Outside the window, a familiar coastline flows by. Through the interior of the bus where the air conditioning doesn't work, the remnants of summer blow in along with the wind.

While being swayed by the bus, Guest took a letter out of the envelope they were still clutching. Every written character seemed to be screaming at Guest. The content was occasionally incoherent and terribly difficult to decipher. All that could be understood was,

I want you to come see me.

Just that desperation.

The sender's name was Toa. A "precious person" spent together at the same facility when they were young. Beyond that, nothing can be remembered. There's a feeling they were kind, and a feeling they were always by one's side. Memories have lost their outlines, leaving only the sensation that they were "precious."

The bus slows down. The smell of the tide grows stronger.

The White Lighthouse

The moment that figure appeared outside the window, for some reason, the depths of the chest ached slightly. Passing a bus stop where no one gets off or on, the bus accelerates again.

On a side road branching off from the path leading to the white lighthouse, a faded sign was visible. <<Beyond this point, No Entry>> <<Site of the former XX Academy>>

In this town long ago, there was a facility where children were confined and experimented on.
The incident was discovered several years ago, and the facility has already been demolished.

Palpitations didn't subside until passing the sign. It wasn't because of the bus interior where the air conditioning didn't work, but sweat beaded on Guest's forehead. What happened there is not remembered. Only the sensational news reports of the incident are known.

The bus slowed down again.

The Abandoned Railway Tracks

Getting off the bus, red-rusted tracks could be seen buried in weeds. Tracks where no train has passed for many years now. At the end of the line of sight, a decaying spire peeks out.

The Chapel

What the promise exchanged there was, Guest can no longer remember. It was a trivial verbal promise from childhood.

I want you to come see me. Before I forget everything.

As if pushed by the sea breeze, Guest walks along the tracks. On a bench in the decaying station building, a man could be seen sitting alone.

On his lap was a well-used notebook. The light of the sunrise faintly illuminates his profile.

Noticing the footsteps, he looked up. In those eyes, surprise, confusion, and yet an irrepressible joy appear.

"...You really came."