Quantum Leap - Vol. 3 I Will Wait For You On The Other Side

C006 Dream

I greeted the landlord that was manning the entrance of the dormitory right after I had sent Akira back to her own first. "Had your dinner already, Shiro-san? I had seen both of you in the alleyway and all I can say was that you are a good boy, Shiro-san. Take care of Akira-chan very well. You make a good couple by then, alright?"

I smiled at the landlord for saying such positive notes upon greeting him but the most important thing is that I have no f*****g recollection on how I would access my own room soon. Fortunately, the landlord handed me a set of keys that had my name on it as well as the location of my room.

"SWEET JESUS...!!! THANK GOD FOR SMALL MIRACLES...!!!" I prayed under my breath as I received the bundle of keys from the landlord. It seemed that the procedure of this occupancy would be somewhat like a small motel. Check-in, take the keys and up you go to your own room. Early morning, check out and hand the keys back to the landlord. At least in this way, the landlord was assured that no student would duplicate the keys for their own personal reasons.

Since I had discovered where I would be sleeping for the next couple of weeks or months to come, while in this body, at least for one thing I am staying quite near to Akira as well, even though it would be on the next opposite building.

I held the keys in my hands and checked where I was staying and bounded up the staircase. The dormitory had 3 levels so the first ones are meant for working adults as well as couples waiting to get settled down in their permanent homes. So they rented out a small unit on the first level as it would be more spacious than the ones assigned for the students on the upper floors.

I located my unit and opened the door and was greeted with a rather stale smell. It was due to my pile of laundry that the previous Shiro had dumped and was not as meticulous as me when it comes to hygiene. I immediately drew open the louvre that acts as small ventilation and decided to leave it open throughout my stay.

"My Goodness...This Shiro is as lazy as f**k and looks at that pile of clothes...!!! Does he not need to do any laundry and also DO I HAVE ANY f*****g CLOTHES TO WEAR FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS ?!?!" I went through the damn pile of clothes and discovered that most of them consist of civvies, which means that f*****g SOB had left the laundry there since last week...!!! I went through the laundry and separated the ones that need to be laundered.

"FUCK...!!! I just made a Leap and here I am doing laundry for someone who is as lazy as a pig who knows how to eat, sleep, s**t and then dumps everything here for me to settle for him. What kind of sin did I do to deserve such retribution as this, huh...?!?!" I thought aloud and finally kicked the almost empty laundry basket after I had strewn all the other clothes on the floor. 

The situation inside the small room was messier than before so I decided to leave it be and take the opportunity to look around first. "DAMN...!!! The laundry basket caught my attention first, or else I would not be distracted as to not scrutinise the situation around as usual." I lamented to myself softly as I do not want the other occupants on both sides to think that I was a bonker and talks to myself most of the time. Hahaha...!

After checking out a wardrobe next to a single-sized bed, I was satisfied that there would be enough school uniforms to last for the whole week and it was primed and fresh, unlike the one in the pile. There were other civvies as well and after checking out the brands, it seemed that this Shiro guy was quite well off. Even though the brands were unheard of but the material that the clothes were made was of good quality microfibre material and was dry fit. 

Seems this Shiro guy was loaded after all and I decided to check his bank account as well as any forms of bank cards that he may be holding. Earlier when I  had paid for the meal and the gift for Akira, there was a wad of about ¥4000 and I had almost used it up already. Poor, poor, Shiro...When he exchanged body once again and back to his original self, I am sure he would be shocked to find out that I would be draining all his resources. Hahaha...!!!

After clearing all the scattered laundry back into the laundry basket, I removed my school uniform and stacked right on top of the pile and only wore my knickers. There was no attached bathroom inside the room so I presumed that the occupants on the level I was in would be sharing the same toilet and bath. I was wondering if all Japanese dormitories have the same setting like the one I was in earlier back in Shimizu. 

I was right...! I peered my head out from the doorway and noticed a shared toilet and bath at the end of the corridor but there was not a single cubicle for us to do the laundry. Fortunately, the shared toilet and bath was separated by a partition so I guessed we would not be able to see one showering or pooping at the same time. Hahaha...!

=*=

After my shower, I climbed back to my single bed and rummaged through the school bag and removed all the nonsense scraps pieces of paper that had no indication of head nor tail within this series and after clearing it up, the bag felt somewhat light and rather empty. Hahaha...!!!

I hung the school bag on a hook behind the main door and then returned back to bed as I hooked up the phone charger to the DoCoMo phone and powered it up. I was lying on my back and guess what? I hung my feet against the wall since its the most comfortable position that I could think of as I toyed with the DoCoMo phone.

I scrolled through the contents of the phone in the gallery section and discovered that there were hundreds of photos inside it, either taken as a selfie or a group and even being transferred through Bluetooth or even through the MMS or Multimedia Messaging Services, which was considered as a hype kind of tool to communicate at that time...!

There were quite a number of photos of Akira and me and by looking at the initial ones that we had taken with together, the timestamp denotes that the earliest was dated around 7 months or so. I guessed that we had been dating or seeing each other for quite a period of time and I am sure we were already past the platonic level.

I discovered that none of the photos inside the phone's gallery had any forms of indication that we had any forms of physical contact at all except for the part when she embraced me at the park much earlier. It seemed that it was her first physical contact that she had made, whether it is subconsciously or just at the spur of the moment since the original Shiro and Akira had formed this relationship.

Other than that, I guessed it would be up to yours truly to show how it would be done then. Hahaha. I am sure that Akira would be very surprised to find out on how I would be able to give her the attention that she yearned for, all these years and turned her to be an extrovert person instead.

