Chapter 4: 10 million yen

Thursday, 24 April, 20XX - Part 2

That night, Yui messaged me. It seemed that now that her parents knew that she had at least one friend, it was better to let her have her phone, lest I began to suspect them of abuse.

But she didn’t message me on LINE. Instead, she used good, old-fashioned email.

LINE left a record, even when messages were deleted. Her parents likely check her phone, and they will wonder what messages she deleted. However, traditional email left no such traces, especially when she made sure to clear out her Deleted folder.

“I know how to get away from them,” she wrote. “Next week, on 30 April, we are meeting relatives for dinner in Shinjuku for Golden Week. I can slip away during that time.”

Shinjuku…

One of the busiest areas in Tokyo. I hadn’t been there in years.

There might be a way for us to start our journey there.

“Let me get back to you,” I wrote and began to do research.

A few hours later, I had come up with a plan for us to run away together.

We decided to call it Operation Shinjuku.

It would commence on April 30.

Friday, 25 April, 20XX

The next morning, I went to school with dark circles under my eyes. Yui and I had spent all night discussing our escape plan, Operation Shinjuku.

What's important is that we get as far away from the city as possible before the traffic lights go out. If the second message said was true, then chaos would ensue. People would have no choice but to believe that the world would end. Or at least, it would be impossible to ignore it. Either way, it would be dangerous to stay in the city.

And if the traffic lights didn’t go out, and the world wasn’t going to end…we’ll have to reevaluate our plans then.

“Haruto, are you okay?” Chisato asked.

I was slumped over my desk during lunch time, trying to catch up on some sleep.

“Mh…yeah.” I let out a long breath. “I was talking to Yui all night long.”

“You and Yui – !”

Crap, I phrased it in a weird way.

“I didn’t mean it like that. I was finally able to get ahold of her.”

I told Chisato about how I met her and her parents while shopping.

“So the rumors are true.”

“Yeah…”

I felt bad for letting Chisato know about Yui’s home situation without her consent, but there were already a lot of rumors anyway.

I couldn’t tell Chisato about my plan to run away with Yui.

If I left the city with Yui, it would mean leaving Chisato behind. If social order broke down next week, she’d be in trouble.

A sudden wave of guilt emerged in me.

Calm down, I told myself.

Yui and I don't have a family. We have no real home. Our situation was different from Chisato’s. Even if the world wasn’t going to end, Yui needed to run away and I had no one.

“Chisato, are you worried about the second message? You know, the one about the traffic lights,” I said, trying to change the topic.

“Hmm…” She tilted her head slightly. “Not really? They are probably all pranks, right?”

“But every advertising board in Tokyo displayed the same message.”

“I think it’s probably just a hacker who's bored?” Chisato crossed her arms.

“I’m just worried that something might actually happen. If all traffic lights do go out, then Tokyo would be the worst place to be.”

“Hmm, that’s true. My parents and I are going away for Golden Week. We’re visiting some relatives who live in the countryside.”

I let out a silent sigh of relief. If it’s like that, then it meant that Chisato was away from the city if anything happened.

“That’s good. If anything happens, you will be far away.”

“Haruto, you worry too much!”

She lightly punched my arm.

It had been a while since we were able to talk like this. After my mother died, I lost touch with most of my friends – all except Chisato. When calamity strikes, it’s easy to see who is a true friend. In the end, only Chisato stayed in touch, no matter how hard things got.

“Haruto, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

She gave me a long, hard look.

“Do you feel better these days? After the funeral, you didn't speak to anyone for a long time. I was really worried about you…but uhm, you seem more cheerful these days.”

“Ah…yeah, I’m fine.”

Time is a cruel thing.

Time heals all wounds – whether you like it or not.

“Do you think it’s because of Nishiyama Yui?” Chisato asked.

“Maybe.”

Yui was the first friend I made after the funeral. She transferred to our school towards the end of the second year. In January, and we began to hang out together after school. Even though we had only known each other for a few weeks, it felt like it had been much longer than that.

Chisato smile. It was a simple smile that contained joy.

“I’m glad. I was really worried about you.”

A lot of things happened between us. We were childhood friends for years before our lives changed. Chisato and I briefly dated at the beginning of our first year and then we mutually agreed to break up. Even though we had known each other for so long, dating just didn’t seem to suit our relationship. Afterwards, we drifted apart and made new friends as we continued our high school lives.

For a while, it was a little awkward for us to be around each other. But in the end, we were still childhood friends. Nothing would ever change that. I was glad that we could still have simple conversation like this.

“You know, Haruto. There’s something I’ve noticed.”

“What is it?”

“You call Nishiyama using her first name. But everyone calls her Nishiyama.”

“Huh, I guess that’s true.”

“You two aren’t dating or anything like that, right?”

“No, our relationship isn’t like that.”

“Then why do you use her first name? She only transferred here in January.”

Why did I call her ‘Yui’ instead of ‘Nishiyama’?

I wasn’t sure. I think sometime around March, Yui and I switched to using our first names rather than our surnames. Normally, at our age, a boy and a girl only use each other’s first names if they are going out or if they have known each other for a long time, like me and Chisato. But Yui and I weren’t childhood friends, nor were we dating.

“We’re cut from the same cloth,” I said.

Saturday, 26 April, 20XX

Today I made preparations for our trip. Since Yui was trapped inside her house, it was up to me to prepare as much as possible to make Operation Shinjuku a success.

Yui said she was going to bring all the money she had. I decided to do the same.

Banks were closed on Saturdays and Sundays, so I couldn’t go to the counter to make a withdrawal. Instead I went to the ATM. The drawback of that was that there was a daily limit of 2 million yen.

Altogether, my mother left behind 10 million yen.

A lifetime of work. 10 million yen.

This world worked her to death and gave her so little.

Sunday, 27 April, 20XX

Today’s weather is nice, so there is no choice but to do laundry because it will dry quicker.

Doing laundry is really annoying, isn’t it?