Joyride

I woke up clutching my hand. My fingertips felt hot. The lingering heat made me wish to keep closing it around something cold. A bottle of cool mineral water was in the fridge, but that wasn't what I wanted.

Shaking off the grogginess I tried to reason with myself that I was acting weird and should just take a cold shower to properly wake up. It was very cold. So cold that I left it shivering and quickly dried myself with two towels at once.

Whoever came up with the idea that cold showers were good for blood circulation must have been an alien. No human would feel refreshed after that.

With a much lower body temperature I sat down in the living room and started chewing on dry okonomiyaki from a box. I had been eating nothing but this stuff for three days straight now. My stomach had started making weird noises by day two.

Someone with more common sense than me would probably have told me to freeze some of it for later. But I did not receive a proper manual on how to keep a household when I left my mother's house and this was the first time I ever had fresh food in such quantities lying around.

To be honest, it just felt like I was trampling on Mrs. Shimamura's kindness if I didn't eat it all. It made little sense, but most of my life lately had been upside-down. For example the tingling in my left hand.

Shimamura had touched it. It didn't even count as grabbing or a handshake. It was just the slightest touch. But some sort of electric current had gone up my arm and then my neck and ever since I could not stop thinking about it.

At the time I had been so startled and then taken by the flow that I quickly let go. I had let go like it was nothing. And that's what it was: nothing.

Maybe I did want to hold her hand longer, but there was nothing to it. Nothing at all.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and I nearly jolted off my chair. Nobody would ever call me at this time of morning. The sun wasn't even up yet. The number of contacts on my phone was very small to begin with. I doubted that the landlord was calling at this hour and most people weren't at the office yet.

There was only one contact that was not business related.

"Shimamura?"

It was her number. She was using a corgi icon (or at least it should have been some small dog). She hadn't called, of course, but rather sent me a message.

Wanna do something students would do?

"Why?"

There was no way I could understand her thought process. Considering how often she overslept, I was not sure she was even fully awake yet. Her next reply did actually take a couple of minutes. She didn't need to force herself to reply…

To make up for lost time I guess.

That was a surprising sentiment to me. I could never even have thought of something like that. Shimamura had the ability to make me second guess everything I did or thought.

Making up for lost time. Hang out the way we would have back in school? I couldn't tell if I liked the idea yet, but spending more time with Shimamura was not something I could take lightly. If she asked me to do something I might just have been compelled to do it. Was I a pet dog? There was something really wrong with me.

To push those humiliating thoughts off I typed a reply and asked her if she had any ideas.

Skipping school?

"We would be fired!" I retorted out loud. Apparently she had heard my response inside her head because she hastily added she was kidding.

Although it would be impossible now, Shimamura's idea hit close to home. Skipping school was the most dominant memory of my high-school days. But what had I done during that free time? For a while I had hidden away in several spots across the school. The cafeteria was too obvious, the gardens were full of bugs and the door to the rooftop was locked. The only place that seemed safe and out of sight was the gym's upper floor. It was where the table tennis plates were piled up and where they stored balls.

That was where I had spent most of my time in spring, but in summer it got too hot. I eventually abandoned the gym's second floor to go to the ventilated mall instead.

That's where I had been, but what had I done? Played with my phone, stared at the clock and bought some food to waste time. My student life was dull. I was dull. There was nothing I had to offer Shimamura.

Her lack of response told me that she had fallen asleep again. Hopefully she wouldn't miss her train. I wanted to see her…

"Amusement park."

That was the greeting I received as Shimamura barely managed to jump onto the train before departure.

I gave her a wry smile and then pulled her towards the empty seats behind me. She seemed grateful for the opportunity to rest after running here. After catching her breath for quite a while she raised her hand and showed me an ad on her phone.

It was indeed an amusement park the city over. I was vaguely aware of it because their ad campaign included posters everywhere. Whether it was as popular or innovative as it said on the site, I could not have known. There were no opportunities for me to ever hear about it from someone.

"You want to go?"

It was hard to think of another reason she would show me this, but I asked her anyway. She had been out of breath for an awfully long time. I started to suspect that Shimamura wasn't very fit. Although her slightly sweaty and flushed face was nice to look at in its own way. I really thought that. I avoided her eyes to calm myself.

"Doesn't it seem like something students would enjoy?"

"Mhm."

She was probably right. The question was if we would enjoy it. There was no way I would have ever gone to an amusement park back in high school. Hm. But what if Shimamura had been with me? I could see it happening somehow.

