The harsh smacking of rain against the window had faded into the background, leaving Katsumi in a mental silence. The tops of skyscrapers were clouded from sight by dark, large cumulonimbus clouds.  

Office lights gradually went—some staying on with their occupants planning to stay at the office late into the night, trying not to miss their deadlines. Others leaving early, excited to get home to their partners or for a night out with coworkers. A man in a suit opened the glass front door to an office high-rise. For a moment he stood motionless, staring up into the dark sky. With a worn out sigh he reached down to his briefcase and grabbed an umbrella, setting off on the busy street. 

At an intersection the traffic-lights changed to yellow then in a moment flicked to red. All the traffic came to a halt and a sea of colors flooded into the intersection. Each one moving forward, each one with a destination in mind.

“Huh… are my windows shut?” Katsumi pushed himself up with his arms and stumbled around for a moment before finding his balance. He peered out the window and every noise of the city hit him like a wave crashing against rocks. 

“What the hell am I doing…”

“...”

“...”

Katsumi slammed his fist into the wall—however no mark was made. He stared at the unphased wall.

“...I’m done with this shit… I’m gonna take a bath.”

The silence in the bathroom was abruptly interrupted by a torrent of hot water flooding from the nozzle. As a pool of water began to form in the bathtub, Katsumi stood thoughtless, gazing into the eyes of his reflection. The loud sound of water filling his bathtub droned out the rest of the world, the only things left were him and his reflection. 

Leaning forward closer to this reversed image of himself, he saw someone who was happy. The reflection smiled back at him. Almost mocking him.

“I don’t get it, that’s me…”

Through the noise of the bathtub filling, the rain crashing onto the buildings, he heard a single drop hit the tile floor. Katsumi looked down to his feet and saw another drop of water fall between them.

“Why?”

He looked up again. 

Tears were streaming down his face. Katsumi began laughing, trying to wipe the tears from his face but they kept coming. His laughing soon turned into screaming. Then into hysteria. 

He brought his fist down onto the sink, then again, and again, and again.

“Fuck you Mayumi Arata! What are you doing! It’s your fault! I’m fine! What’s wrong with you!” 

The sound of the bathtub filling turned into the sound of water flowing onto the floor. He looked into the mirror and saw his reflection still smiling back at him. 

Katsumi thrust his fist forward and the one reflection turned into one-hundred. Every one of them smiled back at him.

He looked down at his hand and his knuckles were red, blood spread over his hand and down onto the floor. 

Katsumi looked ahead and straightened his posture. He turned off the water and slowly submerged himself into the hot water.

Ya’know, this isn’t so bad.

Katsumi sank deeper into the water, now only from his nose up wasn’t submerged.

Her ego is so big, thinking she’s always right… 

“She knows nothing about the real world.” 

“...”

It’s fine…

“Why the hell is the water turning red…? I’m getting out…” 

Katsumi spent the next twenty minutes sitting silently in the bathtub.

 

Katsumi came out of the washroom and walked into the living room with a towel wrapped around his waist. 

“She’s gone…” He slowly scanned over the apartment.

Am I still tispy…? Ahh— whatever, I’m just gonna drink more.

Katumi opened the refrigerator door and the light illuminated a small part of the dark kitchen. He squinted his eyes and stared into the refrigerator. At the back was the can of beer he was looking for. He thoughtlessly shoved his hand in trying to grab it, and by the time he did, Katsumi had knocked over most of the contents of the refrigerator.

“...I'll clean it later.”

Sprawled out on the couch he let out a quiet sigh and cracked open the can. He grabbed the TV remote and pressed the power button—the red light on the Blu-ray player turned green and the screen lit-up. 

As quickly as it did though, the screen went black.

What the hell…? Did the storm knock out the pow—

“Murakami.”

His can jumped out of his hand, but he quickly snatched it out of the air. “What the hell!? W-what? You— I thought you left?”

“No… I’ve been here the whole time. I watched you leave the washroom and was waiting to see how long it took you to notice I was here."

Katsumi gave her a dumbfounded look followed by an exasperated sigh, “You know what, never mind… I’m guessing we still have to finish the project?”

“T-that’s right. But first, please make yourself decent.” Mayumi turned her head away—holding a hand in front of her eyes. With the other she began tapping the table with her index finger again.

“...You know what? If you don’t like it you can just leave, it’s my apartment.” Hopefully this will drive her away. But isn’t this harassment? She could probably report me for this too… Not like I care… I just want to be left in peace.

“Murakami, please don’t be such a child.”

“Being a child?” Katsumi was snarky in his tone.

Her fingers curled on the table. She quickly turned her head towards Katsumi. However, her cheeks had turned a very faint, yet noticeable, shade of red, “Fine… It looks like you’re more focused now, so let’s get this done.”

She really is determined to try and help me… Why? 

Mayumi continued to tap on the table while casting her gaze downward.

Should the why matter this much? Am I overthinking it?

With a mental sigh Katsumi stood up. “Fine.”

After throwing on the first clothes he grabbed, Katsumi came back to the same spot on the couch.

“...What do I need to do?”

“Well I’ve been working on it over the past few days so I just want you to look through it for some grammatical errors and any other minor mistakes.”

“What is it anyways?”

“You really haven’t known this whole time?”

“...No.”

“We were assigned to write a short story or play with a specific theme in it.”

“A play? Does that mean we’re gonna have to perform it?”

“That’s right. We have to perform it for the class in two weeks, I told you this. So you need to memorize your lines by then.”

“My lines?” Katsumi grumbled in response. He picked up the script and started flipping through it, skimming the lines, “So what’s our ‘theme’?” 

“There’s a lot of ways to look at it. I’d say it’s open for interpretation.”

“But you just said, ‘a specific theme’.”

“I think themes are always open for interpretation. Even if it’s spelled out for you, people will still understand it differently depending on their experiences.”

“But since this is for an assignment shouldn’t we clearly outline what it is?”

“Even if we did, there’s still no one definitive way to find meaning in it. People will get the message that they need or want from it, whether that’s good or bad doesn’t change that people got something from it.” 

Mayumi didn’t bother looking up or pausing what she was doing. She kept her gaze downward, proof-reading what she just wrote. 

“That may be so… But what is it?”

“Hm… You’ll probably realize it once you read through the script.”

This girl… 

Night seemed to come early. So little light was getting through the clouds that when the sun began to sink below the horizon almost none of it seemed to remain. The sound of rain was still making itself heard by continuously tapping on the windows and battering the roof. 

As the night went on the two worked on the project—finishing it an hour past midnight. 

Once Mayumi left, Katsumi flicked the TV back on. His mind began to fog and a drowsiness overcame him.

“Do things her way…” I don’t need to change…