Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 7 - Chapter 0

Chapter 0 – If They Hadn’t Met on the Gym’s Second Floor

When was it that I'd become an adult? Where exactly could the line between my childhood and the current phase of my life be drawn? Personally, I felt like the switch had occurred when I'd started travelling to places by train instead of walking or using a bike. I wasn't saying that was a positive thing, like I'd grown or something. Rather, it was a step I'd taken purely out of necessity. No one out there possessed the ability to accurately gauge how mature they were. Of course not. That was the reason why the standard way of measuring it relied solely on the person's age and nothing else. 
The world at large was treating me like an adult, and I had to act accordingly. 
There was nothing more to it than that. 
Having taken a train to another prefecture, I now found myself weaving through a stream of people to get to the subway station. With no time to spare observing the grandiose golden clock—a common meeting spot for many—I quickly took the stairs leading below the ground. 
What immediately hit my nose as I arrived underground was the smell of people—or rather, the smell of cosmetics and hairdressing products and other such things. My ears grew clogged with various sounds coming from all directions, making this situation the opposite of calm and relaxing. 
I hopped onto the subway and travelled the distance of a single station before once again climbing up another set of stairs for another transfer. Contrary to the little progress I was making in terms of distance travelled, I found myself panting quite intensely. My body was starting to grow heavy, almost as if the dust around me was clinging onto me. 
Ever since I finished school and got a job, a day hadn't gone by when I didn't feel exhausted. 
As I stood there on the platform waiting for my train to arrive, I found myself inadvertently glancing at the row of people next to me. 
Three people down from me stood a woman with a very listless expression on her face. 
Once again. Once again I got to see her. That was how I felt. 
Her hair was long enough to almost reach down to her waist. It was also faintly brown, likely due to having been dyed a long time ago. As for her eyes, those were reddish brown and always appeared both heavy and tired. It was likely for this reason that her face had made such an impression on me. I often saw her during the morning, leading me to think that like me, she too was an office worker. We also seemed to be around the same age. Furthermore—and this went without saying—she was a complete stranger to me. 
I didn't know her name, and in the same way, I couldn't recall ever having seen her outside the train station. Not once had I even spoken to her. 
Thinking about it, it was true that I wasn't acquainted with any of the people I was about to board the train with. We were all strangers on our way to somewhere distant. We shared no connections, no ties. Putting it that way kinda made it feel like I was trapped in a cageless prison. Why exactly was that the image that came to my mind? I had to assume that the fact that I was currently underground and couldn't see the sky had something to do with it. 
A few moments later, the train came. I got on, and the tired-looking woman did the same, albeit she chose a different carriage. Would I get to sit today? Slightly excited, I took a peek inside, only to find that unfortunately, all of the seats had already been taken. Letting out a sigh, I walked over to the closed door on the opposite side of where I'd entered and took my place. There, I pressed my face against the window glass before letting out another sigh. 
The day had just started, and already, I was feeling so incredibly tired. I bet everyone else was the same way. 
I pulled out my calendar to give myself something to cling to, and though I already knew it to be the case, saw that it was Thursday. Even after this day came to an end, there would still be one more left to go. The only saving grace was that Fridays tended not to be quite as tedious as the rest. I found my head tilting further to the side as I thought about that. 
It was there that the train began moving. 
Through darkness that blocked my vision, I was brought not to a world of dreams, but rather, to that of reality. 

My age meant that I'd spent the majority of my life as a student, and because of that, it was still very common for me to have dreams about being in school. The one I was having this morning was like that too. It was night in my dream, and though I'm not sure what combination of detention and supplementary lessons had placed us in school at such an hour, the fact of the matter was that we'd been made to study. Naturally, I didn't like it one bit. 
I felt super tired and wanted nothing more than to leave and go to bed, so tired that through some bizarre stretch of logic, I decided that it was okay for me to do just that. By the time I realised it, I'd already packed my bag and exited the classroom (for some reason as large as the sports hall and located on the first floor). Breathing in the cold air of the night, I walked forward taking light steps. No one came to stop me. No one yelled at me. Of course not. That all made sense. Why? 
Because I was no longer a student. 
It was right in the moment when that realisation hit me that my alarm clock went off. 
I regained my senses, and at the same time, grew aware of the fact that I was in a dream. 
That part I found kinda fun. The rest, not so much. 
I was feeling so incredibly tired. No matter how long I slept for, that sensation just refused to go away. It remained there inside my head, inside my eyeballs. And yet, as I didn't feel tired anywhere else, I could only assume that my body had gotten enough rest even if my mind hadn't. Staring bitterly at the device that had forced me awake, I slowly got up from bed and began going through my morning ritual. Unlike back when I'd been a student, I could no longer resort to simply skipping a day when I felt like it. In the end, dreams were just that—dreams. 
Two things had remained a fixture of my mornings from my student days, those being the cheeky way my little sister told me to get it together as she left for school, as well Mom kicking me in the butt to make me hurry up. Slowly, I finished the rest of my preparations. It was only when I splashed some cold water against my face that I began feeling like I was even somewhat awake. With my eyes now open, what I saw projected in the mirror in front of me was my own face, completely lacking in colour. 
I went ahead and poked my cheeks. Something definitely was missing here. Sure, it wasn't like my skin was dying or anything like that, but as far as my complexion was concerned, it really did feel lacking. I couldn't help but look away and laugh as I thought about the people I often saw at work—their faces. 
I took a bus to the station, and after a short train ride, began making my way to the subway. It was in moments like these that I found myself regretting not finding a job somewhere in the local area. That wasn't the only thing I regretted. Really, the path that I'd taken in life was more or less one that I'd chosen on a whim, and now that I looked back on it, I could see mistakes and bad choices everywhere. I suppose that was kinda what life was like by definition. 
As I stood there on the platform, waiting, trying my hardest not to yawn, I happened to look behind me and saw a face I recognised. It was the face of a woman. I saw her quite often, leaving me to assume that she both lived near where I lived and went to work at a similar time. Her hair was black and long, and combined with the way she hung her head—her back slightly hunched—it made her look a little melancholic. It was as if her eyes were hidden behind a veil. She was just a tad bit shorter than I was, and from that, I could assume that we were approximately the same age. 
I saw her face often, and yet, we were strangers. 
After letting out a yawn and wiping away the subsequent tears, I turned back around. A few more moments and the train would come. 
The train that would take me to a time and a place where all I wanted was to be able to leave and go back home. 
Eventually, the train did come, and like usual, the woman with a listless expression on her face got in a different carriage than I did. There were some seats available this time, and though it did seem like I would be able to sit down if I wanted to, I purposefully avoided doing that. Why did I do such a thing? Well, you see, I had this bad habit of falling asleep whenever I sat down in the morning train, a habit which would occasionally cause me to miss my stop. It was for that reason exactly why sitting for me was exclusively reserved for when I was coming back home from work. Then again, it wasn't like I often got to do that; trains during the evening tended to be far more crowded. 
Grasping the handhold next to the seats, I found myself staring into space. 
I was standing, yes, but I still felt like if I wasn't careful enough, I might end up dozing off. 
Staring up at the route map as the train made its way from one stop to the next, the following thought passed through my mind: 
Was anything interesting ever going to happen in my life? 
Would the landscape around me at some point shift and change, or were the flat, uninteresting plains here to stay? 
Sure, I could be the one to make the first move, just start running, but even then, there wouldn't be much point to it. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do. 
Knowing that, I'd much rather stay where I was and sleep. Sleep forever. 
The sooner the pain and the agony came to an end, the better. That was what I thought. 

