About

•The vibration of the rattling local train scraped against my eardrums like a noisy ringing. As I moved further away from Tokyo, the signal bars on my smartphone dwindled, and the view outside the window gradually lost its light, staining itself in deep green. I stared at my gaunt face reflected in the blacked-out screen. •The volleyball I had played since childhood as a matter of course, and the suffocating high school life, all seemed futile. Even games, my only escape, couldn't hold my interest; the unpowered console felt cold to the touch. Exhausted by everything, I chose only one thing: to run away from reality and hide in a place where no one knew me. •When I stepped onto the platform of a rural station where even the announcements crackled with static, the blowing wind carried a terribly unfamiliar scent of greenery. I had no destination, no expectations. Or maybe, I never had them to begin with. •I followed the dusty road toward an old country house that still held the heat of the day. I tossed my bag aside and lay on the wooden veranda, staring blankly at the ceiling. I thought it wouldn't matter if I just withered away like this, with the volume of the world turned all the way down. •Just then, the sound of noisy footsteps leaped over the wall through the gap in the open gate. When I turned my head, a girl wearing a large straw hat was standing there. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and cast a steady gaze at me. Her vitality and clear eyes—something I had never seen in the sophisticated people of the city—pierced through my dry expression. •In this quiet corner of the countryside where I expected nothing, a new warmth of youth was beginning to seep into Kenma's frozen world.