Something New

Life is kinda short, they say but in my case, it’s even shorter. I can't believe I am 17 and I am already thinking about my death. In this era, where we can even replace organs or transplant 70 of the human body to another body I’ll still die. Money is a big factor that plays a big role in Jahan, the middle class tries to achieve the second-grade citizen award whereas the poor just try to survive. I wish mom and dad would’ve been second-grade citizens.

I was sitting at the top of the central tower of central Jahan the tower was funnily enough named after the central part of the Jahan. They really don’t waste time on stuff like naming a place nowadays.

Edra was looking down at the city from the tower it was the last place he visited with his parents. The view of Central Jahan from above was beautiful, the building was filled with screens there wasn’t any part of Central Jahan which had a dark corner. The city beamed with light, during the day with the sun and at night with the number of screens attached to the buildings.

“Aah, I don't even get someone I love, how am I supposed to die already. I guess life is unfair after all hun?” That was my thoughts at that moment as at the beginning of this day I had got my yearly health checkup report and it clearly declared that was going to die. With the technology we have today, they even specified how many days I had left; Two sixty-two. (Edra was just diagnosed with a disease that causes the heart and the liver to fail simultaneously after a certain amount of time.)

Even though they said I would die and there is no cure I don’t feel anything, maybe it’s because 262 days seems far from now. I shouldn't ponder into it too much or else I won’t be able to enjoy the little days I have left. It’s midnight already, I should go home and take a nap before I hit school tomorrow.

And maybe I shouldn’t tell her about this situation for now. I sighed and left the Tokyo Tower.

I took the tube train and reached my home city which is situated in east Jahan. I reached home after 40 mins of commute. (The distance between Central Jahan and Eastern city. was 800 kilometres approx.)

I went to sleep and woke up the next day tired.

I didn't even get a good night's sleep because of that. (The disease Edra Banota is diagnosed with.)

“Aaahhhhha” (yawning)

I got fresh and left for school while walking towards the school I met my friend Mika Hanawa she is a cheerful girl, I think she’ll remain upset the whole time If I'll tell her about my situation. Let's keep it a secret for a while.

“Hey! Good morning Edra, how have you been?” Mika wished me.

“Fine, hmmm.” I was still in my thoughts.

“Hey Edra, Edra! Ed!” She yelled. Are you really ok? you seem a bit off to me.

“Aah, it’s nothing,” I replied with a smile on my face. Besides, it won't do any good even if I told you. I thought.

Umm ok, so there was this girl she is a friend of mine and she wanted to talk to you, looks like she is interested in you.

Oh really? I've told you many times I m not interested in any other girl, so why do you always try to get me hooked?

Mika with a swollen face. “Huh! I was just helping you. Besides, you look handsome enough and you are kind too.” She was too fast for me to catch.

“What?” I asked.

“Forget it, we are almost at school.” She smiled.

As soon as they reached the entrance of the school, a guy passed through Edra in a flash.

“Aah!” Why is he in such a hur- wait have I seen him before?

What’s the deal with you idiot!!! Mika was quite bold.

Oh, I am sorry. I was just passing through. This person had a familiar face. He caught my eye and smiled at me. Edra was flustered, “haha! It's ok hahaha!”

Mika Suspiciously said, “What’s with the weird reaction.”

“Hey fast guy; you are wearing our school uniform. Never seen you before, care to be more human and walk normally class starts in 30 minutes from now, we still got time you know.”

The thing is, I just transferred here and I didn't want to be late.

“Yeah, I underst-” Edra interfered with my conversation. Does he know who this dude is, I have never seen him like this before.

“Don’t rush you still got like 30 mins before homeroom.” (Attendance)

Oh ok, you are right, I am just a bit tense as I m new here. I hope you understand. He was looking at me again so sharply as if he had some intentions towards me. Oh wait, I remember now he is the guy I saw last night at the city station. Hey-

The bell rang and the class was about to start.

“I think we should move it’s already time for our class!!” Mika panicky said.

They entered the class and soon after them the teacher also came in.

“Good Morning student, I hope you all enjoyed your summer holidays, for our new term a new transfer student will be joining us, Please introduced yourself,” she said to the guy we met at the entrance of our school while looking toward him.

“Hi everyone, my name is Dan Yamana and I hope it will be a great year ahead, with all of you as my classmates.” He introduced himself formally and didn’t mention anything else. He looked at me again after the introduction and that caught our teacher's eyes because of that, she made him sit next to me.

Everyone started to murmur, “ahh he is kinda built strong don't you think?

Girl 1 he looks kinda cute

Girl 2 yeah, you are right he is a cutie.

“Hmm, Dan han?”

Dan remained pretty quiet during our classes and there seemed nothing weird about him. Not that I know of.

I was looking toward him while wondering that during our 4th period/class and Dan unexpectedly met my eyes and I quickly looked the other way. What's wrong with me, I thought.

“Hey, can we have our lunch together? I am kinda alone and I would like to make a friend whom I can rely on and of course, you can rely on me as well.” He asked me with a big smile on his face.

“Yeah, aha sure sure.” I was convinced he would ask me something really weird.

Mika was looking at me and something ringed her, “Oh I get it now, he kinda seems to like Our new student over here.” She thought.

