Chapter 3

The last bell rang, symbolizing the end of the day. It was about time, honestly. I couldn’t bear to sit another minute in that school. Not after what just happened with that girl. What was that shit, anyway? Who was she? Where did she come from? Surely, she had to go to our school. Unless she was lost or in the wrong part of the school. Which that made no sense because she looked to be the same age as I was. Maybe a year older. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew I had to meet her again. Or maybe it was my imagination and sleep deprivation that caused me to imagine her. I wasn’t sure at that point. I just knew that I had to get home and finish that presentation.

“Hey Kiyoshi!” someone shouted. “Wait up!”

It was Aki, and he was with Kaiya. Great, just the people I wanted to see.

“Did you finish the presentation?” They both asked simultaneously.

“Ummm… wasn’t this supposed to be a group effort?” I retorted.

“Well, yeah, but—”

“You missed literally half of the fucking day, so as punishment, you’re gonna finish the rest of the presentation. Stupid.” Kaiya said angrily.

“I didn’t think it was that deep that I missed half of the day. We didn’t even really do shit today. It was just review for our exams since finals week is around the corner.”

Obviously, that response to her question was not what she wanted to hear. But it was the answer that she was going to have to accept. I mean, what choice did we have? What choice did I have?

“Kaiya and I are going to the Paramount to see a show tonight. Wanna join us?” Aki said, nudging my shoulder.

“Sorry, I have to do this presentation, so Kaiya doesn’t kill us,” I said, glaring at her. “I need to make sure that this presentation is up to her standards. Whatever those standards are, can be anyone’s guess.”

“Why don’t you bite me?” She said, flipping me off.

“Isn’t that supposed to be Aki’s job?”

Kaiya’s face went completely red.

“That’s not my place to comment, sir. We’re close, but not that close.”

“We’re boyfriend and girlfriend, shut up.”

“Someone is the dominant one in this relationship.”

“Fuck off, Kayoshi.”

“Kiyoshi.”

“Same fucking difference.”

Kaiya grabbed Aki’s hand and stormed off toward the Paramount. Apparently, there was this new band that was playing, and they got tickets to go see them. I think it was some local band that got really famous. I couldn’t remember, nor could I be cared enough to remember either.

The sun was setting over the needle tower. I think that’s what it was called. No, sorry. It was called the Space Needle. How stupid of me. The glistening sun was a slight to behold for sure. I didn’t remember the space needle looking so small in person. I remember looking at a bunch of pictures of it before moving to Seattle. I never understood why I thought it would be bigger. Maybe because I was basing my expectations on the Eiffel Tower. That tower was indeed a vast tower. It was quite a shame that France was in the middle of a potential second revolutionary civil war, as someone called it. I never really paid attention to international affairs unless it was Japanese related.

I walked up to the Space Needle until I was looking straight up at it. It really was as beautiful as the pictures portrayed it. A true sight to behold.

I couldn’t help but look around to see if anyone else was taking in the needle’s sight. But to my surprise, few people were paying attention to it. Sure, they glanced up at it. However, it just looked like they didn’t really care too much about it. Maybe because they have seen it so many times before. Who knew?

I pulled out my phone and snapped some pictures of the Space Needle as the sun was directly behind it. Time really must’ve gone by pretty quickly. It was almost 8pm. How long had I been standing here?

I quickly grabbed my bag and ran to the train station. Thankfully, there was one more train heading toward my house. And another plus, there was barely anyone on it. I finally had a seat all to myself.

I scrolled through the pictures of the Space Needle and saw something pellicular. There was a girl standing in the gated part of the Space Needle.

That was quite odd. What was she doing there? I didn’t recall people being allowed to go into that part of the Space Needle. Let alone stand so close to it.

But after looking at the picture a few more times, I realized that the girl in the picture looked very familiar. I swear I had seen her before. I just couldn’t put my finger on where I had seen her. Did she go to our school? Was she one of my neighbors? Maybe Aki or Kaiya knew how she was.

I sent the picture to Aki and Kaiya and waited for a response for them. I knew it was going to be a while because they were at a concert. So, the likeliness that they would respond within a few minutes was unlikely. But it wasn’t the end of the world. I was just curious. Maybe they knew the girl. Maybe they didn’t. But what I knew was that I was getting extremely tired. I didn’t think that running all the way from the train station to school would have taken such a toll of my body.

***

“Now approaching Downtown Seattle, please stand clear of the door.”

I opened my eyes to see that I was nearing Downtown. How long was I asleep for? I couldn’t have been asleep for more than a few minutes. I checked my phone to see that it was 9:00pm.

I dozed off for an entire hour? How is that possible? That’s just fucking great! How am I gonna get home now?

I looked around to see that I was the only one left on the train car that I was riding in.

The train came to a stop, and I hopped on and ran up the stairs out of the station. I looked around to see that the streets were empty. Even though it was a Monday, I expected the streets to be a little more vibrant.

I walked down the streets a few blocks past the Climate Pledge Arena and saw a girl standing in front of the building.

I approached her, assuming that she was lost or looking for someone.

“Hey,” I said, walking closer to her. “Are you lost or looking for someone?”

The girl then turned to face me, and instantly, I remembered who she was. “No, not anymore. I think I found the person I was looking for.”