01 The Beginning

… howahh? I could have sworn I threw down some chazuke this morning, so why am I this hungry??

Actually, wait a minute

"Where the heck is this? Why is there a jungle here…?"

I want to make that question a yell, but I'm too hungry to shout.

Setting that aside for now, is my memory messed up or something? The bag I should definitely be holding right now is gone.

Okay, let's just calm down here. Take a deep breath. Don't do the whole 'breathe in, breathe out' thing, though. That's too cliche. Okay, looks like I've calmed down a bit (?). Now, let's just remember one thing at a time.

First of all, I remember my name. Sato Yuri. I've met four other women in my life with the exact same name, and one even used the exact same kanji. I guess you could say it's a pretty common name.

Age… around thirty. I remember the specific number just fine so I don't really need to say it.

Job: cook. I work at an old Western-style restaurant about 20 minutes walking-distance from my house.

I've worked there for about 10 years, and have finally gotten to the point where everyone has started to respect my skill.

Boyfriend: none for the last 4 years.

In my mind men

… woah there. Got a little sidetracked.

Anyway, my hobby is eating while walking. My specialty is judging the quality of alcohol. I remember myself just fine.

My last memory is… probably leaving for work.

I woke up late this morning. I had about 10 minutes until I was supposed to be at work.

I set some water boiling while I got myself ready, then made chazuke with some cold rice and tossed it down. I left the dishes in the sink, threw on my down coat, put my cell in my bag, and took off out the door. Outside everything was covered in snow.

In fact, it wasn't nice, soft snow. It was all half-frozen.

Wait, isn't this starting to sound a little dangerous? Um. Right, what happened next…

Here and there I saw folks headed to work or school falling over on the ice, so I told myself to be careful and started walking as quickly and carefully as I could. Then, suddenly, I heard a scream from behind me. Looking back to see what was happening, I saw a person who had fallen over and was sliding along the street, taking everyone who got in their way with them as they slipped along.

I didn't even have time to try to avoid them before I, too, was swept up by the sliding wave of people, and suddenly there was a telephone pole right in front of my eyes. And that's the last thing I remember.

What the hell. What is this, some kind of comedy sketch?