1993, a tiny rural town in Southern USA.

The heat of the summer and chirps of cicadas woke Shouto up, well before his alarm would ring. His tank top that he slept in was damp with sweat- gross. The August humidity in this godforsaken town was practically hellish.

5AM, the red numbers on his clock read- his mom would already be awake then, getting ready for her morning shift at the gas station diner. Shouto got up, stretching his limbs, heading to the kitchen, where his mom was tying her apron and downing a cup of black coffee, whilst also scanning yesterday’s newspaper that she didn’t have time to read. Their small radio was on, crackly and quiet.

“Hey, mom,” he mumbled, a yawn slipping past his lips.

“Hi, baby,” his mom said, smiling. “You’re up early.”

“Yeah, couldn’t sleep,” Shouto said, rubbing his eyes. “I’m gonna go for a run to wake me up.” He decided that then and there, but a morning run always helped him feel like less of a couch-potato. Besides, the sunrise would be pretty rad.

His mom hummed absentmindedly, a hairpin between her teeth. She gave Shouto a kiss on the head, to which he looked away. “Okay, hon. I’m covering Mary’s shift, so I won’t be home when you get back from school. Dinner’s in the fridge.”

Shouto nodded.

He headed out soon after, running past cornfields and the river banks, onto the unpaved roads. There was no one out, apart from Mr Clifton, an old man with a lot of dogs- Shouto waved hi to him. When he was out-of-breath, he stopped by the side of the road, crossing to get to the forest-y area opposite it. A few minutes into the field, up a small hill, there was a rotting tree log there, right by a riverbank, and the trees didn’t obscure the view of the sunrise. Shouto went there often- and liked that the place was his spot, because he didn’t want seniors from school littering it with beer cans and cigarette butts.

But, there was already someone there. A boy, his age, who he’d never seen before. Someone new, in this town?