Six Days

It was never like him to be found in crowded places. The malls, the subway stations, fast foods and even the cinemas were places he preferred not be included in his dictionary. But that day, Usami Akihiko, an acclaimed author who has hidden his identity to the public found himself at the last showing of a dark romance film. A film he has written.

"Damn Aikawa..." Usami grumbled, making himself comfortable at the upper box. Even though there was enough space, he still felt suffocated by the excited hissing of the crowd. It was the second to the last show for the night and yet the cinema just kept on being flooded by watchers.

"Sensei, this is a film adapted from your best selling novel! WATCH IT!" Usami cursed silently as he remembered the female editor's never ending chanting of this sentence that she only stopped when Usami was already about to enter the cinema.

"I've watched it a million times sensei so enjoy yourself!"

The entire place was flooded by darkness and everyone fell silent as the start of the box office hit appeared before their eyes. It was a story about love which cannot be returned no matter what. Despite the obvious tragedy, people still flocked the movie, because people, no matter how painful a love is, would always choose to feel the pain than not being inlove at all. And Usami just knew how to play with that.

When Usami opened his eyes, everyone was already out, the dim lighting illuminating the steps.

Yawning, Usami stretched his arms. "I fell asleep...?" Usami found it funny that despite people wiping tears as they walked to the exit, Usami just slept the entire movie. Perhaps because he already knew the outcome so he wasn't interested. Besides, he wrote the story anyway.

He waited until everyone was gone before he stood himself. And that was when he heard a sensation of something vibrating on the padded floor and a buzzing sound, where he was standing.

"Hmmm?" he looked down. And when he knelt on one knee, he noticed a phone vibrating under his seat. "Stupid...does this kind of thing still really happens?"

Reaching for the phone, the man hurriedly stood and went to the exit himself.

He pressed the answer key and listened to the other line. A sound of deep breathing as if the person on the other line just did a marathon was what he heard first.

"AHHH! Yokatta! Thank you someone answered!"

Usami was already walking towards the open-air parking lot where his car was. Because of the flood of people earlier with some who brought their cars, Usami was forced to park outside instead. At the lot, there were some people from afar still talking about how painful the movie was. The electronic board from a tall building showing a late night news could be seen from the lot as well.

"Moshi Moshi?" the voice asked, sounding a bit troubled that the one who got the phone wasn't answering.

"Yes..I'm here."

"Oh...it's an older guy..." the voice commented far from the phone but Usami heard him anyway.

"Sorry for being older...damn this kid," Usami hissed.

"Ahh..sir, could we meet up? I need my phone Sir...please?"

Usami leaned his back against the door of his car and brought an unlighted cigarette to his lips. The sky was still a little dry but as the autumn was about to come forth, there was a chilly feel to it.

"Not now, it's late. Tomorrow we can meet up."

"AHHH! Thank you so much! Ahm, Sir...I'm Takahashi Misaki...I'm really sorry for the trouble. Me and my friends were in the city library earlier and I knew I left my phone in one of the shelves..."

"Huh? Library? What is this guy talking about?" Usami looked at the android phone before putting it back against his ear.

"No need to explain," Usami for no reason turned to look at his back. It was because most of the people in the parking lot were looking up the news at the electronic board.

"Ano... Sir?"

Without the audio, Usami and the rest of the people in the lot just relied on the huge red letters scrolling down at the bottom part of the electronic board.

"Punk, what is your name again?" Usami asked, his brow raised.

"Ah, Takahashi Misaki, what about you Sir?"

Usami Akihiko removed the cigarette from his lips and crumpled it in the palm of his hand. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Huh? Why?"

"-Takahashi Misaki!" another voice from a distance shouted from the other line. " Are you still going to take long? My Mother will kill me by her nagging!"

"Eh...sorry...I'm just getting the name of the person who got my phone then I'm done, sorry for the trouble," the 'Misaki' replied to the impatient voice of another male.

