That’s a load of crap. I get those messages all the time, but I hardly ever open them. And I only click sometimes. Listening to them made me feel sick. I’d rather talk about anime.
But Sekiguchi had seemed sort of preoccupied for a while now. It was obvious that he was conscious of the presence of the girls in front of us—or rather, a certain girl.
Sekiguchi, are you that easy?
Gimme a break. Are you still thinking about what happened back there? That was definitely a trap. Pure imitation. It’s precisely because she can do that sort of thing to anyone that she’s one of the cool kids.
It would never happen—ever. They’re a different race of people. They know that and come bug us on purpose. They do it to make fun of us.
It’s happened to you a zillion times before, right? Even my cola gets teased. They just want to tear people down and laugh at them.
It’s the worst. I can’t believe it.
{T minus 00:02 to the truck accident}
If the world ever looks gray, jump into the next one without hesitation.
I think it’s a line from a light novel I read as a little kid. I forgot the title and author. I don’t even remember what the scene was or who said it. But I felt like it was telling me to experience all sorts of different stories.
The world is full of so many stories that one person could never experience them all. If you don’t like the one you’re in, go to the next. On and on. The reason we live is to joyfully encounter as many types of content as we can.
That’s why if things won’t work out in this world, you just try in the next. If things don’t work out in high school, there’s college. Or you could join the ranks of the story creators. That’s what I’m going to do.
There’s nothing lamer than being thrown into despair by a kid in your own grade. Our situations aren’t even that different. Maybe to Sekiguchi the world looked rosy, but to me, even if it wasn’t gray, it was definitely some kind of horrible color. I wanted to get this stupid shopping trip over with and go home to my room to watch what I pleased. And I absolutely didn’t want anyone else influencing the color of my life.
“Hey, after we shop, wanna go hang out somewhere?” Baseball Mob asked the girls.
Sekiguchi misinterpreted and raised his head.
Nope. There was no way he would be inviting us. It was definitely the kind of situation where, Sorry, only three people fit in the car.
{T minus 00:01 to the truck accident}
“Oh, it’s my boyfriend!” Haru Koyama’s phone had chimed with a LINE message, and when she looked at it, her face lit up. Baseball Mob seemed lost for words, and Sekiguchi seemed startled.
You dipshits, don’t be getting the wrong idea. Haru Koyama has a boyfriend, and it’s not like she even hides the fact! She even goes around bragging about how hot he is! And look how happy she looks right now!
“Sorry, you guys go ahead.” She put her phone up to her ear and waved us on with her other hand. The other girls teased her a bit, while Baseball Mob just seemed embarrassed.
I felt like it was rude to even watch a girl on the phone with her boyfriend, so I looked away. Why should I have to be the considerate one?
Haru Koyama was walking down the middle of the road, talking in a pitch that was a notch higher than usual. “What’s going on? Don’t you have practice?”
How dumb.
Sekiguchi and I walked gingerly past, trying to avoid catching her attention.
Just then, the sky that had been cloudy since the morning opened up to shine a ray of sun on her.
{T minus 00:00:30 to the truck accident}
“Huh? No, it’s totally fine. Right now I’m out shopping with some kids from school. Ah-ha-ha, yeah! I’m gonna wear an afro!”
She smelled the same way she did that morning. Her voice in my ears tickled like crazy.
I’d been worried about what color the world was, what color the people were, but that stuff didn’t matter anymore. I had the high-school boy thought that if only a girl were next to me and smiling, everything would be perfect. In spite of myself.
I kept my expression neutral—made a face like I wasn’t thinking about Haru Koyama—and sighed. My heart was beating like I’d just gotten out of the pool.
This is the problem with the popular kids. How come their smiles are so easygoing? It makes it seem like I’m a weirdo. Them and their unfair charms.
What if Sekiguchi got the wrong idea again? If you have a boyfriend, don’t spread your kawaii all over! Tch!
No, I’ve never once thought Haru Koyama was cute.
Really. I’m serious. Fuck.
What the hell, geez...
