Judy wakes up by the noise and runs to catch me.

“Emma, what are you doing? Your hand is bleeding.”

“You really don’t remember? Are you sure you have no recollection of what happened last night?” I grab Judy’s arm.

“I think I had drunk too much yesterday. I don’t remember anything.”

My tears trickle down. Mika disappeared. Now, I’m the only one who saw him fighting to save us.

When we all met again, everyone thinks that Judy had too much wine last night and fell asleep in another room. No one wondered why Judy disappeared in the hotel surveillance video. Our bus arrives at the hotel. The graduation trip now comes to an end.

Perhaps Mika has returned to the convenience store?! I run into the establishment with a last glimmer of hope.

“I don’t know if Mika is lucky or unlucky to have met you,” Kazuma says, standing behind the counter of the convenience store. His eyes are filled with sadness and desolation.

The lights are all on at the convenience store. Even though the shelves are packed with merchandise, it still feels like I’m standing in a vast wasteland— not even a single sound, only endless desolation. There is no longer a person called Mika in this world, and there is no light in my world.

“Do you know the rule a convenience store owner has to follow?” Kazuma asks me.

“What is it?” My tears remain in line after line. My body is shaking, and I could barely stand. I couldn’t believe Mika is dead.

“The only rule that a convenience store owner should observe no matter what is not to interfere with the fate of human beings. You were supposed to die, but Mika was willing to break the rules for you.”

“Where is Mika? Please tell me where he is,” I begged the talking cat. At this point, I was too hysterical even to question or fear why Kazuma was talking to me in the first place. I don’t want to think about the rules for convenience store owners and why this convenience store is so unusual. At the moment, I just hope Mika is alive. I wish he could stand in front of me and smile once more.

The white boy I’ve grown to care for— so gentle and so sunny. He is my light, my only hope in an ordinary life. If I could, I would take the punishment for him.

“You need to leave and don’t come back again,” Kazuma says, tears dripping from his eyes.

“I’ve searched all over the world, and he’s gone.”