The silverhaired man looked up again at the electronic device with the silent news. The red bold letters underneath the newsachor said ;

"STUDENT; ROBBED, STABBED AND LEFT IN AN ALLEY TO DIE. TAKAHASHI MISAKI OF MITSUHASHI UNIVERSITY'S FAMILY COULDN'T STILL..."

Usami shook his head. There could be hundreds of Takahashi Misaki for all he knew.

"Punk, You know the coffee shop near Mitsuhashi U? Meet me there at three. You message me what you'll be wearing. I'm the one who will approach you. Who knows, this phone might not be really yours..."

The cheerful and still young voice in the other line laughed. "I understand! Thanks...uh..."

"Usa-" He darted his lavender eyes back at the ongoing news and changed his mind. "Usagi."

"Eh? Please give me your real name Sir!"

"Are you in the position to demand such things? I am already being inconvenienced as it is..."

"I'm sorry. Thank you eh...Usagi-san...I'll message you then. I have to return the phone to my friend now!"

The older man was about to lower the phone from his ear when he heard a shout.

"Usagi-san?! Usagi-san?!"

"Tsk...yes?"

"Uhm...I'm really sorry for the trouble. But I'm really happy it's you who got the phone because I don't think many would go to the trouble returning it to me. Thank you...!"

Driving, Usami glanced at the phone sitting on the passenger seat. In all honesty he couldn't be bothered at all, but such was the heartfelt thanks the boy gave that Usami found himself actually looking forward to tomorrow.

As the tall buildings seemed to be just a blurr of sparkling tall cylinders, the face of the young teenager in the news earlier flashed in his eyes. The boy was so young and had a bright future ahead of him, but with the crazy turn of events, got his life shortened like that.

"Poor kid...anyway...just how common is that name? I thought it was Suzuki? Then it turned out it is Satou...now it's Takahashi?"

In the news, the smiling face of the teenager with such soft looking hair took most of the screen. His green eyes looked really the eyes of some eager young man to explore the world. To die painfully and meaninglessly, what could be that boy thinking during his last breath?

"Huh...what do I care?"

That afternoon, Usami was surprised to found himself again at a place where there were so many young people. They were at the side of the streets, wearing all kinds of fashion from geeks to outrageous. Their voices were in the air, a sound of indistinc laughter and worries about all stuff young people encountered floating.

Usami decided to park his car at a nearby establishment. He was standing under a huge maple tree, facing the coffee shop he and the owner of the phone he picked up chose to meet.

"I'm wearing a white hoody and darkblue jeans...and uhh...please...look out for me,'' Usami reread the text message and he almost found himself laughing alone on that spot. "It bothers me a lot...but I am quite short so you might not see me right away...(*´▽｀)ゞ "

Looking at the entrance, Usami glanced at his wrist watch. It was 2:50. He was curious as to how the boy would look like but he didn't browse in the phone's memory because that would be invasion of privacy. But he was fine with that because he'll see the clumsy, short kid who lost his phone in the movies thinking he misplaced it in the library in just a few minutes.

With one thought in mind, Usami who was just wearing a casual white shirt and denim jeans wore his darksunglasses, eyeing each and every student who went out and entered the shop. "He must be one interesting kid."

The 2:50 became 3:10. And that 3:10 became 3:30. And as the seconds ticked by, the deeper the frown in Usami's forehead became.

Annoyed, the man looked at the phone and was about to call this Takahashi when the phone rang.

"Where are you?!" Usami hissed. "Do you know how long I have been waiting? Seriously I'm just gonna leave your phone here and go."

"W-wait!" the voice shouted. "I've been here about an hour earlier!"

"Huh?!" the author stepped away from his tree and started approaching the full of students coffee shop. "You said you're wearing a hoody? Where are you sitting?"

"Uhm...outside, at the fourth table..."

Calming himself, Usami eyed the front of the shop. Its brown motiff with its stainless tables outside somehow gave it a still upscale feel despite its cheap prices. The tables set outside were round, and counting, there were a total of seven.

"Fourth huh?" lavender eyes fixed at the person on the fourth table, Usami stood before it and found himself stunned. He had never felt so stupid in his life to be played a prank on.

