Golden Time:Volume1 Chapter2

Golden Time 1: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Tada Banri was eating a boiled egg.

Thursday, first period. To some extent, if he attended, he could easily get more popular in sports science. The lecture started five minutes ago.

Rather than miss breakfast because he slept in late, he had brought along two eggs he’d boiled last night in a plastic bag, and in the fifth seat back he was quietly munching on them.

Sitting with his seat tilted back, there was no way he’d be seen, so it was really no big deal. By his right hand was a blue-capped bottle of Ajishio. In his left hand, an egg. Writing with his right hand, he ate with his left. Write. Chomp. Write. Chomp. ...Really, truly, it was no big deal. Speaking of highlights, he’d hurt himself last night while cracking the eggs with a framed picture, something he didn’t like to remember. Distracted by the memory, he ran into the corner of a desk and flew into the last empty seat, startling the guy next to him.

Did he bring the boiled eggs? Yep. Did he bring salt too? Yep. And so on. A conversation nearly blossomed, but shortly the guy’s buddy showed up, so Banri turned back quietly to his boiled eggs.

The girls right behind Banri, so he couldn’t hear them, were typing notes to each other on their cellphone displays. That guy in front of us petrified his eggs, didn’t he? They’re overcooked. The yolks have turned black. He’s drinking too much oolong tea. You can see his lips wrinkling. It looks like he brought salt in that bottle. Smile. Do it.

Banri didn’t notice he was being talked about.

Bodyless though I am, I’m always watching things.

In the week and some days that had passed since the entrance ceremony, it had been registration time, and the campus overflowed with students. From the freshmen like Banri, to the seniors in their suits, going every which way to lectures, with huge schedules about the size of tatami mats, on the verge of tearing where they’ve been folded from opening and closing them while visiting in the corridors, going to and from classrooms, occupying benches, sending messages by cellphone.

But that’s the way students come to college, at least in the spring, I think. Once the long summer vacation starts, half the campus population magically disappears. One or two people, perhaps a few more earlier, might even have lost their bodies like me. Having died, I mean. I’m not waiting for it eagerly though, really, but that kind of thing can’t be avoided.

Banri had better pay attention too. Unaccustomed to drinking, unaccustomed to staying out late at night, living alone out from under his parents eyes, newly licensed, new friends, with an excess of energy, lots of free time to waste --- young men in all the world are always in plenty of danger.

Sports Science was the most popular easy-credit course, and all the students were filing into the classroom. Even the seats towards the back were filling quickly. In any case nobody can see me, and since I can say with reasonable certainty that I cannot affect anybody’s future, it really had nothing to do with me, but for some reason, he got the feeling he should give up his seat. The clicking of highheels rang out, and from down the aisle a girl came and sat in that very seat.

Banri’s mouth still bulging full of boiled egg, he turned at the presence of the girl.

The lecture about to start, again alone, she came running into the classroom. Her Nikes made hardly a sound. It was Linda.

Linda noticed that Banri, still standing in the aisle, unseated, looked at her sidelong. Banri didn’t notice that she’d noticed him. She didn’t notice my existence, of course.

* * *

"Today, Kaga-san talked to me."

"Really? What about?"

"About 'Takata-kun'."

He laughed uproariously while he slid a cutter along the cover of a cardboard box. Pretending not to see Banri’s T-shirt still, he sat as if over a old japanese style toilet, in an orderly fashion cutting the packing tape from all four sides of the box.

This place is Banri’s castle. It’s name is Neo-Phoenix. This apartment had been resurrected many times from the flames... it felt like. Perhaps, two hundred and four.

A small twenty square meter 1K, but with a wooden floor. Not new construction, but relatively new. Without a bus transfer to the college, but Japanese style, with bright southern exposure, but built twenty-four years ago. The big closet seemed convenient, it wasn’t all that run down, he’d been a little nervous that the room was older than he was of course, but he’d decided on this room. As yet there wasn’t much furniture, but for the moment it was comfortable.

