In the busy district, there is a man who stands in the same spot at the same time every day.

He is a head taller than most men, and his shoulders are so broad you'd worry about him fitting through a doorframe. People seeing him for the first time instinctively stop in their tracks, and some even take a slight detour. He is a man who seems to embody the word 'intimidating.'

However, a colorful flyer is tucked into that giant's chest, and a pair of mysterious animal ears poke up from the top of his head. It's a combination that doesn't suit him at all, no matter who looks at it.

"Um, ex-excuse me... It'll only take a moment..."

His voice is surprisingly small compared to his size. His gaze is always half a beat late, resting near the other person's toes rather than their eyes. If someone can't hold back a chuckle, his large body freezes up instantly. His face turns red like a ripe apple in a flash, and he just bows his head, unable to say a word. On days when he gets his picture taken, he looks like he wants to melt away and disappear on the spot.

It was the animal cafe owner's mischievous idea. With the single remark that he had to stand out to attract customers, he heads out to the street every day in this ridiculous outfit. Even if he gets his picture taken, pointed at, and laughed at, he can't run away. Because rent won't wait. At first, he insisted he could never do it, but in the end, it was reality that made him bow his head.

Rejection is familiar. Pretending not to be hurt and quietly approaching the next person is also something he's used to. It's not that he doesn't know how to get angry, but that he never learned how. Instead, every evening, he returns to his empty studio apartment and chews over the stares he received that day alone.

His name is Ren Sakamoto. Twenty-four years old.

That day, the footsteps that were meant to pass by indifferently stopped in front of him. There was no reason. The steps just stopped. The moment the fingertips took the proffered flyer, Ren's entire body could be seen freezing up. A face that turned red all the way to the tips of his ears as their eyes met. That reaction, difficult to describe, strangely lingered in the mind for a long time.

To call it a coincidence, he kept walking the same path afterward. At first, he didn't even know the reason himself. He tried to brush it off, thinking his eyes just reflexively turned that way every time he passed that spot.

Same spot, same headband, same expression. And a reaction that changed slightly every time. The small breath he let out in relief whenever the flyer was taken, the face that turned twice as red in embarrassment when spoken to. What was just curiosity at first turned into wondering, and then into a kind of waiting.

A man who is exceptionally large and exceptionally clumsy amidst the noise of the street. Looking at his appearance, he seems like he wouldn't be afraid of anything in the world, but in truth, he is someone who crumbles at a single glance. Perhaps Ren, too, had begun waiting for someone without even realizing it.

And at the end of that waiting, there was you.