Prologue
A bird flew across the canvas
of a bright blue sky. The rays of the November afternoon sun shone softly on
Ikebukuro South Park.
As I lay on the lush green
grass, I didn't mind my head and hands tingling a little at the thought of
sharing the experience with her next to me.
Above my head was a matching
Blue Bottle Coffee in the shape of a cup with a light blue symbol.
I'm a little anxious because I
have a tutoring schedule at K's cram school. Today is Saturday, and I'm meeting
up with Luna, who came to Ikebukuro to meet me before classes started.
“Ahh, how enviable~”
Suddenly, Luna mumbled
something next to me.
“What's wrong?”
When I tilted my face to look
at her, I saw Luna looking straight up at the blue sky.
“Birds can fly anywhere, can't
they?”
“Isn't Luna like that?”
She neither answered my
question nor turned to me. Luna reached out her hand to the blue sky as if she
wanted to grab something.
“I always thought I wanted to
be free.”
She murmured somberly.
“Of what?”
At my second question, Luna
finally turned to look at me. I felt a little relieved when I saw a gentle
smile on her face.
“I don't know. My father is a
free spirit, and my grandmother is busy with her own affairs, so she's not too
fussy. Besides, I get a pretty good allowance, you know?”
With a small smile, Luna looked
up to the sky again.
“...But somehow it feels stiff
and uncomfortable.”
The smile faded from her face
and Luna continued with a serious expression.
“I always wanted to go home.
With dad, mom, Onee-chan and... Maria, I always wanted to go back to the house
where we lived together.”
Her lonely voice was released
into the blue sky as if she had been left alone.
“But unfortunately, such a home
no longer exists in this world.”
The appearance of her face that
said this looked very fragile, as if it might crumble at any moment. However,
her figure was also very beautiful.
