Golden Time:Volume1 Chapter1

Golden Time 1: Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Tada Banri ran, half crying.

One o’clock in the morning on a Tokyo street, as usual pitch dark, with no signs of life, not even a light by good fortune placed by a window. During the day today (or rather, yesterday already) it had been so warm he had been wearing only a T-shirt and drinking iced coffee, muttering to himself, "It’s warming up, after all." Now he was shivering from the cold. The sleeves of his hoodie pulled down to his fingertips, his steady footsteps making a flapping sound from the sandals on his bare feet, anyhow, if he could just get to the main street... He should be able to. He wanted to. With all his heart he ran.

"A young man, turning nineteen this year, running through the streets at night, teary eyed...", he thought. Banri didn’t even understand his feelings.

But if he were in the same situation, he might cry too.

He had come to the capital together with his mother, who for the sake of her son who was starting a life alone, had arranged for furniture, appliances, gas, water, electricity and so on. She’d gotten through various minor formalities here and there, and then this afternoon (already, so fast!) she’d already returned home by bullet train.

And then, finally, he had truly started the first night of his life alone. Only this night kept him from tomorrow morning’s college entrance ceremony. Late at night, as the new day was starting, unable to sleep from the worries, in order to distract himself he did as he supposed any resident of Tokyo would do: he went from one convenience store to another, losing his way in the streets. Worse, it appeared that somewhere, somehow, he had lost the key to his new home. In any case it wasn’t there in his pocket anymore.

Banri’s feet suddenly stopped, and walked all of three minutes back the way he’d come. He saw a map of the residence area standing by the edge of the sidewalk. "Saved", he said to himself as he approached, and searched for the apartment building where he now lived, "Motomachi", tracing a route with his finger from "you are here". Anyway, once he had returned to the front of the apartment building, he intended to walk all the way back to the convenience store, searching for his keys.

But… ahh, enough.

If this voice could reach Banri, it would say, "Look more carefully at the map. That 'Motomachi' is the 'Motomachi' in the next district!'" No rather, pulling your hand quickly, it would tell you, "You left them in the apartment in the first place, forgetting to lock up! They're in the room!" Unfortunately, it cannot do that.

For the time being, if Banri can just get back to the apartment somehow and get to sleep quickly, then perhaps he will survive tomorrow’s entrance ceremony without problems. Just how important can one day in your life be, this new college student entrance ceremony? For this me, though--- having become a wandering soul, I understand.

The spirits of men, once they have left their bodies, remain themselves to the end of the world, and to those whom they watch over, their very existence is inconceivable. This side of the world was hidden, so I have only recently found this out.

I am, so to speak, a ghost.

I was formerly known as Tada Banri.

This voice nobody hears, nobody notices my existence.

My so-called substance grumbles about this, but still, Tada Banri is coming into a new life, so for now, I just keep an eye on him.

"Young man, at this hour what---, what happened---"

All of a sudden, the living Tada Banri turned his face forward and a light shone straight in his eyes, freezing him like a deer in a car’s headlights.

"Ah, wha... I, I got lost..."

"Do you have a license, a passport, anything with you that can prove who you are?"

"Eh, ah, huh..."

He was being subjected to the first police interrogation of his life. This was going to be a long night. Was this situation a crisis? Was it a gift from god? You can never tell where Banri is concerned.

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