"Was it fate?
"I saw her every day. One seat away from me. Always in front of me.
"She never noticed me. And when she did, it was because of my misbehaving. I wasn't who I wanted to be back then. I was nothing to anyone and nobody was anything to me.
"She never noticed me, nor I her.
"But then it happened. Who knew that 24 Hours would change my life so much.
"24 Hours and a Deck of Cards..."
The dark haired boy walked to school. His dark green uniform felt like it was dragging him down. He hated this walk. Every single day he stepped on the many flower petals that had fallen from the nearby trees. Every day many people walked past him, smiling as they spoke about what they had done the day before. He hated them. He hated all those who ran around with their friends, laughing.
He never ran to school. He did the opposite. He was always late, despite being there early. He hated the place too much to ever enter class on time. He preferred to sit outside on the bench until someone saw him and made him go to class. He wondered why he even went in the first place. Maybe he was holding out for some chance that he may find something there that he loved. But as the seasons went on, he doubted it more and more.
He took the coins out of his pocket as he entered the school gates. A few days ago he decided to leave school in the middle of lessons and get himself a burger. He paid with the lone note he had and received change. Nobody noticed he was gone.
Well, I say nobody noticed...
...Someone did. He did not notice them notice. He did not care.
He shuffled the coins around in his hands. One of the two coins fell, the one with the larger value, and began to roll out the school gates. The school bell rang as it fell but he did not care. He just walked to find what he dropped.
It took him a few minutes but he did not care. He found the coin just outside the school gates, hidden behind a couple of flowers. He grabbed it with haste and in this haste he accidentally pulled up the flowers as well. He still did not care. He put the flowers in his pocket with the coins.
"Hey kid,"
A voice called out to him. Wordlessly, he turned to face the owner of this mysterious voice.
"It's not nice to pull up flowers."
The boy sighed. He did not care. Two purple flowers meant nothing to him. The old man in front of him may have appeared out of nowhere but he did not care. This man was just another person who hated him. The boy looked at the old man to see the usual scolding expression upon his face.
The old man was smiling at him. The boy was a little taken back by what he saw, very few people smiled when they saw him. The old man was wearing a robe in the same green as the school uniform. The robes appeared to be full of pockets though, which puzzled the boy.
"Old man, what are you doing here?"
The boy gave in to the old man. He decided to pass the time by talking to this peculiar fellow. Anything was better than an English lesson.
"I am here to make you and offer. That coin in your hand for the contents of this pocket." He gestured towards a pocket on his left, his wrinkled hand being exposed to the sun as he did so, "I do not wish to trick you, Shou."
Shou was surprised. How did someone know his name? This man was definitely a strange one. Shou kept quiet. He thought about the value of the coin in his hand. What could it get him? A cheeseburger? A go on an arcade game? He decided that he would risk it. After all, he waited every day for an opportunity like this. It would be a chance to end his boredom.
"Deal."
And with that word, that word that takes merely 2 seconds to say, he took his first step towards his fate. This marks the first of the 24 Hours. At exactly 9:32am on May the Fifth, a lonely Monday morning, he began his destiny.
He handed the man the coin. In return he got two boxes, each one around the size of a pack of playing cards. He wondered why the man gave this to him, but as he faced towards the school he always walked to, he forgot about it. He placed the boxes in his right pocket, away from the flowers.
"Aokisa Shou, you are in a lot of trouble."
The teacher said the same thing every time Shou entered the class late. Shou did not care. He took his seat at the back of the class and looked out the window. He saw where he was standing a few minutes ago. He did not care.
It was time for break. People rarely left the class and those who did merely visited another class to see their friends. Shou found it boring. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the two boxes. The box was made of wood, handmade by the look of it. It was a shoddy piece of work. He opened it.
And took out a ring and a piece of paper.
The ring looked like it was made of pure gold, it was a magnificent sight. He wondered why the man gave it to him. He decided to wear it for now and sell it later. He would then use the money to do whatever he wanted. He inspected the piece of paper. It looked worthless to him. He did not even bother turning it over.
Eager to see what was in the other box, he opened it and found just a deck of cards. He felt a little disheartened after seeing the beautiful ring on his finger but he did not care. Playing cards are fun.
He called over a few of the boys who were chatting among themselves nearby. He decided that he wanted money, and he knew how to get it.
"Let's gamble. I'll pay you double your bet if you get it right."
"What's the game?"
