Of Train Schedules and Perfect Imperfections
Natsume Hyuuga, age 26, diagnosed with a mental disorder, leaves psychotherapy for a diner in an attempt to find himself. There, he finds the one thing he doesn't understand: love. A story of one imperfect man, and a girl who perfected his life.
Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice is owned… in my dreams. :P
LOL, this is such a fail. But I hope you guys like it.
Dedicated to The Crow and the Butterfly, for being such a doll and reviewing my other story (sorry that it's not TonoMisaki, just that this was the first thing that came into mind, and I really wanted to dedicate it to you). And lovely November Romeo, for making me fall in love with a mentally ill Natsume. Also, This Pen Is Red, to wish her a good rehabilitation.
And…. Anybody else who has the courage to read such a random piece of work.
© La Bella Vita 13
It was a warm April afternoon, and the clock was ticking fifteen minutes late of its usual. 13:47 , it read.
Natsume Hyuuga got up from his uncomfortable rectangular stone of a mattress. It was a king sized bed, only those of which the high end could afford, with a pattern so elaborate, one lost themselves to it by admiring its beauty. It smelt of lilac and lavender, womanly smells that he couldn't stand. He ran his fingers through his hair, shaking his head, as a gesture to awaken his tired soul. He dragged his feet along with his body into his oversized bathroom, dressed with western paintings and ceramics.
Once he was done with his daily shaving of the small hairs growing on his chin, he observed a weary looking face staring back at him in the mirror. The hair was the darkest shade of black you could possibly imagine, yet skin as fair as a woman's. And those eyes. Two droplets of blood from the Gods created the two ruby gemstones that were his eyes.
And yet? He glanced at the bedroom, with bed sheets still tossed aside and pillows messily stacked on the right hand corner. As big a bed as he owned, it never felt filled. The hours spent trying to sleep on that bed but failing while staring through the mirage of his significant other increased immensely during the past few years.
He was pushing twenty seven.
It was a young age for some, too old for him. He wanted to be invisible, unseen on the other side. He started to envision himself with a bullet shoved into his stomach, the pain felt unimaginably, immensely real.
It made him depressed, driving him to the edges of his self-control. He calmed himself down with the readings of train schedules and analyzing them.
For Central Town
There were four possible departure times to get to Central Town by 15:00.
6:35 AM, Hanazawa line, required getting off at Tokyo Station and transferring to the Kiyoda Line train leaving 7:38. This would leave lots of extra time, as you'd get to Central Town by 7:59. Then you'd-
He stopped himself before going too far. Checking the time, he realized he had to go to the wretched place, where one was interrogated to the point of insanity. He packed his things, with a train schedule always handy.
Natsume Hyuuga
Age: 26
Sex: Male
Borderline Personality Disorder, Asperger Syndrome as child
Should be checked by Dr. Hotaru Imai immediately.
"Sounds like a lot of work." The doctor said finally, after looking at the file for what seems to be forever. "Let him in."
The door opened slowly, and he swiftly walked in, but not quick enough to avoid a little ball of dust to roll in behind him. The room stank of coffee and overnight psychology.
"Sit down." She ordered, pointing at the couch. "How are you doing today, Mr. Hyuuga?"
He wondered what to say. The truth, at any rate, was not possible to hide. He knew the drill. It was either he told them how inept he felt daily, or tell a lie and have it persistently squeezed out of his system.
"Fine."
"Tell me about your day."
He hated shit like this. Talking about his life was like hieroglyphics, and he even felt uninterested in the situation.
"It was fine."
The doctor looked awfully uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, does this setting upset you?"
A sudden impulse penetrated his thoughts, and he felt like he wanted to leave. Not wanting to listen to his problems, he turned around, stood up and made his way to the door.
"Mr. Hyuuga!" The doctor called after him, "You're not permitted to leave yet."
Ignored.
He left the room.
He was walking in a straight undisturbed path into the room, before stopping due to a little cramp that arose on his side.
He needed a drink.
Looking around for the waitress, he sat comfortably in his chair. Glancing at the side of the room, he found three girls wrapped in the arms of a man. He hated men like those, with their impurity tainting the women. They were so fake.
He called for the waitress continually, sighing to know that there was no answer. He took out his bottle of Jack Daniels and gulped a few down.
