Sakurakai City glimmered softly under the light of the full moon, a city of quiet streets and distant voices. The night had an eerie stillness, broken only by the occasional hum of a car passing down the road. Kaito Ishida staggered slightly, his vision swimming as he leaned against a lamppost, clutching a bottle of cheap sake in his hand. Beside him, his best friend, Haruto Takeda, was even worse for wear. Haruto had long since abandoned any pretense of grace, hiccupping every few seconds and swaying dangerously as he tried to keep his balance.
"Man, you okay?" Haruto slurred, his grin wide, showing no sign of concern despite the obvious state they were both in.
Kaito hiccupped, his gaze unfocused as he looked down at the empty streets. His heart felt heavier than the bottle in his hand. He had no energy left to hold back the pain. It had been a week since she left. Aya, his girlfriend. The girl he had hoped would understand him, the one he thought he could build a future with. Now she was gone, and all that remained was the hollow emptiness that gnawed at him.
"You... you know, Haruto," Kaito said, his voice shaky as he tried to hold it together, "I thought I was different. I thought I was... someone she could understand. But no. She dumped me, man. She dumped me like I was nothing. After everything... I thought she was the one who would get it, you know? Why didn't she understand? Why didn't she stay?"
His voice cracked at the end, and his grip tightened around the bottle, his knuckles white. Tears blurred his vision, and the frustration, the loneliness, bubbled up like a wave that finally broke.
Haruto blinked, looking at his friend with bleary eyes, his expression softening. He put a hand on Kaito's shoulder, though it wobbled with the drunken motion.
"Hey, man, you gotta stop thinking like that," Haruto said, swaying on his feet but steadying himself. "It's not your fault. Sometimes people just... don't work out, you know? You're a good guy. She... she probably just didn't see it."
Kaito let out a bitter laugh, wiping away a tear that had slipped down his cheek.
"Doesn't feel that way, man. Doesn't feel that way at all." He shook his head in disbelief. "I gave her everything, and in the end, it was just nothing. I'm nothing."
Haruto, a little more sober now, tilted his head back, staring up at the sky as if searching for something to say.
"Okay, okay," Haruto said, grinning wide, "But listen to me, Kaito. You're a good-looking guy, you've got an aesthetic body, you're sweet as hell. You're, like, the total package. She doesn't deserve you if she couldn't see that. She's the one who lost out."
Kaito chuckled weakly, rubbing his face with both hands. "It doesn't feel that way, man. You know how it feels when someone just... leaves. Without a second thought."
"You gotta stop blaming yourself," Haruto said. "Come on, let's just enjoy the night. Forget about it for now. I mean, hey, we're both high, right? Who cares about her?"
They both burst out laughing at the absurdity of it, and Kaito found himself snickering through the tears. Haruto was right in a sense. Who cares about her?
Suddenly, Haruto stopped laughing and pointed ahead, his finger trembling as he gazed at something in the distance.
"Yo, what is that?" Haruto asked, his voice a little more serious now. Kaito blinked through the haze of alcohol and followed his friend's gaze. His heart skipped a beat as he saw what Haruto was pointing at.
It was a small, secluded shrine. Neither of them had ever noticed it before, even though they had walked down this road countless times in their childhood. It wasn't there when they were kids, was it? Kaito couldn't remember.
"Wait," Kaito muttered, his voice low and almost cautious, "I don't think we've been here before..."
Haruto wobbled forward, clearly intrigued, and Kaito hesitated for a moment before following him. They both stumbled up the small steps leading to the shrine, their laughter growing quieter as they reached the stone offerings.
Sitting down in front of the shrine, they uncorked their sake bottles and took long swigs. The moonlight filtered down through the trees, casting eerie shadows over the shrine's stone structure. There was an odd sense of quiet serenity in the air, and for a moment, Kaito felt the tension ease from his body.
"This place... feels weird, right?" Haruto said after a moment of silence, his voice tinged with uncertainty.
Kaito shrugged, not caring much. "Yeah, but who cares? It's just some shrine. Probably some random thing that popped up. Doesn't matter."
For a while, they sat there in silence, the night stretching on. Kaito could feel the sadness creeping back in, the weight of his broken heart pressing down harder than before.
"You know, I hate this feeling," Kaito said suddenly, his voice hollow. "This feeling like I'm not even worth being loved. Like there's no one out there who could ever get me. I... I just want someone who really understands me, you know? Not some fake love, not someone who'll just leave when it gets tough. I want someone who's just like me. Someone who gets me better than anyone in this whole damn universe."
Haruto glanced at him, but his expression was full of drunken amusement. "What are you, some kind of philosopher now, Kaito? You've been watching too much anime, man."
Kaito ignored him, his eyes focused on the shrine ahead. "I challenge you, God," he muttered, his voice low but firm. "I want someone just like me. Someone who can understand me. Not just someone who can love me—someone who knows exactly what it feels like to be me. If that kind of person even exists, bring her to me. But I know she doesn't, because no one's out there. Not in this world. God won't bring her to me. No one can ever get me."
Haruto burst into laughter, his voice echoing in the still night air.
"Man, you are so drunk," Haruto said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "You know, you're just asking for trouble, right? There's no way that'll happen. You can't just challenge God like that and expect to get what you want!"
Kaito let out a shaky sigh, his eyes focused on the shrine again. "Yeah... whatever. It's just... I'm so tired of being alone."
Haruto leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. "Well, guess what, man? If God's listening, I bet he'll bring you someone even weirder than you. Maybe a... a goth girl who likes all the same stuff, but also wears creepy dolls on her necklace."
Kaito snorted, the absurdity of it making him chuckle. "I don't care if she's goth, man. I just want someone who gets it."
The two of them broke into a ridiculous song at that point, singing some cringy old pop tune they had heard as kids. Their voices were out of sync, their lyrics barely coherent, but it didn't matter. The world was hazy and forgotten in the warm embrace of drunken laughter.
As the minutes ticked by, their singing faded, and both boys dozed off under the full moon.
---
The hours passed, and the silence of the shrine was uninterrupted. Morning light began to filter through the trees, casting long shadows across the ground. Kaito awoke with a groan, his head pounding, the remnants of alcohol clouding his mind.
He rubbed his eyes, trying to push the sleep away, but something felt strange. He blinked rapidly, shaking his head to clear the fog. He nudged the body next to him.
"Hey, Takeda, why are you so soft?" he muttered, still half-asleep. But as he looked down, his words caught in his throat.
It wasn't Haruto lying beside him.
A girl lay there, her long, dark hair splayed out over the ground. She wore the same suit as Kaito—the same uniform from their company.
Kaito's breath hitched. His heart pounded in his chest as he shoved the girl's shoulder. "Takeda?!" he called, his voice frantic now.
Haruto groggily stirred next to him, rubbing his eyes. "What? What's going on?" He froze mid-motion as he saw the girl next to Kaito.
"Do you know her?" Kaito asked, his voice full of confusion and disbelief.
Haruto looked back and forth between Kaito and the girl, shaking his head.
"I... I have no idea."
The girl stirred at that moment, her eyes snapping open. As she saw Kaito and Haruto, she let out a loud, startled scream.
Kaito's heart skipped a beat.
"Who are you?! Why are you—" she shouted, sitting up abruptly.
The moon had long since set, but the question still lingered in the air. How could she be here? And why did she look so much like... him?
---
End of Chapter One.