It was bitterly cold, cold enough that white mist appeared whenever he exhaled, and it was raining besides.
There were many pedestrians on the street, probably because it happened to be the weekend... even though it was raining.
Men with men, women with women, boyfriends and girlfriends... About a decade ago, he had probably been like this too, fervently spending his youth on the streets.
Youth...
Kumano suddenly sighed with emotion.
"Honey, honey, are you listening?"
He was actually on his way home from work.
Kumano had been on the phone with his wife the whole time, mainly chatting about trivial matters in their daily lives. Besides that, these past few days, the weather had caused some problems with the respiratory system of their child, who had only just started elementary school.
The child had suffered from congenital asthma since birth, inherited from his mother.
Although his wife was nagging him, after all these years, Kumano had long since gotten used to it... Or rather, if he did not hear her nagging one day, he would probably feel a little uncomfortable.
"How about we go to Hokkaido next month?" Kumano said into the phone. "It's been a long time since we went on a family trip together, hasn't it?"
"Do you have time off? But if we really go to Hokkaido, we'll have to prepare properly. If it's still too cold then, I'm worried the child won't be able to take it."
"It'll be fine. I have a feeling we'll get lucky." Kumano smiled, but then suddenly stopped walking.
His wife was still talking on the other end of the phone, going on and on. "...Honey? Are you not listening again?"
"Ah... sorry, sorry. I saw someone over here." Kumano hurriedly replied to his wife. "Reiko, I'll call you again