Time captures everyone; and through the cycles of life and death, Kouichi watches familiar faces vanish or age. Feels the pull of rumors and the whispers of awakening. Finds dead-ends and loose ends. Learns, but never learns enough. And time and again, discovers what makes one human and what does not.
But, in the pull of a century. A half more. Shijima knows him enough to realize each depression of the keypad. Each tiny expression. Each unconscious gesture. Had signaled some draw. And that had been enough.
You're talking to that girl again.
And he can feel the smile as he (almost) startles. As snaps the phone shut.
"It's nothing like that," and in times past, he can almost feel the bat of paw. The uncomfortable ruffling of feathers. "It was only a question."
no subject
But, in the pull of a century. A half more. Shijima knows him enough to realize each depression of the keypad. Each tiny expression. Each unconscious gesture. Had signaled some draw. And that had been enough.
You're talking to that girl again.
And he can feel the smile as he (almost) startles. As snaps the phone shut.
"It's nothing like that," and in times past, he can almost feel the bat of paw. The uncomfortable ruffling of feathers. "It was only a question."