Chapter 1-1

The trees are really old. They twist and turn, displaying their character and age. It's quite fascinating, really. I've always liked these trees, they seem to have a lot of history to them. As if they stood over civillization and witnessed the past few hundred years. Well, at least they seemed to be a few hundred years old. I'm not a tree scientist or whatever you call people how know about this stuff.

There was a small patch of old, wild forrest near my home. In said forrest there was a small trail to walk on. Most of the time I wouldn't meet anyone else walking the trail. I don't know why this forrest even existed in the first place. It's just taking up space in the suburbs of my town, and could probably be used to build more homes.

I just came home from school, living just five minutes away. It was the middle of my first year in highschool. My school years had been rather unfruitful. I've made one kinda-friend, someone who I eat lunch with and occasionally hang out with. I wouldn't say we're close enough to be "friends friends." I had hoped to fit in more during my first year. I had such big hopes of making a lot of friends. Becoming a new person after middle school. Reinventing myself. But none of that actually happened. Instead, my first few months were filled with JRPGs, manga, and solitude. If it weren't for my friend Kamei, I would probably be in a darker place. I had some semblance of a normal life at least.

I used to be a swimmer back in middle school. My father pushed me into it despite me not really wanting to be a part of it. I always dragged my feet to swim practice, hating it most of the time. It's not like I even made friends there, so what was the point? Now however, I wished I had continued. If I had just stuck with swimming, I could have fit in and met plenty of cute girls. I'd be popular now. Well... probably not. I don't really know if it would have made much of a difference.

My mind kept wandering as I was walking along. I was planning on returning back home after just a few minutes, I just felt like clearing my mind properly before my midterm tomorrow. Well, clearing someone's mind usually involved getting to a relaxed state of mind. But my depressing series of lamentations had the opposite effect. I can't keep doing this.

Suddenly, the wind picked up. The trees violently rustled. Was a storm brewing? The sky was grey after all. I suppose we'll see rain later. After the burst of wind, I made out the faint image of a girl. She stood out for some reason. Not just becuase the trail was mostly empty, but because of how she looked. As I got closer, I noticed her rather peculiar outfit. Her outfit was that of a sailor uniform, yet it was not really a sailor uniform. Her outfit was traditional yet strangely modern. She had long and volumnous orange hair. Her eyes were a complementing shade of blue. In her right hand, she carried a small, worn-out burlap pouch.

Our eyes met as we walked past each other. She looked at me for a couple of seconds. I felt the urge to avert my eyes so it didn't look like I was staring. However, I kept them on her. After that short moment, the girl looked back straight ahead and walked by without making any further expression.

Who was she? Why was she dressed like that? It was probably cosplay. But then what was she doing alone in the woods? She was rather cute.

Sigh.

Shortly up ahead, I saw some money on the ground. Excited, I go to pick it up. Having money was never my forte considering my rundown apartment. For example, our shower gave up last week. One of the pipes sticking out of the wall leading to the shower head cracked. That crack eventually snapped and lead to the whole shower system falling down. The shower head snapped off in the process. It was rather rusty around the edges, so there probably wasn't any hope of fixing it.

To make it worse, my dad recently quit his job. Buying a new shower might take a bit of saving up. He didn't quit out of necessity though. He had been receiving a few pay cuts over the past two years. He said that he should be able to market his skills somewhere else and earn more money. It's been a couple of months since then, and no news of a new job. I still have faith in him though.

As I reached down for the coins, I notice that it wasn't Yen. The coins were slightly gold-colored, but were unusually dull and worn out. With a closer look, they certainly didn't appear to be Yen. They felt heavy in my hand, maybe twice as heavy as normal coins even though they were roughly the same size.

An intricate image of a swan was displayed on the front side of the coin. Well, it was probably intricate at first. But after many years of wear and tear, there was only a vague outline of a bird-like creature with a long neck. On the backside, was a depiction of some leaves and some very strange faded text. The text was definitely not Japanese.

The coins, three in total, looked a bit out of place. They had this strange mesmirizing quality that was difficult to describe. I was drawn to them, and fascinated by their apparent age. Their weight made them feel imporant, too. Perhaps they were worth something. From what I'd remembered from chemistry class, gold was very dense. I wondered if they really were gold. I happily placed them in my bag, and headed home where I planned to look them up online later.

"I'm home!"

"Oni-san, did you really forget to buy milk again," said my little sister. She sounded dissapointed and slightly condescending.

