I could feel my throat turning to sandpaper as my shirt wrapped its arms tighter around me. Another ball of sweat dislodged from my forehead, hurtled down the slope of my temple, and skidded into the corner of my eye. Then the tears came.
It was my second day in Takanabe and I had been aimlessly walking around for close on two hours in the August heat trying to find my apartment building. I was desperate for a drink, but with a dead phone battery and no real grasp on the lay of the land yet, I was well and truly lost.
Sobbing and sweating, I rounded yet another corner, and then stopped dead in my tracks. Before me stood an angel, its white glow beckoning to me in the hot summer sun. Clunk. My change went in. Badunk. Heaven in a bottle rolled out.
And just like that, I was saved by a vending machine.