There on the fourth table was an old lady, about maybe in her 70's, reading a scholarly article. Totally uncaring about her being the oldest in the lot of youngsters laughing their brains out.

"Takahashi. Are you playing with me?"

"Huh? I'm not, Usagi-san! My phone has some of my projects so I cannot afford to lose it! Besides it's not my hobby to do that!"

By the minute, the growing uneasiness in Usami's chest had already spread. He could hear the sincerity in that voice, but where the hell was he then?

Usami started pacing in front of the coffee shop. Some senior students were even thinking he was just a student in the graduate school, but paying them no mind, Usami realized one thing. He didn't do it because normally, unless you were waiting for an email or an important message, you'd never check on the time and date a message was sent.

So there, Usami looked at the messages Takahashi had sent him.

Stopping in front of the table where Takahashi said he was sitting, Usami looked at the old lady who was oblivious to his presence. "I don't believe this. These...these are coming from six days ago..."

"Takahashi...I-I forgot what today is...could you tell me?"

"Ha?" the young voice in the other line sounded a little caught-off guard by the sudden change of the topic but he answered anyway. "Tuesday, July 28th..."

"Tuesday, 28? Are you sure?"

"Of course I am sure! It was Monday yesterday, and it will be Wednesday tomorrow! Usagi-san...I'm sorry but could it be that you're having a hang-over or something?"

"Yeah...maybe..." "It's Monday, August 4th, today..." "Takahashi, I'm sorry but I have an urgent meeting and have to go. We'll meet some other time."

"Huh? B-but..."

"I'll call you, so that you'd know I'm not running away with your phone."

"That's not what I mean..."

Without really thinking at all, Usami drove away from the university. Away from the people. Away from this strange thing going on. Maybe he was just talking to a kid with some mental problems most probably?

"Yeah...that's it. There's no other way right?" But the man found himself slamming on his breaks. In a quiet neighborhood, his car was attention catcher. People tried to look inside but it was heavy tinted. So no matter how nervous Usami was, no one could see.

Who wouldn't be nervous at that situation? It was creepy. And the images of that dead kid from a robbery wouldn't let go of its clutch in his mind.

"I maybe just really needing fresh air now...been stuck in my apartment for a long while."

He would look at the phone on the passenger seat and at the front every once in a while. And then, not being able to control himself, screw privacy, he pulled his own phone out and pulled the news last night.

"Takahashi Misaki...19, after watching the box office hit written by Japan's pride Usami AKihiko, was robbed and killed on his way home..."

He didn't want to believe it but he didn't have much choice but to do it. He pressed on the gallery of the phone he found back in the cinemas.

"This is just exactly like a toddler's phone..." Usami whispered as pictures of some anime characters appeared one after another. Za-Kan, a popular manga even he have heard about dominated the gallery. And when he finally got to see a picture of real humans in it, Usami lost all his strenght.

An older man, darkhaired was holding out a cake to this brownhead, green-eyed teenager happily grinning. The cake said 'happy 19th birthday Misaki'. With Usami's shaking thumb, he zoomed in the picture. And the picture of the Takahashi Misaki who died last night, and the picture of the owner of the phone he picked up and just talked a while ago, looked exactly the same.

His heart pounding so hard, the kind that he had never had for such a long time went on. "I'm talking to this Takahashi Misaki...six days ago...before he died? What the hell..."

Some birds started taking their rest on the front side of Usami's car. Normally he'd have blasted the car horns to shoo them away. But he just looked at them peck at his car. He just looked at them flap their small wings and happily take their rests from flying.

"Why am I in this situation?" Usami asked the windshield. "Should I tell him that he's, after six days...SHIT..."

There was no feeling at all other than human concern. For he wasn't attatched. Yet.

"I never expected to see you here, Usami..." Kamijou Hiroki commented as he was browsing things in the library of his office. "And to think that you're asking me about Time travels and time crossings..."

Usami Akihiko, who had his eyes running at the volumes of books in the shelves shrugged his shoulders. "I told you it's for a novel."

"Hmm..."