The last time I had ever been to a theme park was as a child. My parents had taken me to many different places, like a summer festival and a planetarium. We had gone there and I had enjoyed it. But never quite as much as I wanted. As a child - and even now - I was bad at expressing myself. My parents didn't understand what I wanted, because I could not tell them. So we only ever visited each place once, always failing to establish if I had fun or not.

I ended up avoiding such entertainment centers ever since.

"You don't like the idea, huh?" Shimamura said with creased brows. Before I could ask why she thought so, she added "I haven't seen that frown in a while."

Reflexively I touched my face and realized how displeased I probably looked. The reflection of me inside the window was so distorted that I could not tell what emotion it showed.

"That's not it. I would love to go… with you." And only with her.

"Then you can't back out anymore. How about this week- Ah, wait, that's not going to work. Hmm."

She must have been looking forward to it if she wanted to do it so soon. There was no rhyme or reason to how active Shimamura acted compared to how tired she looked. Maybe my passivity was the issue here. It definitely was, actually. Therefore I gathered my thoughts and picked a date.

"Saturday at the end of the month would be fine with me."

"It's a date~" She agreed with a relaxed smile. The cheery way she said it was very playful, so she didn't mean anything by that, but...

A date? A date…

A date.

The day of our date had arrived quickly. What would have been a long and tedious end of the month crunch had become almost unnoticeable to me. Work was so inconsequential when faced with the anticipation (and dread) of a date with Shimamura.

I used that word too freely. Date. There was no more meaning to it than agreeing to meet up for the purpose of spending time together. But what was the difference to an outing or hanging out then? I doubted that Shimamura ever bothered to fill her head with such meaningless questions. Or maybe it was the opposite and she was even more airheaded than me. At times it did feel like she was just idly watching the clouds inside her mind.

Right at that moment I was watching the clouds in front of the amusement park myself. It was a sweltering hot day, but the occasional cloud gave much needed relief to the visitors. It wasn't even noon yet, so I wondered if I would get a sunburn later.

For a day like this I decided to go more practical with my wardrobe. I was wearing my newly acquired casual clothes. Short pants and a tank top. This outfit showed a lot of skin, which was why I worried about sunburns, but amusement parks gave me the image of practicality over comfort. A dress might get tangled up or fly around when taking one of the rides. The shame of accidentally showing Shimamura my underwear would be unbearable.

I was already feeling a bit embarrassed about the fact that it had taken this long for me to get such a basic outfit. The note on my mirror was still attached, because there were still gaps in my repertoire.

Quickly I drew the cap more into my face to hide the redness of my cheeks as I watched Shimamura get off the bus. The amusement park had several public transport entrances. I had taken the same bus as Shimamura, only far earlier. Coming by bike during this heat would have just turned me into a sweaty mess.

It seemed that we had a similar idea, as she arrived in a matching outfit to mine, except with a short-sleeved shirt. Whatever the design on it was, I could only describe it as bizarre. The most noticeable part that caught my eye was her long ponytail. Long hair was always a lot of work to tame and it would no doubt be a problem in this place. One spin and her hair would have covered her face completely which, while hilarious, could not be good for her self-esteem.

"I swear, one day I will arrive before you." Shimamura said with a wide grin after spotting me.

"Hi." My response lacked her playfulness. It was hard to focus somehow.

"Don't tell me you already bought your ticket?"

"Not yet."

"Good. Today is my treat."

What? My confusion was definitely written on my face.

"It was my idea, so let's just go with that." Her explanation was half-hearted. Now I was even more curious what she thought. That unflinching smile told me that I had no room to object.

We went through the ticket gate together and assimilated with the crowd. It was fairly early in my opinion, but on a sunny weekend the park would be filled at all times. As Shimamura checked out the large map that was put up near the entrance, I took a better look at the other visitors. There were a lot of parents tagging along with their children, naturally. Other than that I could also spot a few teenagers that were most likely middle to high school age.

Most of them were either groups of girls or couples. A boy taking a girl on a date here seemed to be a popular choice. If there were any adults around that weren't parents, they also looked like couples or spouses. Not that there was a sign on their backs denoting them as such, so that was just my unfounded assumption.

Would someone in this crowd maybe mistake me and Shimamura for a couple too? No way. No way, no way.

"Did you find something you want to do first?" Shimamura's voice had appeared so close to my ear that it made me involuntarily squeak - actually squeak like a mouse - which caught the attention of people around us.

"N-not really."

There was nothing that caught my eye, other than the people. Trying to give her the appearance of calm, I pointed at the brochures in her hand. She gave me one of them and I immediately pushed my face into its folds to hide.

A park map, some attractions and a stage show were all printed in here. Nothing really interested me too much, but the words and pictures helped me calm down.

"Whatever you want to do is fine."

