has been since Golden Week started and I spend a lot of my time just standing around, looking for things to do.

“Takaya!” Tamura calls out while I’m wiping down menus. “Come help me carry this food.”

He speaks in his usual nagging tone, but I can see on his face that he’s refreshed from his five-day vacation.

I’m running food to a table when Shun appears in the waiting area. I watch him follow Yasuhiro. Our eyes meet and we acknowledge each other with a bow, but the momentary distraction causes him to almost bump into another customer. He flinches at the realization, and I try to stifle a laugh.

Shun stays even longer than usual, hunched over a sketchbook with his empty dishes pushed to the side. My shift ends at the same time Shun brings his receipt to the counter. Our eyes meet again as I’m leaving the staff room with my backpack slung over my shoulder. He tucks his change into his wallet and follows me out the door. We walk together as if it had been planned.

“You stayed for a long time today,” I comment.

“I did?” He lifts his phone and looks at the screen. “Oh, you’re right.”

The sun hasn’t set yet, but the cloudy sky makes it feel like dusk. Shun and I turn a corner and find red lights flashing off an ambulance and a police car. They’re parked on the opposite side of the intersection where I usually part ways with Yuki. In front of the ambulance is a partially deformed motorcycle laying on its side. Not far from it is a white van with an enormous dent in its side. There are long black tire marks curving on the ground in the middle of the intersection. A police officer is talking to a distraught-looking man while two people in light blue uniforms and white helmets carry a wheeled stretcher. The person on it is covered by a white cloth.

“Whoa.” I slow down to observe the unfortunate scene. “Looks like there was a really bad accident.”

It takes me a moment to realize Shun is not beside me. Turning around, I find him a few steps behind. He is completely frozen, watching with the widest eyes I’ve ever seen on him.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

It’s almost as if time has stopped for him as he continues to stare straight at the accident with the same expression. Confused, I approach him but am startled when he abruptly covers his ears with his hands. I look around as if it’ll help me find the source of the sound he’s trying to block out, but only hear cars driving by and the innocent beeping of the crosswalk signal. The ambulance and police car have their sirens turned off.

I don’t know what to say or do. Is he playing around? He’s not the type to do that, though… right? I feel even more baffled when he squeezes his eyes shut and crouches to the ground, lowering his head to his knees. I mentally review everything I just saw, trying to understand what is causing him to behave this way, but none of the pieces seem to fit together. There must be something else going on here.

“Shun,” I call, crouching down next to him. “Hey.”

He doesn’t respond.

“Hey,” I try again, gently shaking his shoulder. “What’s the matter?”

Again, nothing.

I stand and walk in a circle, looking around while I resist the urge to panic. People who aren’t distracted by the accident are staring at Shun, and people who aren’t preoccupied with either are staring at me. It probably looks like I did something to him. I’m embarrassed, worried, and just as confused as they are.

“Hey, Shun.” I crouch down beside him again and place my hand on his back.

This time he lifts his head. I’m alarmed when I see his glassy eyes.

“Come on. Let’s go home.” I try to speak softly.

He reluctantly nods before standing. I place my hand on his back as if to keep him facing away from the accident on our way down the street. I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but it must have been caused by the grim scene before us.

Once the flashing lights are no longer in view, I take my hand off Shun’s back and slide it into my pocket. I try to shake off my uneasiness by playing with some spare change inside it. We walk in silence, and I never look at Shun. I’m too scared to. His face when he saw the intersection and the faraway gaze in his eyes haunt me somehow.

Arriving at the door of our house, Shun stops, probably wanting to let me go in first. I slide the key into the door and open it slightly before finally looking over at him. His head is down, and his cheeks are wet. Concerned, I shut the door and turn to face him again.

“What’s wrong?” I demand.

He doesn’t respond.

What the hell could have happened to make him break down like this all of a sudden? Was he in a car accident before?

“Shun.” I put my hand on his shoulder, ready to ask him for details. When I feel how he shivers beneath my grasp, I stop myself. Maybe now’s not the time.

“Let’s go inside,” I sigh, repositioning my hand to his back to guide him toward the door.

Thankfully, no one is in the kitchen to witness us coming in. Shun waits for me to take my shoes off. Then I wait for him to do the same. Without a word, we walk down the hallway together and stop in between our doors. Shun doesn’t go straight into his room. Instead, he stands next to me facing the wall. I want to escape to my own space already, but at the same time, I feel kind of bad just leaving him like this.

“Um,” I start awkwardly. “Are you going to be okay?”

There is a short pause before he answers, “Yeah,” and turns to unlock his door.

“Are you sure?” I ask just in case.

“Yeah.” He opens the door and enters his room, keeping his back turned to me.

I watch him disappear behind his door, waiting until I hear the click of it locking. I still have a weird feeling in my gut when I return to my room. Sinking into my bed, I pull my phone out of my pocket to distract myself. There is a new LIME message from Yuki.

