Note: This is the first time I'm writing a story in English (it is not my mother language). If you find the wording strange, please let me know. I hope you will enjoy this story :)

- Chapter 1: In the Rain -

The blue sky from the morning vanished somewhere behind grey rainclouds. A few tiny drops fell from the sky and then, merely a seconds later it was pouring. In the rain, the world looked as though it lost all its light and color. The happiness seemed to be washed away as well, and only a strange, depressing aura filled the air.

Trying to get home as fast as possible, Yuzu rushed through the streets. She didn't have an umbrella and, to tell the truth, the rain actually surprised her. The weather in the morning was so nice she would had never thought it would change so drastically.

The cold rain poured at her mercilessly. Her clothes were completely soaked by now, but she was trying her best to ignore it. In her mind she kept telling herself she would get home soon. She only had to cross the street now and... She suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Red light.

Just perfect, she thought to herself as she waited impatiently for the light to change. She took a look around and only then she realized that the streets were completely empty.

Oh, of course. Everybody just hid in their warm, dry houses. Who would want to walk around in this rain?

And yet it was odd. It wasn't a small city. There was always somebody here or there. But that was not the only thing that stroke her as unusual. Now that she thought about it, the light should had already changed to green. But it didn't. It remained red as though it wanted to make fun of her.

She shook her head. Of course that was impossible. Lights didn't have minds, after all.

She didn't get to dwell on that thought for too long though, as she heard a voice calling to her from behind.

"Hey. You seem like you could use an umbrella."

She turned around and saw a boy with the strangest hair color she had ever seen – it was red and topped with green. The boy's bright red eyes were full of life and a cheerful smile played on his lips. He held an umbrella right above her head protecting her from the rain.

Still very surprised, she thanked him quickly and smiled awkwardly. He shook his head and then, all of a sudden, took her hand into his, then placed it on the umbrella handle. She was confused, but he only said:

"Here, take it. You need it more than I do." And before she managed to reply, he smiled warmly, waved goodbye at her and left running.

She kept standing there even after he vanished in the distance. What a strange guy, she thought and blushed a little bit, smiling to herself. He was strange, but nice. She didn't thank him for the umbrella, though... Well, she would get a chance to do that next time she saw him. She had no doubt that they would meet again. That uniform he was wearing. It was the same as the one the students of her school wore. He seemed to be her age... so she probably didn't have to look too far away to find him.

Then she remembered about the traffic light. She quickly turned to look at it, expecting that it yet again changed to red, but...

The light shone in a bright green color as though it waited just for her.

She let a laugh while talking to her classmates. Yuzu didn't think much about what happened yesterday, but when her friends started asking if she was alright, they knew she didn't took her umbrella, Yuzu smiled and told them about the strange boy she met.

Of course, she didn't forget to tell them about the boy's weird hair color or how she didn't even manage to say anything, because he ran away. When she finished her story she looked at her classmates with a big smile on her face. She was hoping that they would tell her who the mysterious boy was, but to her surprised they stared at her with wide eyes.

She asked them what was wrong, but they only shifted uncomfortably. Yuzu didn't know what to think of it. She gave them a confused look.

Her classmates looked at each other as they were silently trying to communicate and make some kind of decision. Finally one of them let a sigh.

"Oh, c'mon. This is stupid. There's no way she met him!"

Yuzu asked what did she mean by that. Met who? Did they think she was lying?

"No, that's not it." Her classmate moved a little closer to her. "But, you know, weird tomato colored hair, red eyes, always smiling... there is only one guy I knew who could fit that description."

Yuzu found the wording to be a bit strange, but she chose not to say anything about it. She needed to know who it was.

The girls shivered a little.

"Yuzu, he..."

"His name was Yuya Sakaki." The other informed quietly.

Was. Why did they speak of him in past tense? Unless...

The girls fell silent and Yuzu just stared at them completely stunned.

Finally the silence was broken by one of her classmates, who in a soft, trembling whisper said:

"He... died in an accident."

Yuzu couldn't just leave this alone. She didn't know why. Maybe she didn't want to believe that she met a ghost. It was impossible. Ghosts don't just walk around and give umbrellas to girls. They don't smile. They don't look so... alive and happy. Or at least that was what she thought.

And so she tried to find out as much as she could by asking around about who exactly was Yuya Sakaki and what happened to him. It surprised her how little she learnt. Yuya was the one with strange hair color, always smiling – that was all what people remembered about him. Other than that? Nothing. Apparently he had some kind of accident, but nobody knew what exactly happened. Nobody knew anything about his family. He didn't have any friends at school. Even on pictures that showed the entire class he was always absent. Almost as if nobody realized he had ever existed until she asked about him. It was sad and made her angry at these people. The boy she met back then didn't deserve to be treated that way.

After her little investigation Yuzu remained silent for the rest of the day. She wondered what happened to Yuya Sakaki. She just knew she didn't meet a ghost back then, even though everything seemed to scream to her otherwise. Her mind wandered back to her home, to the umbrella that was supposed to be in there. That was the only proof she had. The only proof she really met that boy.

The meeting. The boy. The umbrella. All of that wasn't just a dream, was it?

She wasn't so sure anymore.

When Yuzu returned home she ran straight to her room. The umbrella was leaning innocently against her desk, exactly in the same way she left it there. Yuzu reached out to touch it, but her hand stopped mid-air. Her heart pounded in her chest. She was afraid that it wasn't real, that it would just vanish.

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind out of those pesky thoughts.

Her hand finally touched the handle. It was by all means real. In fact it was so real that she let a short laugh when she gripped it in both her hands. It was so stupid! But now she was more than sure. She didn't meet a ghost. He was there. He was real. After all, he even touched her hand when he gave her the umbrella.

She smiled to herself and looked at her own hand. The smile didn't last for too long however.

He touched her hand back then, but now that she thought about it...

His hand was neither cold nor warm.

It felt... as if it was only a part of her imagination.