Hachiman...Isn't Your Name
Not for the first time I found myself elegantly reclined on my extremely expensive wine-red velvet club chair, gazing out towards the pleasant rays of sun brilliantly illuminating every crevice of my room. Intricately swirling the rich glass of Sherry delicately grasped between my fingertips as the floral aroma filled the air. The hint of a smile purses across my lips as my eyelids begin to close and a single thought crosses my mind: "Do I really deserve this life?"
"Daddy...I'm bored." No rest for the wicked I believe is the phrase. My pretty young five year old (Rumi) narrowed her gaze exasperatedly towards me whilst keeping her arms firmly crossed, before utilising her now signature exaggerated huff. Her waist-high silky straight black hair, delicate features and slim frame bore a striking resemblance to her breathtakingly gorgeous mother.
"Rumi-Chan would you like to see some photos of myself and your Mum when we were younger?" Tenderly grasping Rumi's tiny hand as she happily nodded her approval, I calmly sat her besides me on the floor as I reached towards a dark blue tightly-packed photo album intricately embossed in golden calligraphy with the words "The Service-Club" on its cover. Wiping away the small remnants of dust as I carefully opened the album, a wave of excitement began to envelop me as I joyfully pointed out various smiling images of myself, Yukinoshita and Yuigahama whilst reminiscing about all the ridiculous (and generally self-inflicted) events that culminated with each photo.
"Daddy why are you crying?" A confused expression was plastered across my face as I tilted my head questioningly towards Rumi.
"What do you mean Rumi-Chan?"
"Tears are flowing down your cheeks Daddy look!" Rumi pointed towards my face as she hesitantly stood up and began taking a few steps backwards away from me. I'm crying? Slowly moving the back of my hand across my cheek, the warm remnants of grief felt oddly familiar as my surroundings suddenly faded into darkness.
Sighing despondently as I forced myself to sit upright in bed, my hands remained hopefully outstretched in-front of me as if awaiting an embrace from the beautiful wife of my dreams. Wearily stealing a glance towards my cheap bedside clock (7:25am) I felt as if my frequently occurring delusions were merely another tool of despair at God's infinite disposal. At least I still had some time to kill before I had to depart towards my unbelievably tedious day job at Microsoft across town.
I had no pretty young daughter, no beautiful wife and more importantly no floral aroma-releasing glass of Sherry. The photo album indeed existed (though not quite the fancy gold-embossed album of my dreams), however it's whereabouts had long since entered the realm of fantasy and mythology along with Heracle's golden shield and Medusa's decapitated head.
10 lonely years have passed since that fateful day; The day I mustered the iota of courage required to surreptitiously lower myself down on one knee and propose to the irrepressible Yukino Yukinoshita.
Sadly my frequent picturesque fantasies whereby the two of us enjoyed a long and intimate life together failed to materialise, as a despondent Yukino inconceivably rejected my proposal subsequently flitting off to America within a few days (along with Haruno).
Furthermore Yuigahama upon hearing about my life's pathetic (yet possibly expected) turn of events, dejectedly broke off all contact with both myself and Yukino and I've heard from neither of my ex Service-Club compatriots since.
Oh well...I had better hurry up and get ready for work or I'll be adding getting fired to my non-existent list of life achievements.
Staring wearily out the train's rain-soaked windows towards the menacingly dark clouds unleashing mercilessly towards us, I began to wonder where exactly I received the motivation to continue this shitty tedious daily routine. Work, home, sleep, work and repeat, I felt like a machine programmed for no other task then the droll repetitive requests from the droves of computer-illiterate Windows users. A hopeless sigh escaped my lips as the train door slowly opened, the dreary scene outside failing to provide any upliftment in my spirits.
Deciding to indulge in a small alcoholic beverage which may or may not (most likely the latter) help me get through the monotonous work day, I therefore stopped and bought a bottle of Budweiser from my local groceries. However as I ambled back into the bustling streets I noticed an unexpected improvement in the weather, the rain had almost completely subsided and the warming sunny rays had begun to penetrate through the clearing skies. This seemed the perfect time for a small detour allowing me to enjoy the scenic route my boss always blathered on about, (not to mention providing me a few vital extra minutes for the alcohol to clear from my system).
Tossing my empty bottle into a nearby recycle bin as I squinted against the now searing rays of sun bathing my surroundings in a warm glow, my destination lie at the top of these ludicrously long stairs situated on an extremely steep hill, (was this my boss's subtle hint regarding my precariously low stamina?)
Taking a deep breath as I placed my hand on the hand-rail besides me and determinedly began my treacherous walk uphill, an endearingly soft scent caressed my nostrils as I eagerly searched for the origin of this heavenly smell. As if having arrived from another realm, a lustrous young lady with peachy-orange hair wrapped into a delicate bun appeared walking towards me as that alluring aroma filled my every senses. For that small moment in time whereby our paths crossed, our eyes met as joyous memories of the Service-Club began flooding back and I knew my one miniscule chance for redemption had arrived.
"Hey...Haven't we met?" The beautiful peachy-orange haired girl stopped and slowly turned towards me, tears flowed freely down her soft crimson-tinged cheeks as she smiled brightly:
"I thought so too," was her soft reply.
The following fateful words uttered almost simultaneously weren't ours, they had been spoken long ago by two incredible people sharing the exact same moment as us. Those people belonged not only to a different time but also a different world, a world not only in a very distant universe but also a very distant place. However for that single impossible moment in time their emotions amalgamated with ours; A complex mixture of joy, relief, happiness and most importantly hope were all incorporated into three simple words as we gazed longingly into each others eyes and proclaimed:
"Your name is."