"Higher or Lower."
He knew how to cheat. He did it to some kids at his old school but got busted. He had checked the bottom ten cards of the pack and smiled. Diversion was key in this.
He dealt out one card to the table, the Jack of Hearts. He knew what they would say as soon as it was revealed. Nobody would guess that it was higher. The leader of the boys placed a bet on the table. It was the same as he had given the man earlier that morning, over double what he had on him. The word lower came out of the boys mouth just as expected.
Shou moved his left hand off the deck, causing the shining ring to dazzle the boys in front of him. While they noticed it, he dealt a card from the bottom of the pack, the King of Clubs. His plan went perfectly.
Every few deals he would let the Rugby Members win. He wanted them to keep playing so he could gain more money. By the end of break, he had over ten times as much as he started with that morning. Lesson started as normal. He cared not about Shakespeare or The Tempest. He hated school.
He was bored. He waited for the lunch bell to ring as he counted the money he had. It was enough to buy a new computer game! He eagerly awaited the lunch bell to ring. And eventually, it did.
"Ermm, sorry about this Aokisa-Kun. I noticed that you got hold of some money this break time."
The girl who always sat in front of him spoke. Konhara Akira, the pride of the classroom. She was always kind and so was voted to be head of the classroom earlier that year. Shou did not care. He never did. Her purple hair and purple eyes were complimentary to each other. While she was not smart, she was popular with most people in the class.
"Yeah, I did. I'm not returning it."
He was blunt. He knew how this kind of thing turned out.
"I'm not asking that!" She blushed. It was one of the many things people liked about her. "I-I-I... I forgot my money today. Can I borrow some from you?"
As he opened his mouth to say something really rude to her, he was stopped. Instead, some other words came out.
"Okay. I'll give you some."
He could not believe what he had said. He hated those who were kind. Why? He did not know. And after that moment, he never knew again. But what he said did not seem natural. It was as if someone else spoke in his stead.
"R-r-r-really?" She did not believe what she heard. She never thought that he could be kind. Then again, neither did he. "Thank you!"
With his words, even though they were not his own, he was obligated to hand over some money. He reached into his pocket and took out enough for a school lunch.
And the flowers.
He was surprised they had not withered. He truly was. He forgot about them but they looked as fresh as he picked them. She noticed them and took a step back.
"I-I-I... I didn't know you felt that way!"
He wanted to say it was a misunderstanding but the words could not come to him. He handed her the money and the flowers and left, leaving her dumbfounded. As soon as he out of sight, he broke into a sprint and ran to the bench where he usually sat in the mornings.
"What the hell is wrong with me!" He screamed to himself. Nobody heard him, or rather, nobody cared. His shouts were nothing next to the daily lives of the football team practising near him.
"Nothing."
The word echoed in his mind. He felt scared. Someone was talking to him from within his mind. He hated that.
"Who are you?" He yelled at himself.
"I am Sora. I am an angel."
He thought it was a joke. He thought that someone had placed a walkie-talkie in his pocket or something. He frantically dug through his pockets looking for it. He did this for five minutes before giving up.
"An angel? Prove it." He began to question this angel. Who would believe in them?
"As you wish."
The words resonated in his mind. In front of him stood a woman, a young woman dressed in white. He blonde hair flowed like a waterfall and he face looked as beautiful as some of the models he occasionally saw in magazines. She had appeared from nowhere. For a short amount of time, he was too overcome with shock to move.
"What are you doing here?" He yelled. He still did not like this. The wings on this woman's back were too much for him.
"I am here on a mission. There is a boy at this school who thinks nobody cares about him. My mission is to prove him wrong."
Shou was dumbfounded. An angel was here to prove him wrong. He thought he must have snapped.
"What if I don't want your help? What if I want some peace?"
He wanted to get away. Angels never just appear in front of you for no reason. Why choose him?
"The ring. At midnight, I will go no matter what you ask of me. If at some point during the next day, exactly 24 hours after receiving the ring, you take it off and give it to someone as a present, my work will be done. But of you are wearing it at 9:32am tomorrow, you will find yourself without any memory of me and will be returned to before you got the ring."
He was still dumbfounded. It was a very complicated situation. Still, one day of being nice could not hurt. He decided to follow through with what Sora said.
"Okay. But if you fail your mission, you will have to give me a lot of money."
Sora smiled, "You will have the ring. And I will make it so that you can sell it for enough money to buy that car you read about in the magazine. Is that enough?"
