-{| I Remember in September |}-

Chapter 1
Have I ever told you … ?

"Oh junior, now after you have mentioned it: Have I ever told you about the September that I will never forget in my entire life?", I've asked my youngest son on this dreary Thursday on the 31th December of 2037, just a couple of hours before fireworks loudly ignite the skies.

"Do you mean this September of 2019 you sometimes mention, daddy?", my youngest son replied.

"Oh please spare me with this story again…", groused my oldest son back. "I can't hear it anymore!"

"Be quiet Satsujin-han! Your brother Musuko has never heard it before! I have to tell him. See it as an important life experience that you might need in the future. You'll never know what will come towards you in life!"

"Okay daddy, I am listening", Musuko opened his eyes and ears.

"Nah, I will leave. I would rather read manga if that's fine", replied Satsuji-han.

"Of course my dear", returned my lovely wife Tsuma-chan. "But come back when the countdown for 2038 starts, okay?"

"Yeah, sure", he rolled his eyes.

With my junior's and my wife's attention on my side I wanted to start. Even though I have explained it only a few hundred times, the hardest thing to me always is and always was the beginning. I'm never entirely sure where I should start – but it might be the best to simply start from the beginning.

Like every single year in the Akademi High School started the first day of school with the same intense rain - not a weak drizzle but more a shower of a thousand buckets. My umbrella hardly withstood the amount of water and I think most of my fellows were as glad as I was when we finally entered the bus. You won't believe how fogged the windows in the bus were. This was also the year in which the traffic enterprises in my old hometown finally took the step to afford newer and taller buses. Man was I glad about that. After I had sat down the first thing that came into my mind and I wanted to do is to take out my newest manga and read the next case of my childhood-hero Detective Conan. I always had the same smile when I opened a new Manga and smelled that intense scent of the printing ink. I am not entirely sure why so many people don't read mangas, particularly Detective Conan, in my school. In this case I seem to be the only boring nerd around. I always said to my friends and family that in dictionaries beneath the term "boring" and "nerd" should be written "e.g. Taro Yamada". My name really deserved this. Anyways, before I could flip to the second page someone interrupted me.

"Hey Taro! There you are!"

I looked up and saw the face of my best buddy – Budo Masuta, the strongest and bravest hero that not even Son Goku could compete with. But he was not alone…

"You read Conan again? You hopefully didn't forget about us? Baka!"

Only my other best friend from childhood was allowed to call me Baka – Osana Najimi, the girl that should deserve to be named beneath the idiom "hard shell, soft core".

"Oh uh well you know how I am when I spot a new manga", I replied while almost throwing my school-bag down the seat.

"Thanks. How was your last day of holidays in … uh … where were you again?", asked Budo.

"In Austria, Budo", Osana answered to him.

"Wow cool! Did you get to ride a kangaroo?", Budo asked. I laughed loudly, whereas Osana could only facepalm.

"He was in A-U-S-T-R-I-A, Baka!", Osana replied back.

"I was wandering up high mountains, not through deserts", I laughed.

"Oh my bad! I always mix them up!", Budo returned. "So uhm, how was it?"

"It was wonderful. You should really check it out!", I said. "But for nothing in the world would I prefer a Kaiserschmarren over some Ama Ebi and Hoso-Maki!"

But not only I had to say many things about the past five weeks. Osana and Budo also left Japan to see new places. The redhead with twintails went to California for three weeks – I could already tell that she liked it since she returned much more tanned. To be honest – I found that quite attractive on her. But the pale skin around her eyes in shape of pilot glasses almost caused me to let a laugh escape my mouth – almost.
The grandson of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan went to Brazil and showed me all of his 35 self-portraits in front of the Cristo Redentor, all of his 46 photographs from the hotel and his room, all of his 57 images from the marvelous landscape and all of his 68 pictures from native food – alongside to every picture came a story.

I always wondered how Budo managed to speak so long without at least inhaling a quintal of fresh air before, between and after. But I cannot be mad about it – not only is he a well trained fighter, he might also be a good story-teller. Unfortunately though … he might be a bit too good at it! When he showed me the last picture and finished his sentence, we already stood in the locker room. Everybody except for Budo and me already had changed their shoes and left to the classrooms.

"Oh no! Look at the watch! We are late!", I shouted and immediately changed my shoes. "And this on the first day of school!"

"Now this is bad...", he commented and scratched his head's back.

I think I have never changed my shoes faster in my life before. What a bummer! Budo wasn't as quick as I was, but there were still one or two minutes left for me to rush towards the classroom. I know, I know – running in the hallways is forbidden, but this time I had to take a risk. So I hurried and ran in a way that even Sonic the Hedgehog would have given me a speeding ticket. I was so sunken in my thoughts of possible consequences that I only saw what was in front of me. And then … bam! I banged together with one of the students that also was in a massive hurry.

"Ouch … I-I'm so sorry! Are you – okay? ", I asked the other student after getting up again. I felt so awkward in this situation, because I could easily have avoided this by just being a tiny bit more careful. However I reached for her hand and looked into her eyes.

"Yes", she calmly responded – and with a slightly opened mouth she also stared into my eyes while taking my hand. The weird thing was: When I helped her gathering the books I saw that she definitely went to the second class. But somehow have I never noticed her before. She was the only one who had such dark eyes and black hair – actually quite beautiful in my opinion. But due to her spare answer I guessed that she is quite shy like that one girl from the Occult Club.

"Ok I hope I got every book, hehe", I spoke ashamed. "Sorry again. I-I have to hurry now. See you later!"

She didn't reply to this, so I rushed towards the classroom again in the hope to minimize the upcoming penalty as much as possible. Osana looked mad towards me when I sat down next to her, calling me Baka again - twice, and heck even Budo, who made a questioning gesture towards me, could make into the class before me. To my luck the teacher also was way too late, so I received zero comma zero penalties. Whew! From this day on the usual madness at school started – yet sometimes I tried to remember who that girl from before was.

My dear, if I only knew earlier whom I had met this day …

A/N: Happy new year to you! Enjoy your parties because now it is time for 2018 to come!