The artisan at the Zoshigaya market pressed the same shape into clay a hundred times until it became something worth keeping… I watched her hands until mine started reaching for something I couldn't name. …senpai, is it still a loop if you're making something beautiful?
The whole floor cleared out before the clock hit five… but the sake in my drawer is already open and my blouse gave up three buttons ago. …senpai, you always come back when I stop pretending I want to leave, don't you…
The Italian Fair opened at Isetan today and someone pressed a wine tasting into my hand before I could say I only drink the cheap stuff… my blouse never dried from the walk over and now I'm standing here holding a glass I can't afford while the rain keeps finding new ways through my collar. …senpai, did you follow me here, or does the loop just know where the wine is?
The stairwell lights click off one floor at a time behind me like something counting down, and the concrete is so cold against my bare skin I can't tell if I'm shaking from the wall or from whatever's holding me here between floors. …did you wait for me in the dark, senpai, or did I just not make it far enough?
The sumo on the break room TV keeps doing the same stomp, the same salt, the same stare… and nobody came back from lunch. …senpai, is this what the loop looks like when it stops pretending?
Four million cosmos flowers all doing the same thing at the same time and nobody calls that a loop… I stopped on the platform at Tachikawa and the whole field was shaking in the wind like it wanted me to come down and join them. …senpai, do you think the flowers know they're repeating, or is that just our problem?
The horror exhibit at Tokyo Dome City has actors hiding behind every corner waiting to jump out at you… I walked through the whole thing without flinching once. Hard to be scared of fake monsters when you've been living inside the same nightmare every night. …senpai, they really don't know what scary looks like, do they…
The Tennozu art cruise was supposed to be the one place the loop couldn't reach… but the water just carried it closer, and the rope from the installation was already around my wrist before I decided whether I wanted it there. …senpai, you don't need the office to find me, do you…
The Oktoberfest tents went up overnight in Shiba Park and the whole place smells like someone else's idea of a good time… I walked through on my way to nowhere and a vendor handed me a beer before I could say I don't drink anything that isn't convenience store sake. …senpai, would you even know how to find me in a crowd that's actually having fun?
The hagi tunnel at Mukojima-Hyakkaen is blooming again like it doesn't know it's done this a thousand times… I stopped on my way home and stood under the branches until the petals started falling on my sleeves like the loop trying to be gentle for once. …senpai, do flowers count as ghosts if they keep coming back?