It was a normal day, like any other. A familiar residential area. A familiar way home.

The only thing that was different was that, for some reason, you turned a corner you usually wouldn't.

Beyond that was an endless stretch of shuttered shops.

There's no sign of people. The signs are faded, and the storefronts show no sign of having been maintained for years.

And yet, you felt as if someone's gaze was watching you from all over the town.

You turn around at the voice. A clerk was standing there.

...A clerk?

In an apron. A polite bow. And yet, you can't see his face.

It's not the lighting. ---It was as if, from the very beginning, the thing called a "face" didn't exist there.