The hot summer sun, blazing through the gaps of the window’s sills. Loud buzzing sounds of cicadas echo inside a tiny room. A ring of an alarm from a mobile phone awoke the teenage boy who was in his relaxing sleep. The teenage boy reached out his hand, and turned off the alarm that had rang for ages, and rubbed his eyes gently, as he took his time to get off his bed. Skipping his basic hygiene, he wiped his face with his dry towel that was lying on the messy floor, and began dressing up in his school’s summer attire.
He started packing his school bag with a couple of notebooks and textbooks, and he slipped in a small box, which seemed to be wrapped as a gift. He stared at it with a gentle smile. With his school bag filled with essential items needed, he walks out of his room. Yawning, as he slowly walks down the stairs, where he catches a glimpse of his father sitting at the dinner table, going through his messages, while having his breakfast.
“Aren’t you late? If you want, I can drop you off.” Said his father as he was still on his phone, idling.
The boy stopped in his tracks, surprised, and answered his father’s call, “It’s okay dad, I’ll take the bicycle, Mr. Kido was kind enough to lend it to me for this summer, so I might as well make good use of it.” says the teenage boy.
“Have you brought the “Thank you” gift with you? Don’t lose it, it was quite expensive.” The father said as he looked at the teenage boy with a slight anger.
“I-I’m not! I got it in my bag, I’m not gonna let it go until I properly give it to him.” the teenage boy replied anxiously.
“Are you going to eat breakfast, or do you want me to pack you lunch?” The teenage boy’s mother called out to him from the kitchen, with a knife and a radish in her hands.
“Neither, it’s a pretty short class, so me and my friend are going out after and get something to eat.”, he called back to his mother as he’s on the front door, putting on his shoes.
“I’ll be back pretty late! So don’t worry about dinner!” the boy shouted, rushing out of the front door.
“Kids these days, always impatient and in a hurry!” the mother pouted as she put down the radish and started chopping it roughly.
“They’re still young, let them enjoy life for now. He won’t have that much free time once he finishes highschool.” replied the father, chuckling.
“He could have at least given his mother a kiss goodbye!” muffled the mother by herself.
The brazen hot sun felt warm, as the wind blew towards the teenage boy who’s cycling towards the highschool. The street was drowned by the loud chirping of the active cicadas, giving him a nostalgic feeling in his guts. The boy had gotten closer to the school, as loud cheering and shouting could be heard.
He parked his bicycle in a shady part of the parking space, carefully so as to not damage the bicycle. Drenched in sweat, the boy went straight for the vending machine that was next to it, bought himself a cool drink, and finished the bottle in only a few gulp, and went off his way to class.
He rushed through the hall, towards his half empty classroom, where his friends waved towards him and greeted him.
“Speak of the devil!” said his friend who was sitting on his desk.
“I almost thought you’d skip today’s class.” pointed by another of his friends leaning towards the desk.
“Sorry! I keep hitting snooze on my phone, and I overslept!.” said the teenage boy, laughing along with his friends.
The boys continued chatting with each other about their plans for the summer and the places they were going to go, but a few minutes later, they were interrupted by their teacher walking in the classroom.
A middle aged man, with messy hair, as if he had been running, though he was wearing a sleeveless vest, despite the heat. A bit of sweat started to drop from his glasses, as he walked towards his desk.
The teenage boy noticed the teacher’s condition, and felt guilty, while his friends whispered to each other, elevating his guilt even more. He put his hand together, signaling for forgiveness from the teacher.
The teacher signals back, calmly showing that he didn’t mind it, and that it’s okay.
“Alright class, it’s a short day today, so let's get this over with. I know most of you have plans, so let’s at least finish a few lessons, so that you won’t be falling behind the class.” said the teacher, as he settled his file on his desk and cleaned out the blackboard.
As so, the class started and everyone tried their best to pay attention, focusing on their lesson, with the heat making it a challenge for them. With the help of the strong wind blowing in through the wide windows, cooling everyone off, what was supposed to be a few hours, felt like a few minutes. A loud ring echoes all of the empty classrooms, as was theirs, notifying everyone of the last bell they’d heard for weeks to come.
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“Okay kids, we didn’t go through a lot of what I had planned for, but it’s better than nothing. Now enjoy your summer break, and don’t cause any troubles.” said the teacher to the students, who were frantically rushing out of the classroom like wild animals.
Most of the students had left the classroom within a few seconds, while some stayed, chatting with each other about their summer plans. As the teenage boy and his friends.
“You guys go ahead and wait for me at the bicycle parking spot, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” the teenage boy directed to their friends as he pushed his friends towards the classroom exit.
“Alright, alright. Just make it quick will you.” his friends replied and waved each other goodbye.
The teenage boy waited until most of the students left, before pulling out the tiny box that was wrapped neatly with colored paper from his bag and walking towards the teacher.
“Hey, there, Mr.Kido.” the teenage boy called out to his teacher, a bit nervously, with his left hand behind his back, holding the gift.
Kido, who was busy grading the papers, was a little startled, and turned towards the teenage boy. “Yes. Do you need anything?”
“I-I wanted to thank you for letting me borrow your bike for the summer.” the teenage boy stuttered nervously.
“Ah, I don’t mind, I haven’t had the time to use it, I’ve been busy ever since I bought it, I also live pretty close. It’s better to let it be used, than rust away outside of my apartment.” said Kido, sitting in his chair with a relaxed pose.
“But it seems like the bicycle would have been useful for today…” said the boy with a little sarcastic tone.
“Well… Today I just happened to wake up a bit late. It rarely happens, so you don’t need to worry. I’ll manage.” the teacher answered, easing the boy’s mind a little bit.
