ᴀ ᴅʀᴏᴘ ᴏғ sᴜᴍᴍᴇʀ
[REBELS AGAINST GOD]
—001 : of june and cherry blossoms—
Saturday.
Summer's end.
A bridge, two strangers, and three words.
"Take a look around the city. I'm sure you'll come to love it."
Hatsune Miku remembered her older brother's exact words, the cheeriness once again ringing dully like a broken bell in the back of her mind as she wandered amidst the hot afternoon air and bustling atmosphere.
Mikuo had offered to come with her when the younger girl hesitated, thinking she was intimidated by the new people and unfamiliar places.
"I'm sixteen. I think I can handle a little walk by myself," Miku had countered back with a roll of her eyes, leaving her brother standing still at the doorway while she hurried out like someone who was lost but wouldn't admit it, trying to get away from who-knows-what, trying to get to who-knows-where.
Two weeks before school started. Everything was too bright and dreary. A road was paved directly in front of Miku's house, greeting the teen with noises of vexed honks and the subdued, hasty roars of cars as they sped past. Strangers that blurred by like the extras in a movie, grey and not defined clearly, only flashing in the scene once, maybe twice.
I'm sure they're in a hurry to important places that are waiting for them.
And as she walked, not as much a sightseeing trip since she stared at her feet the whole time, her mind not even on what was around her, the more she just hated it all. The busy city sounds, the rush of people and traffic, how the summer sun was blinding as it reflected off white surfaces. An unsatisfying crack in the pavement or the fact that everyone smiled too much and cared too little, or the garbage that was littered off to the edge of the sidewalk—crushed aluminum cans and almost-empty plastic bottles and crumpled papers no one will get to read anymore—looking as if they'd get swept into the incoming cars and churned away any moment.
In the first ten minutes of strolling around, Miku could positively say she hated everything about this place.
It wasn't my choice to transfer and leave my only friend.
A quick hug goodbye. No, not goodbye, a "see you later". Miku and Rin had promised each other they would meet up whenever they could, despite living in different cities now. They weren't too far from one another. They could arrange something in their free time. She acknowledged the empty agreements for a café date, a walk around, a movie sometime.
It wasn't my choice I was born with terrible parents who left me.
She was barely aware as she subconsciously followed people she didn't know over crosswalks and intersections, to the steel bridge that loomed over a large river, connecting the two cities on either side of the body of water.
She wasn't supposed to go this far. She wasn't about to return home anytime soon.
It wasn't my choice to be in the mental state that I'm in.
The water below was a dark, murky green-blue, littered with wavering specks of silver and white that reflected the sunlight in the distance. A small motorboat dashed past on the surface, sending seabirds flying and ripples disturbing the previous peace.
Miku walked along the slim sidewalk on the edge of the wide bridge where the pedestrians were allowed, leaving the road for vehicles that raced by with little regard for anything but their own space, sending a gust of wind as they went.
Irritably, the teal-haired girl tucked a strand of hair that kept bothering her behind her ear.
"I just want you to be happy," her brother would say.
Nothing was ever my choice.
Miku halted in the middle of the bridge and turned over to the side, letting others behind her walk ahead as she propped her elbows up on the railing and stared down at the river, fiddling with the teal-and-white bracelet on her left wrist, sweeping her gaze to the buildings and trees and coast aligned below like a picturesque city photo.
"I'm going to be living here for the next few years," Miku whispered to herself, the breeze tugging at her turquoise strands as they began to fall loose again. "I'm going to have to get used to this place, like it or hate it."
A sudden wind carried her words away and dissolved them, like seagull cries in the sweltering heat or sugar in a bitter cup of coffee or her parents' last words to her.
She felt for her phone in her pocket, and as she slipped it out, opening it to Rin's newest message, she adjusted the brightness to match the glowing vividness of everything else around that rendered the phone screen unbearably dark and unreadable.
how're you doing? liking your new place? i miss you a lot~ xx
Miku started typing: No, I hate it, before deleting it midsentence and settling with a lighter text instead.
It's okay. Not as nice as my old home but something about new jobs and opportunities forced me to come here.
She added: I miss you too :), before sending.
Hanging her arms over the edge of the railing, she slid the bracelet off her left wrist and caressed the strung gems gently.
Dad… do you still remember me?
Suddenly, somebody bumped into Miku from behind. A muffled, half-hearted "sorry" and shoes shuffling away. But the impact sent the surprised turquoise-haired girl's bracelet flying out of her loosened grip.
Without thinking, Miku immediately flung herself over the bridge railing and reached desperately for the item, other hand latching onto her phone.
Wait.
Her heart raced like the cars that hurtled past behind her carelessly. The metal bars pressed into her stomach as she hooked her trembling legs onto the railing while the upper half of her body dangled off.
Her teal eyes widened. She lost her foothold and grip.
Oh no.
A gasp. Someone yelling in the distance. An arm twisted around Miku's torso and abruptly yanked her back. The pigtailed girl stumbled onto her feet and eventually crumpled down, breaths coming short and heavy.
"My, are you alright?"
Shock. The stranger's outstretched hand.
Breathless. Miku turned to look up.
A young woman who couldn't have been much older than Miku stood over her, the shadow of her long strawberry pink hair staining the concrete.
"Please don't try anything like that, you're still very young and—"
Miku saw the ocean in her eyes.
"I wasn't trying to… jump, if that's what you thought," the younger girl finally managed, feeling around for her bracelet and letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she realized it was still there. She stood up shakily with the stranger's help, flushing at the scene she must've caused. A few people who stopped to stare continued on with their lives soon after. "T-Thank you… um…"
"Oh, I'm Megurine Luka."
She was like the start of summer, seven years ago when everything was still wondrous and beautiful and new, all at full brightness.
Her smile reminded Miku of June and cherry blossoms.
The younger girl slid her phone into her back pocket, a still there? text from Rin left unanswered. She smiled back, a splash of rose lighting her cheeks.
"Hatsune Miku."