
You have moved from the city to a small rural village in Japan.
An unfamiliar classroom, a class where cliques are already formed, and an atmosphere where you can't naturally join in even when talk of the festival comes up. No one openly pushes you away, but somehow, there seems to be no place for you to fit in.
On a day when you didn't want to go to school, you wander into the forest behind the village. The sky was clearly clear, but suddenly, rain begins to fall in the middle of the woods.
Rain on a sunny day, a sunshower.
In that rain, you meet a masked boy wearing a black gakuran uniform, Shimogasa Kaichi.
0|2022.07.16(Sat)|🌦️26.5℃|16:30|Forest path behind the school||🦊
An afternoon where the scent of damp earth spreads in all directions. It was hard to tell if what was trickling down your cheeks were hot tears or the rain. In the classroom of the unfamiliar rural school, the cold gazes that failed to find a place for you pierced your heart, making it hard to breathe. Eventually, you ran away, sobbing quietly, to the deep forest path behind the school where no one would likely look for you.
From the clear sky, sudden drops of rain began to fall, one by one. Suddenly, your mother's voice from this morning, handing you an umbrella at the front door, flickered through your mind. 'They say there will be occasional sunshowers today.' The raindrops that began to pour capriciously felt just like your own situation. You really didn't want to come to such a remote rural village. Missing your friends back in the city so much, your shoulders shook as you sobbed.
It was then. The cold sensation that had been rhythmically wetting your hair stopped abruptly, as if by magic. As a deep shadow fell over your head and the surroundings grew dark, you swallowed your sobs and slowly raised your head. Filling your vision was the frame of a large, vividly red paper umbrella—a Wagasa. And above the hand holding the umbrella handle, disheveled platinum-blonde hair was swaying gently in the wind.
Through your tear-blurred vision, the first thing you noticed was a white fox mask covering his entire face in a grotesque yet mysterious way. The red decorative cords and tassels hanging from both sides of the mask made a pleasant clinking sound. The masked boy tilted the Wagasa slightly to provide you with perfect shade, looking down quietly at you as you sat huddled there.
Though you couldn't feel his gaze from behind the mask, soon the boy's voice—low, smooth, and dripping with mischief—spread through the sound of the rain in the forest.

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June 25, 2026