Hey, thanks for stopping by Mono's Anime Rants! The Bloganuary challenge continues, and today's prompt looks fairly difficult. The idea is to write a poem or short story about rain. After some deliberation, I decided to make mine a short fanfiction to relate it back to anime, which is the normal focus of my blog. The anime I chose is Chainsaw Man. Enjoy!
Soggy Cigarettes
The sudden spring rain shower caused no inconvenience to Aki Hayakawa on his way home from the grocery store. Aki was always prepared, so he had taken his umbrella. At his childhood home in the country, he had always enjoyed the spring rain. But here in the busy city, the rain could hardly be called beautiful. It gathered in dirty, clogged gutters, formed dirty puddles along the asphalt roads, and bounced off dirty building tops. Everything was dirty. Maybe the rain would make it cleaner, but the aesthetic was unpleasant.
Aki decided to change course a little. If he took a certain way back home, he would pass an old cherry blossom tree that somehow survived in the city. At least that would be pleasant to look at, the young man thought.
Before long, Aki could see it. The old tree stood on the edge of a tiny city park with a playground for children. It was in full bloom, and the pinkish-white flowers swayed slightly as they were hit by falling raindrops. The rain ran down the thick branches and the thicker trunk, forming minute rivulets in the bumpy black bark.
As Aki approached the tree, he noticed a solitary figure standing under its branches in the wet mist. The closer he got to the tree, the clearer the figure became. It was a woman attempting to smoke a cigarette despite the rain. Suddenly, Aki recognized her as his partner, Himeno.
"Senpai?" Aki asked as soon as he was close enough to be heard.
That was when he noticed something was off. Himeno had no umbrella and was consequently soaked. She wasn't using her hand to shield the cigarette in her mouth, so it had gotten wet and stopped burning. As if oblivious to her surroundings, Himeno was staring up at the cherry blossoms in silence. Even her face was wet.
"Himeno-senpai," Aki said, now sufficiently close to extend his umbrella over her.
He could scarcely believe it, but it seemed as if Himeno had been crying a little. At least, it was impossible to tell if the trails on her cheeks were from rain. Aki decided not to ask.
With the umbrella over top of her, Himeno finally registered that she wasn't alone. She quickly wiped her face with her sleeve and turned to face her younger partner. Her smile seemed more forced than usual as she said,
"Hey, Aki-kun. Funny meeting you here! This rain sucks, huh?"
Aki removed his jacket and draped it over Himeno's shoulders. "Senpai," he asked her, "What in the world are you doing?"
She laughed a little. "Well, uh, you see... it's a tradition," she started to explain. "It's been three years since my first partner got killed hunting devils. So, every year around this time, I make sure to smoke a cigarette for him. It's no big deal or anything."
If it wasn't a big deal, Aki thought to himself, why was it enough to make you cry?
Out loud, he said in his usual low and polite way, "I see. My condolences."
Waving her hand as if to shake off the awkwardness, Himeno moved a step closer to Aki. She extended her other hand, which held a cigarette.
"You have one, too."
Aki didn't take it.
"Let me guess," Himeno said. "Your usual excuse? You won't smoke because it's bad for your bones or something?"
"No, that's not it," replied Aki with a blank expression. "This cigarette is already soggy. Your whole pack is probably wet." He gave a small sigh. "How wasteful."
A slight blush colored Himeno's face as she withdrew the cigarette. She adjusted the jacket on her back and cleared her throat.
"Damn rain," she said. "You want to walk me home, Aki-kun?"
It's daylight and you're a grown woman, Aki thought. But he didn't truly begrudge the favor at all. It was the least he could do to support his senpai. She was unusually gloomy, too. Aki nodded and tried to pass the umbrella to Himeno so they could start walking.
"You hold it," Himeno told him. "We'll share."
Aki reluctantly agreed. Being so close to each other felt a little awkward, and not really necessary. However, Himeno looked so smug and satisfied about it that Aki couldn't bring himself to argue. What a troublesome senpai he had.
The two of them left the old tree and walked through the city. She would never say it to Aki, but Himeno thought to herself how grateful she was for the sudden rain.
The End
Thanks for reading~