Not Home (Yet)

We’re at the park. The sun continued to shine on us. The trains continued to rush down above us. After all, we weren’t far away from the station. Remember what I said about the optics of a man bringing two girls into the toilets? I’m not sure you can notice, but there is a busy road by us. It’s a dual-carriageway. There is no way in hell that no one can see him bring this.

And firstly, let’s not forget that this is based on the words of one man. He seems trustworthy, but that’s about it.

“Hey,” I asked Toku-chan. “Are you 100% sure that this is the origin of your… time displacement?” He, too, looked rather concerned. “I’m not 100% sure now. I mean, the optics of this have to be horrible, right?” Airi jumped in to nod and agree.

“Then… you go first Toku-chan, and I’ll be there to witness it. Airi you run into the toilet if you hear nothing from us for 5 minutes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I entered a male restroom for the first time in my life. It… I must say, it’s surprisingly cleaner than our one. I guess I stereotyped men as having pig-like behaviours when it comes to hygiene. There was this one classmate in my class, who seemed no different to an animal in a barn. Poor farmer. The tiles were beige or cream, you know the typical toilet decoration. Which, if you ask me, is a shame.

Anyways, it’s time to stop deflecting. It is definitely strange for me to be here and at any moment could a guy come in and say, ‘Hey! Get out of the men’s room!’, or even worse. I might get reported to the police or the police will save me. If anyone else is involved, it’s not looking good for me, regardless of what happens.

“Hey, Tokuyama-kun?” I asked him in a serious tone. “Are you really honest here? Did you really time-travel, using a toilet?”

He stopped before turning around slowly.

“I definitely time-travelled. But via the toilet? I don’t know.” He spoke in an even more serious tone.

“Well, there’s only one way to try. What were you doing?”

“Peeing.”

“Then go pee. If you finish, open the door, if you don’t see me in front of your door, then you’re probably back home. I hope you get home and this is just a bad memory for you.”

He smiled. “If it’s all a dream, then it’s been a long-winded one.”

I still feel bad for him. He looks lost as ever and now we’re just hoping for the best. If he doesn’t time-travel back, then, well he’s stuck here. We don’t know the rules. He doesn’t know why twenty years in the future. It’s just random. I’ve been cracking jokes and random humorous comments to lighten the situation in my brain, but, honestly? I have utterly no clue as to what to do. I’ve never been a person to take initiative but, if I have to, then so be it!

“Those are some nice final words to say to a princess but don’t forget you are peeing. And if you don’t time-travel, I’m just going to hear you hit the water.”

And then I realized, a way for both of us to realize if he’s time-travelled.

“Which by the way, aim for the water so I can actually hear you pee. If it stops abruptly or something, then I’ll just knock on the door to see if you’ve time-travelled.”

Those are words I’d never thought I’d say deadpan. Or just outright ever say.

“Are you serious?” Tokuyama-kun said. I nodded without realizing he was already in the toilet so I just quickly responded with a simple ‘Yeah!’

I heard the slight sound of his unzip. “Okay, here I go.”

This is ridiculous.

And after what felt like a long silence, I heard the hissing. Then the noise. You could hear it reverberate around the restroom.

It kept on going, and going?

“Hey, Tokuyama-kun? Is this the first time you’ve peed in this year or something? Why are you going so long, hurry up!”

Then silence.

It was still for four seconds.

Did… did Tokuyama-kun time travel? I can still hear the stream.

“Hello?” I kept knocking. Hell, I was about to panic. I could feel the anxiety in my heart start racing to my head.

“Ah, sorry Ayami.” A voice finally appeared.

“I don’t think I time-travelled. And yes, this was the first time I peed in twenty years.”

Is… is he cracking jokes? Seriously?

I sighed. That was anticlimactic.

“So, do you wanna just hang out all day, Tokuyama-kun? Is there even a place for you to go to? I can't exactly tell my parents that, oh, here’s a homeless boy around my age and he needs somewhere to stay. Oh yeah, and I met him in the street at night. They’re gonna think I’ve lost my marbles.”

