Tsukiko found herself standing on an empty asphalt road, surrounded by what seemed to be an endless field of rice, stretching out to the horizon. The sky was a deep, cloudless blue, with nothing but a passenger jet passing overhead. The very tip of Mount Fuji peaked over the far end of the rice field.

A cool wind blew over her, rustling some of the tall green blades, yet it made no sound. With it came the smell of muddy water, countered by the smoothness of clean, rural air.

Her red slate phone was in her right hand gripped tightly. When she raised her arm, she found she wasn't wearing her jacket. Instead, she was wearing some kind of tight, black body suit of some kind. The material made a slight creaking noise as it moved.

At her side was a gray motorcycle. Her hands lingered on the grips, the machine feeling oddly familiar. Not seeing an obvious option forward, she tried to start it, to no avail. All she got was a whining, struggling electric sound.

"Start." Tsukiko demanded, as if her words were going to magically refuel the bike.

It was hopeless.

"Fumi..." Tsukiko spoke to herself. "Why the fuck aren't you picking up?"

Her phone had signal, but just barely. A single bar was all she had, no matter how high she held the damned thing.

The side of the bike said "Norton" in big, ornate letters. It didn't matter what brand the bike was, the thing didn't have any fuel and it wasn't going anywhere.

"Guess I gotta leave it."

Tsuki turned around and noticed a large boxy thing standing by itself on the side of the road. There were telephone poles, carrying a cable from somewhere in the distance to a town in the distance. Looking the other way was bleak, with just the asphalt road stretching on for what felt like forever.

Left with no other direction to head, she started walking toward the box in the distance, with no particular hopes in mind. She held the phone tightly in her gloved right hand, waiting for something.

As she walked, she raised up the phone, its screen flickering on and displaying a single recent message.

"You shouldn't have done that." A message from Fumiko hovered on the screen.

"Damnit." Tsukiko muttered to herself. "Just answer."

She typed out a message, hit send. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm sorry, please respond. I love you."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Before she knew it, she'd arrived at the box thing. An almost picturesque vending machine stood before her, with an intense red paint job and pale white lights illuminating products that seemed more fit in Tokyo than in some field somewhere. A low hum came from the bottom as Tsuki got closer.

Tsuki stood in front of it for a while, contemplating whether or not to get anything. When she finally decided on what she wanted, she reached down for a wallet that wasn't there. Without another word, she looked back to her motorcycle in the distance.

"Fucking... Goddamnit." Tsuki slammed her hand on the vending machine in frustration.

The Knight paced a few steps forward, then stopped. Propped up against the electric pole next to the vending machines was a framed poster for a music single. It was from a singer Tsuki'd loved dearly, but the poster was for a single almost as old as she was.

Tsuki muttered to herself as she kneeled down next to it. "How long's this been here?"

Not having any obvious goal, Tsukiko sat down on the asphalt, at the poster's side. She looked out to the horizon, noticing something that looked like a radio tower in the distance.

She raised her phone again, staring at it, but no response ever came. The longer she looked at it, the more impatient she grew.

Before she could think long enough to stop herself, Tsukiko called Fumiko, setting the phone on speaker and putting it down on the asphalt in front of her. It rang and rang, and then went to voicemail.

Tsuki took a deep breath before she spoke. "Fumi. Please talk to me. I'm sorry... I know I fucked up, I know made you worry. I didn't know it'd happen. Please talk to me, Fumi, please. I love you so much."

A knot formed in her throat, and she shuddered a bit with each word. She reached forward and tapped the screen quickly, ending the call.

"Fuck." Tsukiko let out a long, deep sigh.

Mentally exhausted, Tsukiko sat next to the vending machine, leaning her shoulder against it. Its hum was a comforting, familiar sound in a field of silence.

Her eyes scanned the rice field ahead of her, almost glossing over from the absolute haze of various shades of green. A bit of brown stood out, making her eyes focus once again.

Not too far from her, probably a couple of meters out from the road, was a woman with brown hair, standing in the field. She was looking away from Tsukiko, holding something in her hands.

"Hello!" Tsukiko called out. "Hey!"

The woman didn't reply, or even react. She simply stared down at the green blades and whatever it was in her hands.

Tsuki got onto her feet, pushing herself up off the vending machine. She approached the woman, standing near her, at the edge of the asphalt.

Long brown hair fell down upon the woman's back. She wore a black dress, but it was a few shades too dark for Tsuki to be able to glean any other details about it. In her hands, she was clutching a portable CD player, a wire leading from it to a pair of small headphones.

"Hello!" Tsuki called out again. "My name's Tsuki!"

The woman shuddered a bit, looking around, but quickly losing interest.

"Do you know where I am?" Tsuki insisted. "I need to get home. Please?"

The woman took off her headphones, lowering them down to her neck, before turning to the Knight. She moved closer, through the plants, then looked up.

Looking at the woman's face filled Tsukiko's heart with terror.