Yanagisawa unconsciously searched the top of his head for a bald spot while he was in Banri’s combined kitchen and entryhall, seated on a tall stool, his feet swinging idly. In spite of it being from a second hand shop, and costing only four hundred yen, it was stable and easy to sit on. There were some strange stains scattered about on the top, they bothered him, but he didn’t care.

Yanagisawa grabbed the cutter again from where he had set it on the floor, cutting clean through the rest of the packing tape. Banri’s mother, worried about her helpless son, had sent him a care package from Shizuoka, almost at once.

"So, though I wasn’t Takata, I said 'Oh, pardon me, ta, Tanaka-kun'."

"The 'ta' simply fits. You see, that’s the kind of person Kouko is. She doesn’t pay much attention to others, and doesn’t remember their names. She’s always full of things related to me. Go ahead, open it up. Just what kind of treasure has your mother sent?"

"Since I wasn’t Tanaka, I hinted two-letters, saying 'Two letters...? Kaga-kun...?', that’s your last name, right?"

"She must have had to think about that. ...Oh! Look, Banri!"

Looking over with a delighted expression, Yanagisawa waited as the box was opened slowly and leaned over Banri to look inside.

"Incredible, Tada Mieko-chan, you really know how to choose! Wonderful choice!"

"What was that about? I mean, what do mean by calling me Mieko?"

"Because I looked at the return address, of course! I love Mieko! Look at these ramen! Yakisoba cups! It’s enough to make a guy cry... ah! Pasta! There’s pasta sauce too! Calorie Mate pastries, canned tuna, canned mackerel, sweets, and then, after that… what’s this? A film case? But there’s three more."

Getting up from the stool, Yanagisawa looked into his bag.

"Ah, here we go. I’d put some tea powder in there. It’s from my house grinder, though whether the container was appropriate, who knows? You put about a half teaspoon into the cup with hot water and drink it as is, you don’t need a teapot nor a strainer, they say. You want some? It’s super easy, and drinking whole tea leaves seems to be good for your body."

"Gimme gimme gimme! I’d love to do my body some good! Oh, there’s a letter stuck in here."

The white envelope surrendered to him, Banri sat down again on the stool. On the paper, "From Mother" was written. Letters like rain-wetted willow leaves could be seen.

Homework long done, it was nine in the evening.

Yanagisawa’s condo was about three train stations away from here, and when he heard that a care package from home had arrived for Banri, the guy said "see you in five minutes", and flew over, at night, by bicycle. That he really showed up in five minutes was scary... though you could certainly call it funny.

Yanagisawa seemed to have been raised in affluent surroundings; he certainly lived with a certain refinement, Banri reflected. But according to him, it seemed things had gone somewhat sour in his parent’s house after he faced them down over taking the outside examinations. In any case with no hope of getting a school expense allowance, despite a long time interviewing like crazy for part time jobs, looking for a job anywhere, he still hadn’t gotten one (he himself thought it was 'My parents or Kouko’s fault!', but the real reason wasn’t known). For a little while, in a temporary job that didn’t last long, it seems he got a painful lesson about his future.

"What’s the letter about? Are they writing about how many friends you’ve been making?"

The letter mentioned no such thing, though Banri of course intended to make many friends.

"Take care of yourself. Don’t skip classes. Don’t spend too much time on the internet. Get enough exercise. Keep in mind that there are responsibilities that go with being an adult. ...Like that."

He even showed Yanagisawa the Five Movements written on the paper, put the paper back in the envelope and stuck it in a kitchen drawer. While he wasn’t looking, Yanagisawa grabbed a few cans out of the box and threw them in the microwave.

"Ah! Just a second Yana-ssan, aren’t you going to do something about her?"

Of all things, he wanted most particularly to talk about that.

