Salvation 2035

Chapter 40- Familiar Faces

『Raf』

     You know, I thought this job would be a real longshot and we'd never see the end of it. But within days, somehow Tsuki has found out where this guy is going to be and is going to confront him tonight. I thought the whole catfishing idea would never work in a million years, and yet here we are. Still, the whole thing makes me uneasy.

    When I first saw Tsuki, I thought nothing out of the ordinary about him. But once I saw him all made up, he began to remind me of someone I used to know. Back when I was younger, about fifteen or so, there was a rumour going around my school about a ghost that stood at the unofficial border of the low and middle-class areas of our city. She was skinny, wore faded pink, and her dark, heavily mascaraed eyes would peer from under her thick, shoulder-length blonde hair. Apparently, if you approached her, or made eye contact with her, she'd disappear before your eyes. I always liked urban legends and exploring the city, so my interest was piqued. Also, school was coming to an end anyway, so I figured this would keep me busy for summer vacation. I went to the location a few times and managed to catch sight of her. The first time, however, I got a little sidetracked and she seemed to disappear. There were a lot of people around that day, so I lost her in the crowd. For a moment, I believed the rumours. But, I went back the next day and saw her again.

     I'm a pretty friendly person, so I just walked over to say hello. But the moment I said a word to her, she began to walk away. The conversation went something like this:

     "Hey there!" I greeted, trying to be as amicable as possible. But, she moved away from me almost immediately. I pursued her nonetheless. "I see you here pretty often and I just wanted to say hello. We're around the same age, right?"

     "What the hell do you want?" a surprisingly rough voice answered me at last.

     "That's unexpected," I remarked.

     "Yeah, I'm a guy, and if you got any problems with me I'll split your head open!" he shot back.

     "Woah, there's no need to be like that!" I exclaimed. It turned out this person only dressed like a girl but had one of the most masculine personalities I've ever come across. "I don't have any problems with you!"

     "Then why the hell are you bothering me?" he asked.

     "Well, since I see you here a lot I thought we could talk and maybe be friends?" I suggested.

     "You don't really want to be friends with me, do you?" he probed.

     "Is there a reason I shouldn't want to?" I personally didn't care that my friend was wearing a skirt and makeup as a guy, but now I know that it isn't particularly accepted by many. I guess my friend thought that he wasn't the kind of person that others would want to associate with.

     "I mean... if you don't see any reason not to, then I guess we can talk for a little bit," he replied.

     What was supposed to be 'a little bit' turned into hours upon hours of conversation. We talked about regular kid stuff like video games and sports. I was super into vintage games back then, so it was fun to have someone to talk about it to. Although we were two very different-looking people, it was like we were cut from the same cloth. He was like any other kid at my school, it just so happened that we were from two entirely different worlds.

     I, of course, didn't understand it at the time, but looking back, my friend was definitely in a dire situation. The days I didn't get a chance to hang out with him I often saw him with these strange, older men. I thought that maybe they were family members and that my friend might have been adopted or something.