"I just wanted you to see it too..."
The young man smiled bitterly.
"But your reaction told me I really must have imagined it..."
"Fish?!"
The woman instinctively looked toward the puddle again.
Right.
A shallow pool of water.
Raindrops fell into it, sending ripples across the surface.
Blurring the scene beneath.
But a fish...
"How could that be?!"
The woman found it hard to believe.
"How could there be a fish in the middle of the street?"
"Oh."
The woman thought of something. "Unless someone's bag broke and the fish they bought fell out onto the street..."
"That does seem possible."
The young man blinked.
"...Yeah."
As expected of her.
She'd come up with a reasonable explanation so quickly.
Even if it had nothing to do with what had actually happened to him.
"Did you hit your head when you fell?"
The woman looked at the young man's head. "Are you still seeing things?"
"No."
The young man shook his head.
"Just for a moment."
"I'm fine now."
"Sorry."
The young man apologized. "I said a lot of things that didn't make any sense."
"It's all right, it's all right."
The woman waved a hand. "Who hasn't mistaken what they saw before?"
"Anyway."
"As long as you're okay."
"I should get going."
"Mm."
The young man said goodbye to the woman. "Goodbye, ma'am."
The woman turned and left.
The young man watched her retreating figure for a while.
Then he turned around.
Well.
That strange fish was gone.
The young man wasn't surprised.
Nor was he very disappointed.
He'd run into it again the next time it rained...
The young man was strangely certain of it.
Perhaps his past experiences gave him that confidence.
This strange fish...
The young man