Idol, Burning

by Rin Usami

I couldn’t manage life the way everyone else easily seemed to, and I struggled with the messy consequences every day. But pushing my oshi was the center of my life, a given, and my one point of clarity. It was more than a core—it was my backbone.

He went on clearly, calmly, and with a smile on his face that belonged to people who found things easy.

It seemed to me that all photos were in some sense portraits of the dead.