“You’re real,” she whispered.
They didn’t run to each other. Not immediately. They just stood, breathless, as the twilight drained away.
The first time it happened, Takuya was staring at the vending machine’s flickering light. One moment, he was reaching for a can of cold coffee. The next, he was brushing long, unfamiliar hair from his eyes and looking down at a girl’s hands—small, with chipped pink nail polish.
Years later, passing on a Tokyo train platform, he would see a woman with a sketchbook and chipped pink nail polish. She would turn, tears already on her face, not knowing why.