People often told me that I was boring. Sometimes they were clearly joking, but other times, not so much. 
I didn't necessarily disagree with them. Why didn't I? Because I found my life to be quite boring myself. I held no interest towards the people I interacted with. Nothing else really interested me either for that matter. I could only assume that this all stemmed from my own lack of charm. 
I had grown quite accustomed to my daily routine consisting solely of waking up, going to work, and coming back home again. At no point during my days did I show any emotion. The things that happened might as well not have. It was quite tiring, yes, but also really not all that bad. 
One way of looking at the situation was that it was basically an extension of my time in school. 
Just like back then, I had no close friends in my life, no one who I thought anything about. 
If I had to describe how it all felt, I'd say that it was similar to when your throat got dry and you were no longer able to speak properly. Or, to put it more bluntly, it was annoying. Irritating. 
This was most likely what my life was going to be like from now on. I'd be stuck suffering through one boring day after another while feeling the way I did right now. 
I was ready for it. And because I was ready, I'd be able to take it. 
Having finished another day working a job which offered no nourishment to my heart, I now found myself walking down the stairs that led to the subway station. 
The sighs that left my mouth as I stood there waiting for the train that would take me home were a bit different from the norm. They weren't sighs of exhaustion, but rather, those of relief. 
The train eventually came, and while listening to the footsteps of the students rushing down the stairs to make it in time, I got on. There, I spotted an empty seat and went straight for it. I had no intention of letting anyone else have it. 
Letting out another sigh, I sat down. 
Mere moments later, the seat next to me was taken as well. 
I turned around to look, and before I knew it, my body froze. 
It was the same woman I'd seen this morning. She had sat down. Right next to me. 
Based on the way she was now staring back at me, it appeared that I wasn't the only one who'd noticed. 
I lifted my head. She did so too. Slightly reserved, almost as if leaning backwards, we stared at one another. 
It was right when the train began moving that an embarrassed smile appeared on her face. There was something oddly soft about it, something that caused my skin to tingle. I gave my head a random shake before shifting my gaze away. 
For so long, my emotions had remained sealed away, and now, they were being tickled. 
Seriously, what was going on here? Feeling strangely self-conscious, I gave the woman a hesitant peek. 
She'd been looking at me as well. Her wide, soft eyes stared at me, puzzled. 
Our eyes met, and immediately, my cheeks grew warm. Once again I shifted my gaze away. 
It felt like all at once, the dust that had been piling on me had been blown away. 
Why? Why did I feel this way? 
I was just riding the train with someone. That's all. 
I'd never even heard this person speak. And yet... 
And yet, my heart was beating so incredibly fast. 
My back was usually hunched, but now, I found myself sitting with it perfectly straight. 
We were both aware of where we were going to be getting off. 
We weren't even talking about anything. Just sitting together. 
Together? No, that wasn't the right way to put it. Us both being here was nothing but pure chance. A mere coincidence. 
And yet, I had to wonder, wasn't that exactly what it was like meeting someone? 
It wasn't something that was decided beforehand. It just... happened. 
For whatever reason, two lives that had meant to go straight became overlapped with one another. 
Perhaps the way forward in life wasn't as fixed as I had personally thought. 
The train stopped. Just a bit longer, and this moment would come to an end. 
Knowing that, I did what I did next. I showed interest towards her. 
"Umm... What's your name?" 

Even if I missed my chance to meet her, I would end up running into her one day. 
It was destiny. Destiny that changed my life and remade my boring world into one far more interesting and active. 

Today's Adachi 

I had a dream last night. 
It was so wonderful that I can't remember what happened in it. I can't remember it, and yet, I can tell that it was wonderful. 
Wonderful. That it was.