Interlude: The World We Share

Interlude:
The World We Share

 

AFTER I HEARD the planet would be destroyed in three days, I decided to take a two-day trip. I had never left the safety of my hometown, and I was curious to see how far I could manage to get before my time was up. No time like the present, right? So I rushed out of the house.

After two days of traveling, I figured I’d come back home and spend the third day with my family. The first day would be spent walking there, and for the second day, I’d walk back.

The trains weren’t running, obviously, since the world was ending. They had stopped moving forward, and I respected that. But I wanted to keep going, so my only choice was to go on foot.

Why am I doing this? Am I happy with my life choices? Will tomorrow be a better day? As I walked along in silence, I asked myself each of these questions in turn.

Late that night, I saw a park up ahead and walked in. This was my finish line. I had never seen this park before, and while it looked no different from any other park, it was still uncharted territory. I had officially set foot outside of the realm of my day-to-day life, and I was feeling pretty okay about it.

It was there, at the dead end of my life, that I met her.

Like me, the girl was carrying a backpack on her shoulders. Evidently, she was headed in the same direction. We decided to forego the introductions.

“Did you pack a lunch or anything?”

“Umm…I’ve got some sweet snacks, if that counts.”

We both lowered our backpacks and started trading food. The other girl didn’t seem to have a set destination in mind.

“I’m not going anywhere specific; I was just walking. But now I’m tired, so I’m taking a break.” Her inky black hair swayed in the night breeze, and her face in profile looked as fragile as thin ice.

“Well, I’m planning to go back home tomorrow.”

“Interesting.”

“You’re not gonna go home?”

“No. I’m not going back.”

“Interesting.”

“Are you copying me?” A tiny smile crept up on her face. She seemed as distant and chilly as the moon in the sky.

“If you’ve got nowhere to go, wanna walk to town with me?” I suggested. No road is long with good company, as they say, and I was bound to get bored looking at all the same scenery in reverse. So, since we had the opportunity, I figured we may as well make the most of it.

Her legs swayed as she chuckled down at the ground. “That sounds nice.”

Maybe tomorrow would be a better day after all.

“Say, what’s your name?”

The world was ending. This was my last chance to introduce myself…and my last chance to learn the name of someone new. In three days—er, two days—none of it would matter anymore. Regardless, I still wanted to know. Even if it turned out the prophecy was wrong, and we all died tomorrow instead, I still would have wanted to know her name.

If my destiny was to plunge into eternal sleep with the rest of the planet, then meeting her here was my destiny too.

 

***

 

To some, this was the distant future of humanity; to me, it was normal life. So when I heard that people from another planet were moving here, I didn’t think much of it.

Why were the older generations all going gaga over some planet we couldn’t even visit? Even my parents, who I hardly ever spoke to, were frequently seen glued to the TV. But as the fervor burned hotter and hotter, I regarded that planet with icy composure. I had other priorities—like college and the rest of my future. There was still so much I needed to figure out. Not like those alien immigrants were going to impact my life at all.

Then these aforesaid aliens showed up, and I just so happened to live in the rural town located next to the rocket landing platform, which meant I could get a glimpse of the procession as it passed through, so I decided to join the crowd for a day. Mostly because they’d canceled school in celebration of the “special event.” Every channel on TV was talking about the aliens anyway, so if I was going to be bombarded with images of them either way, I figured I might as well get a look at them in person.

The roads leading out of town were all blocked off; security personnel were stationed all over the place while the crowds were pushed off to the sides, like stray grains of rice in a bento box. As I stood among them, I quickly remembered why I didn’t like crowds to begin with: the body heat. But I had already come this far, and I couldn’t be bothered to turn around and go back.

Everyone really wants to see these aliens, I guess. Haven’t you all seen enough of them on the news by now?

They didn’t have extra arms or legs, or mouths that stretched from ear to ear. Nor were they parasites that implanted their eggs in us. Appearance-wise, they looked nearly identical to the people of our planet; the only real difference was in the color of their eyes.