Shou decided to try his luck one more time.
"And you must promise that you will not change anything from now on. No more flowers, no more making me say things I don't want to and no more controlling what I do!"
"I promise."
And at that point in time, he repeated himself.
"Deal."
And so the path to destiny began. Fate had started. But before you read on, just remember that Sora never controlled Shou after that. From here on out, he made all the choices. Sora had already set all the pieces in motion.
Lunch ended soon after his discussion with Sora. Sora went back into Shou's mind and remained there as Shou returned to lessons. He could not stop thinking of all the riches we would have the following day. He smiled at the thought.
"A-A-Aokisa-Kun?"
Akira spoke to him partway through the lesson, they were meant to be discussing algebra but Shou did not want to. Her voice was as timid as always.
"C-c-can I borrow some piper?"
"Piper?"
Akira looked really sad, she blushed as Shou repeated her faux pas. In her shyness, she had made a mistake.
"I-I-I... I mean paper!"
She sounded like she was about to cry, she began to turn away from Shou but before the tears could rain from the clouds known as her eyes, She felt a tap on her back. Shou held out a piece of paper he had found in his pocket, the same piece that was in the box that morning.
"Thank you." Once again, she was struck for words. She pinched herself to check if all this was real.
Class was boring for the next few minutes. Just more and more algebra. Shou was not an idiot, just lazy. He could do most of the stuff on the board and did not care about the rest. Near the end of the lesson, something else did happen that even caused Shou to care.
"...Equals 27x. Konhara, please tell the class how to do the next question."
Most of the class looked towards the usually energetic Akira, but she did not seem to notice. She seemed to be reading something.
"Akira!"
Akira looked up, she seemed a little oblivious to her surroundings. She looked up from something on her desk.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
The class fell silent. The boy behind her was worried. As the teacher began searching for the words to express how he felt, Shou spoke to Sora within his mind.
"You promised not to do anything!"
"I didn't. You didn't check the other side."
Shou was still annoyed at Sora despite what she said. However, the class became a little more active.
"Akira! Because you are not usually like this, I will excuse it if you answer the question!"
Akira stood up quickly, and after a few seconds, she came up with an answer to the question on the board.
"Y = 5X + 7. Sorry for not answering right away."
Akira began to sit down but the girl next to her grabbed the note she had been reading and stopped Akira from reclaiming it.
"Sir, she was reading this."
The teacher walked over to Akira's table and took the note. Upon reading the contents, he began to smile and used the same evil grin he used on me whenever I misbehaved.
"If this was more important to you than the lesson, I'll read it out in front of everyone!"
Akira begged the teacher not to do so but he did so anyway. It was at this point that Shou realised he was not the only one bullied after all. This made him both very happy and very sad at the same time.
"Well: 'To the beauty who has eyes like gems, glittering whenever I see them. You are a treasure to this world and a blessing to all around you. I am glad I've known you these past few years and I will like to walk you home today. Meet me at the gates if you're interested.' A very mysterious message there Akira, I wonder which boy is paying so much attention to you."
At that point, every boy in the class seemed to be looking in any other direction but Akira. Shou, however, was focussed on the paper in the teachers hand, unlike the others who turned away.
"Well, because of this outburst, it's too late to finish all the other questions on the board. If you haven't done them, I'm setting them as homework. Class dismissed."
As Shou left, he heard a few whispers coming from the group of girls gossiping about the love letter.
"I wonder who it is who wrote that letter..."
"I think I saw Aokisa hand her a piece of paper earlier."
"Eww... No way. He's too gross for something like that."
"I'm too what now?"
Shou had crept up behind the talker and in that moment, every one of the girls screamed and ran. Shou and even Sora suspected them of going away to gossip about the letter even more. Luckily, as he was walking to the main gates, he heard some talking from the nearby toilets.
"...He was probably just delivering the message. He's too weird for stuff like that anyway. He probably doesn't care about anyone."
Shou felt a little sad that that was the only way he was perceived. He was too caught up in thinking about the letter that he forgot that he was walking so fast. Usually it took him ten minutes to leave the building. On that day, it only took him 2.
Shou walked through the gates and out of curiosity looked left. He saw the last in the trio of flowers that he had found that morning while searching for the coin. That seemed like ages ago. Shou wondered if he made the right choices back then.
"...Aokisa-Kun?"