As I was toying with the phone to view all the photos that were stored in the gallery as well as to read the messages in both the inbox and sent messages from the start this Shiro guy had gotten acquainted with Akira, the phone buzzed as a new message had just entered through. It was on vibrate mode and I checked on the incoming message and discovered that it came from Akira. What a coincidence since I was thinking of whether I should be the one who sent a message first or I would rather wait for her to make her move first.

The messages and conversation go on like this:

[Akira]: Are you asleep yet?

[Me]: Nope, I'm still lying in bed and find it hard to sleep. Must be the coffee that I drank at the bookstore earlier.

[Akira]: Thank you for the book you gifted to me. I know it's a small sum to you but its rather a huge investment for me.

[Me]: Don't think too much about it. Money is well spent on something that can be used over and over again.

[Akira]: I didn't know, honestly that the wrapping paper and ribbon would all add up to ¥2,100. I will definitely treasure this gift that you had given to me.

[Me]: I am deeply honoured. Thank you, Akira.

[Akira]: Why did you thank me for? I didn't do anything for you to make you thank me.

[Me]: You did. You comforted me when you embraced me at the park.

[Akira]: Well I... Why are you so sad? Do you want to talk about it now? Or maybe find sometime later to talk about it at your convenience...?

[Me]: I could tell you...I suddenly thought about my long lost female cousin. (I lied, of course)

(long silence after the last SMS I sent)

[Akira]: Oh...what happened to her and what is her name...?

[Me]: Her name...was... Kagome Kuwahara and she died...Errr... Due to an accident. She was the same age as us if she was alive right now.

[Akira]: You must have missed her a lot and that's why you cried, am I right?

(Long silence from me as tears welled up my eyes again and slowly trickle down my face)

[Akira]: Shiro, are you still there or sleeping already?

[Me]: I'm still here.

[Akira]: Am I disturbing you...? Or do you want to take your rest now...?

[Me]: No, I am fine. You are not disturbing me at all. In fact, I appreciate you accompanying me right now even how sad I am, you seemed to be here with me.

(I exchanged SMS with Akira just as if Kagome was on the other line)

[Me]: I do not have a photo of her right now to show you but if I managed to find it, I'd let you see, OK?

[Akira]: OK

(changes the subject since she replied reluctantly)

[Me]: Have you opened up the paperback novel yet?

[Akira]: Just the wrapping and ribbon. I placed them in my personal box. The book I placed on my table and it's going to follow me wherever I go.

[Akira]: Would you like me to tell you the synopsis of the novel?

[Me]: Some other time, Akira. It's late and it's not good to read with artificial light.

[Me]: Time to rest now...Same time tomorrow at Ozone?

[Akira]: No... I'd wait for you downstairs and we'll go to school together.

[Me]: Alright...See you at 7:30 am Is it alright?

[Akira]: Its fine as long as we would not be late to school tomorrow. Alright then. Goodnight.

[Me]: Goodnight too.

I flipped my phone shut but before that, I took a look at the wallpaper and changed to the one when she was holding the gift back in the train and making all those funny faces at me. I put the phone under my pillow and took another pillow as I placed it over my head. 

I tried closing my eyes and covered myself with the blanket. After some time, I soon fell asleep and dreamt of Kagome.

In my dreams, I found her to be alive and well. She was wearing her blue and white school uniform, and she had fashioned fresh seaweed into a hair garland and was frolicking in the beach barefooted. She was laughing and giggling as she ran towards me, touched my face and ran back as I chased after her within the beach. 

I finally caught up with her and grabbed her waist and swung her around before we landed on top of one another on the sandy beach. We were basically wet through as we rolled on the wet sands as the waves slowly lapped around our bodies. It was high tide at that moment and the seawater somehow tasted less saltish.

I looked at her jellyfish blue eyes and pecked at her lips. She then held out both of her hands, smoothened it and kissed my forehead, the bridge of my nose and finally on my lips. The scene changed suddenly and I was staring down at her, confused as I watched her with the pained and distorted expressions as I shook her shoulders wildly. 

A thin trickle of blood slowly streamed down the side of her mouth. She looked at my eyes and fluttered her eyelids as she tried to speak through her extreme pain and agony. "Thank you, Kenzo...You had made my life complete the moment we are together."

"Even if it was only for a short moment in time, I will cherish it till my last breath. Please take good care of yourself as good as you would take care of me, for there is no one that would be able to take care as good as your own self."

"For now, I will soon be no longer by your side, always remember to love yourself before loving others. I want you to remember my words, Kenzo, my dear. You are my first and my last and whatever happens, I will be waiting for you on the other side."

By this time, a ninja was passing by while peeling some layers of an onion away...!!!

*COUGH*

*COUGH*

*SNIFFLE*

*SNIFFLE*

"I love you, Kenzo, for all eternity. Take care, my love, remember...I will always be faithfully waiting for you on the other side. Never say goodbye Kenzo, my love...Until we meet again..."

Kagome drew her last breath and her shoulders shuddered as the hands that held the side of my face slowly slipped down to her sides. Her head tilted to one side and her eyes faded with the last signs of life before it remained half-closed.

My eyes were suddenly blinded by the sudden rush of hot tears as the scene before was too much for me to handle. It was so painful that all I could do was to embrace her and let the torrents of tears soak through her clothes that had already been soaked with the lapping seawater.

I could feel myself clenching my fists, not knowing to be either mad or to give up hope altogether. I could feel myself suffocating through my screaming, as I slowly ran my fingers through her blue coloured hair wishing that she would not leave me all alone in this world at all...

How I wished but it was all a dream... A dream that could be considered as a lullaby to accompany you on your sleep.