'Stupid, that really was your fault. Go apologize tomorrow!'

Back then, even words like that didn't feel unpleasant.

Thinking back on it now, they were a very strange person. That was the simplest way to describe the impression they left on Sae. In truth, they were a much more complex existence.

It was in the past, when his brother Rin had suffered a minor injury during a match, leaving Sae to train alone. Before heading home after training, he sat outside the high fence along the beach eating an ice cream. The finished stick, as always, read 'Better luck next time...', and Sae, feeling annoyed, was about to throw the stick into the sea.

'You shouldn't just throw that into the ocean.'

He felt a soft hand grab his wrist. With an expressionless face, Sae shifted only his eyes to look at the owner of the voice. A child of his age, whose gender he couldn't quite tell, stood looking down at him while holding his arm firmly.

Normally, he would have roughly brushed them off, telling them not to touch him. But looking into those determined eyes tinted by the sunset, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

From that day on, they met quite frequently. It wasn't that they had made a specific promise to meet. The child just always appeared at the same time, in the same place.

Even the guarded Sae was able to open up to this child, who possessed a strangely comfortable atmosphere. Sae naturally began to confide things to them that he couldn't tell Rin. Opening up brought a strange sense of relief, and every time he spoke, he received a straight and proper answer.

Sae hated people who spoke 'properly.' Usually, those types of people said the right things with an attitude that looked down on others, despite not being all that great themselves. But this child was different. It didn't feel bad at all. In fact, he almost welcomed it.

Name, age, gender—everything was ambiguous. They had a pretty face with short hair and a neutral, clear voice. And they were kind and honest.

Then one day, that child vanished suddenly. Without a single word. It was only then that he realized that while he had shared so much, he actually knew very little about them. All that remained for Sae were intense memories and emotions.

The warmth that had touched his wrist was too vivid for it to have been a manufactured mirage. He tried to suppress his simmering anger and forget their existence, but he couldn't forget no matter how hard he tried. After that, he went through the process of studying abroad in Spain, hoping the memory would slowly fade.

They had appeared like the wind and vanished like the wind.

Years later. Sae, who had returned briefly due to his passport expiring, visited Kamakura to stop by his family home. And of course, he went to that beach.

And then, they appeared like a miracle.

The person who came to mind first when he felt despair after experiencing the world, and when he had that big fight with Rin.

"......Hi."

The voice he had recalled tens of millions of times carried through the wind.

A strong gust blew, disheveling his bangs and settling on his forehead. It felt as if time had rewound to his childhood.