The Tales of Unearthly Encounters

On the Edge

"The rotting corpse...."

This was the very first impression that popped up in Mizuki‟s mind, as she noticed the town for the very first time through the train window.

She couldn‟t quite grasp how her mind suddenly compared it to a corpse. But the gloomy town was very unsightly indeed. The townscape was visible near the horizon. But considering how slowly the train was heading, she assumed that it would still take a few more minutes to reach her destination.

She again looked at her destination. The gloomy sky and dense downpour had already reduced the visibility. The town lay there like a smeared patch of some ugly moss. For some weird reason, it kept reminding her about an ugly rotting corpse, as though some invisible vultures were already flying over it, round and round.

She shivered with disgust. To distract herself from the irritating feeling, she looked away. The compartment itself was empty, apart from herself. The only passenger had left two stops ago. The lonely compartment kind of scared and depressed her. The gloom of the sky was getting worse. It was almost as dark as night inside the compartment. She tried to turn on the lights inside the compartment but found that none of those were working.

"Tsk.." she made a sound out of sheer annoyance and got up. The town seemed closer now. Hence, she decided to prepare her luggage.

Well, the word "luggage" would have been a kind of hyperbole to describe her belongings. A medium-sized travel bag and a handbag, those were all she carried.

There had been a permanent frown fixed upon her face since the last month. Since childhood, Mizuki had always been a very ambitious girl. When she had first entered her company as a mere employee, she had realized that the corporate world was a brutal one, one, by then she had well- sharpened her sword to win by any means. Ethics or emotions, she had never hindered her career with those frivolous poetic things, because Mizuki knew that in this world you either needed to be the predator or the prey. Her lack of morality worked as a catalyst in her series of promotions. She soon found herself ascending through the food chain in one of Japan‟s leading companies. They say that sometimes blessings come in the disguise of a curse. But ironically the opposite happens as well. Her curse, camouflaged as a blessing hit unexpectedly. She found herself as the Chief of the newly opened branch, but the new branch happened to exist at the very edge of the map of Japan. But she was not to be put off by such meager setbacks. She had full confidence to strike back.

Yet, since the declaration, she had felt an utter feeling of frustration and anger. Hence the permanent frown.

She was lost in her thought when she realized that the train was entering the station. She got off the train. It was only her. As she looked around, she felt like that the station was literally out of some old manga or comic strip.

"Literally‟ because there was no hint of color anywhere. Everything was gloomy and grey, just like a black and white manga panel. Whether because of that particular weather or non-maintenance, it felt like someone had sucked all the colors from the surrounding with a sponge. The train took off in total silence, like the huge metal mammoth was in a hurry to leave. Mizuki‟s eyes searched for the person who was supposed to be there to receive her.