"As far as I’m concerned, Satou-san is something special. I couldn’t share her even with Yana-ssan."

Yanagisawa frankly said "Is that so...", and nodded, quietly returning the zapped food back to the box.

"Well then, what about ramen? Could I have some ramen? How many would be OK? Four five-packs will fit. A total of twenty."

Up to five, he thought.

"You can have half of what I’ve got..."

Out of kindness. At a glance, he could see three or four mosquito bites where his arms extended out from his T-shirt.

"I mean, if Yana-ssan likes them so much, he can have all of the cookies too..."

"Are you kidding? You’re giving them to me! Why!?"

"Because you looked so pitiful, putting up with the mosquitos because you were so desperate... Wow! It’s still only April..."

"Yeah, mosquitos can be really blood-thirsty."

"Besides, back when we moved in it was really crowded. In my neighborhood there’s a workshop where a relative of mind works, making so-called second class goods. I get a ton of stuff from them. So at my parent’s house we always have all we can eat. I don’t think we’ve had to buy stuff at list price in all my life."

"Really!? That ‘second-class stuff’ is just as good as the real thing! It’s been that way since you were a kid? If I were little, I’d be dancing around for this stuff!"

"Childhood, ...well... what was that like?"

"Come on now, you had your own."

"So I did, but... So I did, but yeah, I guess I did."

Yanagisawa’s laughter faded at Banri’s response, which he hardly understood. Like an old man, he’d brought some yellow plastic bags from Matsukiyo, five of them tied into a ring. He opened one, and immediately, chuckling to himself, started stuffing cookies into it.

While Banri was watching sidelong, his jaw dropped a bit. He took a breath, like a child watching a jump rope, trying to figure out when to jump into it, his head bobbing slightly. Well, go for it. Ugh. Hesitating just a little, becoming strangely reticent, Banri’s gaze darkened. ---Impossible. Stop. As expected, he’d stopped. He was going to have to work a little more on his timing.

His chest filled with air, he had to let it out little by little so it wouldn’t be noticed. He couldn’t say it today either, but that was OK. Next time, next time.

In a high pitched voice, he called "Yana-ssan, let’s go play!" Imitating him, his new friend looked back over his shoulder and answered "Let’s" in the same falsetto.

"I mean, is it OK if we keep talking? What I said about Kaga-san. I’d rather like to date her, though today was just one meeting."

"Well, what of sports studies? I was lost though of course I’ve never been good at it."

"Kaga-san is always asking me to tell her your schedule."

Yanagisawa had been grabbing various flavors of ramen noodles, one by one, openly licking his lips, giving them a quality inspection as he decided which he would take back with him, when he suddenly stopped moving. Soon, still crouched down, he turned slowly to look up at Banri, seated on the stool swinging his feet. His face became serious. He braced himself: Mitsuo’s sudden lack of expression was rather scary.

"...Perhaps, you..."

"No no no! I didn’t tell her, I know you’ve been trying to avoid her."

Saying something like "Great", Yanagisawa could be seen nodding his still-serious face. Because of how he was sitting, one knee stuck out, he wound up looking like a dog in training.

And then, as if Banri were some sort of target, he turned and pointed his finger at him and gave a sign as if to say, "That’s good, just keep talking like that."

"...But, even Kaga-san herself, it seems to me that she could be avoiding Yana-ssan. She was sighing, 'If I see his face running away, I would never be able to bear even a lecture. As it is, that I came to college especially to be together with Mitsuo means nothing...'"

"Stop it, cause it’s not the same. But it really is that way. Even she understands, sort of."

"So, since she’s making no progress, could you please give me your information, then? Until you do, I can’t set my own schedule, as I was planning to try and match yours."

Yanagisawa gave quite a frown.

"Which I refused to do, from the start. And then I heard things like 'Tada doesn’t tell me'."

"...She’s that kind of girl, so she..."

