I started this detour myself, might as well try to make something out of it, do my good deed for the day by helping someone only I can help.
Reaching out, slowly so as to not startle her into attacking me, I let my hand rest on her shoulder, trying as hard as I could to touch her rather than simply pass through her body... It was unclear if she could actually see me, her eyes were rather vacant, as if she was looking through me, so I figured maybe she was just in shock, that sort of thing can happen to ghosts too, but-
The instant I touch her, hand brushing against temperature less fabric, I-
Start to feel a bit strange.
Like a television set to a station that didn't exist, the world gets hazy, lines of static appearing across my thoughts and layering themselves over the world my senses perceived. The woman is warm, she should not be, ghosts do not have warmth, if anything they are cold, but that warmth, an invasive warmth, travels up my arm even as I think to pull away, fail to pull away, my body refusing to respond to what I tell it to do, lagging behind as if the nerve signals were getting scrambled before they reached their destination.
She's looking at me now, directly at me now.
Her eyes are sad rather than malicious, and as a hand reaches out to cup my face, she mouths something else, something different from what she had been saying before, something like:
"Please don't forget."
Unfortunately, that's a promise I can't seem to keep.
----
Matsumoto Shizuka
Coffee Shop
Early Morning, Before 6
Without interruption, I had managed to sprint all the way from my house to here. It's not a testament to any sort of real physical ability, to be honest, I was fifteen minutes later than I usually was when I ran...
It's odd, it shouldn't have taken me that long, even if I was walking, but maybe I'm just in worse shape than I thought?
That thought doesn't feel quite right, but really, I can't think of much else.
Unless I just blanked out somewhere.
But that's worrying in a different way...
Still, I had made it in time to not miss the train! I guess that's a form of accomplishment, as sad as it is.
It was a pretty generic coffee shop, but Emi had always liked it. It was the usual type of spotlessly clean, along with the usual twenty or so different methods of sating your caffeine addiction. I wasn't a big coffee drinker myself, but still reeling from the fact that the sun hadn't even risen yet, and I had just finished a jog of a few miles, the temptation to get something for myself to help keep my eyes open is pretty great...
Before I can decide however...
I spot Emi, headphones over her ears, and not paying attention to much around her, messing around with one of the arcade cabinets on the side of the store...
Pretty rare...
1.) Surprise her. She likes to jump out of nowhere and mess with me, might as well see what it feels like to be on the other side.
2.) Get a drink for both of us. Even if she had one already, she's never been the type to turn down a free coffee. Preemptive apology drink for being late!
3.) Just watch for a bit.