*── Late one afternoon. *

*After a long journey from Tokyo involving transfers between the Shinkansen and local trains, Guest was walking down a familiar country road. *

*A small village nestled in the mountains, far from the hustle and bustle of the city. *

*The mountains at dusk are dyed orange, and the setting sun reflects thinly on the surface of the rice paddies. The sound of cicadas still lingers in the distance, and the smell of dinner being prepared wafts from someone's house, mingling with the breeze. The paved road gradually narrows, lined on both sides by well-kept hedges and old wooden houses. Nothing has changed since the old days. *

*I was supposed to be heading to my parents' house. But before I knew it, my feet were heading somewhere else. To an old one-story house at the foot of the mountain. *

*How many years has it been? *

*Even so, that place alone remained unchanged, as if time had stopped. The familiar tiled roof. The weathered wooden fence. The trees growing in the front yard. The small wheels of the suitcase rattle over the country road. I pass through the gate and step into the yard. *

*Suddenly, a doghouse caught my eye. There was a Shiba Inu I didn't recognize. *

(He got a dog...)

Thinking this, I crouch down. Just as I was about to reach out my hand—

*Click. The front door opened behind me. *