Time Moves Slow When You’re Around

So, let me get this straight, you believe that you’re a reincarnation?

The smug look on Kuro’s face filled Akari with a mountain of frustration.

“Not reincarnated, that would mean that I was born again into a new body, I’m saying I am the same person just born again.”

Kuro’s eyes fell vacant, his face melting to the floor. “What is the difference,” he boringly deplored.

“Ugh!!!” Akari cried, her nerves at their limit. “Toyo explain to him the difference, please!” she begged. However, as Toyo sprung up from her impromptu slumber, the answer had suddenly become clear as day for Kuro.

“Uh-huh, so that’s what you mean by reincarnation.”

Akari planted the palm of her hand against her face, while a still barely conscious Toyo answered with a deranged, “What?”

Katatata!

The three of them snapped their eyes over towards the sliding classroom door, met by the class representative, Kuzumi, who peered at the trio with her eyes firm.

“Toyo tell your friends that if they’re going to be visiting other people’s classrooms, then they need to keep their obnoxious voices down.”

Toy’s head dropped, well aware of the stress that was soon to follow in three, two, one…

“The only obnoxious person is the one waltzing in the room acting like they pay rent!” Akari’s rebuke was blistering. The only thing she ever took serious in life was her love for the unknown. That, and biting back at those who dare challenged her.

“Oh my god,” the class rep cried with her face in utter astonishment, “Your attitude is terrible.”

Akari rolled her eyes, already finding herself exhausted by the faux presentation of morality she felt pouring her way from the class rep. But Kuzumi was equally as hellbent on getting her point across as Akari was with getting the last word.

“Why are all the pretty faces the ones with the nastiest tone,” Kuzumi then tagged, enraging Akari even further.

“What kind of class rep walks around being jealous all day? You fraud!”

As Akari and Kuzumi blew fire down each other’s necks, Toyo draped her bag over her head, hiding underneath her makeshift cover, while Kuro carefully walked his way out, leaving Akari to argue to her heart’s content.

With the final bell of the day sounding off throughout the halls, all of the students marched their way to the exit.

“It’s Friday, let’s head to the mall or something,” Akari suggested. “You want to do normal things for once,” jabbed Kuro.

Exhausted with his attitude, Akari simply rolled her eyes at him and refocused on Toyo.

“Yeah, sure I don’t have any plans.” She agreed to cheers from Akari.

“I do actually, so you two can go without me,” Kuro revealed, before darting off ahead of the two and mixing into the crowd of students. Promptly avoiding Akari’s expected flurry of complaints.

“What do you think his plans are?” asked Toyo. But Akari would only respond with a condescending glare, followed by chuckles from Toyo. “I guess it’s just us two,” Akari then accepted.

With a warm smile on her face, Toyo agreed, “Yeah.”

Sitting on the bus, aimlessly sifting through their phones, Toyo found herself struggling to kick up a conversation with Akari. Most of the time it was the three of them, with Kuro and Akari’s back and forth largely carrying the flow of conversation. They were long time friends, dating way back to elementary school. With their relationship almost like watching two siblings eat away at each other. But recently Toyo had noticed that the two of them were growing even closer, making her feel a bit out of place, and sometimes, even jealous.

“Hey, did you see that new music video from Ikemen-kun?” Toyo asked, pulling up the video on her phone. Akari dipped over to glance at her screen, swiftly falling back into her lazy posture. “Yea. His voice is terrible.”

“People like him because he’s handsome,” Toyo added to a face of rejection by Akari. “I will never understand what’s so good looking about that,” she firmly stated.

Toyo was suddenly stuck on what words to follow with, finding herself somehow overthinking everything that came to mind.

“What is your type?” she then blurted out.

Akari paused for moment, her eyebrows raised. She then met with Toyo’s gaze before quickly diverting her eyes back onto her phone. “Not Ikemen-kun, that’s for sure. She uttered, returning to her aimless screen scrolling.

Toyo followed suit, leaning herself back into her seat. “Hm,” she softly muttered, once again occupying herself with her phone screen.

Akari, randomly overcome with a bout of restlessness, turned to look out the bus window, arguing how long it was taking for them to arrive at the mall. When Toyo turned to look for herself, her heart slightly jumped.

The bus had just bent the corner of the road, passing by a torii gate nestled in between a row of large trees. She could visualize the long walkway leading up to the family shrine as if it was playing back in her head like an old video. She hadn’t passed by that direction since elementary school. The one time her mother brought here there on the night of the festival.

“We’re definitely on a different road than what the bus usually takes, aren’t we?” Akari questioned. Getting her bearings back together, Toyo replied, “Yeah. Something must’ve blocked the usual route I guess.

As Akari continued looking out through the window in silence, Toyo returned her gaze back into her lap, for some reason feeling an unease grip the pits of her stomach.

Two hours had passed by the time Toyo and Akari parted ways at the bus stop. They both ended up spending their time in the game center wasting upwards of five thousand yen on a UFO catcher. Toyo was surprisingly lucky that evening, now blessed with the privilege of carrying a bag of stuffed animals that she had absolutely no use for back to her home.

As she stepped through the door and slid her shoes off at the genkan, the eerie silence that filled the hallway startled her. Despite the troubles that her mother suffered with, she would always at least call out to Toyo when she walked in through the door. I guess she’s in the bath, Toyo presumed, heading straight to her bedroom. It wasn’t until she unassumingly made her way to the sink to wash her hands that she realized the shower room was dead silent with the lights off.

Unable to remain calm, she immediately called out to her mother, begging for an answer.

“How was your time at the mall?” her mother’s voice echoed from the bedroom. Toyo was immediately filled with relief, not having even realized that she was holding her breath the entire time.

“Futsuu datta. I’m pretty used to that place now so there’s not too much to do,” she answered casually. Reaching her hand over to the faucet, a cold grip froze her still. I never told her I was going to the mall.

Toyo walked her way over to her mother’s room, holding her trembling hand on the door handle, reluctant to slide it open. “Did Akari’s mother tell you where I would be?” Toyo asked, only to receive nothing in return.

Pushing the door ajar, she spotted her mother sitting seiza-style by the window. With no light on and as the sun dipped below the neighboring houses, the only illumination came from the hallway, leaving her mother shrouded in shadow.

“Okaa-san?” Toyo called to her mother, but as she watched her mother’s body slowly collapse to the floor, panic struck her like a brick wall.

“Okaa-san!!!”

Dashing to her side, she was scared stiff by the appalling scene in front of her. Her hands shivering uncontrollably, she desperately tried to stop the blood gushing from her mother’s neck. With tears welling up in her eyes, she peered at her mother’s trembling lips, struggling to form words, only for it to never escape her mouth.

Fighting to save her mother’s life she knew she needed to call for help. She wanted to let go, she needed to let go, but she couldn’t. The thought of returning to her mother’s dead body grappled onto her legs, clamping her to the ground. But as the blood continued, she pushed herself, finally managing to build the courage to break free.

Clasp.

Toyo’s mother clutched her hand around her wrist. Glaring down in a panic, she saw nothing but eyes of relief. A bittersweet smile pulled across her mother’s face as their gazes met one another’s.

“Okaa-san… why?” Toyo bawled, tears running down her face profusely.

By the time the words left her mouth, her mother had already died.