{Open Starter}
Early evenings were beautiful in this neighbourhood. The setting sun cast long shadows across the pale concrete paving, glimmering through the trees as Touya made his way down the narrow flight of steps from his apartment. There was something soothing about this time of day, when the streets began to quieten and the rooftops were bathed in a serene golden glow. Kazoku was, in itself, a refreshingly pretty little place, with its frequent splashes of green and quaint shopping district. Still, he seldom found the courage to venture out during more sociable hours, unless perhaps heavy rainfall kept the population at bay. Touya had never liked crowds, and the thought of jostling his way through any number of passers by hardly put him in the right frame of mind to even attempt his search for employment.
It was as he reached a corner, not five minutes from his apartment building, that something stopped him. Just one more step would bring him out onto Kazuko's main street. Merely stepping out of his door was daunting enough, regardless of how used to it he was by now. The thought that perhaps this could be a particularly busy evening in the town hadn't crossed his mind until now, but suddenly it seemed more intimidating than he could bear. His throat felt uncomfortably dry, fingers tugging shakily at the collar of his jacket. It would be fine, wouldn't it? He could see no reason why tonight would be different to any other. But even so... He glanced back down the narrow side-street behind him. Empty, not a soul in sight. It did look awfully tempting, but he had to remember that he was here for a reason.
The streets of Kazoku were littered with various cafes, convenience stores, quaint little gift shops, but with the abundance of students living in the area he was hardly short of competition. Each and every vacancy was snapped up within the week by confident, bubbly schoolgirls, not lanky twenty-somethings who looked like they hadn't slept in a week and could barely hold a conversation. He cringed as he thought of his first interview just a few days earlier. Seven applications, two interviews, and he had turned down the second after the disaster of the first. All he had to do was answer a few simple questions, but no, he couldn't even get that right. The memory was almost enough to make him turn back, but it was a flicker of sunlight, a cool evening breeze against his skin that finally convinced him to take that one hesitant step out into the street.
It was quiet, much to his relief, just a dozen or so pedestrians ambling their way along the sidewalk. He kept his head down, hands in his pockets as his eyes darted warily from one side of the street to the other. Window advertisements were becoming harder to find these days, often abandoned in favour of online methods, but luckily they were still commonplace in this neighbourhood. Unlikely as it was, and though part of him hoped against it, perhaps today there would be something suitable.
His search was half-hearted, and he gave up after no more than a few minutes of scouring the shop windows. Not today. Not yet. There was no real urgency, he told himself. Even with tuition fees and ever-increasing rent, he still had his (dwindling) savings to fall back on, and he was long accustomed to using money sparingly.
Expression defeated, he slipped into the doorway of what appeared to be a disused store of some kind, trying desperately to keep out of sight as he fumbled for his wallet. Moments like these were never easy to deal with, when he felt as though all eyes were on him, judging, disapproving. He stood with his back pressed tightly into the corner, muscles tense, breathing slowly in an attempt to calm his fluttering heartbeat. On edge, always on edge. With a sigh, he sorted a few coins into the palm of his hand, poking at them with one finger. Food. He needed food. His mind wandered back to the empty cupboards waiting in his dreary apartment. He hardly ate as it was, and the last thing he wanted was to attract attention by looking half-starved. His usual gaunt appearance was bad enough, and he doubted very much that it would do him any favours did he eventually find the courage to resume his job hunting. At least he seemed to have regained a little of his appetite since moving to Kazoku, though he suspected picking at the occasional bowl of rice or sugary snack fell somewhat short of a healthy diet. Still, the dizzy spells seemed less frequent these days, and even with the lingering light-headedness, it had been more than a fortnight since he had come anywhere close to losing conciousness. That had to be a good sign, didn't it? He nodded subtly to himself, taking a deep breath and clenching the coins tightly in his fist as he stepped back out into the street. He could do this.