Kamijou Hiroki was a long time friend of Usami Akihiko. There had been some issues that happened between them, but they were long buried in the past. This time, they were just close buddies and nothing more. Aside from that, this hot-headed Kamijou was a wide reader. Being a literature professor required him to do so, but reading was a passion of his too. And if Usami needed someone to ask about the most unbelievable things in the world without laughing, that would be this man.

"Ah...found it."

That night, as Usami was driving back to his flat, he had Takahashi Misaki's phone in speaker. Talking to this voice that in reality wasn't existing anymore was already weird, but liking the timber of the voice as it called him 'Usagi-san, Usagi-san' was even stranger.

"I'm sorry...I was selfish Usagi-san. Well, as long as the phone be returned to me, I'm fine. Let it be to your schedule."

"Sorry...there's just something that came up...anyway..." Usami drew deep breath. "You're at home now?"

That was a question even Usami felt like not appropriate to ask. But he couldn't help it. Who could tell in the world that Misaki's time was the past? What if Usami was in the past and Misaki was the future? Who could really tell? The only sure thing was this present where there times crossed paths.

"Ah yes, I need to go home early because I am the one cooking for me and my brother."

"That's kind of surprising..."

This situation that started as weird, became as if it was just natural. And Usami, at the corners of his mind, wished that this time crossings, time parallels, and paradoxes were nothing but just a silly joke. But his friend Kamijou said time issues never ever has been a joke.

Usami had lied despite not wanting to. He lied that the reason he wanted to know about extreme possibilities aside from time travel was because he was starting another novel with this theme. Kamijou asked no more questions and just helped.

"You see Usami, there are many theories about time, but many aren't still proven and just can't be done," Usami remembered his Kamijou had said earlier, pointing his finger at a line in one paragraph.

"Imagine parallel lines, laid one after another, over and under, just lines that go beyond distance. They represent the jumbled mess of every person's time or to be clear, life span or records of one's life..."

"In the story you are planning to write...B dies in A's time. But B suddenly started communicating to A with a six day gap from the present. You mentioned in your story, B said he left his phone in the library but A found his phone at a different place. The possibility then is this..."

" While B was calling his phone in his time, a certain disturbance happened in the balance of the parallel lines and somehow went out of its place. Crossing to A's time instead. So the call instead of going to the phone he left in the library was routed to the phone left in the theaters, unknowingly to his future."

"Huh? I don't get it..."

Kamijou laughed, "Well time is never an easy thing! Anyway, you sure are writing a clumsy character, because if this is the case, it means that B left his phone twice. In the library six days ago, and in the cinemas before he got killed. Clearer?"

"I think...I do and don't," Usami ruffled his hair, his brows meeting in a deep furrow. "Setting those stuff aside...Kamijou...can A stop B from getting killed?"

Kamijou whistled and crossed his arms. "Oh...planning on coming up with a next tearjerker like your novel that got a movie huh? I almost forgot you write mostly about romance..."

"Shut up."

Kamijou sat at the edge of the table and sighed. "Well...if you altered the past, it's all possible right? But, simply put, Usami...two threads, a shorter one and a longer one, lined with each other... the shorter string somehow got blown by the wind and its lower part crossed with the longer thread. They meet at that point right? Then it got blown again and went back to normal. Whatever happened, the shorter thread didn't increase in lenght. So I think, just my own theory, A couldn't save B."

Out of all the mind boggling things Kamijou had said, there was one that Usami believed. "'A' can always try."

The third day of talking in the phone with a person who no longer existed in his time continued. And each minute, time, and conversation, was becoming not just a 'want' for Usami. But also a need.

"Right now I am in the groceries, checking tofus..."

Usami was standing before the tofu part of the grocery store. His hand in his phone, he picked one pack of tofu and looked at it. Somehow, just a bit, there was this illusion that both of them were doing Misaki's shopping.

"Ah, you know Usagi-san if you went to the groceries, you should check the side of the tofu stand..."

The man moved to the side and eyed at white surface. "Why?"

"Because my friend stuck gum in the little holes. If you looked at it closely you'd see them. Seriously, he's got no manners."

