Outside it was cold, the first of the winter's snowfalls already beginning. Toshiro shivered, half regretting the hoodie and debating the possibility of going back to get a coat instead.
But despite the slight discomfort, the weather was refreshingly delightful. He held out his hand, palm up, and watched curiously as a snowflake drifted down. It'd been a while since he had stopped to watch the snow.
He tranquilly meandered along the icy sidewalk, wandering without having a destination in mind. Although the virtual reality of the Oasis made every feeling realistic, it still wasn't quite the same as actually being outside.
Somehow he ended up in the park, mostly deserted in the cold weather. The ground was paved with a fresh layer of snow, a pure unblemished white without any of the gray slush characteristic of the trodden-on snow that the streets outside the apartment building were filled with.
Wait, no. There was a faint footprint in front of him, almost too light to be seen except for the edges of the indentation that were lightly brushed with a gray-black. The print was small, perhaps half the size of his own shoe.
Toshiro frowned. It looked like a kid had walked there, but why would a child be out here so recently in this weather, especially alone?
He bent down to take a closer look. There were actually footprints ahead and behind that he hadn't noticed when standing up. A trail. He couldn't see another path though, indicating that the child had indeed been alone.
Curiosity piqued, Toshiro followed the string of footprints. They were difficult to discern, especially as the trail went on, as the gray gradually faded and vanished, leaving only the indentations that were faint themselves. But Toshiro's time in the Oasis had not been wasted; he had previously gone through exercises like this in the virtual world. Although then he hadn't been quite so cold then as he was now, but that did little to deter him.
Suddenly, instead of the barren ice-land that the trail had been on before, it began to curve, veering into the grove on trees that grew along the perimeter of the park. The trees were evergreen, but had been caught in the flurry as well, leaving it too sprinkled with bits of shimmering white.
But the footprints continued on among the forest without seeming to have an actual destination, winding its way through the trees without stopping. Then, as suddenly as it had turned into the forest, the trail came to an abrupt stop at a single tree.
Toshiro looked around, trying to identify another print. The kid couldn't have just disappeared into thin air, could he?
Unless…the kid had climbed into the tree? What point was there in that, though, getting all wet in the snow?
Toshiro bent down and shuffled underneath the branches. The first branch was perhaps four feet off the ground, not much was notable about it.
He peered up at the other branches. It just seemed like a regular tree…until he spotted the brown canvas bag hanging at the tip of one of them that was fairly high up. He would have to climb to get it.
He sighed. Getting wet was definitely a nuisance, but he was too curious to let the bag slide from his thoughts. Besides, finding out what the kid was doing was probably the right thing to do, in case it was something dangerous.
Just as he was about to grab onto the lowest branch and start climbing, a voice asked, "Who are you?"