Where Has The Time Gone

Ageha shakes my shoulder, forcing me back out of my thoughts. “Runa, I found a guy with dark clouds over his head! What are you staring at?”

I try to point discreetly. “Don’t be too obvious, but Yona is here with a boy. I looks like a date.”

“For real??” Ageha looks very obviously at the two down the hall. A master of beauty but not subtly.

“I don’t want to rush you girls, but that man’s memories are almost done being tampered with. There isn’t much time left. We can come back here after.” Hota speaks up from my wrist.

“We should time hop first and then think about Yona later.” I walk away from them. I have a feeling this Dust Bunny belongs to that boy. If it’s anything like last time, he likes to stick around. Maybe Yona doesn’t know about his contract. Maybe she doesn’t know about any of this. Ageha reluctantly follows behind me.

We didn’t have far to go. The older man was close by on a bench. He looks distracted on his phone but the dark clouds are swirling above his head as clear as day. I want to talk to Yona but they will be there when we get back. I look to my left; Ageha looks pumped now. I wish she would share some of her enthusiasm with me.

I gently touch my watch. “Let’s go, Hota.”

The familiar torrent of clouds swirls around us. Ageha hugs my shoulder. Oh, it is new for her. I’m already so used to it. I hope she’s not too scared. I put my hand on her back to reassure her it’ll be alright. I need to look dependable to the new person!

The light blinds us and we both make a surprised squeak. So much for looking cool and dependable. There are voices of students far in the background. It seems we are in an empty hallway of a school. Our matching uniforms are a blazer and skirt both in light blue-grey. My hair has gotten shorter while Ageha has gained some wispy bangs.

I notice an instant camera in my hands along with a small pouch I’m carrying over my shoulder. The camera is black with a green sticker on the side and the pouch has more instant camera film. With the large square flash on top attached, it looks barely any different from the ones that were popular when I was a kid. I love this thing; I always wanted one.

“Hota, is that you?” I turn the bulky camera over.

“Yep! Welcome to 1984 girls.” Oh, the 80s are new for me.

Ageha twirls in her new outfit. “Ah, I love this feeling of existing in a world I have never known. To me, everything is new like being in a different world.”

“It is exciting but it’s the same world we were born in, just a few years earlier. I love your bangs, though. We should think about keeping them when we get back.”

“I seem to remember you twirling in your new uniform as well back in the first memory world as well, Runa.” Hota didn’t have to bring that up.

“Ah, I didn’t even notice.” She plays with the small strands by her forehead. “We should get going, right? Find someone with two loves but one is the true love?”

Hota starts talking again. “Yes, that’s the basics. I wanted to let you know that I feel we don’t have a lot of time in this world. Probably only one day at most.”

“One day? How are we going to find everything out in one day?” I start to panic. It normally takes me the whole time limit to make my decision.

“Don’t worry my dear Runa. I’m here with you this time, did you forget?” Ageha points at herself.

“Hm, I guess.” I’m not too enthused about this world already. I have a bad feeling. “We should get going if we don’t have much time.”

Our walk down the hall quickly lets us know the situation we found ourselves in. The students of this middle school are hard at setting up for their cultural festival. It must be around October. I feel a bit overwhelmed with all of the movement and yelling. Two girls come up to us out of nowhere.

“Oh, nice camera! Are you guys on the newspaper committee or the photography club?” I’m at a loss for words! I can’t get myself to say anything.

Without missing a beat, Ageha speaks for the both of us. “We’re on the newspaper committee. Our project will be to showcase some progress photos of the cultural festival before, during, and after. Do you guys want to be in it?” I really am lucky she’s here.

“Yeah! That sounds cool!” The girls make poses for us while I take their photo. The bright flash illuminates their faces and a small black picture loudly emerges. I shake it while Ageha thanks them for their time.

When they leave I quietly ask her. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to say we’re on the newspaper committee like that?”

“It’s only for a day, I figured we can mange somehow. If we run into the actual newspaper committee we can just give them some puppy dog eyes and make something up.” This girl knows no fear. “Besides, now we can go around and investigate.”

The whole school is full of students bustling around working; no one seems to be goofing off. As we walk, it seems like this school is pretty ritzy. The architecture is beautiful. I think this must be a private school for fine arts. The students’ projects are well-polished and some look like real works of art.