We weren't really on the best of terms, having had fought most of our lives. Recently, however, I had been trying to be a better man and put that aside. At least that's what I had hoped to achieve. But it was difficult at times.

"We agreed that that was your job from now on."

"Okay...?" she answered like what I said didn't matter.

Trying to hold back my frustration, I continued. "Look I'm not trying to boss over you, alright? I just set up a plan that you do the grocery shopping when I make dinner."

"..."

She ignored me and went back to studying. I went ahead and started on dinner. To make a point, I really wanted to only cook for myself. That would give me the satisfaction to tell her that I am just following our agreement. But she would just get pissed for the rest of the day and I'd have to explain to our mom why I refused to cook for her. Instead, I went ahead and made tomorrow's dinner, which didn't require the milk.

Shortly after dinner, I went to my room to study. Reaching into my bag for my books, I remembered the coins.

"That's right... Let's see what they are all about," I muttered to myself.

Turning on my computer, I wasn't sure what to search for. I typed in "swan gold coin foreign," but as I half-expected, nothing useful came up.

With a sigh, I collapsed onto my bed. I held one coin high up in front of my face and my mind started to wander. The girl from earlier popped into my mind.

Who left these coins?

Wait. Hold up. I quickly sat up. She must have been the one to drop them! If the coins were someone else's, she would have noticed them and picked them up before I found them.

Feeling hastened, I jumped out of bed and ran towards my door. But before I opened it, I realized there was no point in running back now. It's a bit stupid to try at this point. She was definitely gone by now. Instead, I went towards the kitchen.

I decided to check the coin's compossition. I pulled out the kitchen scale and the measuring tape. Hey, school knowledge is becoming practical. I can weigh the coin and find the volume to calculate the density. All right, way to go science! I look up the density of gold online. 19.3 grams per cubic centimeter. My numbers tell me the coin is somewhere around 19. It's gold. It's gold! Yes! I let out a small dance. Gold price... gold price... I quickly rush to search the term online. Looks like the coins are worth 95000 Yen a piece.

I stand around with a happy grin.

Then, I'm hit with the fact that the coins aren't mine. They belong to the girl.

Well... she'd never know if I took them, right? Unless she ran back to look for them shortly after I left. In that case, she'd connect the dots and know that I, who just passed her, was the one to take them.

Then there was also the age old question of morals. Morals... Why do I have to feel guily about taking this money? I need it more than her. I would most likely be able to get away with it. Even if she did realize it was me, she'd have no proof that I took them.

I continued to reckon with what to do. I laid back down on my bed. My heart told me that I had to take the initiative with improving my life. I should return the coins because that's the bold thing to do. While it was the path of most resistance, it was also the right choice. My school life sucks because I never put any effort into changing things. I always blame others for not reaching out to me. How do I expect to fit in if I don't talk to others first? I can't really imagine the popular guys just get adopted by others and suddenly end up with friends. They put in the effort first. I'm just wallowing away. I didn't join a club partially because I thought I could just make friends by going to class.

She'd be proud of me for reuniting her with her money. I will probably save her a great deal of grief by having held onto her treasures safely. Maybe we could even be friends after or perhaps something more. I sat up with a smile on my face. A longing for what could be. Maybe this was a turning point in my life.

I quickly gained conscience of the fact that I'm thinking about something that I should not think about.

"Hah!" I shouted to myself.

"I'm a funny man."

I got up and went towards my desk. I flicked the coins carelessly onto the bed. I quickly opened a textbook and turned the pages. "Kanji...kanji...kanji" I muttered to myself.

The lights flickered. A loud thunder shook me to my bones. I jumped up in my seat, startled by the noise. The grey sky gave out, leading to an incredibly powerful downpour. Then came a scream.

"Kyaaaa!!"

I jumped in my seat yet again, wondering who or what the hell that sound came from. It certainly wasn't me. It came from really close by. Very close by. I heard my sister making noise in the kitchen just a moment ago, so I doubt it was her. I felt a bit scared. My body was stiff. I slowly turned around.

Behind me, I see her. Just sitting there. Right in my room. The girl with the orange hair and blue eyes. She wore a terrified expression, holding herself with her arms. She was sitting on her lower legs, with her knees pointed towards each other. She was no longer wearing the same clothes as she did before, but rather wore rags. The rags looked thoroughly worn out. I just sit in there in silence, eyes wide open, for what must have been half a minute.