The teenage boy was a bit relieved by the positive attitude of the teacher, and as so, he pulled out the small gift and handed it to his teacher.
“I also heard from the other teachers, that tomorrow is your birthday Mr.Kido, so I’ve brought you a present. It’s something that my father bought, and he hasn't got the chance to use it, because my mother gifted him another one, and he ends up shelving it aside." .
“Oh? What is it?” Kido said as he fumbled around the small present.
“It’s a secret for now, you can open it tonight, on your birthday.” the teenage boy replied as he stopped Kido from fumbling around with the present.
“I have to go for now, see you later after summer break Mr.Kido!” The teenage boy waved goodbye as he exited the classroom.
Kido couldn’t help but smile as he held the present in his palm, waving back to the boy.
Lost in thought, Kido realized that everyone had left, so he packed his files and left the classroom, stopping by his desk in the teacher’s room to finish up whatever task he had left. Focused on his chores, the remaining teachers had left, one by one, leaving him all alone in the room. A few more hours passed, and he had finished his work for the day. As he noticed that he’s the last person in the room, he packed up a couple of files to bring home, and he glanced through a file at the bottom of a pile of papers and textbook, which looks to be a report from a hospital. His somewhat relaxed and cheerful expression broke into an expressionless look. He grabbed what he wanted, and left the room.
The setting sun was covered a bit by clouds, making his trip home a lot cooler and relaxing. The once busy and loud school was quiet, everyone had left except for a few students, teachers and school employees. Kido stopped in between a forkway, and remembered that he had something he wanted to buy from the convenience store, and went back track for a bit and walked towards a different path. After a few minutes of walking, he arrived at a convenient store, and he walked in, greeted by an unenthused store clerk. He paused his track and checked his wallet for his budget, seeing his balance he sighed and headed towards the instant noodle section, and picked up only one cup, and walked back to the cashier.
“Would that be all? The total sum is 170 yen.” The clerk muffled.
Kido grabbed a single note of 1000 yen from his wallet and handed it over.
“Your balance is 830 yen. Thank you for shopping with us…” The clerk handed the balance and continued his work behind the counter.
“Thank you.” Kido whispered back hesitantly, and walked out the store. He paused once more, looking around his gloomy surroundings, before he went off his way.
Kido finally arrived at his seemingly old and run down 6 tatami mat room apartments, as it was the only place he could afford. He’d walk slowly up the creaky and rusty flight of stairs, so as to not awake his neighbors.
The path that leads to his apartment room is filled with broken pots and empty sake bottles and beer cans from his neighbor's careless attitude. Mr.Kido picks up the trash left by his neighbors without hesitation, as he’s already used to living in those conditions. He shimmy the key to his door, as it opens, he immediately grabs a plastic bag and fills it in with the trash outside. He brought the trash inside, so he could throw it away the next day.
He heats up a kettle of water on top of the stove and sets up a mug to brew his instant coffee he had stored up in his kitchen drawer. The sun was still setting outside, so he opened his balcony window to hang up his laundry that was still moist in his laundry basket.
The hot kettle whistled, while he was still in the middle of hanging his laundry, but the steam blew out and made a loud noise, immediately dropping his laundry to turn it off. He opened the cup of noodles, and soaked it with the hot water, and poured what’s left in his mug and brewed his coffee. He brought them to his floor desk and settled it next to his files that he’s grading.
Time passed by quickly, as the sun had settled down, and the night took its shift. Kido turns on the light to his room, but the light dies out, as he forgot to change a new one, and ends up turning his small desk lamp on his desk instead. Kido took out his phone to set an alarm for his instant noodle, and set the phone aside, as he snoozed for a few minutes. Kido shuts his eyes, giving in to his tiredness.
A loud rang of music in the tune of happy birthday blast through his phone. Startling Kido, who was in a very deep sleep. Kido grabbed his phone in panic, trying to shut down his alarm that was set for his birthday at midnight. The alarm he tried to set before was not applied, as he did not set it right. Kido was drenched in sweat from the sudden rush of adrenaline.
He tried to get up to get a towel to wipe himself, but suddenly felt a little dizzy as he stood up. He broke his fall with his hand, and ended up knocking the files on his desk, but suddenly his heart felt like it stopped. Not knowing what to do, he promptly grabbed his phone to call for help, but he tripped and knocked over his cold coffee and cup of noodles, knocking his phone out of his hand, and on the edge of his table. He started to panic, as he couldn’t feel his heart beating. His body started to go into cardiac arrest, making it difficult for him to move.
He crawled his way to reach for his phone, but the phone screen had cracked, making it hard for him to see what’s on his screen.
He remembers that he had a pill of heart medicine that was prescribed to him on the bookshelf next to his desk. With all of his strength, he reached out to the bottle of pills, but his body had started to go limb.
He felt as though he no longer had a chance of surviving the situation, so he let go of the bottle, and reached out towards a framed picture of his parents, sitting next to the books on his shelf. His whole life started to flash through his eyes, the regrets that he had, the things he wanted to do and achieve. But alas, his final thought was only of his parents.
The dark room had made it difficult to look at the picture, but to Kido, who had looked at the picture throughout his life. It was as clear as the day, to only him. As hard as he tried, his hand couldn’t reach out to the people that he loved.
“M-Mom… D-Dad… I-I’m sorry… I-I’ve wasted my life… I’m sorry….”
His sight was blurry by the tears that kept flowing from his eyes, his breath slowly drawn short, as so his panting. His hand slams the floor, as he draws out his final breath. The desk lamp burns out its last light, the wind blowing through the balcony from the window, blows out all of the files and documents on his desk. The life of Kido Haruki, ends abruptly.