A surprised sound came from behind him. He knew what had happened and cursed his foolishness. He was right by the gate when he would usually be walking home. The flowers from earlier did not help his case. He turned around.
"Hey Konhara-Chan. Are you waiting for that guy?"
Akira was right behind him. She did not seem to hear the end of the sentence as she was busy looking at the flower Shou had been looking at just a few seconds ago.
"It's so cute!"
Shou looked at the flower again, the natural beauty of it reminded him of the girl right next to him.
"Ohh, I guess it is."
Shou stopped caring about the flower. He did not know that Akira would get distracted by cute things so easily. He wondered what he did not know about her. Akira turned to face him.
"I'm sorry, are you what?"
Shou smiled, then blamed Sora for it. He sighed and looked right at Akira.
"Are you ready to go, Akira-Chan?"
Without hesitation, Akira responded. Shou was still wondering how he did not know so much about her despite always being next to each other. He did not even know her birthday.
"Okay, Aokisa-Kun!"
As the two of them walked down the hill together under the blooming flowers, Shou got a strange feeling that a bunch of girls from his class had fainted in disbelief. The thought of so much confusion made Shou chuckle. Sora smiled as well, seeing how different this man was to the boy she had met that morning.
The two of them passed by the the shopping district together. On the way, they had not spoken at all on the way but as they passed, Shou got a feeling to ask Akira something.
"Hey, want to spend the rest of the day together? I know some nice places to eat."
In honesty, he was just bored and after a burger but when he looked at Akira, he felt like he wanted to get to know her a little bit more. Besides, he would always get this day back later when Sora left. Akira, however, saw this as him asking her on a date.
"That sounds lovely Shou-Kun!"
Shou was not sure what was more surprising, the sudden change in atmosphere to a really happy one or the sudden usage of his first name. [Editors note, in Japan people are referred to by their surnames unless they give permission to use the first name.] He decided to kill the time waiting for 9:32am the next day with her, as it would be more fun that just going on the arcade machines.
The pair started by going shopping, Shou did not mind shopping as much as he thought he would. He was surprised that he was not bored, as it seemed like he got along well with her and they had similar interests. All day he wondered about her, as she would try on some bizarre stuff that was usually cosplay related.
That evening, he took her into his favourite restaurant, a coffee shop called Cuppa C. [Editors Note, Cuppa C appears in The Chosen, Katsuro, Sors Castrum and will appear in many more projects. All under the same guise.] He ordered some chips and a couple of burgers and had a chat with the girl who dared to sit opposite him.
"So, Akira-Chan, why is it that you love cosplay so much?"
Akira looked like Shou said the wrong thing. Shou noticed instantly that cosplay was very important to her.
"I like cosplay because I get to be the people I admire most. Also, it's cute."
Shou agreed with her and they spent the next hour laughing, talking and eating together. During this time, he realised how much he had spent on coffee and cosplay items. He barely had enough left for the game he wanted. He decided to walk there with the girl he had grown to like.
On the way, he saw a young boy crying with an ice-cream cone in his hand but the ice cream on the floor. He knew that if he bought him a new one then he would not have enough for the game he wanted. Shou decided that seeing as he only had one day like this before he forgot everything, he might as well just do the morally right thing.
Shou bought three ice-creams. One for the boy, one for Akira and one for himself. He was down to the last few coins left, less than he started the day with before he made the deal. He knew that he would not have enough money to waste any like this ever again, but then he realised that he was going to be rich the next day so felt happy.
As the sun began to set, Shou and Akira walked across the road to the park, hand in hand, and sat on the bench there. Shou often came here and knew that it was a lovely place for a conversation. He was still puzzled about one last thing, though.
"Akira-Chan, why did you agree to this so easily?"
Akira was a little confused at the question, so he repeated himself. After a few minutes, she responded.
"Well, I've always been near you in class," she began to blush, "And I always thought you were cool. I could sense some sort of beauty inside you. I guess I would have said yes to you at any time. It's was not just the flowers or the letter, it was only you that made me want to come here with you."
Shou felt something inside his chest grip him. He wondered, was this love?
"Shou-Kun, can you tell me a little about why you hide your true self from everyone."
Until that point on that day, Shou never realised that this him that he had been since he spoke with Sora was the true Shou. He thought he was just pretending up until then. He never realised that he was such a delinquent because of what happened until then.
