However, the driver’s brow furrowed at once.
Although the trip from here to Ginza-dori in Chiyoda-machi would already be beyond the base fare, the roads over there were narrow. Easy to drive in, hard to drive back out.
On top of that, Maebashi City was split in two by the Tone River.
Their current location was on the west bank of the Tone River, while Chiyoda-machi’s downtown district was on the opposite bank.
To get there, one had to cross a bridge.
Tone Bridge, or Owatari Bridge.
And with the road snow-melting system currently in such a worrying state, coupled with Gunma Prefecture’s famous “Joshu Karakkaze,” weather like this blizzard would turn the bridge deck into one enormous skating rink.
There was no geothermal heat on the bridge, and with empty space both above and below, the temperature dropped extremely quickly.
As long as a single car skidded sideways on the bridge, the entire bridge would be blocked off at once, turning into a parking lot that no one could enter or leave.
For the sake of this one fare, was he supposed to stake the entire golden earning period of the evening?
No need. There would be plenty of passengers tonight anyway.
He might as well run short trips on this side of the river, or head to the station and pick up a couple of business passengers going long-distance.
Click.
Without the slightest hesitation, the driver pressed the switch on the dashboard and turned off the red vacant light on the roof.
“Sorry.”
“I just remembered, I’ve got a reserved pickup ahead.”
He raised the window, blocking the cash Imagawa Ori had not yet had time to shove inside.
“W-wait!” Imagawa Ori froze, then slapped at the car window. “I have money! I have money!”
“I can pay double! Or—triple is fine too!”
But the Toyota Crown paid her no mind. Its engine roared, its tires spun twice in the snow, and then it sped off.
Two bright-red taillights vanished into the vast wind and snow.
“Aaaaaah—!”
Watching the taxi disappear into the distance, Imagawa Ori finally broke down.
She slammed her handbag hard onto the ground, sending the lipstick, compact, and mirror inside scattering everywhere.
“Your mother’s dead!”
Imagawa Ori rarely lost control like this, but it was truly hard to resist speaking straight from the heart.
There was still a long way from here to Chiyoda-machi, where “Kagura Club” was located.
Walk there on her own two legs?
In these seven-centimeter stiletto heels?
Cold snowflakes slipped down onto her neck. Before she even made it halfway, she would probably freeze to death by the roadside.
……
The heavy snow was like a thick white quilt, trying to smother the whole of Maebashi City.
Visibility had already dropped to less than five meters.
The gale swept snow pellets along with it, battering the roadside billboards with a crackling din.
Imagawa Ori stood in the snow, her chest heaving violently.
“Cough, cough… cough, cough, cough…”
That furious roar of hers had not made the departing taxi stop. Instead, she had sucked in a huge mouthful of icy air, choking so badly that she bent over and began coughing violently.
After recovering for a while.
She raised her wrist and, by the dim yellow halo of the streetlamp, glanced at the watch face.
Ten twenty-five.
It was over.
Even if a car stopped in front of her right now, it would still take twenty minutes to drive to Chiyoda-machi.
What would she go there for?
To watch other people open champagne?
Once Imagawa Ori realized this, she also calmed down.
When the input-output ratio had already turned negative, cutting one’s losses in time was the optimal solution.
Continuing to stand here would serve no purpose except freezing to death, or catching such a severe cold that she would be unable to go earn money on shift at Nishiagatsuma Welfare Hospital tomorrow.
In truth, her obsession with the year-end champagne prize was not all that deep.
If it were an ordinary day, then not being able to go would be that. At worst, she would just earn a little less money.
But tonight was different.
First, the car that was supposed to pick her up had not come. Then she had stood in the freezing wind for almost an hour, and even with cash in hand, she could not stop a single taxi.
That sense of frustration, of everything going wrong, made her feel a little like her defenses had been shattered.
She crouched down, preparing to pick up the cosmetics scattered across the ground and stuff them back into her handbag.
Just then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed that there was still someone standing beside her.
Imagawa Ori’s hand immediately froze in midair.
Oh. That guy Kiryu was still here.
Then had he seen her entire embarrassing loss of composure just now?
She abruptly turned her head.
And saw Kiryu Kazusuke still standing a few steps away, both hands in the pockets of his overcoat, half his face buried beneath his scarf, with only a pair of eyes exposed—calm and utterly without ripples.
He had not left.
But he also showed no intention of coming forward to help. He just stood there like that.
“Kiryu-kun, why are you still here?”
Imagawa Ori’s gaze was fierce, like a stray cat forced into a corner, ready to bare its claws at any moment.
Wasn’t this kind of heavy snow especially suitable for killing someone to silence them?
No, that would not work. The corpse would be hard to deal with.
“Senpai, I have snow blindness. I didn’t see anything.”
Kiryu Kazusuke pointed at the expanse of white all around them, lying through his teeth with his eyes wide open.
Snow blindness was temporary blindness caused by strong light irritating the retina. Where would strong light come from at this hour of the night?
It was nothing more than a step down that preserved both their dignity.
“Hmph.”
She snorted through her nose and did not expose him, turning back to continue picking things up.
At least he was sensible.
Kiryu Kazusuke looked at her figure.
Under the streetlamp, Imagawa Ori’s movements were becoming slower and slower.
She picked up a compact case. Her hand trembled, and the case fell back onto the ground.
When she went to pick it up again, she still could not get a firm grip on it.
This was not normal.
As a surgeon, Imagawa Ori’s hands could remain steady as bedrock even after performing surgery for ten hours straight.
Kiryu Kazusuke narrowed his eyes.
Imagawa Ori’s lips had already turned bluish-purple—cyanosis, in medical terms.
She was trembling.
Not the slight trembling caused by anger or cold, but uncontrolled spasms coursing through the muscles of her entire body.
Her knees were knocking, her teeth chattering.
This was the body’s self-protection mechanism kicking in to generate heat when core temperature dropped.
Shivering.
Combined with the clumsy movements she had just made, her fine motor function had already begun to deteriorate.
Hypothermia had already set in.
Kiryu Kazusuke quickly made the diagnosis in his mind.
From nine o’clock until now, ten o’clock, an hour had passed, and she had been standing by the roadside the entire time.
It was just that earlier, she had been in an emotional state, and adrenaline had masked the discomfort in her body. Once she calmed down, the chill would come surging back like a tsunami.
At this moment, Imagawa Ori also realized something was wrong.
She wanted to pick up the lipstick on the ground, but her fingers seemed to have turned into carrots in a freezer, completely numb.
Her head was so dizzy.
Her vision began to blur, and her thoughts grew sluggish as well.
Just now, she had still been calculating how to explain her lateness to Nakamori Sachiko. Now, however, her mind was nothing but mush.
She wanted to sleep.
She wanted so badly to just lie down in the snow and sleep for a while.
No.
She could not sleep.
Imagawa Ori bit the tip of her tongue hard, and the taste of blood made her slightly more clearheaded.
She swept the things on the ground messily into her bag and staggered to her feet.
Go to the station.
This place was not far from Maebashi Station. As long as she walked there and got on a train—even if she only went into the waiting room—there would be heating.
Actually, when Japanese people curse, they usually use things like “go die” (shine) or “you bastard” (temae).