COTE : Three days of happyness

The Blue Period

A definite change started to take place when my lifespan went below fifty days.

As I said before, there were lots of people who took offense to my actions, which were both famous and infamous. There were numerous people who would see me happily talking to an invisible person, and say cruel things loud enough for me and passersby to hear.

Of course, I had no right to complain. I was the one who made them feel unpleasant in the first place.
One day, at a bar, I got involved with three men. They were loud, sharp-eyed, always taking opportunities to make themselves look tough, and from their numbers and stature I knew I needed to be careful about offending them.

Probably out of boredom, when they saw me drinking alone and talking to an empty seat, they purposefully sat next to me and talked to me, trying to provoke me.

Maybe at one point I would have tried to stand up for myself and say something back, but I just couldn’t devote energy to that anymore, so I waited it out until they got bored.
But they didn’t get bored - upon realizing I wasn’t saying anything back, they took advantage of it to up the attitude even further.

I considered leaving the bar, but seeing how much time they seemed to have on their hands, I thought they might just follow me.

“This is problematic,” Horikita said with a concerned look.
Just as I was worrying about what to do, I heard a voice from behind say “Huh? Is that you, Mr. Ayanokouji?”

It was a man’s voice. I couldn’t identify anyone who talked to me like that, so I was surprised enough as it was, but what he followed with made both Horikita and I too stunned to speak.

“You’re with Ms.Horikita again today?”
I turned to look. I did indeed know this man.

He was the man who lived next door at the apartment. The man who’d always given me a disturbed look watching me go in and out while talking to Horikita.

I seemed to remember his name was Kanzaki.

Kanzaki walked right up to me, turned to one of the guys bothering me, and said “I’m very sorry, but could you give up this seat?”

His words were polite, but his tone was oppressive. Kanzaki was over six foot and looked at him like he was used to threatening people, so the man he spoke to changed his attitude very quickly.
Once kanzaki sat next to me, he faced not me, but Horikita. “I always hear about you from Mr. Ayanokouji, but I’ve never talked to you myself. Nice to meet you. I’m Kanzaki.”

Horikita’s face was frozen in shock, but Kanzaki nodded as if she’d made some kind of reply. “Yes, that’s right. I’m honored you remember. We’ve passed by in the apartment many times.”

It wasn’t much of a conversation. Thus it was clear that Kanzaki couldn’t actually see Horikita.

Maybe this man is just “pretending” he can see Kanzaki, I thought.
The men pestering me seemingly gave up with Kanzaki’s appearance and prepared to leave. Once the three were gone, Kanzaki sighed with relief and threw away his polite smile for his usual sullen look.

“Let me just say first,” Kanzaki clarified, “I don’t necessarily believe this "Horikita” girl honestly exists.“

"I know. You were just helping, huh?”, I said. “Thanks, I’m grateful.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not really that either.”

“Then what is it?”

“You may not admit this, but… at least personally, this is what I think. I see what you’re doing as sort of a performance, attempting to fool as many people as you can into believing this "Horikita” really exists. You’re attempting to prove through perfect pantomime that people’s common sense can be shaken. …And that attempt has succeeded on me somewhat.“