"6 years ago, my mother died. It traumatised both my dad and myself. I lashed out at school and got suspended. Dad kicked me out on that day. He told me to move away, to another town and I did. I was happy to get away from him. He never told me that he loved me and he never will. He sends me a monthly cheque covering all the necessitates. I guess that made me feel lonely, having no family or friends."
Shou could feel tears running down his face, he always acted tough so he would not cry but this girl that he sat with brought it all out. She lent him a shoulder and he cried for a long time. When he stopped crying, he embraced Akira. Together, they hugged for hours. The sun slowly set on this scene but Shou never wanted it to stop.
When it was dark, he looked Akira in the eyes and spoke.
"I will see you tomorrow morning."
He fumbled in his pocket for a present to give her but could only find the Cards from earlier.
"Sorry it's not much. I hope to do this again."
He walked her across the road and began to wave goodbye to her. He watched her for a bit as she began to leave. Sora smiled at him as she saw this scene. Sora felt happy at this point.
Shou sat on the bench and looked up at the stars. He looked down at his ring and wondered, should he give up fortune for what he felt today? In less than 12 hours, he would forget everything that happened. He began to have doubts for the first time since seeing the ring.
"I can't believe I dropped it."
Shou opened his eyes. It was very late. He realised he must have been asleep for a few hours on the bench. He turned towards Sora, who commented on the time being only 10pm. Shou saw a familiar figure in the distance, looking for something.
"I can't believe I lost his present."
Akira. She was looking for something. He could see the cards on the middle of the road and was going to go and pick them up when he remembered that this park was often used for drag races. He watched as Akira walked into the middle of the road, the darkness above preventing her from seeing that it was a road, and she began to pick up the deck.
Shou saw a light coming at a very fast speed towards her and before he knew it, he was running towards her. He pushed her at the last second and got hit by the car instead. He could feel the bones in his leg break as he hit the ground.
Akira looked at the figure that had saved her in horror as the rain landed on his once perfect skin. Blood trickled down his face as she held him close. Sora broke her promise by making an ambulance appear before it was too late, but Akira never knew that. She helped the unconscious boy who gave his body to protect her into the ambulance.
11:50pm. Shou could not open his eyes because of the pain. his left leg felt dreadful. He somehow was able to tilt his head to the left and open his eyes slightly. His wet, bloody body was in too much pain for anything else.
"Shou, it's almost time for me to go. Looking around the room, I may have fulfilled my mission."
"Sora," Shou mustered all his strength into speaking, "Thank you for today."
And with that, Sora disappears from our tale. Shou fell back asleep at the stroke of twelve.
He had already has his operation of his foot. His real one was replaced by a false one. He did not know about it until morning though, as the hospital could not wake him.
"Shou, I'll be back later."
The clock on the table next to the bed said that it was 9:00am. The voice of the girl made him smile. Her felt something warm against his cheek and then heard a door shut.
He woke up suddenly. He saw his bloody clothes on the top of a chair nearby. He saw the torn cards on the table near the chair and finally, he saw the ring on his finger. He did not want to ring any more. A nurse walked in.
"Aokisa Shou? I'm the nurse. You have had your foot amputated and replaced. You are excused from school for a month while you recover here."
Shou did not care.
"Can I walk?"
The nurse did not know what he was on about, the force of the incident was too much for him to walk for at least another few days.
Shou did not care. He stood up and felt the force of the pain. If only by miracle, he managed to start walking, despite the burning agony in his legs. He did not care. In ten minutes, he would forget everything and the world would go back to as it was before he met Sora. He did not want that.
Akira gazed out of the window. The gossip about her was blooming, as many people saw her with Shou.
"Did you hear that Konhara is going out with Aokisa?"
"Did you hear that Aokisa got hit by a car yesterday?"
"OMG! I hope she's okay."
She wanted to cry. He got hurt because of him. 9:28. Lesson would start in two minutes. She did not want to be here, she wanted to be with Shou.
A woman walked into class. She had blonde hair and looked like she was in her early twenties. She went unnoticed by the rest of the class but slowly approached the girl who was on the brink of tears.
"Akira, go to the school gates now or you'll never feel happy again."
It sounded like a threat but Akira could see something in the distance. She did not care what it was. She ran as fast as she can to it. She tripped twice but she did not care. She had to get there as soon as she could.
At the school gates, she saw a man stagger through the last few steps in agony. She could not say anything, seeing Shou in so much pain.
