that revealed most of their backs and shoulders. The kitten was gone. “You got business here?” “E-excuse me!” I leaped to my feet and ducked my head. Just as I passed by him, I lost my balance. He’d kicked my ankle with his toes. I made an impulsive grab at the trash can by the vending machine and ended up taking it down to the wet asphalt with me. The lid came off, sending empty cans clattering all over the road. “Hey, are you okay?!” one of the women asked, but the blond man with the earring put an arm around her shoulders. “Forget him. As I was saying, you’ll make a killing working at our place. Come in and let me explain, all right?” With that, the blond ushered the two girls into the building and disappeared after them. He didn’t even glance at me. “The hell? Outta the way, kid!” Openly clicking their tongues in irritation, a couple walked past me where I sat in the street, kicking empty cans aside. “I’m sorry…!” Hastily, I put the trash bin back in place, then crawled around on the wet ground, desperately picking up the scattered contents. The garbage was more than just cans; there were empty bento boxes and food waste in there, too. The passersby weren’t shy about letting me know I was in their way. I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, but I had to clean up before I could, and I grabbed frantically at limp, soggy fried chicken and half-eaten rice balls with my bare hands. Tears welled in my eyes and ran down my face alongside the raindrops. There was a distinctly heavy paper bag in among the garbage. It was about the size of a hardcover book, and it had packing tape wound around and around it. Ka-tunk. As I was peeling off the fabric packing tape, the wet paper bag ripped, and its contents fell to the floor of the restaurant. After the heavy metallic clunk, I hastily reached down toward my feet. “Huh?!” Page 16 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com