{Truck accident initiates}
“Uh, what’s that truck doing?” Baseball Mob looked down the road.
It came way into the intersection doing a wide, unsteady turn. Hovering between lanes, it caused an oncoming car to slam its brakes. From where we were, it was impossible to tell if the driver was drunk or trying to be cool.
“Hey, let’s move.”
Baseball Mob with a good idea. We should get out of the road, too.
I had the feeling I could probably stop a truck with one hand, but there was no reason I had to try it right then.
“Huh? Where’s Haru?” said Baseball Mob.
She’s on the phone.
{T minus 00:00:05 to being transported to another world}
“Koyama!”
Sekiguchi’s shout startled us all.
Haru Koyama looked up, too, but she didn’t seem to realize why he’d called her name.
The truck’s wheels squealed as it tilted on the straight road.
Someone shoved me, and I tripped.
{T minus 00:00:04 to being transported to another world}
The one who ran into me was Baseball Mob. As I was losing my balance, I saw him, trying to flee, crash into Sekiguchi who had suddenly cut in. That was some fabulous footwork by Sekiguchi, but in the next instant, he stepped on something and fell. Baseball Mob then tripped over him and fell, too.
The dark liquid spraying everywhere was coming from my crushed bottle of cola.
{T minus 00:00:03 to being transported to another world}
With its wheels still audibly slipping, the truck headed right for us without slowing down at all.
Behind me, someone screamed. As if that were the switch, my sluggish legs got kicked into gear.
I planted a foot on Baseball Mob and leaped.
{T minus 00:00:02 to being transported to another world}
“Koyamaaa!” When I called her name aloud for the first time, I felt a rush of adrenaline.
Haru Koyama was standing there frozen like an idiot, and I sprinted toward her with all my might.
What am I doing? Why am I running? What do I do next?
I knew only one thing for sure.
I had gotten past every other guy in the world and was aiming for Haru Koyama.
I was sure I would regret it if I stopped—because if I was going to be a hero, this was the time.
{T minus 00:00:01 to being transported to another world}
Nah, it couldn’t be the only time.
Actually, a similar thing happened when I was little.
It was summer, and I was visiting my grandma’s house. I made friends with a girl who seemed straight out of a slice-of-country-life type of manga, and when she nearly drowned in the river, I pulled her out.
She thanked me so much and said she owed me her life and everything. I thought, Okay, sure, I’ll let you thank me, and went along with it. But after a while she started putting some space between us, or rather, she started being cold to me. I told her that was no way to treat the guy who saved her life, but she stayed sassy, and in the end I stopped playing with her.
After that, a lot happened—I got more hobbies, like anime and light novels, and stopped going to my grandma’s house, but I wondered how that girl was doing. Was she happy? I forgot about what I did for her, but she didn’t, did she?
But wait, why am I suddenly remembering all this stuff that happened a zillion years ago? Why does time seem to be going on and on?
It’s just like what happens before you die! It’s the thing everyone talks about when they miraculously make it back alive.
But I couldn’t stop now. Haru Koyama was right in front of me. The truck’s tires were skidding as it approached.
Nah, I’ll make it by a hair. There’s no way I could just suddenly die. That’s what the dopamine whispered to me. Who is the hero of the day? Me. Not the boyfriend, not the mob, and not Sekiguchi. It’s Seiji Chiba. The me of today is different than the me of yesterday. Don’t ever look at me the same way again. Don’t make fun of me. I’ll stare right back at you. That’s right. That’s why I’m running. I’m going to change my world.
I called Haru Koyama’s name once more. I don’t know if I managed to actually say it or not, but I screamed. Slow-motion. And yet my senses seemed sharp. I knew the girls behind me were shrieking and trying to escape. I held out my hand to her. Like a movie, like the first episode of an anime, I reached out to grasp the moment my destiny would change. I’m right beside you now.
Then Haru Koyama, who had been watching the truck dumbstruck with her phone in her hand, finally noticed me—and the look on her face said, Who’s this guy, again?
The world turned gray, and I tasted iron.
{JK Haru Is a Sex Worker in Another World: Summer}