Looking back on it, it was that day.

That day, Nao’s whole world cracked, revealed a rotten center, and collapsed.

---

“Nao-kun, hurry on home. It’s Taikeirei, you should relax and spend time with your family!”

Nao smiled and hefted the bag onto his shoulders. “Kaasan needs some things for dinner. I’ll relax later.”

“My, what a good boy!”

Nao said his farewells and headed back across town. It was maybe a thirty-minute walk to his house, but the streets were packed today, and he had to walk slower to avoid stepping on others. Or indeed being stepped on.

A few kids got ahead of the crowds with some jetpacks they’d probably snatched from passing junk trucks and cobbled back together. They went spinning through the air overhead, hooting and hollering like the hooligans they were. Nao thought he recognized them from school.

“Be careful!” one of the adults on the street called out. “You boys are going to break your bones with those things!”

“Oh, leave them alone. Boys will be boys.”

The crowds thinned a little at the town square, or at least they formed loose clumps with small slipways between. A load of trucks had come in that morning to spread favors for the festivities, so here kids helped themselves to piles of electronic sparklers, filter glasses, static-shock gloves, and all kinds of other stuff. Nao stopped to pick up a couple of sparklers. Hidori would like to play with them.

While he was squatted next to the neat stacks, perusing the selection, he heard a few older men speaking nearby in low tones.

“The runner we sent ain’t come back yet, and EMs still won’t go through. On Taikeirei of all days.”

“I heard a lot of small towns have been experiencing coldspots lately. Honinukishi’s trying to sue—they had an outbreak during a coldspot.”

Nao picked out a few different sparklers. A third person butted into the conversation.

“Well, it makes sense for Honinukishi to have coldspots. They’re in the red band, and Lord knows they have no tower techs. But here? Strange if you ask me.”

Nao stood up. One of the piles trembled and came apart. Sparklers rolled and spilled to the paving stones.

A second later, feedback screeched in his ears and the ground reared beneath his feet. He fell, scuffed his hands and knees. Something hot and wet ran from his ear and dripped off his chin. It spattered on the stones and he realized it was blood.

The earth seized again and buildings all around him imploded.

Nao sat back on his calves and blinked, unseeing, unhearing, at the scene before him. A hand poked from a pile of broken slabs of concrete and wood pillars, around which the dust was still billowing out. It seemed to beckon him. He got up and went.

The woman it belonged to was missing her head. In fact, her head was nothing more than a red stain on the ground.

Nao stumbled back, tripped, and blacked out.

---

When he woke, it was dark. Or, it was nighttime. But on the ground, everything was awash in firelight, fingers and tongues of flame licking through piles of wreckage. Somewhere, someone was sobbing. Another cried for help.

His body was weak. Nausea licked at his insides. Every heartbeat made his entire skull ache.

Nao regained his feet at last and coughed. His throat was raw from the smoke already. He couldn’t have cared less.

He followed the sound of voices. The first person he came to had been half-crushed, and when his legs were freed, it was clear he’d never use them again.

The next was a little girl. She was uninjured, for the most part. Nearby, both of her parents had bled out. One of their corpses was on fire.

Everything after that is black, like a scratched section on a disc. All Nao can recall from that time is the feeling of blood on his hands and face, warm and then cold.

He must’ve pulled more than a hundred people from the ruins of their homes that night.

He finally made it to his own street. Ahead he could see his house. It was by no means in good shape, but it hadn’t collapsed.

Someone else was walking down the road, with a heavy limp like they’d twisted an ankle. That person—where had he seen them? Who were they?

The earth shivered. Nao’s legs moved ahead of his thoughts. “Hey, watch out!”

His palms connected hard with the other’s back. Under him, the ground rolled again and pulled a blanket of bricks firmly over him.

The last thing he saw was a wide pair of eyes of the most brilliant hue.

What color had they been?

That, too, is gone now.