The Golden Watch Of Hypnosis - Chapter 26
“Tenshiiii!”
“Wake up Tenshi!! ”
A soft lark like voice called out to Tenshi as a pair of hands held the collar of his clothes and pulled him upwards.
Tenshi dryly gulped and licked his lips, his mind still cloudy due to the short amount of sleep he managed to get.
He wondered, was he in somekind of dream? After all, he didn’t know anyone that had that sweet of a voice, furthermore, who would care about him that much to go into his house and wake him up?
His stepmother definitely wouldn’t, nor would his sister, because she was out of the city as far as he knew.
Haruno doesn’t do that, wellat least not now anymore…
As soon as Tenshi remembered Haruno, his mind instantly clicked as the events that happened yesterday resurfaced in his mind.
He blinked his eyes, apparent remorse and despair was visible in them.
He wondered still, did he do anything wrong back then that could make Haruno unhappy or angry with him?
Shit, he can’t even remotely remember the events that took place back then, how can he even possibly judge why she betrayed him then?
He felt as if a fire was burning in his heart, an empty yet vigorous fire of despair that was eating away the very foundation of his still sane mind.
Tenshi wondered, would he turn evil after this?
He felt as if his heart was repeatedly pierced with daggers the more he remembered the events that took place in that school bathroom.
Bastard.
Creepy, fat
He still remembers the insults she called him.
Did she truly ever love him from the start? Was she truly like this from the start?
It feels like the person he loved and pined for so long has mysteriously transformed into someone he doesn’t even recognize; like his significant other has died and has been replaced by some cruel person who has done irreparable harm to his heart. They’re a stranger now and worse, they treat him like one.
Tenshi pathetically smiled as he tried to stop the tears from falling out of his eyes.
Just beside him, Sakura was calmly sitting by, confused at Tenshi’s mysterious behavior.
Tenshi smacked his lips, slightly annoyed as a small drop of salty water fell from his eyes.
Nonetheless, he still remembers the laughter and joy the shared.
Even if she broke his heart, he might as well envelop himself in past memories.
A carefree smile appeared on his face as he tried to remember the sweltering yet vibrant summer of his youthful childhood.
It wasn’t to say that he was old right now, it was just that the days back then were much more colorful.
________
Back then, I always used to ace my tests.
I was, as far as I remember , back then, quite isolated by the children of my age.
Because I was smarter than other children my age, i was always isolated. Even though i had ‘friends’, no one was as intelligent and smart as me to even engage in a meaningful conversation with him.
Cocky was the word best used to describe me.
Even then, I didn’t know back then that my talent was only in studying, not in socialising.
I looked down upon the children around me. I had no skills worth bragging about nor humility, so naturally, my classmates were unsympathetic.
It wasn’t a rare occasion that I was left out of a group, or that my things were taken and hidden from me.
I was always able to get perfect scores on tests, but I wasn’t the only one who could do that.
Haruno, a headstrong and quite stubborn girl.
I always used to love how she styled her blonde hair, it was unique to say the least.
Her father knew my father while her mother knew my mother, they shared quite a bit of a strong bond.
She was, in a way, similar to me.
Thanks to her, I couldn’t truly be number one, and thanks to me, Haruno couldn’t truly be number one.
So at least on the surface, we quarreled, or something like it. We could only think of trying to one-up each other.
But on the other hand, it was evident we were the only ones who understood each other. She was the only one who always knew what I was talking about without misunderstanding, and maybe the opposite was true as well.
Because of that, ultimately, we were always together.
From the outset, our houses were nearly right across from each other, so we’d played together often since infancy. I suppose the term “childhood friend” would apply.
Our parents were friends with each other, so until we entered elementary, I would be taken care of at her house when my parents were busy, and Haruno would be taken care of at my house when her parents were busy.
Though we only saw each other as competitors, there was a tacit agreement to behave in a friendly manner in front of our parents.
There wasn’t any particular reason, so to speak. We just thought that it would be best that way. Though under the table, it was a relationship of shin-kicking and thigh-pinching, as least when our parents were around, we were affable childhood friends.
But you know, maybe that really was true.
Haruno was disliked by our classmates for similar reasons to me. She was convinced of her own smarts and looked down on those around her, and since that attitude was so blatant, she was avoided in the classroom.
My old house and Haruno’s old house were built in a neighborhood on top of a hill, a long way away from any of the other students’ houses.
That was fortunate. We could thus use distance as an excuse to justify holing up in our homes instead of going to our friends’ houses.
Only when we were hopelessly bored would we visit each other, reluctant and grimacing to imply “I’m not here because I want to be.”
Haruno was always blushing and stamping her feet when she saw me,
I found her quite cute even though I had a annoyed smile on my face.
On days like the summer festival or Christmas, to keep our parents from worrying, we’d go out and waste time together; on days with parent-child activities and class visits, we’d pretend to get along.
We acted as if to say “We like it best when it’s just the two of us, so we’re doing it by choice.” I did think it was much preferable to be with my hated childhood friend than to force my way into the good graces of my feeble-minded classmates.
To us, elementary school was a place where motivation went to die. Often, the pestering directed at me and Haruno became a problem, and we’d have a class council.
The woman who taught us from second to third grade had an understanding of this kind of problem, and as long as it wasn’t too awful, kept us from having to call our parents about it.
Indeed, if our parents came to know that we were being bullied, our standing would be set in stone. Our teacher recognized that we needed at least one place where we could forget about our cruel treatment.
But at any rate, Haruno and I were always fed up. So was everyone else with us, vaguely, since “fed up” was the only relationship we had with them.
The biggest problem for us was that we didn’t have good smiles. I couldn’t nail down the “timing” for when everyone smiles all at once.
