He arrived at the front gate of his school, still feeling gloomy. Naturally, there were no other students around—they’d all gone to class already. Standing here, alone, in front of this abandoned gate, made Tokio so nervous it was a little hard to breathe. He didn’t have the courage to look up at the school’s main clock. He knew he was late, but he was still afraid to see just how late, and how much trouble he was in.
Just then, a set of numbers appeared. Inside his head, Tokio saw six digits in three sets of two, separated by colons, like in a digital clock display.
“Nine twelve…?”
He read out the first two numbers. The last two kept changing, ticking away in a steady rhythm from 14 to 15 to 16 and so on. He looked up at the school clock. It said 9:12. And he knew all too well that this clock was never wrong.
“Wow… This must be the new Body Clock that’s inside me.”
Even as he stood there, the display kept changing. Minute by minute, second by second, it was keeping perfect time. It was really uncanny.
“Looks like that guy at the clock store was telling the truth after all…!”
He’d really gotten hold of something amazing here. His whole body trembled with excitement.
“So now… So long as I have this Body Clock…”
The numbers on the digital display advanced steadily forward, the seconds changing from 59 to 00. At the very same moment, the school clock’s hands swung forward. Tokio’s anxiety from before disappeared completely, and a smile spread across his face.
✦ ✦ ✦
At the end of school that day, Tokio had been called to the faculty office and forced to endure a long lecture about this being his third tardy this week. It went on for exactly thirty-seven minutes and six seconds. He was sure of that—after all, he could keep track of the time perfectly without needing to look at a clock now.
“The next time you’re late, we’ll have to call your parents to talk about this,” his homeroom teacher warned him with an exasperated sigh.
A statement like that would have filled the old Tokio with dread. But not anymore.
I’m not the same person I was before. Things are going to be different. Because now, I’ve got myself a nice, accurate Body Clock, with an alarm!
✦ ✦ ✦
Back at home, Tokio went to his room and tried setting the alarm on his new clock.
Come to think of it, I never asked how you were supposed to do this. There’s no instruction manual, so will I still be able to figure it out…?
Feeling a little nervous, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Thinking about time was enough to bring up the clock display in his head. More accurately, it felt like it was somewhere just behind his eyes.
✦ ✦ ✦
He looked at the display… Well, as much as anyone could really “look” behind their eyes.
Okay… To start, I’d better set when I want to get up tomorrow.
When that thought crossed his mind, something popped up underneath the time. It was a little icon showing a figure sitting up in bed and stretching their arms, looking like they were getting up from a good night’s sleep. That must have been the Wake-Up alarm.
Let’s see… I’ll say seven AM! That’s when I’ll get up tomorrow. Seven AM, seven AM, seven AM…!
He focused on that time, and a little 07:00 appeared next to the Wake-Up icon.
“Wow! I guess that means the alarm’s set now.”
He was glad the controls were so intuitive.
Okay, what’s next?
Now that Tokio had figured out how to set the alarms, the rest went smoothly. He set alarms not just for waking up in the morning, but also for going to sleep at night, and for his meals throughout the day.
✦ ✦ ✦
Wake up. Sleep. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner.
Out of those five alarms, the first to go off was the Dinner alarm, later that evening. At the stroke of seven PM, a mealtime icon appeared underneath the display behind his eyes and began blinking. At the same moment, Tokio’s stomach let out a long growl, and he found himself seized with a healthy feeling of hunger.
✦ ✦ ✦
Next was the Sleep alarm.
He’d done his homework, taken a bath, and brushed his teeth. He turned out the lights, got into bed, and waited for the time he’d set—ten PM—to arrive. He was so excited, he couldn’t imagine how he’d ever get to sleep. Feeling a little nervous, he lay there in the dark, wide awake. When he forced himself to close his eyes, he saw the digital display clearly in his mind.
✦ ✦ ✦
21:59:55
21:59:56
21:59:57…
Finally, the display changed to 22:00:00. The Sleep icon lit up, and Tokio instantly fell asleep.
✦ ✦ ✦
Everything was blank until 07:00:00 the next morning, when the Wake-Up alarm kicked in. He could hear birds singing outside, and the morning sun was shining through the gap in his bedroom curtains.
“Wow, it feels like I’ve recovered all my HP… Getting enough sleep really is important.”
He was realizing that more than ever now.
Tokio sat up in bed and stretched his arms, looking just like the Wake-Up icon. Next would be the Breakfast alarm at seven fifteen AM. He’d have to go wash his face and get dressed before it got to that time and his stomach started growling.
He sprang out of bed to get started.
✦ ✦ ✦
Once Tokio had mastered the Body Clock’s alarm function, his life changed practically in an instant. He no longer had trouble going to sleep at night or getting up in the morning. And of course, he was never late to school anymore. He ate his meals at the same time every day, and he actually felt hungry when he ate, which made the food taste even better. Soon enough, he felt healthier and more energized; his body’s natural vitality was coming back.
“This is great! I love not feeling sleepy in the middle of the day or having my body feel all sluggish in the morning!”
The Body Clock Pill truly was a wonderful thing. For Tokio, who’d had a habit of staying up too late before, the Sleep alarm was particularly useful. He no longer had to worry about those times when he needed to go to sleep but couldn’t seem to doze off. The pressure of going to bed early had made it so hard to relax, he’d lie awake in the dark, panicking about how little sleep he was getting.
But not anymore. He never had to experience that again.
“That man at the clock store said this will never break, either. If that’s really true, I’ll be able to lead a regular, punctual lifestyle for the rest of my life…!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Of course, it wasn’t that simple. Even if Tokio’s internal sense of time was doing fine, there were still external factors that could throw off his schedule.
Sometimes a TV show would air at eleven PM, and he’d want to watch it live. Or his parents might come home late, meaning they’d make dinner later than usual.
But none of that was a problem, really. Changing the Body Clock’s alarm time or turning an alarm off were just as easy as setting them. He simply had to concentrate on that spot behind his eyes, visualize the settings he wanted to change, and voilà, they did change. If his schedule was a little behind, he’d adjust the Dinner alarm to a slightly later time. Once he did that, he wouldn’t get hungry until then. That was also what he did when he wanted to stay up late.
Sometimes he’d turn the Sleep alarm off completely. He couldn’t go to bed if he still had homework to do, after all. Or maybe he’d want to finish reading through several volumes of manga before calling it a night. On occasions like those, when there was no specific time Tokio wanted to go to sleep, he’d turn the alarm off. Then he’d get into bed when he felt sleepy and fall asleep naturally. Although now that he’d gotten into the habit of sleeping and waking up early, he found it hard to stay up late like he used to.
I probably shouldn’t use the Body Clock to stop me from sleeping, though. If I do it too much, I’ll be right back where I started with an irregular routine.
That was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.