Counting On My Pal

“This is a train station?”

Right in front of me is a train station but it's not a normal train station you would see normally. Saying it's big is an understatement, it's enormous. Currently, I'm standing in front of the entrance but the width of it is significantly wide. It stretches as far that I can see. Just not long ago, I was walking without any buildings to be seen. There were the occasional venues, public bathrooms but, other than those, it was just a plain path from the police station to here.

“Mr. Norm, are you waiting for something?”

While I was spacing out, the officer called me.

“Ah, no. It was nothing, shall we go?”

I should pay more attention to my job interview. It could decide whether I live independently or depend on the officer's salary. I definitely don’t want the latter. He has already done enough for me. Causing him more setbacks is the last I would want to do.

“Let's go then, our destination isn’t far, only around 10minutes.”

“10 minutes? That is surprisingly short”

Our destination is only 10 minutes? That's quite fast even if our destination is close. Is it because the train has brazing speed? Probably not. The faster train goes, the more kinetic energy can exert on our body. A human can only travel so fast if our organs can handle. Even if we have technology that can go to the speed of sound and can mass produce, our organs cannot comprehend that intense speed. So it's must be the distance”

“By the way, how far is our distance?”

“It's around 30 to 40 kilometers, I believe?”

So it's not the distance, maybe it's the speed. So 10 minutes can travel up to 40 kilometers means trains can travel at over 200 kilometers an hour.

That is… unimpressive, frankly. Maybe, it's because I'm so hyped about all the promises. Maybe we don’t need to go that fast.

While we were walking, the officer asked:

“Do you know where District 2 is? That is where our destination is”

District 2?

“No, I don’t know where district 2 is. Can you also explain that to me?”

After getting the job, if I can, I will definitely go do some research beforehand. Being dumbfounded by simple questions might raise some suspicion between people and that is not what I sought out.

“As you know, most cities have railways shaped like a plus. The railways separate the city into 4 major districts The first is district 1 in the north-west, the second is district 2 in the north-east, the third is district 3 in the south-east and the last is district 4 in the south-west. Where are heading is the north-east of the city, which is district 2.*

“Ah, I see”

So the railways have been modified drastically to support humans' needs? Having plus-shaped railways isn’t an easy task. This means that the higher authorities participate in this total reconstruction. Most of the time, railways don’t particularly have any predictable shapes, they just stretch from one big city to another. Having the citizens agree to this project is no easy task.

While we were having our conversation, we went up the escalator and reached floor 2. Despite having such a considerable size, this station is quite moderate on people. It isn’t overburdened with humans like scenes found in major cities like New York or Tokyo.

“Do you have a railway pass, Mr.Norm?”

A sudden voice came up, it wasn’t too surprising that it was from the officer.

“Eh, sorry but I don’t have any. It might unreasonable but buy me one?”

This is totally unreasonable! I'm getting on my nerves about how useless I am.

“It's fine, I can buy you a ticket separately. It wouldn’t cost much so you don’t need to apologize”

“Thank you so much!”

How far is he going to help me? Rather, how far should I repay him afterwards? I am the man of give and take. If someone gave me something, I would give them back something else similar in value.

…

After passing through the checking gate, we reached the boarding point of the station. Around me held only a handful of people, it wasn’t congested at all. Then again, having that much space for each person is very much appreciated. When the train arrived and left, the first thing that stood out to me was the floor that we were on.

We were on the second floor and the boarding point was on the second floor, so this could be that this station had multiple railways on top of each other. But my question was immediately answered after the train left. The floors weren’t so that trains could stack on one and another. It was to distinct each district through the floor level. The ground level is to reach district 1 and the fourth one is to reach district 4. I was able to recognize it after seeing the train quickly returned from the second floor to the ground.

At the moment, I'm sitting next to the officer. The silence between us is about to kill me. I might need to raise some topics to kill the time. Maybe asking about his work is a great start

“How have you work be…”

“May I ask, where did you come from?”

Suddenly got interrupted when asking, should I answer vaguely?

“I'm from a faraway land, Tokyo is the name that my people called. It might be different compared to others…”

“Are you from another world or rather, are you from the past?”

Again, got interrupted by him. However, he looks serious about his question.

“Why did you assume I was from the past?”

“The electric cars! It was clear that you came from the past if you had high hopes for it.”

He is spot on his theory. But do I have any reasons to keep it a secret?

“You were absolutely correct, I came from the past.”

Even though he had assumed where I came from, he still looked surprised upon hearing my answer.

“Is that so! Haha, and here I thought you were some runaway child. That explains a lot of phenomena that is happening around here”

“Huh?”

What did he mean by “phenomenon”?

“All things considered, it gives me a better understanding to better help you”

“Haha, seriously, what's with that kind of question!”

For a second, I thought I was about to get into some problems but, as always, I kept doubting people.

“Haha, were you scared? I didn’t have any intentions to turn you in or anything. Anyways, hope we will get along from this point onwards.”

The first guy I met is also the nicest person I have ever met or will ever meet. My life is going to be a lot smoother with him around.

“The same with me, hope we will get to know each other better!"