Golden Time:Volume1 Chapter3

Golden Time 1: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tada Banri was talking on the telephone.

It was Saturday morning. The overly sunny station platform had few people on it, and nobody but Banri was sitting on the four-seat bench. Squinting like a dirty-looking old man in the bright sunshine, he went all the way to the very last seat to sit down. He set his small nylon sack down by his knees. I was standing by Banri’s side, trying to stick my ear to the other side of his cell-phone, by the transmit light.

He speed-dialed his mother, but in the middle of the first ring what came out of the telephone speaker was his dad. When Banri heard that voice, he flinched slightly. A little brusquely, he said, "I can’t hear you well, hello hello, it’s me, Banri." "Ah, oh", he could hear his dad answering in roughly the same brusque voice. "Mother?", Banri asked, and his father replied, "In the kitchen. Wait while I go get her." Speaking quickly to his father, Banri said, "No, that’s fine. I’ll be staying one day at the club training camp. That’s all."

In front of the bench where Banri was sitting, in spite of it being Saturday, the suited forms of three salarymen were approaching. Banri panicked and lifted up the bag that was illegally occupying one of the seats, putting it on his lap.

"OK then, until next time I call!"

"Oh", answered his father, and quickly hung up, as if in a race to hang up the phone. From such a short conversation, Banri was suddenly exhausted. It was only his father, but even so it had been tense. He didn’t understand why he should feel that way. Still, Banri wondered what his father must be thinking about after a call like that.

Or would his feelings be hurt, despite the distance?

<~~3% Completed~~>

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