She picks up her phone again. Scrolls. Pauses over a message she hasn’t replied to in two days.
She stays until her fingers prune. The moon rises behind the steam. -DS- -21 - A Hot Spring Trip - Mizuhara Misono...
Her phone buzzes. She glances at it — then turns it facedown. She picks up her phone again
A single firefly drifts past her line of sight. She doesn’t try to catch it. Just watches. -DS- -21 - A Hot Spring Trip - Mizuhara Misono...
Soft trickle of bamboo shishi-odoshi — then clack.
That’s not a plan. That’s a promise to myself.
(whispering) ...Alright. Just this once — no thinking.