On a holiday, that old friend of mine called me up, saying "Show your face for once in a while," so I visited his house, just a few minutes' walk from my parents' home. We were the kind of old acquaintances who only meet up maybe twice a year, for New Year's and Obon. It was a place that had become even more distant since I moved out of my parents' house and started living alone.

When I rang the doorbell, I heard the click of the lock unlocking. The person who appeared from behind the door was the one who had called me here

—or rather, his younger brother.