Prologue

“The next stop is Kanazaki, the next stop is Kanazaki. Exit is on the right.

I was fiddling with my phone when I heard the train’s announcement. I stood up from my seat and got off at the station. It was night time, and electric lights illuminated the platform.

I am Ryu Sato, an ordinary salaryman working for a small company in Tokyo.

My annual income is not as much as I would like to tell others, but it is enough to live alone and save a little money every month.

“Ugh… I’m hungry. I should eat outside today!”

It has been two years since I started living in this town. I started living here when I graduated from university. With time I’ve gotten used to my job and I’m starting to feel comfortable with my life.

Recently, I’ve been enjoying walking around the restaurants in my neighbourhood. When I passed through the ticket gate of the station, I took the opposite exit from my house and started walking along the “Kanamachi Park Shopping Street”.

This was a shopping street that has been here for a very long time, and there were many small restaurants around it.

I liked the trendy hamburger shop. Last time I had it was the day before yesterday. That day, I wanted to visit the curry shop that I had visited the day before.

I thought about this as I walked down the shopping street. There were several restaurants I wanted to visit, but I couldn’t make up my mind on one. While I was wondering about this store and that store, I finally reached the end of the shopping street.

At the end of the shopping street, there was a big park with the name “Park Shopping Street”.

There were no stores ahead, so I turned around to visit one of the stores that I had considered before. But then, I saw a white light on the park road. It was a white curtain with no writing on it.

“What is that?”

‘I’ve been to this park many times, but I’ve never seen anything like it.’

“Alright! Decided then. Today I will eat here.”

I decided and walked into the park.

I took a deep breath as I came in front of the stall.

I was a little nervous. It was my first time eating at a food stall.

“I’m sorry…”

I swallowed my words halfway as I stepped into the stall through the curtain. Because there was nothing present inside of that stall.

No food, no people, nothing. It was just an empty stall.

I wondered if they were in the process of opening the stall.

But it was strange that there were no people there.

However, I had no choice but to give up and visit another store. But when I went outside the curtain, I found ……

“…. Nani?!”

In front of me was a dense forest.

And when I looked up, I saw a clear blue sky.