The Next Day.
The train rattled softly along the tracks, the faint tremor humming through the soles of my shoes and up into my bones. Outside, the world stretched into endless blurs of green and gold, the rice fields basking under the mid-morning sun. The scent of sun-warmed iron seeped faintly through the cracks in the windows, mingling with the sweet, almost lazy perfume of distant sakura trees just beginning to bloom.
I leaned back against the stiff seat, letting the rhythm of the carriage sway me in and out of my thoughts. The overhead lights buzzed intermittently, the mechanical drone blending with the muted conversations of passengers around us—students laughing in scattered clusters, an old man nodding off in the corner, the occasional mechanical voice announcing the next station in a flat, emotionless tone.
