Chapter 2

At a slow pace, Shuya walked down the halls of his house, continuing to move his hand in front of his mouth as he yawned time and time again. The large house seemed even quieter in the morning, only when he neared the kitchen did he hear the sound of his mother, already busy with the daily chores. 

“Good morning, Shuya,” said Himiko when she saw her son walking into the kitchen with a tired look on his face. “Did you sleep well?” 

“I did,” said Shuya while he tried to stop himself from yawning again. 

“You are getting your results back from your midterms today, aren’t you?” asked Himiko and Shuya nodded silently. “Are you nervous?” 

“Why would he be nervous?” said Hayato, Shuya father, who walked into the kitchen in the same exact moment. “He spends all his time cooped up in his room to study, I am sure he will get a good result.” 

“Just because he studies hard, he can still be nervous,” said Himiko and shook her head while looking at her husband. 

“No, it’s okay, mom,” said Shuya quickly, “dad is right, I have a good feeling about my midterms.” 

“Well, then I am glad,” said Himiko and looked at her son with a smile, “since we are all here, should we eat some breakfast before you both have to leave?” 

After agreeing to Himiko’s suggestion, everyone took a seat around the way too large table, one big enough to host an entire party. But instead of a party, it consisted of the small family of three who were seated at the end nearest to the kitchen, leaving most of the table empty. 

There wasn’t much conversation exchanged at the morning table. Shuya was too tired to initiate conversation with either of his parents, and Hayato was busy reading the newspaper, trying to get a good feeling of what was going on in the local community. 

Himiko was the only one feeling sad about the lack of conversation. Being a housewife in a big house, she spent most of her time alone during the day. Hayato had a tendency to work late and Shuya spent most of his evening studying in his room, so breakfast was Himiko’s best chance to have a conversation with everyone as a family. Sadly, it was never easy to start one, but that didn’t stop her from trying. 

“How are things at the factory?” asked Himiko Hayato. 

“Fine, like usual,” said Hayato and turned the page in his newspaper. 

“Maybe you should bring Shuya to the factory one day,” said Himiko and Shuya finally looked up by the mention of his name. “Since he is the one taking over the business one day.” 

Hayato finally put down his newspaper and looked at his wife who had this kind of innocent looking smile on her face. 

“He is indeed taking over the business one day,” said Hayato and looked at his son, “but to do that, he needs to graduate from High School first and get a good education, so right now he needs to focus on his school and nothing else.” 

“But he is already the top of his grade, surely he can take a little break from studying and go to the factory with you,” Himiko tried reasoning, but she was quickly cut short by Shuya. 

“Dad is right, I need to focus on my school right now,” said Shuya and then turned his face towards his father. “I promise to keep up my grades.” 

“Not only that,” said Hayato and Shuya gulped, already knowing what he would say next. “The most important thing is for you to stay out of trouble, can you do that?” Shuya stayed quiet for a little while, before he quickly nodded his head. 

“I can do that, I promise,” said Shuya in a firm voice. “Thank you for breakfast, mom, I will get going now.” 

“Oh my, time goes by too fast,” said Himiko and immediately got up from her seat. “Give me a second, I will get you your lunchbox.” Shuya did as his mother said and waited patiently until she was back from the kitchen, happily handing him his lunchbox. 

“Here you go, have a nice day,” said Himiko. 

“Thank you,” said Shuya and looked at his dad, whose face was again buried in the newspaper. 

“Hayato!” said Himiko annoyed and her husband quickly looked up. 

“What? Oh, are you leaving?” said Hayato when he noticed Shuya standing in the doorway, “have a nice day.” 

“Thank you,” said Shuya again and then left the house, beginning the journey towards the school. 

He didn’t live far from the school, but it still felt long when you walked alone, watching the other students around you having fun with their friends, laughing and talking about everything from heaven to earth. 

The same scene played out in the hallways of the school. Conversation filled the hallways and in every corner students would gather to chat a little before the bell rang to first period. It was a fairly large school, but even still, Shuya managed to walk all the way through the school without seeing a single familiar face. At least not a face familiar enough for him to greet them with a “Good Morning”, not even a polite nod or even a smile. Not until he reached the door to his classroom and he finally saw someone who made his face light up. 

“Good morning, miss Nishida,” said Shuya when he saw his teacher walking down the hallway. 

“Good morning, mr. Takahashi,” said Fuyoko in response. “So, today is the day you get back your results. Are you nervous?” 

“You are the second person to ask me today, and the second person I tell ‘no’,” replied Shuya in a confident voice. 

“I’m glad since you are the last person who needs to nervous about their results,” said Fuyoko before she went on her way, leaving Shuya behind with a satisfied smile on his face. If he had in fact had the slightest feeling of doubt before, it had all disappeared like a gush of wind now. 

*** 

“A perfect result,” said Fuyoko when she handed the results to Shuya. “Well done, as always.” 