"I figured you'd say that. Then you can't complain if the ride is too scary." Again she made that mischievous face. I didn't peg Shimamura for someone who enjoyed 'scary' rides, but I didn't know her well enough yet to deny it either.

She walked ahead while looking at her small map, to find whatever her heart desired. If she kept walking ahead without looking, she might've bumped into someone. This was a good moment to ask her to hold my hand.

What? Why did it sound like I was looking for an excuse here? Holding her hand had been on my mind lately, but this was just a practical reason. Practical.

"Do you have a fear of heights?" Shimamura asked as she stopped in front of a very large rollercoaster.

"I don't think so."

When I visited an amusement park as a kid, I never went on any wild rides. I did not reach the minimum height required for them. I generally didn't have any opportunities to test out my feelings towards tall places. When I stood at the window of the office that was at least eight stories though, so maybe I didn't fear it.

Either way, this was hardly the kind of ride you started with, which meant Shimamura really wanted to go on this one badly. That was enough reason for me to join the line.

The ride had been really fast and left me slightly jittery. We had even made a couple of loops there. It wasn't unpleasant, but my fingers showed marks where I had dug them into the handlebar. Meanwhile Shimamura had yelled in joy and fear the entire ride. It was quite something to hear her generally sleepy voice reach such heights.

"You really like this kind of thing, Shimamura?"

"When the car drops it feels a bit like we are floating. I think that's neat." She muttered as she steadied herself on a rail. "That's enough excitement for now." She added with a slightly paler face.

The next moment her foot slipped and she rapidly made her way towards the ground. That is, if I hadn't stood right in her path. With some unknown reflexes I managed to catch her by the shoulders. Her eyes were widened and only centimeters away from my face. Such long eyelashes.

"Woah, good catch, Adachi!"

She was showing relief, but it was quickly replaced by a flinch as pain flared up her shoulders. My fingers dug too far into them. The problem was that my hands did not obey me at all! Letting go was almost as hard as releasing your hands from an electric fence. My muscles really were that stiff and unresponsive.

Shimamura was in pain and I was acting weird. This could not go on any longer or I would have run away, never to meet her again. Using my wrist as some kind of detachment mechanism, I forced my claw grip to loosen. I let her go.

"Y-yeah. Careful." I blurted out and hastily pulled my hands behind my back, far away from the woman's tender shoulders. It might have been worse if her shoulders were as exposed as mine. The redness that spread over my own right now had nothing to do with the sun.

Shimamura was all question marks and rubbed her shoulder gently.

"Sorry if I startled you. My balance was totally off. Talk about embarrassing."

She was giving me the benefit of the doubt, a gracious gesture. If I could only have explained myself, but to do that I'd have to understand what had gotten into me first. Neither fear nor worry had forced me to hold her so tightly. I was not startled, no, it was much worse. My heart had stopped beating for much longer. Maybe I had gotten heat stroke. Please, I prayed it was heat stroke.

Unaware of the mess that my inner thoughts had turned into, Shimamura took the lead again. We went into the direction of something far more down to earth than a mountain high rollercoaster. It was a bistro that sold snacks and souvenirs. Although this park wasn't that far off from the main city or even a tourist spot to begin with, they had turned the local cherry tree mascot into their own merch. Was that even legal?

"Two cups of slush ice please!"

"Huh?"

"What flavor do you like best? Please don't say 'whatever you pick'."

"Whatev- Ugh… Cherry?"

"Nice, two cherry flavored ones please." She made the order without even asking me for my share of the money. "Cherry, hm? How fitting."

Shimamura seemed happy about her little victory there, but I had honestly just picked whatever caught my eye first. What did she mean by that last quiet comment anyway?

"Here's yours. Take it slow or you will get brain freeze."

Was there a need to treat me like a child? Perhaps this was Shimamura's way of showing her sociability. I had to admit that I would never be this smooth in a conversation, so I did the only thing I could: Slurp on the straw and lower my head. If I had to describe the taste, it was… watery. I could imagine Shimamura making fun of me for that review, so I stayed quiet and slurped even harder until my teeth were tingly.

We had sat down on a bench near some greenery and enjoyed our refreshments. If not the flavor, I at least enjoyed the cooling effect it had on me. Now that we had sat down and actually taken a chance to be together, I felt a lot more at ease. My eyes wandered across the group of high school girls in front of us. They were laughing about something that one of them showed on her phone. But the two to the left were more focused on some birds flapping their wings on top of a trashcan. Those girls were holding hands.

I sucked in the ice sharply, which caused me no small deal of regret. With immense mental fortitude I managed to suppress a cough and then put my nearly empty cup down. Maybe I was refreshed enough.