When I tried to force my face muscles to move, I heard my very core being whittled away. Haruno must have felt similarly.
Even in a situation that should bring about an approving smile, we didn’t move an eyebrow. Couldn’t move an eyebrow, I should say.
I couldn’t do it, I felt that smiling was annoying in front people I barely knew and hated.
As far as I knew, Haruno and I could only smile when we saw each other, excluding our parents.
Because we didn’t smile, we were thus mocked for being cocky and on our high horses. Indeed, we were cocky, and we were on our respective high horses.
But that wasn’t the only reason we couldn’t smile with the others in our class. Haruno and I were misaligned on a more fundamental level, like flowers trying to bloom in the wrong season.
It was the summer when I was eight. Haruno carrying her bag thrown into the garbage dozens of times, and I wearing shoes with many a cut made by cats and dogs trying to bite me, we sat on the stone steps of a shrine reddened by the sunset, waiting for something.
From where we sat, we could look down at the festival grounds. The narrow road leading up to the shrine was packed with carts, and two rows of paper lanterns ran straight like runway lights, illuminating their dim surroundings red.
Everyone passing through looked cheery, and that was why we couldn’t go down there.
We were both silent because we knew that if we opened our mouths, the voice would ooze out. We kept our mouths firmly shut and sat there, enduring.
What Haruno and I were waiting for was “something” that would acknowledge our existence and understand us fully.
Since we were at a shrine surrounded by the incessant buzzing of cicadas, it’s entirely possible we were praying.
When the sun was half-set, Haruno suddenly stood up, wiped away dirt from her skirt, and stared straight ahead.
“Our future is going to be really great,” she said in the transparent-esque voice that only she had. It was like she was stating a fact she only just realized.
“About how soon a future are we talking?”, I asked.
“Not that soon, I think. But not that far away, either. Maybe in about ten years.”
“In ten years,” I repeated. “We’ll be eighteen then.”
To us ten-year-olds, eighteen seemed a really grown grown-up age. So I felt like there was some truth to Haruno’s claim.
She continued. “Yes, that “something” will definitely happen in the summer. Something really good will happen to us in the summer eight years from now, and then we’ll finally really feel like we’re glad to have lived. We’ll get rich and famous, and looking back on elementary school, we’ll say “That school didn’t give us anything. All the students were such dunces – it wasn’t even any good as a mistake to learn from. A really foul elementary school,” we’d say.”
“Yeah, it really was full of dunces. It really was foul,” I said.
That viewpoint was rather novel to me at the time. To a grade schooler, their school is their whole world, so it’s unthinkable that it would have such things as pros and cons.
“So in eight years, we need to be really rich and famous. So famous our classmates will have heart attacks from jealousy.”
“So they’ll bite their lips from jealousy,” I agreed.
“And if they don’t, it won’t be worth it,” she smiled.
We both giggled.
I didn’t consider that a consolation. The moment it came out of Haruno’s mouth, I almost felt like it was our guaranteed future. It echoed like a premonition.
Maybe we won’t necessarily become famous. But in eight years, we’ll triumph over them. We’ll make them regret treating us this way to their graves.
“Still, it must be great to be eighteen,” Haruno said, putting her hands behind her back and looking up at the sunset sky. “eighteen in eight years”
“We can drink. And smoke. And get married – wait, that’s earlier,” I said.
“Right. Girls can get married at sixteen.”
“And boys at eighteen But I feel like I’ll never be able to marry.”
“Why?”
“There’s too much stuff I don’t like. I hate a lot of stuff that happens in the world. So I don’t think I could keep a marriage going.”
“I feel like passion dies after marriage or something everyone fails at marriage. ”
“Huh. Yeah, I might be the same.” Haruno lowered her head.
Dyed by the sunset, her face looked different than usual. It seemed more mature, but also more vulnerable.
“Hey, so,” Haruno said, looking me in the eyes briefly, but quickly looking away. “When we turn eighteen and get famous If, shameful as it is, we haven’t found anyone we want to marry”
She coughed quietly.
“If that happens, since we’d both be left on the shelf, would you want us to be together?”
Her sudden change in tone proved her embarrassment, and even back then I knew it full well.
“What was that?”, I politely replied.
“A joke. Forget it,” Haruno laughed as if to push it away. “Just wanted to hear myself say it. Not like I would go unsold.”
That’s good, I laughed.
But – and I know this is going to sound extremely stupid – even after Haruno and I went our separate ways, I always remembered that promise.
So even if a reasonably charming girl were to show her affection for me, I would definitively turn her down. Even in middle school, even in high school.
______
Tenshi remembers that they loved each other’s company.
He remembers that they admired and respected each other.
He knew that she had his back. He always trusted her.
Tenshi knew that they laughed and giggled with each other in the face of pomposity.
He remembers the time he stood up for her and when she stood up for him in the face of injustice.
He still remembers the time she worried for him when he caught a fever and cooked soup for him, she acted extremely bashful that day. She was worried for him even though she had an expression of annoyance when she saw him. She said the her mother cooked it but, he knew, she was the one that cooked it for him.
Tenshi knows that he and her had very wonderful years together.
Yet WHY?!
WHO WAS THAT BASTARD CALLED ENDOU?!
WHAT AMOUNT OF TIME DID HE SPEND CARING AND PINING FOR HER?!
HUH?!
WAS HE THE ONE THAT HAD YOUR BACK FOR ALL THESE YEARS?!
WAS HE THE ONE THAT
Hysterical tears fell out from Tenshi’s eyes as he cried, although he tried very hard, choking sounds constantly came out from his mouth.
He didn’t understand, nor did he want to.
Life was great until that guy came and stole the center of his universe.
2426 Words!
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