05/08/2026
Otaru seemed content to exist without asking to be noticed. The streets continued as they always had, indifferent to who passed through them. Geric and Karl simply entered that rhythm. They lingered where they wished, turned corners without deciding why, and let the afternoon unfold at its own pace. A few words were exchanged, then left behind, as though they belonged only to that particular hour.
Nothing asked to become a memory. Nothing reached for significance. Yet by the time they left, the day had settled somewhere neither of them could quite point toβa place where ordinary hours remain long after the details have faded.
