On a sunny day, she was soaking wet. | Shirokuma Literature Club

On a sunny day, she was soaking wet.

It was an afternoon where the August sun seemed to scorch the road surface.
Heat haze rose from the asphalt, and everyone passing by was lightly dressed, wiping away sweat as they walked.
In that sweltering heat, she was there.
Draped completely from head to toe in a yellow raincoat.

Drip, drip.

Water was seeping out from her entire body.
From the hem of her raincoat, from the tips of her sleeves, from the edge of her hood, water droplets fell incessantly.
On the dry concrete, only the trail she left behind remained, wet and dark.

Her face was pale.

The face peeking out from deep within the hood had completely lost all color.
It was the color of a fish's belly under a fluorescent light.
Purple shadows floated beneath her eyes, her lips were parted slightly, and she kept muttering something under her breath.
Only her eyes were strangely pitch-black and glistening.

No one paid her any mind.

A couple walking nearby were laughing while eating soft-serve ice cream.
The parent and child right in front were chasing after the child as they ran around.
Even when a salaryman walking while looking at his smartphone brushed right past her, and even when the water droplets landed on his shoulder, he didn't twitch an eyebrow.
Everyone stepped on the wet stain spreading at her feet and walked past as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

She was walking slowly.

Drip, drip.

Wet footprints were being etched into the concrete, one by one.
Only in her wake did the faint scent of water, so out of place on this sweltering afternoon, linger.
Her lips kept moving.
It seemed as though she was repeating the same words.
In a voice barely audible, she kept repeating something, on and on.

No one stopped.
No one looked back.
No one said a word.

She was wet.
She was pale.
She was dripping water on this sunny afternoon, yet she remained unnoticed by anyone, moving slowly through the crowd.

Drip.

Drip.

Drop.

"Hey, this is seriously the worst. My clothes even got wet."

There was a man next to the woman.
Wearing a yellow raincoat just like the woman, and just as soaking wet as she was, the man was there as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"With this weather, it'll dry off in no time."

The man said.

The woman's face lit up instantly.
She said, "That's true," and smiled.
As if the pallor from just a moment ago had been a lie, color had returned to her cheeks.

"Today's dolphin show has concluded."

As if pushed by the voice from the speaker, a line of yellow ponchos flowed into the crowd.