Usami smiled faintly. There was indeed some fading pinkish stuff at the small holes of the stand. Maybe he was already being too caught up with this, that he could already see a green-eyed brunet, standing beside him and pointing at the stand.

They were both talking at the same time, both in the same place, but their bodies were at different spaces. There was this stinging sensation in Usami's chest while hearing the other line produce sounds of a boy muttering about prices and decayed vegetables.

"Usagi-san?"

"Ah...yeah?"

"What's wrong? You suddenly got silent? Aren't you still going back to the meeting?"

"It's okay...I can do as I please. So...where are you going now?"

"Home...I'm going to walk since it's just near our house."

Usami walked with his other hand inside his pocket. Walking the same sidewalk Misaki was walking on. Seeing the same things Misaki had seen.

"You're walking near a park, no?" Usami asked.

"Eh! How'd you know!?"

Stopping on his tracks, Usami looked at the deserted playground. Only leaves that had fallen occupied the ground.

"Because I could hear the sounds of a swing and kids laughing."

"Ah...! Yeah...there are a lot of kids playing now..."

After a few more silent walkings, Usami heard the sounds of gates being opened, knobs being turned, and a lively 'Tadaema' came from Misaki.

"Usagi-san, I'll have to charge this old phone so I'll just call later!"

"Sure..."

"Uhm...Usagi-san...if you have...if you have a problem...you can you know..tell me?"

"What made you think that I am problematic?" Usami asked as he was looking at a lonesome house which looked like no one was in it.

"Your voice...sounds like...you're sad. Sorry...after all this talking with you...I felt like we've known each other for so long already! Sorry for being so familiar..."

Smiling, Usami ran his hand on the name plate of the house. It had a huge 'Takahashi' on it, and two smaller 'Takahiro' and 'Misaki' on the right side.

"No it's okay. Something is just bothering me. But don't worry."

"O-okay. Cheer up! Cheer up Usagi-san!"

At the beeping sound of the line being cut off, a lady approached Usami. "Are you here for that nice boy?"

"..."

"Sorry...Misaki-chan's brother is not here because of what happened," she wiped tears at the corner of her eyes and patted Usami on the man's arm. "Many people love that kid...I'm sure...he'll be in a good place."

Somehow there was this irritation. An irritation Usami couldn't understand where it was coming from. Hearing Misaki be talked about as a being of the past, was something he couldn't still accept. Why, he was just talking to him awhile ago, right?

If years could fly by in an instant, what more about the days in it? The fifth day, Usami was near panicking of what to do. Should he tell him? Should he warn him? Say he did that? Where would Misaki be? Will that alter the present where Usami was?

"Takahashi, sorry...my meeting here in the countryside is taking really long..." he lied. Because even though he was standing at the very same spot before the pedestrian lane where Misaki was, they wouldn't cross paths.

"It's okay. I enjoy talking to you Usagi-san."

"..."

"Usagi-san?"

Usami looked down at his feet, "Takahashi, you have plans tomorrow, right?"

The sound from the other line changed from calm to excited. From the sound of Misaki's voice, he was clearly ecstatic about for tomorrow. For tomorrow in his time when he died.

"YEAH! Me and some of my friends will be watching this movie, Stains in White!" Usami flinched. "I've been looking forward to it because I was chosen by the author himself to get free tickets in a raffle!"

"HA?"

"You know...fans answer a certain question from the book. I joined and got picked and the author Usami AKihiko selected five names. Mine is included! If I didn't win the draw, I wouldn't come at all because my allowance is in budget right now...hehehe...I'm broke."

Usami just lost his grip of time, and everything else. Come to think of it, Aikawa was blabbering for him to pick five names, and without even reading them out, Usami just put a check on whoever name his pen would land.

"Takahashi...why don't you discard the ticket? Don't go..."

"Huh? Why?"

"Nothing...just...soon it will get a DVD version of it, so why go to a line and be in with all those people?" Usami didn't even notice his hand getting sweaty as he held the phone against his ear. "Besides, it's dangerous at night."