According to various scientific studies, our planets were the same type, so the stages of biological evolution had resulted in humanoid creatures in both cases. That was just how the universe worked, apparently. Now the scientists were researching why it worked like that. They spent entire days thinking about the same complex subjects that would give me a headache after five minutes.

Adults sure are impressive like that… Glad I’m not one of them. I didn’t want my life to get any harder than it already was.

Time passed, and right as I was starting to get really thirsty, the alien procession finally showed itself: a line of top-down convertibles surrounded by what looked like pompous bodyguards. Wow, it’s like a parade…or maybe it is a parade? There were a lot of them (well, less than a hundred, probably) and this was our one chance to see them in person. As it turned out, the news reports were right: they didn’t seem to have any “alien” characteristics.

It was…kind of anticlimactic, actually. Are we sure those aren’t just regular humans? Despite my misgivings, however, the crowds grew louder. I could only imagine how deafening it must have been for the aliens.

How did it feel to be on that side of the spectacle? Were they intimidated by our sheer numbers? The leader was riding in the car at the front of the procession, smiling warmly. It must be hard for them.

A split second later, I reeled from a hard impact to the chest—so hard, it knocked the wind from my lungs. In all my life, I had never been struck quite like this. And all because I made eye contact with a girl riding in one of the cars.

Was it the dazzling sunlight? Did something catch her eye? Was it the wind? The clouds? Whatever it was exactly, it all came together to create the perfect formula to make her look my way. And at that precise moment, I just so happened to spot her amid the rest of her group. And so our eyes met.

Everything about her seemed to glow white beneath the bright sunshine. Her hair was pale blonde, and her eyes were golden yellow. As we locked eyes through the crowd, it felt like I was gazing up at the sun from the bottom of the ocean. One look at those golden eyes and I knew it was a moment I’d never forget for the rest of my life.

As the car slowly rolled along, however, that moment quickly came to an end. The other girl turned away. But I kept watching. Long after she had vanished from sight, I kept staring after her in the direction the procession took her. The noise and heat of the crowd didn’t even register anymore.

A dozen indescribable feelings swirled on my tongue. We were both girls, and yet…this thrill…this excitement…these contradicting feelings of deep satisfaction and aching hunger… It felt like I was being tied up in knots.

Because she was an alien, only a select few would be permitted to approach her—qualified adults with certifications or whatever. But on the flip side…all I’d need to do is get certified. I didn’t need to travel to a distant planet. She and I shared the same world.

Now I had an idea of what I wanted to do in college…and I decided to get there as fast as I possibly could.

A few years later and now fully certified, I arrived at the alien residential zone. It was located in a nice, breezy area with lots of plants and scant few Earthlings. On second thought, maybe it was the lack of Earthlings that helped keep all this greenery intact.

Just then, I spotted the girl I was looking for. She was sitting out on the grass near her designated residence, staring into space and enjoying the breeze. Before this moment, my heart was dancing, but now it felt like a small iron ball in my chest. In contrast with this peaceful enclosure, I was deathly nervous.

As I approached, the crunch of grass underfoot alerted her to my presence. She turned and squinted her eyes. Her hair was longer now than it was the last time I saw her; the mere sight of those long golden threads was enough to make me blush. But those yellow eyes hadn’t changed a bit. Like last time, they left me dazzled and dizzy.

Then her jaw dropped. We didn’t exchange a single word the last time we met—only ever made eye contact from afar—and yet she remembered me, just as I remembered her. The feeling of dizziness intensified at the thought.

When I walked up to her, she turned in my direction and pushed herself up onto her feet. At her full height, she wasn’t quite as tall as I was. I flipped open my phrasebook, but my eyes couldn’t focus on a single word. It felt like someone had vacuumed all the language skills right out of my brain. Meanwhile, my vision began to spin faster and faster with no signs of slowing.

