“Tomori. Over here.”

Raana slid down the hill and beckoned. Mottles of sunlight danced on her white hair as it streamed in through the canopy above, then vanished as she left the shadows. She hopped off the small cliff at the edge of the clearing.

Tomori followed gingerly down the incline, holding onto the trees as she did. She couldn’t trust her own body to move how she wanted it to; she had plenty of faded old scars, and gashes on her childhood clothes (which she refused to throw away) to remind her of this.

The sun dazzled her as she emerged. Even with her hand covering her eyes, it took seconds to adjust. The view before her faded in slowly, like a photograph soaking in a chemical bath.

First came the grass at her feet; scorched to a dry yellow by the year’s droughts. Then the shape of a building out in front: a small concrete cabin with a sheet-metal roof. Its walls were painted by decades of dust and rain. On its front, a window made of rotted old wood and broken glass; and a bulky cast-iron door, caked with rust. It was open.

Behind the building lay a railway track, flanked by the imposing apparatus of a level crossing. Yellow crosses held up by posts framed the two raised barriers. And through the tracks crossed an old asphalt road, cracked and overgrown with grass, as if it had been worn down with overuse and then left to rot.

Raana stood in front, bouncing on her feet with impatience. She looked eagerly over at Tomori.

“I-Is this the place?”

“In here,” Raana said, and ran into the cabin.

The inside was somehow even more run-down. Cracks ran from the ceiling to the floor. Old trash and dirt piled up in the corners. By the wall to the right, a table and a toppled chair, all next to a rusty, disused lever.

Raana turned and sat below the window, right where the sun painted a bright square on the floor. She patted the ground beside her. She’d shifted to the side, leaving some room for Tomori in the pool of sunshine.

As she sat down and let its warmth touch her, Tomori felt suddenly, incredibly… comfortable.

“Y-you’re right.” She took a deep, careful breath. “Raana-chan… this is really nice.”

Outside, sparrows sang from the trees.

“Hehe. Told you,” Raana said. “One of my favorite spots.”

“How’d you… find it?”

“Mm?” Raana tilted her head. “Dunno. I just did.”

“This air is so warm… it’s like it’s… alive.”

Tomori dragged her finger across the floor, then looked longingly at the dust she’d gathered.

“Like… all the people who’ve been here before… left part of themselves behind.”

She let her gaze linger in the silence for a moment, until she noticed a dull weight on her shoulder.

“…Raana-chan?”

A snore rang out through the cabin. Raana had been lulled away by the sun, and drifted off into her dreams.

Tomori watched her and smiled.

And then—an alarm blared into the room from outside. Tomori froze up, trying not to let her shock unsettle the girl resting on her.

Beyond the door, the barriers creaked as they lowered. The clatter of metal crept in from the distance, at first slowly, then faster and faster, until all of a sudden the lead car broke through the crossing and sped past the cabin.

At first the sheer volume of it overwhelmed Tomori’s senses, like a tidal wave crashing against her very being, drowning out anything and everything else. It was as if her mind were about to simply shut down.

But then it didn’t.

She realized she was calmer than she’d been in weeks.

The sound of the wheels hitting track was rhythmic, predictable. Its booming echo fell upon her like a weighted blanket. As if she and Raana were ensconced in their own little universe; as if nothing existed beyond these four walls.

Tomori felt suddenly, utterly convinced of what she should do. Right now, it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world.

She turned to Raana; still asleep, despite everything. She cupped her cheeks, and gave her just one little kiss on the forehead.