Written December of 2007. This piece is really bad, honestly. I should probably not have allowed this one to make the cut and posted it here, but somehow I feel like I should put it here anyway. Loosely based on the Visual Novel "Hourglass of Summer."
...man this is a piece of crap.


It was the beginning of winter vacation. As the sun was setting, I was on my way home from school. I had stayed to watch Koboshi-chan's archery club activity, and then went to the library for a talk with my history professor, Miss Sendou, to make sure I had everything for the vacation, which I planned to spend studying.
The sun had just dipped down below the mountains to the west, so everything suddenly had an eerie darkness to it. I didn't really notice. I took the same route home that I always did, walking at the same pace, seeing the same sights, and thinking the same thoughts. Things were boring.
I had friends, to be certain, but they were all staying in Tokyo over the break too, so there was really nowhere to go. I sighed a little as I kicked an empty can someone has left on the curb a few times. This year's vacation was turning out to be the same as all the other ones.
When I arrived home, I was greeted by a busy “Welcome home!” from my mother, who was in the kitchen merrily throwing things together for dinner. I had invited Koboshi-chan over as well, as a sort of “Hooray, it's vacation” dinner, but she was nowhere to be seen.
“Koboshi-chan's family had an appointment today, Hiroto, so she could not come, you see. It'll just be us, if that's all right,” called my mother's voice. She was always so bright and cheery, regardless of the situation. I had hoped to eat with Koboshi-chan, because it was fun to be with her, but so things go. I shrugged in return.
The dinner we had was a normal dinner. Fish, soup, some vegetable dish, and rice. I left the table early and slumped my way to my room. The clock on my bedstand read 10:47 PM, December 21st. A fine vacation start this was. As I laid back on my bed, I pulled the pillow over my eyes.
Once, just once, I wished that something interesting would happen to me. Something that has never happened to anyone else before. Something, anything. With those thoughts in my head, I drifted off to sleep.

I was suddenly awoken by my mother, who was shaking me back and forth. “Come on, Hiroto! You'll be late for school if you don't put yourself in gear! Get up, your breakfast is cold!” said she, as she finally let my shoulders go.
I squinted against the sunlight streaming in through my open curtains. “Mom, it's vacation. Let me sleep,” I muttered as I glanced at my clock. 6:34 AM, January 6. “It's still really early...” Suddenly my eyes shot open and I stared at my clock again. The date was wrong. “Is this some practical joke or something, mom?” I asked, reaching over to change the date back to the proper date.
“What are you talking about, Hiroto? Vacation ended yesterday. Don't tell me you still have vacation fever. Hurry up, you'll be late!” she said, and turned to leave. “I pressed your uniform for you, so hurry up and get dressed.”
I was confused. Vacation had just started yesterday, and I had only been sleeping for a few hours. What in the world was happening? In a sort of daze, I dragged myself out of bed and pulled on my uniform. The stairs were cold and steep as I went down to the kitchen to get breakfast. My plate was on the table already, covered by a sheet of plastic wrap to keep it clean. As I removed the plastic and picked my chopsticks out of the cup that held them, I looked back at my mother, who was washing dishes in the sink.
“You sure you're not joking with me?” I asked.
“I am doing no such thing,” she replied. “You're late, though. You'd better hurry. I know it's still hard, but you've got to go. There's an assembly today, remember?” she replied. I hurried as best I could to eat and brush my teeth, and then I was on my bicycle, on my way to school with not a little doubt in my head.
On the way, however, I saw the elementary schoolers that always walked in huge clumps walking along the usual school route too. Didn't they also have vacation? Maybe theirs started later. Maybe there was some surprise party today at school that I was not supposed to know about or something. Maybe I actually slept through the two-week long vacation. Maybe my teachers will give me all A's this semester too. Heh.