I said something, and she froze. Then she said something back, and I fumbled. We were both too inexperienced to express ourselves fluently. But with my phrasebook in hand, I attempted to introduce myself, then used gestures to explain why I was here. Her lips traced over my name, and I nodded. Then she introduced herself in kind. I couldn’t make it out clearly, but…

“Uhhh… Wait, but…”

Was I hearing things, or did she say her name was Shimamura? Surely, that clothing store didn’t exist on their planet…did it? I squinted down at my phrasebook in puzzlement. She must have found this funny, because she started laughing.

Her smile made my blood throb in my veins.

I closed my phrasebook. I had a lot I wanted to tell her, but for right now…I was just grateful to have found her again. My racing heart was proof that I had come alive.

 

***

 

While I was waiting for the subway train, my eyes wandered to the stairs. Amid all the other faceless corporate drones, I found myself looking for her—the woman who rode the same train as me every morning.

To be clear, we didn’t take the train together. We always rode in different train cars. She was just a face I had come to recognize. Then yesterday, we ended up sitting next to each other, and something spurred me to ask her name. After that, we parted ways.

I didn’t have her phone number, and we hadn’t made any plans to see each other again. She wasn’t my friend or anything. We barely even talked. But now, all of a sudden, I was scared. Scared that I should have tried harder.

To be fair, I wasn’t sure whether she even wanted to be friends with me. There was no guarantee that my effort would pay off; most of the time, it didn’t. But this time, I actually had hope.

As I was fretting over the minor details, I saw headlights approaching from the end of the tunnel. Maybe she’s taking a different train today, I mused to myself. But when I glanced up at the stairs one last time, I spotted her among a group of latecomers making a mad dash for the platform. Oh! I could feel myself smiling.

As the train loudly rolled to a stop, she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Then she spotted me and froze. But after a split second of hesitation, she rushed over to me. The last step she took was more of a jump, like she was crossing over an invisible line. For a moment we smiled at each other, seemingly unsure what to say. But in the end, we skipped the pleasantries and bolted onto the train before it could take off without us.

The morning train never had any empty seats, so instead, we stood side by side. We didn’t work at the same company, so there was no telling how long we’d be riding together.

“’Sup,” she greeted me casually, after she’d had a minute to catch her breath.

“Yo,” I replied. Why are we talking like a couple of DJs? “Were you, uh, running late today?” I gestured with my hands to indicate her close shave just now.

She twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “I kinda overslept.”

“Ah.”

“I’m just not a morning person.”

“Gotcha.”

The conversation, if you could even call it that, ended there. This was par for the course for me whenever I interacted with my coworkers; I preferred to keep everything cut and dried. But now that same brevity had me feeling nervous.

“Say, um…” She started to speak; I made eye contact through the reflection in the window pane. “I know it might be hard to coordinate since we don’t work at the same place, but…would you want to grab a meal sometime?”

My arm stiffened as I clung to the hand grip. “You mean after work?”

“Yeah.”

This time I looked at her directly.

“I know it’s kinda random, but…I think we could be good friends.”

She grinned innocently, like a little kid, and I could feel my eyes lighting up with excitement. “That sounds great.” I couldn’t explain why—it just did.

The only thing tying us together was a vague premonition of a future that could be…but the uncertainty of it was actually kind of fun. As “random” as it was, it was no more random than the rest of my life thus far. And yet, for some mysterious reason, I was feeling a tiny bit optimistic.

And so my heart swayed with the motions of the train.

 

***

 

On an unusually sunny Monday morning, I left my house. The thought of another school day had me yawning already.

“Um…g-good morning!”

Once again, I found her standing stock-still outside my house, as if she was my personal assistant. For a moment, I was tempted to thrust out my chest and start acting like a bigshot CEO, but instead, I decided to keep it locked away in my imagination.

“Ha ha!”

First thing in the morning and she was already as stiff as a board—I couldn’t help but laugh. Her sincerity and dedication always picked me up when I was feeling low.

“Good morning, Adachi.”

 

***

 

Of all the people living on this planet—people who come into the world and pass on from it without ever meeting me—somehow, it was Adachi who stumbled into my life.

Here in this world we all share together…

Out of all the encounters I would never have, she was the one who found me.