With a small tsk sound, his mouth twisted with a fed-up look, Yanagisawa shook his head back and forth. There was a loud crackling sound, echoing as if from the deeps of the underworld. Might that be a threat? But to whom?

"I heard it too, of course, but I just put on a face like 'How am I supposed to know?' Then even Kaga-san seemed to understand, and stopped nagging me. Though I was seated behind her and to the side, I felt a little uncomfortable, so I simply moved myself up to the first row of seats. With nobody else in the front row it was lonely, seated there, aside from the fact that nobody dared to try and talk with me..."

Well, since there wasn’t anybody else to talk with, and Yana-ssan wasn’t coming, so while it lasted, Banri had been thinking about that morning’s scene.

Amongst the other students, dressed in their faded jeans and hoodies, wearing what must have been brand-name, an order or two of magnitude more expensive, a bright pink, one-piece silk dress, Kouko really stood out from the crowd.

Dark brown hair spilling over her shoulders, in her ears were diamonds set in flower-shaped pierced earrings. Her arms so white, her wrists so delicate, her neck so smooth it was scary, she could hardly be more different from the rest of the class.

Besides, seen from the side, she appeared to be bored, listening to the lecture. What could you do about it? She was pretty. Even Banri as a guy understood why she was spending her time carefully doing her makeup. Watching her in profile carefully for an hour and a half wasn’t something Banri should have been doing. But everybody in the classroom --- to some extent both boys and girls, even the professor, was looking at the rose-scented Kouko, he thought.

The guys called after her, Banri included, but in the end there wasn’t anybody there.

"Did you see Kaga-san? She’s really something..."

When the lecture ended, Kouko, in order to shake free from the many eyes that had glued themselves to her, quickly went to leave the classroom. Nearly colliding with some other students at the door, she halted, and like a princess flashing her perfect smile, said "Pardon me" and signed with her hand. The girls near Banri saw that. "That was on purpose." "She’s always wearing nothing but brand-name stuff." "’Cause her parents’ve got money, of course!" "Do you have to water it?" "Some guy bought it for her, for sure." And so on, he heard them tossing biting words back and forth.

Society is always harsh towards things that are different.

"After all, poor thing, she seemed to me."

At Banri’s words, Yanagisawa’s eyes opened wide and his face twisted. "Huh?", he said in an exaggerated way, something like a faint smile visible as his expression asked for Banri to repeat himself.

"What? Do you perhaps sympathize with Kouko?"

"A little, yes. Really, just a little. You would’ve too, a bit, if you’d seen it."

"No I wouldn’t."

The words were returned in an instant, and, well, like backtalk.

"But reaaalllyyy! Life should be easy for beautiful girls!"

Overcome by the sudden force of what came out of his mouth, even Banri fell silent.

"Do you think she can do whatever she wants, and fix it making such a face so you think ‘poor thing’, ‘poor thing’?! You where there with me, when she attacked us with roses, but because she's pretty you didn't get angry, right? Instead you had said ‘poor thing’ or anything like that? She didn’t injure me, though it did hurt, but most of all she embarrassed me! What would it be like if a ugly girl did the same thing? What if a really ugly one blasted you with a bunch of roses? You would have be like "get the hell out" I'm right? If some diarrhea faced girl were to turn and chase after you too, would you say the same thing? Would you speak of how poor and lonely she is? Would you say it? Anyhow."

He declared, pointing at Banri’s nose with his finger, but Yanagisawa still found it impossible to vent his frustrations. Wrinkles gathered about his nose as he repeatedly tried to move his bangs away from his face.

"...Whomever, whatever, after all it’s somebody else’s problem. But it’s still the same. "It's ok, she's beautiful", "I envy her", "I want to be in her place", "What is the problem?", "Don't be selfish"... If you’re beautiful, are you automatically be loved? No way. Seriously, put yourself in my shoes. Everybody’s been too easily fooled."

<~~39% Completed~~>

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