When One Summer Afternoon, Mister Ichikawa Was the Only One to Notice the End of the World.
Tiamat - Chapter Two
With raised eyebrows, Masahiro Ichikawa watched a wall of fire rise on the horizon. His tightened throat rendered him speechless and immobilised as he stared into distant flames.
The inferno, appearing from all sides at once, was unlike anything he had ever seen. It exceeded even the wildest scenes in the rubbish Sci-Fi movies he watched occasionally. Towering several hundred meters high, the fire dwarfed the skyscrapers it engulfed.
As it moved closer, Ichikawa could smell the acrid odours of burning rubber, concrete, and flesh — the crackling of the fire and the shattering of glass from the intense heat filling the air.
And yet, Ichikawa couldn’t grasp that nobody around him seemed to care about what was happening. Cars drove directly into the flames, pedestrians walked towards their doom, and all patrons in the restaurant he came for lunch continued their meals and conversations, utterly indifferent to the world burning to ashes around them. Unaware of the end of the world.
"Sir, have you found anything you would like to order?" A young waitress looked at Ichikawa, waiting for his order. She appeared to be a student working at the restaurant to support herself through university. Not very tall, probably around 5.2 feet, she was wearing a slightly oversized white shirt. Beige boxer shorts and athletic shoes indicated she was constantly moving while working.
She wasn’t an absolute beauty, but her eyes, deep green, had something unique, and just for one second, Ichikawa forgot the inferno he had looked at before because of these emerald-coloured eyes.
“No…” he stumbled, his throat still feeling tightened, “No, I…” he stopped again and forced himself to turn his head back in the inferno’s direction.
“Excuse me,” he said. The waitress shifted her weight onto another foot, showing some impatience with her customer. It did not remain unnoticed, and Ichikawa looked back into her eyes, “Please bring me a glass of water”, he said as calmly as he could in this bizarre situation. “If any water will help us when the fire reaches us”, was his thought.
“Anything else? Maybe something to eat? We have great Caesars Salat today on the menu?” she asked. “I’ll take it”. The waitress wanted to turn away, but instinctively, Ichikawa grasped her hand. She spun around, scared and surprised at the same time. He let go of her hand and said, “I am sorry, but I have a strange question. Do you see anything special?” he pointed towards Main Street, slowly consumed by fire. She looked in the direction he was pointing to and looked back at him: “I don’t see anything special but a street. Do you want to order something else?”.
Ichikawa slumped down in his chair. His eyes quickly darkened, and he looked tired and weak. “No. No, thank you,” his voice sounded low and weak. The waitress wanted to turn round and leave, but something made her turn around again. She looked at him worriedly and asked in the no longer businesslike tone she was sure she used with all her customers: “Are you feeling unwell? Do you need help?”.
The wall of fire was now very close, and it was only a matter of seconds before it engulfed everything around it and digested it into ashes. Ichikawa responded to the waitress’s question with deep gratitude. He didn’t know why, but the fact that someone worried about him in this deadly moment felt like a protective elixir that would protect him from any danger. Ichikawa was no longer alone, and his heart relaxed for the first time in a long time.
“No,” he said again, this time smiling slightly. “No. Only the world is ending right now. But it’s OK. It’s just mine”.
And at this moment, his world ceased to exist.
Hey…saw you request for feedback on your writing. Is there anything specific, or specific pieces you want feedback on?