However, our travels down the hallways of this school seem to continue without bearing fruit. It’s hard to get a grasp of love troubles with our fast pace. All of the classrooms we popped into were more than happy to let us take a picture of them. It was very cute, I wish I could show these pictures to their current selves.

After almost an hour, we decide to take a break by an empty table. I sigh heavily as I sit down. I put the Hota camera next to me and turn to Ageha.

“We’ve been walking around for an hour now and nothing to show for it.”

“Nonsense. We’ve got like ten cute, vintage pictures. I’m sure one of these faces is the one we’re looking for.” She pulls out the pictures from her blazer pocket and starts flipping through them.

“Are you planning on doing some sort of Kokkuri-san game on them or something?”

“I wasn’t before but that is a good idea- Ah.” Ageha stops talking and points behind me.

I twist my head back around to see a girl waltzing off and our very important camera missing from the table. This is not ok!! I know the contract is broken if we lose Hota, who knows what will happen to this world if that happens here. We both yell and run after her. I feel like I hear Hota quietly freaking out as well.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to steal it, I just wasn’t thinking too hard. I saw a nice camera and thought that Daisuke would love to see it. It’s a bad habit of mine.” The pretty, slender girl we finally caught up to gives us a deep bow. Is she serious? Maybe she’s the airheaded type? “But really, that instant camera is so cool. What are you guys doing with it?”

“We’re on the newspaper committee and we’re going around taking pictures for our club project for the festival.” I say, still slightly out of breath. Ageha was wheezing next to me. Master of beauty, but not athletics. There’s a reason she rides a bike to school despite living so close.

“Oh! You guys should totally come by the photography clubroom and take some pictures. I’m sure everyone would appreciate it. That’s where I was going to take the camera anyway.” She happily points down the hall.

“Sounds good. Are you and Daisuke in the photography club then?” That sounds really promising, I tell myself. If Hota turned into an instant camera, then there’s a good chance the photography club would be our suspects. Ageha nods at me when I look at her. I think she understands as well.

The girl opens a door down the hall and yells out. “Hey guys! These girls are from the newspaper committee and they want to take our pictures!”

The handful of students look towards us. It’s a small room so they are cramped around a few random objects with vintage cameras in their hands. It seems they were practicing some shots before we got here. There’s a large, black cylindrical door in the back that my eyes are drawn to. It’s very interesting.

“Looks like Mai brought back some random students to show off our club again.” A strangely handsome boy walks towards us.

“She tried to steal our camera, too.” Ageha mentions while Mai giggles embarrassedly.

“You don’t have to look that exasperated, Kumiko.” Daisuke says behind him.

I notice a girl with glasses shake her head behind Daisuke. Her short hair flows in front of her face as she hangs her head. Oh, those glasses are so vintage chic, though. They are thick with a half black rim but they look very fashionable on her.

“Where does that door lead to, Daisuke?” I point to the back.

“Oh, that’s the dark room. The school lets us develop our own photos here. I can show you, but you can’t take pictures. The flash would ruin the photos drying there.” He leads us to the door.

We step into it and he turns the handle like a revolving door. Our eyes have to adjust to the darkness on the other side. In the dim red light, there are two students dipping photograph paper into bins of liquid. Some photos are hanging on clips and strings above them. This must be a fancy school to have all of this here. Daisuke makes sure the students are doing ok before we go back. They look up to him with respect. He must be the president.

Back in the bright clubroom, Mai is there waiting for us. “You can’t just take two girls you just met into a dark secluded room like that.”

“Your jealousy shouldn’t get in the way of him doing his job.” Kumiko mentions coldly.

“I’m not jealous! I was just pointing it out. If you don’t point these things out to him, he’ll never get it.” Mai gets upset at her.

Daisuke puts his hands up towards them. “N-now, now. How are your projects going?”

The girls start talking at once saying the other is always getting in their way. They don’t think they’ll make it in time because of it. Daisuke looks completely at a loss. I decide to take a picture of the action. It’s rather funny to me. Seems like a perfect middle school memory.

They are all surprised at the sudden flash. Another boy comes up to Daisuke. “That girl has the right idea. Everyone can see it, even strangers. You need to do something about those two girls before the cultural festival or we may never finish in time.”

“…W-what do you mean?” Daisuke looks really confused.

“…Those girls like you, Daisuke.”

“…huh?!” I see he’s the oblivious type.