The boy chuckled. "That's not possible Usagi-san! I am not into reading but I find myself reading his works only. And he chose my name for the tickets so I don't want it to be wasted..."

Usami decided to put his last card up on the board.

"I'm going to wait for you tomorrow at the front of the mall. I'll return your phone," a truth and a lie.

True he would be there, lie because they'd not meet at all if time wouldn't be changed. If he could make the boy not watch the movie and change his route of going home, then he'd lie no matter how many times he had to.

If he just told Misaki to stay put in their house because he'd be robbed and killed, would that even be believable? The boy would just laugh it off.

"So don't ever go into the cinema without me. We'll watch together."

"Eh?" the boy sounded like he had choked on something. "R-really?"

"Yes. So wait for me. Okay? Promise?"

The traffics lights had already turned from red to green a couple of times, left alone before the white parallel lines, silently shaking.

"Promise me, Misaki?"

"...uh...Okay..."

The call ended, with Usami hiding his face with one hand, his other hand on his side holding the phone tightly. "You're not dying. We'll change your future..."

Usami had been standing before the great mall since early morning. And now that the sun had already set a long time ago, with the people from the work force rushing to catch the movie he wrote, Usami was still as tense as he first set foot on the place. He rested his stiff back against the small lamp post behind him and sighed. The rush of people going in and out, oblivious to this stupid time game made Usami seething in annoyance and anger.

And to top it all off, Takahashi had been sending messages to which Usami didn't reply once.

"Where are you Usagi-san?" the text read. "I'm standing at the front of the entrance and to my right is a fountain and uhm...there is a lamp post behind me..."

Usami smiled. A sad smile as he watched the view before him. "I'm standing behind you..."

"The movieis about to start..." another text came.

But Usami just remained standing there, seeing an imaginary boy waiting before him.

Usami forced himself not to reply or answer the calls Misaki was giving him. Until the people had gone out of the mall, until the movie has ended, and until the next showing was already in its half. When he was sure there was no way for Misaki to catch on the movie anymore, that was when Usami finally answered to call.

"Are you alright?! Did something happen?! Why aren't you answering!?" the voice shouting in the other line hurt Usami's ears. But he was enjoying every bit of it. Misaki was that worried? Usami as twisted as it was, it made him happy, for he wasn't just the one who was worrying.

"I'm sorry...I was caught in a last meeting..." Usami lied.

"The movie has ended..." the boy mumbled, the disappointment really obvious.

Usami felt bad for being the reason of that sudden saddess for Misaki. But if that one major event before Misaki died was changed, Usami could only expect that there would also be a change of the outcomes of the night.

"You didn't watch it?"

"How can I? I promised you I'd wait for you right?!"

Just for teasing, because Usami was already feeling relieved, the man chuckled. "Why did you do that? I wasn't expecting you'd really-"

Usami's smile and good feeling vanished. The sounds of screaming at the other line were so shrilly it almost sliced through his brains. "Watch out! Watch out! The boy!"

A screeching sound came closer. Closer, faster, more vivid.

"Oi, what's going on!?" Usami shouted, catching the attention of the others near him.

Usami had to pull the phone away from his ears at the painful sound of metal slamming to metal. Broken glasses, shards of them falling on the pavement, their sounds were so clear, etching everything in Usami's mind.

"Hey! The car! The car hit someone! Call 119! Someone! SOMEONE'S BEEN HIT BY A CAR!"

Eyes unfocused, Usami lost the feel of his legs and he fell on one knee. Afraid to even start asking.

"Hey...Takahashi? What's going on there?" he asked, carefully, so softly.

"What the hell were you doing you drunk driver! You hit the boy! He was just standing there! Damn you!" a voice of an angry man shrieked. Other murmurings reached Usami's pounding ears. The sound of an incoming ambulance nearing.

"Hey...he's awake...he's trying to talk to the phone..."

"Takahashi...?" Usami called once more.

"Don't touch him! Let the medics take care of him!"

'"Ta-takahashi...?"