Tokuyama-kun’s voice carried a sense of defeat. “That’s right, I guess.”

I can tell he’s just sad that he couldn’t go home. I’m not sure if he’ll ever go home. Was there even a logic to him coming to the future in 20 years? I tried to cheer him up.

“Hey, me and Aichii~ can cheer you up. I know what we can do, we can go to Honmachi or even the mall in Kisogawa - the AEON!” I tried my best, but I could just feel Tokuyama’s catatonic freeze through the door.

“I’m fine,” he responded. “Maybe, I’ll just go outside for a bit of fresh air. Don’t mind me. Go about your life.”

“You know what, Tokuyama-kun. I’m not leaving you alone. I’m going to tell my parents that you need shelter. But we can deal with the seriousness later. Can we just have some fun?”

I need to stop Tokuyama-kun from falling into a deeper hole. He’s not even opened the door and it’s been a while. No flush. Nothing. He’s probably staring into the water. I hate it when people refuse to engage in reality. I’ve seen family members do this. Hell, even if it’s a stranger, I’d rather do my best to stop them from falling down.

Still silent.

I just leaned on the sink. I’m surprised no one has come in.

“Hey Ayami. I appreciate your concerns. I think I’ll go out.” Finally, Tokuyama spoke.

In a more lighthearted tone, I responded, “If you did, can you flush the toilet now? It has to be stinking, right?”

“Oh, right.”

That’s the first real satisfaction I’ve ever had from a flush sound.

He opened the door and I looked into his eyes. He looked so tired and lifeless, but behind it all, there was a twinkle.

“Do you know about the AEON?” I asked Tokuyama.

He put his fingers on his chin, then squinted. Is… is he thinking? “I think it opened a few months before I time-travelled but I never went. I had a few classmates and friends that were there on the opening day.”

“Hey, why don’t we take a trip? It’s summer vacation for us, so we might as well use all the free time we have.”

As soon as I finished that sentence, Airi jumped in to save the… day. “Stop right there, Tokuyama-kun!”

“Stop… what?” I asked her. Tokuyama-kun seemed emotionless.

“Well, you did tell me that after a while, I should jump in and save you or something like that.” She said confusingly.

I curled my eyebrows. “You know, I told you to do that after 5 minutes. You did that after 12 minutes.”

She smiled as if to defuse the situation. “Sorry! I was too busy on TikTok. You know, just scrolling past.”

My phone went off. I had a TikTok notification. 10 of them.

“Did… did you send me ten TikToks to watch?”

She nodded a thousand times. “Yep!”

Wow. It’s like I’m watching a skit that my classmates made but instead, it’s summer vacation and reception fell flat.

“Do you want to go to AEON?” I asked both of them.

Airi just screeched and jumped all giddy-like. I’ll take that as a yes. Meanwhile, Tokuyama just seemed out of it but I looked at him again and gave a slight nod.

At least we can have some fun! What would my literature teacher say?

The quest lies ahead.

To the shopping mall to get something more than bread.

The party of three rolls through,

To the depths of society and consumerism which in forth they spew.

Coffee and bubble tea,

Their patronage and the party, I foresee.

Eh. I tried my best. I know my literature teacher would just look at me and laugh at how badly I write.

But wouldn’t life be a bit boring if you weren’t doubting yourself at times? Say what you want about self-deprecation, the most boring people on this planet are those who assert themselves with no third-person perspective. So, in essence, I’m trying to defend my bad poem.

I realized how long-winded that was. I think we should go now.

“Where are you going, Ayami?” Tokuyama-kun’s voice reached my ears. “Are you leaving without us two?”

Oh shit, not everyone can hear your inner monologue. Whoops!

“Oh yeah, I forgot to say it, but let's go to the mall now. It’s like a train stop away over in Kisogawa, which still exists!” I chuckled at my inside joke but all Tokuyama-kun did was lightly smile. Come on Toku-chan, lighten up!