"Ugh."

That unfortunate noise escaped Shimamura's mouth as she tapped her forehead in pain. Brain freeze?

"Pff."

"Miss Adachi, you seem to be delighted only by my suffering. Is your personality really so crooked?" She complained as she suppressed the stinging pain in her forehead.

"Sorry." I barely managed to suppress another snort. How weirdly delightful. Not her pain of course, but this slightly clumsy side of Shimamura. Had she not teased me before, it would have had far less of an impact. So she was a natural comedian.

"You can make it up to me by picking our next destination." She pushed the folded map my way as she rubbed her eyes in a futile attempt to staunch the pain.

"Alright."

That was a complicated task for me, even if she probably didn't realize that. Without her enthusiastic guidance I would just run around blindly. If I had to pick my favorite spot in this entire place right now, it would be here on this bench, sitting next to Shimamura. High speed action and flashy attractions were nice, but there was something about the comfortable silence between us that made me somewhat happy.

That would not fly, not at all, so I had to pick something. Today we were pretending to be high school students again, right? Then I would have liked to pick something that really fit my image of high school girls. Not that I ever did anything like that even when I was a student.

"Er, would it be fine if we, like, went here next?"

"Hmm? You really are thinking in character now, not bad. But…" Shimamura eyed the spot I had selected and smiled wryly. Maybe she didn't have much interest in it. Or she just found it a bit embarrassing. In so far we were the same. "Well, whatever. I did make you pick, so let's follow Adachi's high school spirit."

She got up and put her half-finished slush ice into the bin next to her. A lot of pain would make anybody averse to continue something, but that did seem like a waste. If she wanted to get rid of it, I could have finished it for her. Take her cup and suck out of the same straw…

"Hrnk!"

"You didn't have to hurry, we got time."

Now it was Shimamura's turn to laugh at my blue face as I had seemingly sucked up the remaining ice from my cup straight into my brain. It hadn't been working properly anyway.

The photo booth was designed with families in mind, which became obvious immediately. The holes for visitors' faces were varying in height and width. The designs too were more fit for children. Some animal silhouettes here and some TV show heroes over there. The only one that did not seem to be meant for family were the two halves of a large pink heart. There were two holes for faces and two holes for arms. What was one supposed to do after pushing their arm through there?

Hold hands.

Time to look for a different one. That one just had nothing to do with us.

"Hm, not quite what I expected, I guess." Shimamura scanned the wooden cutouts and crossed her arms. Her eyes were mostly focused on the one with a bipedal dog and cat play-fighting. I took a mental note of it. 'Shimamura likes animals'. Was that too much of a leap? And what purpose did this information even serve?

When I had read 'photo booth' in the brochure, I had not been sure what to expect either, but in my mind it was more like those cabins that you entered and where you could play with the settings to add stickers and stuff. They had one of those at the mall I used to visit all the time. Yet there was never a day where I actually had found the motivation to go inside. Taking pictures of myself felt really sad, deep down.

And now? The high school mentality was just an excuse. In truth what I desired most was to have proof that this day really happened. The recent months had been like a continuous dream. Not all of it was pleasant, but overall my life felt… changed. Looking forward to the commute to work, looking at my phone to see if I had received a message, going out on weekends, trying to understand someone other than myself. The cold Adachi of the past would never have bothered with such meaningless pastimes.

I had changed.

And the reason stood right next to me. She was so close that our hands could touch. If all I desired was a proof of our connection, then a photo would definitely do. That's all I needed.

"You remind me of a cat, Adachi."

"You are kind of like a dog, Shimamura."

We both smiled softly and went into the cat versus dog cutout. Our faces pushed through the holes and I rested my chin on the cool wood. We were half facing each other to imitate the confrontation between canine and feline. Through this odd position I could see both halves of Shimamura's pretty face with a dark line between it. The split personality of an office lady. One side childishly giddy to fight a cat, the other slightly flushed from the embarrassment of the silly situation.

I pushed my arm through the prepared hole and imitated the claw strike depicted on the painting. This fierce display just made me look like I was trying to tap my opponent's face.

And from the opposite direction I could see Shimamura stretch forward her 'paw' to deflect my ferocious attack. Her nails were reflecting the sunlight enough to make me aware of the polish she had used. Such slender fingers. Not as long as mine, but just the right feminine shape. Whatever that meant - my brain was not exactly thinking straight anymore. The reason was in the way our attacks met.

Shimamura had grabbed my hand and entwined her fingers with mine.

"I prefer peace and quiet. Let's never fight, Sakura. Promise?"

She said with a chuckle as the flash of the camera captured our connection permanently.