Yuki
Yes he is! His name is Jiji 😺

I re-read my previous message asking if the rabbit in her picture is her pet. I had almost forgotten that I sent it earlier. I begin to type a reply, but my fingers remain stationary as I stare at the blinking cursor on my screen. I wonder if Shun is okay.

Eventually, the intruding thoughts cause me to set my phone aside and reach for my computer. This time I shamelessly search for Shun’s blog. The page loads, and I flick my finger on the mouse pad repeatedly. After scrolling for a few minutes and seeing how tiny the bar on the right of my screen is, I click and drag it to the bottom. There is a close-up photo of the dreamcatcher tattoo, the skin around it looking red and puffy. I focus my attention on the text below it.

I finally got it! It was so painful but so worth it!
A dreamcatcher! Isn't it perfect?

I scroll up a bit to search for the date of the post—October, two years earlier. I scroll up more to find photos of clothing items. The text is solely about the clothes and the post is dated April of last year. That leaves over half a year of no activity in between. Why didn’t he post anything for so long after his first entry? I slowly scroll up, checking the contents of each post, but they’re all about clothing and art. There appears to be nothing on his personal life for a while.

Before I know it, an hour has passed. Giving up on the blog, I put away my computer and try to think about food. What should I eat for dinner? Should I make something or order delivery again? I wonder if Shun’s going to eat. Hopefully, he’s not crying anymore.

The morning of my last shift of Golden Week, I sluggishly get dressed and brush my teeth while unwelcome memories of the previous day jab at me. I don’t think I heard Shun come out of his room even once last night. I wonder if he’s okay.

I open my room door to see that Shun’s is still firmly closed. The kitchen is empty and quiet. I prepare and eat breakfast before passing by Shun’s door again. I change into a T-shirt and faded denim jeans and don’t bother to do anything with my hair before throwing my backpack over my shoulder and locking my room door behind me. I stop to look over my shoulder at Shun’s door once more and strain to listen for a sign that he’s in there. Silence.

What if I knocked? Who would open it? Would it be the Shun that stares me down with his glare, the Shun who won’t look me in the eye, or the Shun that I saw yesterday? I’m scared to find out, but for some reason, I can’t pry myself away.

What am I doing? My logical self chides. I turn on my heel and head to work.

The street is damp with the aftermath of rain, but I have to shade my eyes from the bright sky. As I approach the intersection, I search for evidence from the night before. Everything other than the eerie black tire marks is gone.

The image of Shun’s wide-eyed gaping face flashes before me again, followed by the look of his wet cheeks and shaking shoulders. What went on inside him yesterday? What happened to him in his past that made him react that way? Has he been in an accident before? I wonder if he continued to cry after that. Did he ever leave his room? Could he still be crying right now?

I swallow against the tide of my immense curiosity. Why do I even care?

The same conflicting thoughts continue to rotate inside my head even after I’ve walked through Yumeya’s door and put on my professional face.

"What's up, Blondie?" My thoughts are disturbed by Manami's friendly voice. I look up to find her with her head rested against her palm, leaning over the counter toward me. "Having a staring contest with that piece of paper?"

I look down at my blank order pad. I didn't realize I had been staring at it until now.

"What 'cha thinkin' about?" she sings.

"I'm thinking about," I pause to ponder how I should word my answer. "This person I'm having a hard time understanding."

"You know someone who's hard to read?" she confirms.

"Yeah, I guess you could put it that way."

"I once dated a guy who was hard to read," she mentions.

How many guys has this girl dated?

"I'd ask him if he wanted to eat ice cream, he'd say no, and then ten minutes later he'd buy himself ice cream. God, he was weird." She rolls her eyes.

Before I can comment on yet another of her ex-boyfriend stories, Tamura turns the corner and orders me to go on break. In the staff room, I pull out my phone to check LIME, finding red numbers next to my group chat with Koki and the guys, my friends back home, and Haruka. Seeing the photo of Jiji under Haruka makes me jolt. Oops! I forgot to reply. How could I have been so distracted? I mentally shake off the image of a dreamcatcher and type out the first sentence that comes to mind.

When my shift ends, I run into Yuki on my way out of the changing room. I'm instantly reminded of how infatuated I am by her when I see her floral blouse and hair in a messy bun. We laugh over having opposite shifts again and my mood is lifted. Happy to have the chance to see her today, I smile to myself as I step out into warm sunshine. I'm even happier when I find Yuki's new message waiting for me.

Yuki
What about u?
Do u have any pets? 😸

My eyes remain glued to the phone screen the entire way home, as I concentrate on replying to Yuki and the rest of my friends. I don’t look up at the intersection once. I don’t need to. It’s not even on my mind. Not one little bit.