[WRITTEN FOR SEKAI'S JULY '21 SHORT STORY COMPETITION] - 'Write about a character who is lost.' Nothing beats the comfort of standing out in a place no one ever notices. Man, fuck Tokyo.

An arrogant actor with a playboy reputation has to learn to truly love for the first time. Haunted by false allegations from his previous relationship, he doesn't believe he can trust anyone. Will a humble café owner be able to change that? ༺❀༻ Haru Okada's career is damaged by rumours from his ex-girlfriend. It takes several projects he dreads and his irresistible charm to get back on his feet, achieving levels of fame he has never imagined to be possible. Still, fame and money do not equal happiness. The more fans Haru has, the more he falls into a rabbit hole of insecurities, carelessness, and arrogance. One day, his mind games fail. He messes up-on camera. Obsessed with offering an apology and maintaining his reputation, he meets coffee shop owner Aya Masaki. She speaks her mind, scolding the man for his attitude. He likes that. She doesn't. An odd mixture of Haru's childishness and Aya's protective nature brings them in the same bed. When the worst happens, they refuse to give up on each other. There are details people shouldn't know, but they do. This leads to one question: "Who is telling the story?" ༺❀༻ Cover image by Tan Danh on Pexels.

You find yourself trapped in a realm you do not understand. You can do absolutely everything - so what will you do?

[WRITTEN FOR SEKAI'S JULY '21 SHORT STORY COMPETITION] - 'Write about a character who is lost.' Writing is not just stringing sentences together... it is trial and error, distractions, and hyperfixating on one word until it stops looking like a word. There is nothing more tedious than going back and forth, struggling to reach a stupid word count. We've all been there and we'll continue to be there. After all, it's what we love doing. The lower word limit was 1500. This story is exactly 1501 words long.