Miku stood at the edge of a town and peered down the long street. Now that she examined it, it wasn't really a town. More of one, long, winding street leading to the top of a hill. She couldn't see what was at the top of the hill, but she could definitely see the steep stairs made of smooth stones that led up to it. Miku turned around to look at the landscape behind her. It was a gorgeous valley with bright green grass only interrupted by the occasional flower. At the bottom, there was an empty riverbed. The stones in it, she noted, were still glistening with small water droplets, almost as if the water had suddenly vanished instead been gone for years.
Truthfully, Miku had no idea what she was doing here. She remembered being in her new house (although it wasn't that new anymore since she'd lived in it for a year and a half) and then deciding to go on a walk in the forest beneath her house. She knew that there was a specific reason for her walk, one that ran so deep that she could still feel the remnants of it even though she had absolutely no idea what it was. She turned back to the street, feeling a pull to the top of the staircase. Still not sure why exactly she needed to go to the top of this staircase in the middle of nowhere, she decided she didn't have anything to lose.
A light breeze picked up, strong enough to move the grass around her, but too weak to stir more than a few strands of her hair. 'Wait, why is my hair down?' She asked herself. Miku didn't remember letting her hair out of the ponytail it usually sat in when she was exercising, but then again, she didn't remember walking to the edge of this strange town-street on the side of a hill in place that she'd never seen before. Well, that wasn't right, either. She'd been here before. But when? And why was the memory of this place so vague and slippery that every time she thought about it, it slid out of her grasp?
If it wasn't for the fact there was a growing bruise on her knee, presumably from the walk up, Miku would've thought it was a dream. She'd never had a dream that was so unsettlingly realistic to include a bruise. She began walking through the town (street?), looking carefully at the empty stalls with bright red roofs, hanging banners swinging in the wind, and unlit lanterns swaying every so often if the breeze picked up enough. 'Why are there so many restaurants?' Miku wondered. 'And why is it so empty?' Miku took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, and her nose picked up a delectable scent from a stall somewhere up ahead. She didn't pick up her pace but angled her path to lead to the source.
The smells ended up being an extensive spread of meat, seafood, and other carefully prepared foods. It was laid out on the side of a stall. Miku perked up. The food looked freshly out of the oven, so there had to be another person that could explain what was going on She pulled herself onto one of the chairs, those round kind you see in diners, and leaned over the food, careful to not let her shirt get soiled by the sauces and grease. To her disappointment and confusion, this stall was just as empty and had no sign of having been used recently, besides a few embers in the open oven. Miku sighed and sat fully on the chair, folding her knees beneath herself. She eyed the food. It smelled, really, really good, and she was hungry...
A sudden spike of dread shot through her, making her stumble out of the chair and away from the stall. She walked away backwards, almost as it she was afraid of the food and its consequences. Which was ridiculous, because she was definitely not scared of a cooked piece of meat and some dumplings. Definitely. She took another deep breath to steady herself. "Yeah, maybe I just won't eat anything." Miku mumbled to no one. She moved on from the weird stall and its food.
Once she reached the staircase a sense of lightness found her. There was something (someone?) waiting for her at the top of this staircase. Something that would make this entire experience worth it. She bound up the stairs, her excitement growing with every step she took. The moment she saw the stairs turning to the sandy path beneath her feet, Miku eagerly looked up. All she saw was a large, ornate building across a red bridge. She felt a soul wrenching disappointment twist through her chest, but she still didn't know who it was she thought would be waiting to greet her with open arms. ('When did it become a who?') She even felt tears welling up in the corner of her eyes, and it made her mad. "Why am I crying over something I don't even remember?" She asked angrily as she hurriedly wiped her eyes.
