July 19, Saturday
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There was a quote Mai had come to love when she was a child. It was what her father whispered to her every night whenever thunder rolled down the heavens.
"The rain came down upon my head - Unshelter'd. And the wind rendered me mad and deaf and blind."
It came to her again as she stared deep into the dense sky. The clouds were meshed together in many layers, presenting the humans with a wondrous offering of infuriating downpour. It wasn't raining as hard as the day before, though it was raining hard enough to elicit booming Martelé's and heavy Irato's. She didn't even know how she could remember the whole passage, word for word even. It had been more than a decade since she last heard it.
Perhaps it was because of the melancholy of the whole situation she was confronted with now. With harsh rain came thunder and wind, all of which were grating on her nerves. Accompanied by no one but her waterproof satchel and her waterproof umbrella, Mai had travelled every nook and cranny of Tokyo, scouring every corner for a miracle—to no avail. Still, no one was merciful enough to gift her with the blessing of work.
It really isn't fair, she thought. She had encountered more than a dozen youths working in some of the places she sought out. They were even around her age, some even younger than her. They looked as if they wanted to go home or go to somewhere people usually go to when it's summer. If only their employers knew that there was someone who's enthusiastic about working!
Yet, Mai couldn't blame them for not hiring her; she looked like a frazzled duckling. While rain that came down upon her head had dried, it refused to leave without leaving its presence. Her hair was ruined, her shirt was wrinkled, and her spirits were dampened. She hated the rain.
And, oh! There's more!
She was currently in one of her most loathed places in the world—Shibuya.
There were so many people that she could feel herself slipping away into the underworld just by thinking about the mass of bodies that seemed to engulf her presence more and more in each passing second. Men, women, girls and boys alike swarmed around her figure wherever she was: at sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, stores, even in the bathroom! Her forgotten claustrophobia crept at her in minutely intervals.
Maybe it's a good thing that I hadn't been hired here...
Her irrational fear of confined places wasn't the only thing that made her abhor this district. The people themselves, and not just their body masses, made her uncomfortable. The carefree nature they flaunted, the unnatural cheer they exuded, the freedom they possessed… They irked her.
(But maybe that's only green envy talking.)
The duckling sighed, her shoulders sagging as she did. She never made a hobby of keeping dark thoughts around, so why should she start now? With regained fervor, she hunted the stalls once more, an exhausted smile tucked in place.
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A/N: Um… hi? I would tell you about my excuses for just updating now, but you'd probably just want to kill me even more…:D And sorry about the length. This chapter is a bit short 'cause it's an introduction to a new arc. Thanks for reading!
x
Martelé: a kind of bow stroke; literally "hammered"; to produce an intense note forcefully.
Irato: to perform a specific passage in an agitated manner, as if irate, angry or passionate.