[color=A9A9A9][h2]The Sharehouse[/h2][/color][indent]
Time continued to pass as the day began to cool, the beachside breeze slipping through the wide-open windows of the sharehouse. The sun was beginning to dip over the mountains now, long shadows cast over the city of Tenoroshi. In the kitchen, dinner, of which stewed snapper was the star, had been served. There wasn’t a proper dining room or a table large enough for everyone to sit around, of course, and some, such as Otoya, had brought their own dinner for the night. The sentiment was there though, with a table that could seat four and a faded, leather couch that the rest could squeeze into. The rice cooker worked overtime, the instant pot steamed with miso soup, the single cutting board was bleeding with vegetable vestiges and fish juice, and [i]someone[/i] was going to have a lot of dishes to do afterwards.

That someone though, wasn’t there.

Nothing so convenient as satellite television existed, but there was an old radio that the former members of the club left behind, tuned to the news, or to the weather, or to commercials that should have been put off the air a long time ago. A forecaster spoke of hotter days ahead, sermonizing to people about how water was God. An indifferently cheerful newscaster reminded listeners that the recent dry spell meant that anyone camping out in the mountains should watch out for empty cabins. A sportscaster spoke his spiel of in-land sports, and segued into a story a foxtailed porcupine spotted on June 15, riding the subway line from Central to Northwestern. Meaningless babble, capped off by a staticky jingle and a commercial break that ended in five seconds of awkward silence.

The radio broadcast continued again. A forecaster spoke of hotter days ahead. An indifferently cheerful newscaster reminded listeners that the recent dry spell meant that anyone camping out in the mountains is prohibited from making campfires. A sportscaster spoke his spiel of in-land sports.

The stewed fish was good. Sayuri really outdid herself this time.

The sun continued to set, gradating into the boundaries of twilight.
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