TCP 27 - Akihabara Approaching Midnight

A blurred block of orange-red turns into a pale green silhouette of a walking man.

A man in his late forties or so steps off the curb and onto the white striped asphalt below. He pushes down on the wooden cross-bar of his ricksha, its two wheels gently gliding with his every footstep, rolling quietly into the sleepy chaos of the Akiba scramble.

The green walking man begins to flash, beaconing through the closing night.

His pace quickens. His grip tightens.

A tower of cardboard boxes
found,
salvaged,
stolen,
gifted,
both treasured and hated, yet
packed with the most delicate intricacy
in an endlessly enigmatic pattern,
a structure Penrose in design,
built upon the ricksha's nomadic foundation,
slightly sways with his footsteps,
with the wind,
with the static noise of the neighboring Showa Dori's constant traffic;

A floating castle
in a night of frantic silence.