“Thank you, miss Nishida,” replied Shuya and looked at the satisfying numbers written on the paper. He could stare at the numbers forever, but his thoughts were quickly interrupted when heard Fuyoko speak in a far more serious tone. 

“Miss Mikami,” said Fuyoko as she handed Iyori her results, “I do hope you plan to improve before the finals.” 

Shuya turned his head and saw the scene unfolding before his eyes. Iyori Mikami, one of the only students that actually stood out in his memory, but only because her grades were so bad Shuya found it hard to believe it was possible. In fact, he was surprised to even see her at school, even though the school year had barely begun, she skipped classes more and more as each day went by. 

“45 out of 100? Did you even read the questions before answering?” Shuya heard another voice speak and he noticed Hanako standing in front of Iyori, looking at her with the same disappointed eyes as she always did. It still felt unreal to Shuya that those two girls were sisters. As a contrast to Iyori, Hanako was a good and diligent student. She was the best student in the class, at least she was until Shuya transferred to the school, and it was obvious that Hanako was annoyed by always being a step behind Shuya. 

“Hey,” said Shuya and made eye contact with the student seated next to him, a young boy whom Shuya didn’t even remember the name of. “What was your result?” 

“Why are you talking to me?” asked the boy without looking up. 

“Just tell me,” said Shuya annoyed. “Or did you fail?” The boy let out a sigh whereafter he held up his result in front of Shuya without saying anything. 

“85 out of 100, not bad,” said Shuya. “I got 100 out of 100.” 

“No, really?” said the boy sarcastically while rolling his eyes. 

“Yes, you heard me correctly, 100 out 100, but what else to expect,” said Shuya and raised his voice while he did so, looking discretely over his shoulder to make sure Hanako was listening. When he saw her twitching eyebrow, Shuya’s smile slowly grew wider and wider. 

“Well, good for you,” said the boy with a sigh, “can you please leave me alone now?” 

“Hey, there’s no need to be rude just because my score is better than yours!” The student seated next to Shuya simply rolled his eyes again, whereafter he turned his head towards the board, waiting for the teacher to resume the class. 

“Whatever,” whispered Shuya to himself, whereafter he did the same as the boy next to him, finding his book and materials to be ready for the subject they would soon begin. 

When the bell rang for lunch, most students faces where filled with happiness and most of them also let out a sigh of relief, happy they made it through half the school day already. After the teacher left the classroom, the students would divide into two groups; one made their way towards the Cafeteria, while the rest would group around a few of the tables in the classroom to eat their lunch boxes together. And then there was Shuya, a person not a part of any of those groups. Instead, he was seated alone at his desk, everyone sitting in a safe distance from his, ignoring his presence while he ate his lunch alone. 

The short lunch break, often felt like an eternity to Shuya. There was only so much information to read about on the social media before it got boring. So when the bell finally rang again, it was Shuya’s turn to let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he would be relieved of his boredom. 

“Has anyone seen miss Iyori Mikami?” asked Fuyoko after she entered the classroom. Shuya slowly turned around and took notice of the empty desk where Iyori had been seated in the morning. Her belongings were gone and so was she, as if she had never been there in the first place. 

After turning his head again, he saw Fuyoko let out a deep sigh when no one answered her question. 

“Oh well, let us move on and begin the class instead.” 

The afternoon seemed to fly by, as if every period was over in 5 minutes. Shuya followed along intensely and wrote down everything that was said, even though he had studied most of it already. Still, it felt great to be stimulated and when the final period was over, Shuya was overcome with a sense of restlessness. While watching all the students around him packing up their belongings, happily discussing their plans for the rest of the day, Shuya stayed put in his seat, unable to move. All he could do was listen to the many conversations that started melting together in his head. Something about club activities, part time jobs and karaoke bars, nothing of which Shuya could relate to. Again, he fell out of the categories all the students where divided into and he couldn’t bring himself to get up from his seat until the classroom was completely empty. Then finally, he started packing up his things, whereafter he began the long journey home. Not long in the sense of distance, but long in the sense that it was way too much time for Shuya’s brain to be allowed to take over, showering him with one negative thought after the other, making him wish his feet could bring him to his destination faster. 

“You are home early,” said Himiko in her always joyful voice when Shuya entered the house, but he had no more energy left in his body and all he responded with was a silent grunt. 

“You know,” continued Himiko after leaving the kitchen and appearing in front of Shuya who hadn’t reached further than the hallways, “you don’t have to be home so early every day. If you want to hang out with your friends, that is fine. Of course you can also bring them here if you–” 

“There is no need for that,” said Shuya in an annoyed tone, making his way down the long hallway. 

“But you must get bored sitting at home every day like this, why don’t you join a club?”

“Because I don’t want to,” replied Shuya in short. 

“But–” 

“Mom, can you please just leave me alone? I am tired and I have homework to do.” Shuya looked at his mother with dead eyes, making her fall silent until she finally nodded her head, leaving him be as she watched him enter his bedroom and closing the door behind him. 

