Hayakawa...A peaceful little town isolated from the rest of the world by the gentle peaks of the Akaishi Sanmyaku, still mostly safe from the stressful and busy lifestyle that’s been becoming predominant in the country over the years...This is the town where you live.
Still, you are pretty young, and know oh so little about this wondrous place and all of its surroundings. You might have had the chance to discover a secret hangout spot in the forest, or you may have become such a familiar face in the local candy store that the owner gives you some free candies every now and then, but other than that...Your story only begins now!
Indeed, it was well into autumn on a warm day when you were exploring the quiet streets of this town, when suddenly, from around the corner…
A mysterious, weird looking figure jumps out, looking straight at you with a wide smile, her eyes gleaming with happiness...But still, it’s almost as if she was waiting there just for you, or maybe...No, it must have been a coincidence, right?
“Hey there, little one! You’re new around here, aren’t you? Sure you are, I can tell just by looking at you!” The strange girl snickered, almost as if she was just absolutely satisfied with herself or something, then continued her...Well, whatever it was.
“Well, consider yourself lucky, for I am here to give you a tour around my town! Huh? Who I am? Why I’m dressed so weird…?”
The girl, looking frustrated all of a sudden turned away from you for a moment and started stamping her feet and flailing around with her arms, while cursing a person unknown to you---
“Damn that Yuuka, she told me that these looked completely normal, what is that girl thinking?!”
Calming down just as fast as she went into her tantrum, she turned back to you, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Ehum, well, anyways, no time for questions like that! You can call me Ringo, but now here,” She said as she extended her hand towards you, “Grab my hand and come with me!”
Hesitantly, but you reach out to grab her hand, and as you do, the scenery around you suddenly changes - you are quite certain that you are still in the town, but...How exactly did you get here? And what exactly is this place?
The girl, looking at you slightly confused as if she doesn’t quite get your issue shakes her hand in a dismissive manner and then points at the building in front of you;
“Hm? How we got here? What do you mean, obviously we walked here, you silly! Anyways, this is the Hayakawa Combined School! Since the town doesn’t have all that many children, this is where they all go from their very first school year until the very end of high school! After that, well...They’d have to go to a city college, I suppose. Though, you folk don’t attend school, do you? Well, it’s a nice place to hang around regardless, all the human kids come here eventually so you can easily find friends your age!”
As your feel her squeezing your hand a bit, once again you find yourself elsewhere, but at this point you gave up on finding out how she was doing it.
“And this...This is the candy store! The owner goes on regular candy research trips around the country and brings back all kinds of stuff with him, so you’ll always find the best candy here for every situation! His love for candy can be a bit creepy, but at the same time...Who doesn’t love candy?”
Letting go of your hand, she strolled over to one of the machines in front of the store and inserted some coins into it. You couldn’t quite see what she was doing, but when she returned it looked liked as if she was chewing on something.
“Here, take this.” She said as she handed you a piece of candy wrapped in some shiny green paper, “Now, where were we…”
“Oh, the liquor store! Or cafe, or whatever you want to call it. It’s the best place if you want a fizzy drink or an iced coffee or, or...Well, that’s about what a small one like you needs to know about. We don’t have the time now, but you should check it out when you can, it’s a pretty nice place with nice people!”
Strolling over to the store again, this time she returned with two small, colorful cans reading “Pokka - Peach”, giving you one of them as she took a sip from the other.
“But now, the most important place of all…”
Once you arrived, she immediately let go of your hand and darted over to the building - one that very clearly looked like a shrine - with her arms held out to the side, and once she reached the top of the small stairs she turned back to you.
“Tadaaa!” She exclaimed, “There are many shrines in this town, small and big, but this one is obviously the best! The goddess of the shrine is believed to be kind and beautiful, and many of the folks come here to pay their respects to her! You should too, but if you want to have some fun, you should definitely go inside as well!”
Her enthusiasm dying down a bit, she sat down on the stairs, looking at you with the same warm smile from before.
“Hmm, well, obviously, there are other places around the town as well, but they aren’t quite as interesting, and...Err, it would take a bit to get to some of them. You can find a whole bunch of other small shops as well, the town hall where they organize all sorts of stuff and where the kids can perform their plays...Oh, they have a library as well, if you ever want to read about something!”
Scratching the back of her head as if trying to remember something, it became clear that she was a lot less interested when it came to talking about the things she found boring.
“Then there are the farms, the other shrines, and...Ah, I think I’m forgetting a whole bunch of stuff, forgive me, but I’m sure you’ll discover them anyways! Obviously, there are quite many secret spots to find around the town as well, but I wouldn’t want to ruin the fun by telling about them! But for now...”
Her expression changing, the girl looked kind of sad now, as if something she enjoyed very much was about to come to an end. Then, all of a sudden, she pointed at something behind you---
“Oh, look!”
But as you turned around, there was nothing there. In fact...You weren’t even at the shrine anymore. You were back on the street where this strange chain of events started...And this time, the strange girl was not there either. Was it just a dream? Were you just imagining things?
Those were the thoughts that you were starting to have, at the very least, but as you reached into your pocket, you found the crumpled candy wrapper and the empty can of juice, and suddenly you knew that it was real. But then, fumbling around in your pocket a bit more, you found a folded piece of paper as well, something that you definitely don’t remember putting in there. And as you unfolded it, you could read a message written with beautiful, curly letters :
“Come and visit me sometime, okay?”
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