Out of all the many sounds filling his ear, there was one voice louder than everyone else. A breath so deep, a breath so peaceful, started replacing the mess of sounds into a chime.

"Usagi-san...I don't feel anything in my body..."

Usami's clapped his hand to his mouth.

"T-takahashi..." Usami breathed out, feeling this very painful sensation in his throat. A pain shouting or any crying wouldn't be able to lift.

"Usagi-san...you're a psychic, aren't you?"

Usami wanted to laugh. But instead, tears stained his cheeks.

"You knew something bad will happen if I watch the movie so you stopped me...but...I guess it's just really my time?"

"I...I..." Usami wanted to talk more. But he was just numb all over.

"Hey the medics, give them way!" a voice of an old man shouted.

"Usagi-san...this situation makes me entitled to say something weird right?"

"Ba-baka..."

There was a long pause that made Usami's heart almost stop.

"I think...I like you..."

"...Mi-misaki..."

The many people walking by, going home late from their late night outings or overtimes in their jobs looked at Usami with curious eyes. As the man just clutched Misaki's phone in his hand, closer to his lips. His shoulders trembling in that night. His entire form enveloped with sorrow.

He failed. Whatever he did, he failed.

"Misaki...?"

"I'm glad...to have met you..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Why?"

"I'm sorry...I really am..."

He was there on the ground, kneeling, almost hugging himself, whispering something in the phone only he could hear.

"I love you," Usami whispered hoarsely. He whispered the words over and over to his hand that was holding Misaki's phone a while ago. In an instant, the phone disappeared in his hand. Leaving him empty handed, heart and soul.

"Oi...Sir..." a concerned voice called. "Sir, this place is still off limits..."

Usami looked up at the voice. It was coming from a police officer. Usami had the urge to look behind him. And what he saw just crushed him. The lamp post earlier where he was just resting his back was almost in a C-shape. Spots of crude and reddish drops were on the ground.

"Sir...an accident happened here last week," the officer was waiving a rolled peace of paper in the air as he was looking at Usami. " ... please stay away from the area..."

Not caring how he looked liked, Usami stood and grabbed the newspaper. Unrolling it, he read the bold letters.

"Oi...Sir...that's an old newspaper..."

Eyes unfocused, he read; "DRUNK DRIVER LOST CONTROL OF HIS CAR AND HIT AN INNOCENT BY STANDER. THE VICTIM, TAKAHASHI MISAKI WAS ANNOUNCED DEAD ON ARRIVAL AT THE HOSPITAL..."

Usami walked away, leaving the officer dumbfounded.

"In the end, it's still the same..." Usami raised his hand to his eyes gritting his teeth.

The wind blew hard, sending the surrounding trees around him and its leaves make a mysterious sound. He was furious and sad beyond description but there was one thing Usami got from getting into this cruel time game.

No matter how much painful it was, having opened his heart like that, having him worrying about other's welfare, all these changes was all because of one person, Takahashi Misaki.

"Having time count our distance is just an illusion...," Usami whispered, sealing the emotion that bloomed in his barren heart within just days no amount of time would be able to change. "Whether you're not around anymore...you're still here..."

end

chapter end notes:

*Satou is the most common surname in Japan, then Suzuki followed by Takahashi. (from surveys)

hi everyone...whew...done with my first oneshot after getting sick! yey!(°◇°人°◇°) since i was sick while having this idea...(and even though i maybe not) it;s about dying and trying to stop it as usual. haha

hmmm...the things Kamijou said are all just things I made up, an idea i got from:

"COsmic Strings"^^-according to this theory, they are thin lines stretching out never-endingly. They maybe just parallel or in loops. if these lines approached, it can bend something that is called space-time and allow time travel.

But my parallel lines here represented the 'life' instead of 'time' itself and has an end and the crossing of two lives at a different point where it shouldn't. i know it's confusing, but reading about the many time theories and paradoxes made me feel so

i've read Einstein's explanations too about time and was blown away. I never took him very seriously...but his time ideas are just plain genius!

thanks for reading! and please share your thoughts.^^

-shuusetsu ﾐ(o*･ω･)ﾉ