A few years ago, I think I was still someone who liked to record my life in writing. In the more than twenty years of my life, this year, when I wrote this side story, was the year I gained the most insight. Even when I'm old and look back on the past, this will still have been one of the most colorful years of my life.
This story was originally written for my good friend Tudou, to commemorate our friendship in high school. But after I poured my heart into it, I came to regard it like my own child. When the emotions ran deep, I could barely hold back my tears.
As I wrote, I tried to weave in as much of my own feelings and inner journey as possible. The characters' sadness and sorrow, their joy and laughter, all came from my life. Running through it all is a sense of despair, and the longing to be protected and saved. We accept fate's mockery and struggle in vain like this. What will that shopkeeper, that Star, do?
Save me. I still don't want to give up.
Stay away from me. I'm beyond saving.
Each time I face it, it's like cutting open my own heart with a blade. You have to look straight at every part of yourself, bloodied and exposed. Will you keep choosing to run away?
