He was silent for a while, then nodded. "Yeah."
"I don't know who you are."
"Parts of your body keep inexplicably disappearing."
"You don't want to tell me, so I won't ask."
"But last time, it wasn't a part of your body that disappeared. It was your head."
"You scared me when you showed up without a head."
"It didn't disappear. You just couldn't see it."
The girl muttered under her breath.
"What?"
Her voice was too quiet. He hadn't heard her.
"What do you mean, 'it didn't'?"
He sounded a little anxious. He couldn't shake the feeling that she'd said something important.
The girl didn't respond. Instead, she said, "You're pretty honest."
"But if you're afraid of me, why did you come over?"
"I saw you."
She was still half-soaked from the rain.
He'd wanted to find her anyway, but even if he'd truly wanted to avoid her, he couldn't have pretended not to see her and walked past.
"I was worried about you."
"Your... condition really is okay?"
"Should you go to the hospital?"
"The hospital?"
A playful glint appeared in the girl's smile. "Which hospital can treat what's wrong with me?"
He immediately realized how foolish he'd been.
It was obvious that no ordinary doctor could solve the girl's problem.
"Then—"
For a moment, his thoughts tangled up.
"I'm fine."
The girl stood up. "All right, we should get going."
"It's getting late. You should head home, too."
"..."
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
The girl watched him board the subway. Seeing her smile and wave at him, he found himself smiling back.
But just as the subway doors were about to close, he thought he saw the girl disappear.
His heart jolted. He looked again and saw her