Side Story: At the Grave

Side Story: At the Grave

Side: None

A soft rain was falling.

Somewhere in a certain prefecture, about a thirty-minute walk from the station, there was a cemetery surrounded by a grove of mixed trees.

The place, reached by turning down a narrow road again and again, saw very little foot traffic. It appeared well maintained, though: hardly any weeds had grown, and there was no conspicuous litter.

A small figure walked through it.

Tomi Torimari—the name she currently used—walked slowly, moving her little feet along while holding an umbrella in one hand.

Eventually, she stopped in front of a certain gravestone.

The surname carved into the gravestone differed from hers.

Calmly, Tomi used the ladle to pour clean water from the bucket in her left hand into the flower vase. The monks from the temple that maintained the cemetery had apparently cleared away the old flowers, but small petals and dead insects inevitably remained...