“Untitled 3”

Nagato Yuki

There was a black coffin in the room. There was nothing else.

Atop the coffin in the middle of the room, there sat one man.

“Hello,” he said to me. He smiled.

Hello.

I said the same thing to him. I don’t know what my expression was.

As I continued to stand there, a white cloth floated down behind the man. In the darkness, the cloth was bathed in faint light.

“I am sorry for being late,” said the white cloth.

It was actually a person, who was covered by the white cloth. There were holes cut where the eyes would be, and black pupils looked out at me.

The person within the cloth seemed to be a girl. I could tell from the voice.

The man laughed in a low voice.

“The presentation has not yet begun.”

He did not move from the coffin.

“There is still time.”

The presentation.

I tried to remember. Had I come here to present something? I was nervous. I could not remember.

“There is time,” said the man. He smiled at me. The white sheet girl danced happily.

“Let us wait. Until you remember,” said the girl. I looked at the black coffin.

I remembered only a single goal.

I belonged within that coffin.

I had come from it, and I had returned here so that I could go back to it. The man was sitting on the coffin. If he did not move, I could not get into it.

But I had nothing to present. I was not qualified to participate in the presentation.

The man began to sing in a low voice. The white sheet danced along with it.

If he did not move, I could not get into it.