会ひたくて逢ひたくて踏む薄氷
I want to see
And to meet you
Stepping on the thin ice
– Madoka Mayuzumi
Countdown
Music pulsed from the speakers, people jumping up and down shouting out each number—thirty-nine, thirty-eight, thirty-seven; the rhythm beating out seconds.
Alone in the corner of the club, slumped against the wall, thinking, trying to remember the year that was nearly over. How apt it was to be single now, just as I had been before I arrived.