Why Not Use an Umbrella on a Sunny Day? | (Horror Short Story) Shirokuma Literature Club

On a sunny day,
why not use an umbrella?

On a rainy day,
why not go without an umbrella?

There was a movie a long time ago where a gentleman in a suit danced in the rain to music, encouraging people to throw away small common sense.

Honestly, I don't really know the plot of the movie.

Sweat is streaming down my forehead and back as if I'd been caught in the rain.

The idea that it's okay to use an umbrella on a sunny day
was a breakthrough in common sense brought about by parasols.

Thinking about that, I walk to the office,
hiding in small shadows to avoid the hot sun.

Perhaps because of the heat, there is no one walking on the road.
----
Right in front of me, someone in a mascot costume is sitting on the side of the road despite this heat.
I can't tell if it's a man or a woman from their height.

Even though I was using a parasol, it was an unbelievable sight to me, as I was sweating as if I had been caught in the rain.

(Is it a mascot job even in this heat?
Are they okay?)

Such selfish delusions run through my head.

While I was worrying about that, the mascot's head slowly approached the scorching road.

Thud!

They had fallen face-first onto the road.

I rushed over and called out to them.

"Are you okay! Can you hear me?"

No matter how much I called out, there was no reply from the mascot.

Thinking they must have heatstroke, I hurriedly tried to take the costume off.

However, I didn't know how to take the costume off.

It was heavier than it looked, and I desperately tried to hold their rigid body and looked at their back to see if I could unzip it.

For several minutes, I had been
struggling with a mascot that wasn't sweating at all.

Because of the extreme heat, my makeup was running.

I also started to feel dizzy, and I lost the strength in my hands.

Thud!

A duller sound than the first one reached my ears.
Because of me, they had slammed the back of their head against the ground.

Oh, this is bad.

Perhaps because my own consciousness was fading,
it took me a while
to realize that it would have been better to call an ambulance.

"Is this the emergency line? It's an emergency, someone in a mascot costume has collapsed.
I think it's heatstroke at first, but they've hit their head several times."

I tell a small lie.

There is no foot traffic, and no one is around.

Until the ambulance arrived, I desperately kept calling out to the mascot.

Whether they were fainted or not, their body remained stiff and didn't move an inch.

They weren't sweating either.
Maybe all the moisture had left their body.

While I was doing that, the ambulance arrived.

"Where is the injured person?"

The paramedic calls out to me.
With relief, I asked them to help the person in the costume.

The paramedic makes a surprised and confused sound.

"It's not a person, there's a mannequin inside the costume!"

Thinking that couldn't be right, I looked inside the costume.
A mannequin's head was inside the mascot's head.

Along with relief, I couldn't grasp the situation, and no words came out.
Is this also because of the heat?

A young clerk from a nearby supermarket who heard the commotion came over.

"Oh... I'm sorry. That's ours."
"I was told I should bundle it up..."

The clerk, who understood the situation, apologized apologetically.

The paramedic asked what happened.

To cut costs, it seems they put the costume on a mannequin and threw them away together as industrial waste.
The clerk and I apologized profusely to the paramedic for causing a scene.

The misunderstanding was cleared up, and the ambulance left.
----
The young male clerk turned to me and apologized.
"Oh, miss. I am very sorry for the trouble."
I called out to the young clerk.

"It was a false alarm, but I'm glad no one was hurt."

The sense of relief that I hadn't caused any injuries outweighed my anger, and I gave a kinder answer than usual.

Remembering that I was late for work, I hurriedly left the scene.

----
The young clerk watched the back of the parasol as it moved away.

He remembered that from under the makeup ruined by sweat, the blue tint of stubble had faintly emerged.

"...I wonder if 'big sister' was the right way to address you."

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I participated in this project for the first time.
Having a core theme made it easier to write.
I enjoyed it. Thank you very much.