"Dude. Chill out, man." A man looked shockingly at him and how much he was drinking.
"Chill. Out?" He didn't comprehend, and ignored the gesture.
The alcohol was getting to his vision, and a small image arose. He dreamed of his sister. It was a dream of which he was quite conscious while within it, continuing his life almost, but in a dream state. She was there, alive- communicating to his mind that this had to be set when he was very young. Eleven, when he lost his mind. Less of a dream and more of a memory, he took out his hand to hold hers, to confirm her existence. It was feeble, useless, as she disappeared from his field of view.
"Coffee?" The waitress had finally arrived.
She was beautiful. Perfect in every way, and her light so incredibly bright, that the sun felt deprived of its job. Such beauty, he perceived, was not able to be produced in such large quantities. He would've concluded this must've been part of his dream, had he not seen her before.
Her name was Mikan Sakura.
He was heart-wrenchingly in love with her from the very beginning. He was a lonely soul, and as he found her, couldn't stop thinking of her. He loved her even without understanding what love was. They first met in middle school, after his sister's death; she approached him as nobody else would. She listened to his deepest problems, and accepted him despite his shortcomings.
He was quite shocked to find her there, unaware that this was her job. He wanted so badly to approach her. The only problem that occurred is that she probably didn't remember him.
"You alright?" She had asked, chuckling a little. He nodded to her relentlessly, in a desperate act to cover his imperfections. His body language communicated quite the contrary, and he was losing control of his limbs.
She was getting quite uneasy with his actions, and spilt the coffee over his train table by accident.
He quickly picked up the train schedule that was drenched in coffee, with which was not able to be read anymore. A panic provoked his mind, urging him to move back and forth repetitively, closing his eyes.
"Hey, there. You okay?" She touched his shoulder, which made him yelp in surprise. He didn't like people touching him out of the blue.
The next two words that he mumbled were somehow a trigger for her to sit next to him. "I'm… sorry."
"Hey. You come here often, and I've noticed that you always bring a train schedule around." She said as she was placing herself comfortably in the seat beside, "I was wondering whether you could help me to reach my place."
"Yes, alright." He nodded. "Can I see the schedule?"
She passed it on to him, and he observed it with great energy.
"Well, if you leave on the 8:39 train, you'd need to transfer to this-"He pointed, "and that would leave at exactly 9:47 and get you to Central Town at 10:02. Alternatively, you can use the 10:40 train, but it'll arrive at 11:59, which is later than the previous one. Therefore, the last one is the best one. Unless, you decide to change lines here, then it might actually change the outcome of the-"
She started laughing, "Whoa, slow down there. So I get it. I just have to leave on the 8:40-ish one?"
"Not 8:40, miss. 8:39."
To that statement, she smiled. "Alright, sir!"
An immense amount of time was lost by just sitting there looking at each other.
Natsume hated not being productive. During this time, he usually would have realized he could have solved a brick puzzle, written up a logic problem. Yet, time seemed to delude him, passing so quickly whilst admiring her beauty that he didn't even notice.
"Do you want to get some coffee later?" She asked him, leaving him confused. Weren't they already having coffee? Despite this confusion, he nodded.
'Coffee later', he realized soon enough, was to walk home with each other. The darkness of the night was quite overwhelming, but never had he encountered a night so warm. He walked in the same pace, straight, and she fell behind.
"Natsume." She called. "You're Natsume, right?"
He turned around, and his heart skipped a beat. She remembered. "I've always wanted to tell you something, Natsume."
She took her hand out, and spread it out in a fan-like gesture. Seeing this, he mimicked her, and went close enough for their fingertips to touch. Then, all time stopped.
There was no disorder, no barrier between the two of them.
He grabbed her hand, and pulled it to hold her tightly in his arms.
Love was the cure to his imperfection. It was the answer of the prayer to the Gods of which he didn't believe in. And together, they parted from the universe to pure bliss with a share of smiles.
He realized that his life was a train schedule. His train schedule included no logical sequence, risk. Yet, for the first time, he didn't care.
For Happiness
There is only one way to get to the designated spot.
At 14:52, Natsume line, get off at Diner Station and transfer to the Mikan line at 15:08.
The rest is up to destiny.
LOL, I felt it to be rushed a little. :P I'm so sorry about that. And for anything else I screwed up…. Sowee…