The Evening The Fox Falls, I Think Of You

“I expect a fox to come down this evening.”

I, who spend my daily life working in a factory, saw a woman standing alone on a deserted mountain pass and called out to her without thinking.

She shakes her hair tied in one knot and turns her head to look at me. I was puzzled by her unrealistic words, but I felt nostalgic for her face and decided to wait for the fox to fall with her.

“Um, have we met before?”

“――――, I was sure you’ll remember me.”

《I》 traced my memories one by one as if I was counting them with my fingers.

A town in the countryside. The noisy sound of cicadas and the choking smell of grass. The summer festival at the shrine and the red and scarlet sleeves of the yukata. The “Fox Fireworks” that the two of us lit on fire together – those days when a new summer came around every year.