I arrived at school, and it was bustling with the usual amount of students that were hurrying to get to class at the beginning of the school day. I locked my bike into the rack and started for the assembly building (mother had mentioned something about it), hoping there would be an explanation as to why I was so rudely interrupted in my vacation. On the way there, Koboshi-chan met me.
“...hey...” she said, her voice quavering a little. “You... doing all right...?” She put her arm around my own as she walked next to me.
“...what?” I said.
“You shouldn't pretend it didn't happen, you know. It creates suppressed memories, which will turn into post-traumatic stress disorder afterwards... Just don't get sick or anything, all right? You've been through enough these past couple of days...” she said. She squeezed my arm a little as she spoke. “I'll be here with you from now on, okay?”
It was queer, the way she was acting. Koboshi-chan was always a really energetic, bouncy girl, always smiling, always ready to play and have fun. This Koboshi-chan, though... she was sad, and the air around her wasn't its normal warm, glowy self. Something was going on.
The assembly hall was quiet, for having nearly three thousand students in it. Miss Sendou sat at the front, in all sorts of bandages. Her arm was in a sling, and she had part of her head wrapped up in gauze, as though she had been in an accident of some sort. I stared for a moment.
“What's up with Rika?” I asked. We all called her Rika, even though she got mad at us for using her given name. Koboshi-chan did not respond. The principal got up on the stage, and straightened his tie.
“It is a terrible thing, to begin back to class with such an accident. Today will be a day of observance, for the late Masumura Erika.” He spoke slowly, as was normal, but this time his voice held a sort of quaver that betrayed he was on the verge of tears. I watched as several students looked pityingly back at me.
One of them patted me on the shoulder. “Sorry about your girlfriend, man... never would have thought this would happen...” he said, his eyes full of pity and sadness.
Wait. Masumura Erika, the hottest girl in school, is dead? And what is this about me having a girlfriend?Who is it? my thoughts raced. Koboshi-chan sobbed. I looked down at her small face, and that expression which was normally bright and sunny was a maelstrom of tears and smeared makeup.
The assembly continued as Rika took the stage with the help of some crutches. She adjusted the microphone to the correct height, and then began to speak. “I... was in the car that struck Erika yesterday. The car I was riding was struck from behind by a truck, and spun into the intersection we were waiting at. Erika was, at that time, waiting for the light to turn so that she could cross. My car pinned her to the lightpost, and killed her instantly. You cannot imagine the guilt I feel. Erika had only just started to find friends, and had just found a boyfriend, and it is my fault that she is no longer living. I must apologize. Tatsumiya Hiroto, I am sorry that your girlfriend was passed away, by fault of my own.”
Those words echoed in my head. What is going on here? What is she taking about? I barely knew Erika, and that was only because I had watched her practice swimming once or twice on days when there was no archery club meeting. How could she have been my girlfriend? How could she have, having become my girlfriend, died? I did not understand anything. It was as though my mind had completely forgotten the two weeks that had passed between my yesterday and my today. I stood up, holding my head between my hands, and fled the assembly hall.
I ran to the clubhouse, and yanked open the door. There had to be a place where I could sit and collect my thoughts, where I could rationalize what was going on. I heard footsteps behind me, and as I turned, I saw a heavily-breathing Koboshi-chan leaning on the door.
“Is this... interesting... enough...?” she said between her tired breaths.

Suddenly I was back in my room, lying on my bed. My cellular phone was ringing, but I did not pick it up. Instead I just stared at the ceiling.
Was all of that real? Was it a dream? Was I crazy? Did I hallucinate that whole situation?
I picked up my cellular phone and flipped it open. “Hello?” I said hesitantly.
Koboshi-chan's voice came from the other side. “Hey Hiroto! Wanna go see a movie today?”
“...what... day is it today?”
“It's Saturday, you bird-brain! The first real day of vacation! Let's rock up Shinjuku or somewhere!” she said, and a giggle followed.
I looked at my clock, a headache definitely forming in my forehead.
11:26 AM December 22nd.
I was back in my normal time. It was the correct day. I still did not have a girlfriend. Everything seemed to be normal again, as far as I could tell. And I was content with that. None of my friends were dead.
For a second I was silent, but then I took a deep breath. “Yeah, sure. I could go for a movie,” I said. “As long as there's no car accidents in it.” Perhaps the life I was living was interesting enough for me, without any interference from wishes.
I resigned myself to two things. The first was to not make idle wishes again. The second was to meet Koboshi-chan outside and take my bike to the theatre.