Akio Wakahisa was a humble man... He didn't deserve this... He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course... He'll never forget this...
He was a successful man, he worked as a insurance dealer and got a nice house in Tokyo. He was single, he wasn't very good with the ladies but nearly all of them described him as "cute." He had very good friends... His only trouble being a malignant tumor in his brain, it was very risky to remove it with compromising his health. The doctors told him he would last a few more weeks if he was careful. Well, not a big deal... At least soon, Akio would break his routine.
The tumor wasn't a big deal, Akio was used to the migraines that it gave... The tremors were a bit more hard, but he grew accustomed to them, his impaired vision was remedied with glasses that turned him into a magnet for girls. If he wasn't so clumsy, he could have a nice score... But he kept messing again and again... But at least he didn't mess his job. He got an important reunion in Osaka where, if everything went well, he could ascend into Sales Administrator.
That day, Akio went to work as usual... His friends tried a comedic act that failed spectacularly, Akio didn't mind them, he had to work... However, when he came to see his boss, he started yelling. "You should be on the trains station!!" "The meeting is today!!"
Startled by the news, Akio went to the trains as fast as he could. He wouldn't stop berating himself for being so careless... He lost a hour and a half by going to his office and the train to Osaka took two hours... He won't make it in time. His boss wouldn't forgive him if he lost the meeting...
As he walked, Akio saw a man. He looked very weird, for starting, he wasn't Japanese, he seemed European, a very androgynous European. It had its hair tied in a ponytail, and had a slim build. Its clothing was its most striking feature, a white shirt with black pants, both tattered and full of moth holes. Its face was also very weird, it wore glasses, one crystal painted in black for its right eye and an empty frame for its left eye. The only "normal" feature this guy had was a necklace, it looked like an hourglass lying on his side.
The stranger was looking at the trains coming and going, pointing them with his finger back and forth, like if he was trying to find a rhythm. He seemed a bit upset, the trains didn't follow a pattern, they rather went and came as they pleased. Akio was creeped by the man, but he didn't pay too much attention as he was running late. The man looked at Akio with a smile and Akio felt goosebumps in every inch of his body, so he rushed to the train, not even checking if it was the correct one.
Once aboard the train, he could relax... The man was outside and Akio was inside. When he asked where he was going, the attendant told him that the Nozomi Train was going for Kyoto. Two hours... lost. From Kyoto to Osaka it would take two additional hours... Plus the waiting time for the train to leave.
Nonetheless, Akio was devastated...
No comments:
Post a Comment