Chapter 1: Monochrome Skies MAN, I hate summer. Such were my thoughts as I sat broiling on the concrete platform, praying my train would soon arrive to grant me a brief reprieve from the midmorning swelter. It was only the beginning of July, and already it felt like stepping into a sauna every time I walked out the front door. The blistering heat and humidity would have been miserable enough on their own, but add to that the endless laughter of cicadas, and it was enough to make my morning commute feel like a sick form of torture. Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, a muffled announcement rang out over the station’s lone loudspeaker. “Erm, attention, all passengers. We regret to announce that we’re experiencing a significant delay due to an unexpected collision with a deer farther down the line. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience, as we know your time is valuable, but ask that you please bear with us as we address the situation…” The rusty old loudspeaker choked out a crackle of static from its perch atop a nearby utility pole as the announcement cut off. Ugh. Not again, I groaned. The same thing had happened last month, albeit with a wild boar instead of a deer. Only a single set of tracks ran through the ramshackle station, which looked directly out over the open ocean. All that lay on the inland side of the platform were dense woodlands and a steep upward incline. As it was one of the few truly remote stations left in the prefecture that had yet to be remodeled, it had become a somewhat popular destination for explorers looking to venture off the beaten path. Unfortunately, the rail line’s dilapidated state also meant that these kinds of delays were relatively frequent. Not that I generally minded being late for school—any other time of year, I would have welcomed the free tardy slip—but right now, I would have vastly preferred to sit in an air-conditioned classroom than languish beneath the hot sun for God knew how much longer. Delays due to wildlife