"Hands of time"

Multi-Chapter

Vocaloid

Rico held it up to the light. The stopwatch glittered like a clear-cut diamond. Kaito frowned, eating his ice cream as he observed the item that was now in his hand.

"What is this? Why are you giving it to me?" he muttered, confused.

Rico wiped his hands on his apron and looked out into the distance calmly. "There was a young man, and he looked quite mysterious. Told me to give this to you for whatever reason. I wouldn't have done it, but this might add a bit of adventure to your life."

"I'm fine without adventure." Kaito replied, turning the item over in his hand repeatedly. "Why would he give it to me though, of all people?"

"Beats me." Rico shrugged, pulling a towel from the same compartment and wiping down his stand.

"The time is wrong." Kaito observed randomly, resetting it by hand.

"Well, it should be fine now. Get on with it - there's something interesting in there somewhere, I can just feel it!" Rico shouted loudly, laughing.

Kaito spent the day walking around the park, and even taking a nap. Oddly enough, the time would always reset to 12 when he looked back down at it. By the time about half a day had passed, he jumped over the fence again.

It was still bright, and everything was in its place as it had been that morning. Kaito checked his normal wristwatch, which read 7:49 PM.

What was going on?

He walked around, and all he heard were morning greetings. People passed by him on the street drinking coffee and running off to early morning commutes. The sun was barely past the horizon.

Luka was sitting on the bench next to the apartment building as she had been earlier in the day (he didn't bother looking in her direction that morning though). She glanced up and laughed, waving.

"Morning, Kaito. Why do you look so upset?" she asked, her eyes scanning him. "You look like you're running from the cops. There's even leaves in your hair."

Kaito sighed, annoyed. "Look, I was at that park down the street just this morning, and now my watch reads PM, but everyone here is acting like the sun just rose! Do you have any idea what's happening?"

Luka rolled her eyes. "What are you talking about? It's morning right now. Did you get enough sleep? Maybe you were dreaming."

Kaito ran over and showed her his watch. She looked at it in surprise. "Well, it could just be a messed up clock. Try resetting your watch or getting a new one."

Kaito pulled his arm away, irritated. "Just forget it. I'll figure this out on my own."

Luka frowned. "Are you sure? You seem so agitated. Want to get some tea?"

He shook his head and began to walk off. "Just leave it, Luka. I'm going somewhere else to figure this out."

Kaito ran down the block, narrowly running into Gumi, who was walking with huge packages in her hands. She seemed to be struggling, but he had no time to stop and help her. He had to find Rico, and ask him why it was still morning when hours had clearly passed by.

When he jumped the fence, it was still 7 PM on his normal wristwatch. He walked the leaf-strewn path to where Rico was serving ice cream to some pedestrians. After they had left, he placed the stopwatch on the counter. Rico looked up at him, confused.

"How did you get your hands on that? I was just about to give that to you. Well, nevermind. The usual, right?" he asked, grabbing a cup from the holder.

"No, no. You already gave this to me earlier. I wanted to know why everyone thinks its still morning. I was in the park for at least half a day." Kaito ranted, not minding that he was getting another serving of strawberry sorbet.

Rico shook his head. "It was never morning until now. Are you ok? Did you hit your head?"

It was then Kaito realized that only he had memories of what had really happened. Somehow, ever since he had gotten the stopwatch, time had rearranged itself. And on top of that, he had no clue of how to stop it.

He was on his own.