Satori Episode 7: "Not Seeing"

☘️　　People don't live　　☘️
just to know everything.
That is why, even today,
the choice not to see
protects someone.

🍀　🍀　🍀

After school.

"See you tomorrow."

"Yeah. See you."

Satori parted ways with her friend and left the school gate.

The end of June. The evening breeze was still a little damp.

She walked along the usual path, her uniform skirt swaying.

Just before the intersection, she passed a man.

A black suit.

He looked to be in his forties.

He was a completely ordinary man, the kind you could find anywhere.

It happened in that instant.

Satori stopped in her tracks.

The man did not look back.

He just kept walking.

Satori caught her breath and closed her eyes.

"…I will not see."

It was a voice so quiet that no one could hear it.

As the man's back disappeared into the crowd, Satori started walking again as if nothing had happened.

However, her steps were a little heavy.

◇

On the path leading to the shrine's approach, there is a small dumpling shop.

A familiar face was sitting on the long bench covered with a red felt cloth in front of the shop.

“Oh.”

Naoto noticed her and raised his hand.

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

“Are you this way today?”

“I’m taking a detour for once.”

Naoto lifted his teacup.

“Do you want a dumpling?”

“...Just one.”

“Then, it’s my treat.”

“...I’ll have to decline that.”

“Why?”

"Because if I owe you a favor, it'll be scary later."

"That's a harsh thing to say."

Satori smiles a little.

But that smile is somehow awkward.

After finishing the dumpling, Satori stands up.

"Shall we go pay our respects?"

"Sure."

The two began to walk along the approach to the shrine.

They climbed the stone steps one by one, slowly.

The cicadas had begun to chirp.

Satori, who usually had something to say, was quiet today.

"Are you tired?"

Naoto looks back.

"...Just a little."

After answering that, Satori looked up at the sky.

She wasn't actually tired at all.

That was the feeling Naoto got.

◇

The two of them joined hands and sat down on a bench in the temple grounds.

The wind shook the trees, and only the sound of rustling leaves could be heard.

"It's quiet today, isn't it?"

"Is it?"

"Yeah. More than usual."

Satori fell silent as if thinking for a moment.

"...I passed by a strange person."

"A strange person?"

"Yes."

"What was strange about them?"

Satori did not answer.

She kept her gaze on the sunlight filtering through the trees in the temple grounds and gave a small shake of her head.

"I don't know."

"But they were strange."

"...Yes."

Naoto did not ask any further.

He felt it was better not to ask.

"Naoto-san."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think there are times when it is happier to remain ignorant of others?"

It was an unexpected question.

"I think there might be."

"Why?"

"Because if you knew everything, you would lose the joy of imagining."

Satori smiled faintly.

"That is a very Naoto-like answer."

"Was I wrong?"

"No."

Satori stood up.

"……Perhaps you are right."

The setting sun, heading toward the stone steps, cast long shadows.

The two began to walk side by side.

At that moment.

A man came up the stone steps from the bottom of the temple approach.

A black suit.

Satori's steps falter for just a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"...Nothing."

Satori looked away from the man and continued walking quietly.

The man, too, did not look at the two of them, and disappeared into the temple grounds just like that.

No one looked back.

Only the wind shook the trees.

The End