I don’t know what’s cooking in her head now. Mika was looking at me weirdly as if she was making fun of me. “Ah, stop embarrassing me Mika, you idiot,” I said to myself.

The class went on and it was break time.

Mika and Edra were next to each other during the break and Dan approached them and asked, can I eat with you guys?” I met you earlier so I hope that won't be an issue.

Yeah, I already said we can, let's just grab something from the school canteen. I used my school points to buy the meals. Every student and worker has this watch around their wrist that helps us buy anything around Jahan and it stores our ID as well.

We grabbed our meals and sat in the class.

I got the chance here, Mika thought. “The seat next to Edra is free, why won't you sit there Dan. I understand it must be tough getting along with others when you are new. Ahh, the struggle to fit in.”

“Tough? Can't you see the hoards of girls just staring at him, he almost got as popular as an Idol. (singer/actor), that too on his first day and he didn’t even do anything.” Well, he does have some sort of aura around him.

“Woah what you got there Eddy? Your lunch looks delicious.” Dan leaned a bit forward towards me.

Aah! Who is Eddy? I thought. “Yeah, it's not something special.” We all literally have the same meals except for my dessert which was a Roze Jamun. It is one of the only remaining food that has remained unchanged since ancient times plus it does not require chemicals like most of our foods nowadays. (Roze Jamun, a famous sweet in Jahan made with reduced milk solids, all-purpose flour which is fried in clarified butter and later dipped in sugar syrup.)

“Can I taste it?” Dan asked me gently. I knew he was aiming for that.

“Yeah, you should, Edra loves that and it’s really tasty.” Mika even insisted that he should taste my dessert.

“Oh really? Here I go then, Umph! It tastes great.” Your choice seems great. He beamed and started eating his own meal.

Aha aha, thank you. Now you too?

After they finished their lunch. Someone approached us, a girl. She was running towards us. “Heyyyy guysss!!!” She yelled and resounded. Hey, my name is Soya Harisha, I noticed you guys from the outside. The thing is I-I I wanted to say is… will you go out with me Edra!

Hannnnnnn!!! I shouted

Haaaaaaaaa!! Mika screamed.

Wait, who are you again? I don’t even know a thing about her and here she was confessing. I had my doubts regarding this confession and I knew that this might just be a joke, but Mika was glaring at me the whole time as I was constructing my decision. Then I finally answered.

“I appreciate that you find me interesting but I’ll pass on. I don’t want to be in a relationship right now, I am sorry.” I even bowed while saying that but just as I expected.

“Even though it breaks my heart that you rejected me but you don’t have to feel sorry for me as well, It was just a dare given to me by my classmates.” She raised her eyebrows and simpered.

“Yeah, I knew it wasn’t something serious that’s why I was ready to reject it,” I said to her.

“Ohh, so that means if I seriously had feelings for you, you would’ve accepted my confession?” She asked me eagerly. But Mika answered her even before I was able to.

“Oh, I guess you didn’t pay enough attention while he was rejecting you, he clearly said he doesn’t want to be in a relationship right now. That should be enough to explain.” Mika said that while staring at her dead in the eye.

“Who are you again?” Soya didn’t know who she was, not her mistake, Mika never introduced herself. That did make her frown a bit but I guess she realized that as well and proceeded with an introduction.

“Mika; Mika Hanawa and you better remember it.”

“Ahh, you got a pretty name I hope we both can be good friends as we both have an interest in common.” She looked at me and then at Mika. She smiled a little. I was getting confused about what was happening but Dan helped settle them down and moments later Soya was on good terms with Mika. They both were having a nice chat together and even seemed like they knew each other since childhood. Well, Mika has always been like that and she never has a problem with making friends yet she sticks with me a lot.

Our lunch break was over Soya returned to her class and we continued our second half of the school day after school finished usually we had to go to the club but our school was under maintenance for the day. Generally, the maintenance only takes a few hours with the tech we have but today was the first. Mika, me and Dan left the class together and Soya joined us in the hallway.

“It was really good knowing you, it feels like I have already known you for a long time.” Dan was thanking us for showing him around the school and stuff.

I replied, “It was nice knowing you too and you don’t need to thank us the data is already in our watches.” Mika also said, “Same here.” We tapped our watches with each other and shared contacts before leaving.

“See ya tomorrow everyone.” Soya was waving her hand from afar and we all left in different directions except Mika and me as we lived at a distance of 2 kilometres from each other.

We reached my house and she asked me again before leaving, “Are you sure you are not feeling something different today Edra?”

“Aaah it's nothing m the same, and when were you noticing me acting differently?”

“Well, I am your best friend for a reason, hehe.” She was grinning while answering and later we said bye and she left.

“It's something new for me that I haven’t experienced before.” That’s what I thought as sitting down on my white chain in my room. I never felt like this before even though I knew my days were numbered but I was still feeling great spending time with Mika and we also got to know some new members. Dan hun? I thought. It wasn’t like I was head over heels after this guy but he seemed like a reliable friend and Soya was pretty crazy as well. I don’t know what the future has in store for me but I am going to live these last few days like never before. I never imagined that my thoughts about ‘living my days like never before’ would actually come true.

And with that new feeling, Edra Banota forgot about his pain and days which were decreasing with time…

I hope Edra is actually okay. Mika thought.

Day remaining 262 – 1 = 261