After sitting down at his desk, Shuya opened his bag and took out all his books and notebooks and other materials, but afterwards, he simply leaned back in his chair, staring into the distance. 

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing for him to do. Nothing to prepare. No homework, even though that was the excuse he had used on his mother. He was ahead in every subject and he had prepared for most of the semester already. 

“I guess I can always read up on Japanese History again,” said Shuya to himself, not able to stand this slump he was falling into. Normally it would be enough for him and he would soon be able to bury his face in his school books for hours and hours, until his mother finally called for dinner and his father returned home from the factory. But not today. 

He felt irritable, annoyed and restless, even more so than he usually did. He tried to read, but after realizing he was reading the same sentence over and over again, not getting anywhere, he closed his book and reached for his phone instead. 

He had every possible social media installed on his phone, and he almost made it into a sport to go through every post, every advertisement, every video on each of these medias, hoping it would be enough to pass time. But it never was. When he had been through every single one of them, he looked up at his clock, whereafter he let out a sigh. How come an hour in school could feel like 5 minutes, when 5 minutes at home could feel like an hour? It would still be a while before his father was home and he didn’t feel like talking to his mother after the way he acted earlier. 

Shuya wondered what his classmates were busy spending their time on at this point. Had club activities ended? Were some of them still at their part time jobs? Did they help out their mother in the kitchen or were they looking after their younger siblings? Maybe they were still running around in the city, acting like there was no tomorrow. 

“I guess I will just have to keep scrolling, hoping I stumble upon something interesting,” said Shuya to himself and returned his eyes to the screen. Still, nothing interesting seemed to make his way to Shuya while he read everything on the wall he was scrolling down on. At one point, it seemed like the advertisements had become the most interesting things to read about. 

Clothes, tools... It all seemed so trivial, nothing really caught his eye, not until a bright pink banner appeared on his screen and Shuya’s eyes lit up in curiosity. On the right side of the banner was a young and pretty girl standing, looking directly into the eyes of the viewer while the text next to her read; “Are you my date for tonight?” 

At this point, Shuya’s brain was fried so badly, he didn’t even think a second time before clicking on the advertisement, completely ignoring the fact that it could be spam or even a virus. Lucky for him, all the advertisement did, was redirecting him to his phone’s app store where it wanted him to download an app. Again, Shuya clicked without further thought and before he knew it, he had downloaded and installed the app and made an account. 

"Fill out this short questionnaire and we will find your perfect date.” Shuya was staring at the pink dialog box in the middle of the screen. 

“This could be fun,” thought Shuya with a smirk on his face, while he clicked “Yes” on the dialog box, whereafter he answered all of the following questions. 

“Thank you for your cooperation, we would recommend you to request a date with Yuki.” After reading the text in the dialog box, Shuya clicked on the name “Yuki” whereafter he was redirected to her profile. 

“So this person is supposed to be my perfect date,” thought Shuya while looking at the profile. He couldn’t get more than a glimpse of her look, because of the angle the picture was taken from, but the description underneath her picture quickly caught his attention. 

“Your escape from the every day life. A break from reality. Together we can go for a walk in a park or down a cozy street. We can have a nice chat at a restaurant or visit the aquarium. The bottom line of everything is that no matter what we do on the date, we will be together while doing it.” 

Shuya read the short text over and over again, trying to convince his brain that this was all just an act. It sounded cliché to its very core, but still, something about it seemed to appeal to Shuya’s heart. It kept pulling and pulling, until suddenly, another dialog box appeared on the screen, bringing Shuya out of his head and back to earth. 

“Yuki has just checked in, would you like to request a date with her?” 

“It isn’t true... it isn’t real...” Shuya kept repeating the same sentence over and over again while staring at the dialog box on the screen. It definitely wasn’t real, they just wanted to make money, that was all. 

But still, that was what Yuki had suggested on her profile. To escape reality. Maybe she too, needed an escape from something. Maybe she needed to be someone else, just for a little while. Maybe, just maybe, she felt the same way he did. And if she did, maybe it didn’t even matter if it wasn’t real. 

“Yuki has accepted your request, she will send you a private message to coordinate your meeting place.” Shuya barely noticed he had clicked on the “request” button, but now that it was done, he didn’t hesitate a minute longer. Instead, he ran out of his bedroom, sprinted to the hallway and grabbed his jacked. 

“Mom, I won’t be home for dinner,” yelled Shuya with one foot already half-way out of the door. 

“What do you mean? Where are you going?” asked Himiko, but when she went to the hallway, no one was there and the door was closed. Shuya was already long gone.

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it seems things might be escalating soon, and because of that, I already posted the 3rd chapter so anyone who is curious about what will happen on the date, can read it already.

Let me know what you thought in the comments down below and make sure to take good care of yourself.

Love, Annalise~