"Shou-Kun..."
She dropped to her knees, the bell rang from the school but she did not care. Already a commotion was rising in the classroom. Some people thought she was crying in the toilets, some people thought she was embarrassed of the rumours.
"Akira!" Shou dropped down on his good knee in front of her. The pain had finally stopped him. The two of them looked each other in the eyes and finally, after what seemed like an eternity he said, "I love you."
And they kissed, in the arms of the one they loved on the most difficult morning of their life they kissed. As they kissed, Shou felt the last of his strength leave him and he fell down yet again. She let him sleep on her lap. She looked at her watch. 9:31am on May the Fifth. She would remember that moment forever.
She felt something cold enter her hand from the hand that was still holding Shou's. She looked at it and saw a ring. It was beautiful. She put it on and never took it off. As the clock turned forward another minute, an extraordinary thing happened.
Nothing.
He had chosen her over fortune and body.
"And that, Sora, is how I met mummy."
It was12 years later. While he could not walk for another 3 months, he was always with Akira. And, soon after graduating together, the two of them got married. He got a job as a shop assistant in Cuppa C to support his wife through Med School. He was the manager of the local Cuppa C and she was a doctor when they had their daughter 7 years before.
Akira thought that the name was chosen because it complimented Shou, as his name meant Flying and their daughters meant Flying as well. Shou chose it because he believed that his daughter was an angel.
After the story, the three of them played a few card games. No matter how torn or stained they were, they always used the same deck.
By Katsu Aoki.
"I saw her every day. One seat away from me. Always in front of me.
"She never noticed me. And when she did, it was because of my misbehaving. I wasn't who I wanted to be back then. I was nothing to anyone and nobody was anything to me.
"She never noticed me, nor I her.
"But then it happened. Who knew that 24 Hours would change my life so much.
"24 Hours and a Deck of Cards..."
The dark haired boy walked to school. His dark green uniform felt like it was dragging him down. He hated this walk. Every single day he stepped on the many flower petals that had fallen from the nearby trees. Every day many people walked past him, smiling as they spoke about what they had done the day before. He hated them. He hated all those who ran around with their friends, laughing.
He never ran to school. He did the opposite. He was always late, despite being there early. He hated the place too much to ever enter class on time. He preferred to sit outside on the bench until someone saw him and made him go to class. He wondered why he even went in the first place. Maybe he was holding out for some chance that he may find something there that he loved. But as the seasons went on, he doubted it more and more.
He took the coins out of his pocket as he entered the school gates. A few days ago he decided to leave school in the middle of lessons and get himself a burger. He paid with the lone note he had and received change. Nobody noticed he was gone.
Well, I say nobody noticed...
...Someone did. He did not notice them notice. He did not care.
He shuffled the coins around in his hands. One of the two coins fell, the one with the larger value, and began to roll out the school gates. The school bell rang as it fell but he did not care. He just walked to find what he dropped.
It took him a few minutes but he did not care. He found the coin just outside the school gates, hidden behind a couple of flowers. He grabbed it with haste and in this haste he accidentally pulled up the flowers as well. He still did not care. He put the flowers in his pocket with the coins.
"Hey kid,"
A voice called out to him. Wordlessly, he turned to face the owner of this mysterious voice.
"It's not nice to pull up flowers."
The boy sighed. He did not care. Two purple flowers meant nothing to him. The old man in front of him may have appeared out of nowhere but he did not care. This man was just another person who hated him. The boy looked at the old man to see the usual scolding expression upon his face.
The old man was smiling at him. The boy was a little taken back by what he saw, very few people smiled when they saw him. The old man was wearing a robe in the same green as the school uniform. The robes appeared to be full of pockets though, which puzzled the boy.
"Old man, what are you doing here?"
The boy gave in to the old man. He decided to pass the time by talking to this peculiar fellow. Anything was better than an English lesson.
"I am here to make you and offer. That coin in your hand for the contents of this pocket." He gestured towards a pocket on his left, his wrinkled hand being exposed to the sun as he did so, "I do not wish to trick you, Shou."
Shou was surprised. How did someone know his name? This man was definitely a strange one. Shou kept quiet. He thought about the value of the coin in his hand. What could it get him? A cheeseburger? A go on an arcade game? He decided that he would risk it. After all, he waited every day for an opportunity like this. It would be a chance to end his boredom.
"Deal."
And with that word, that word that takes merely 2 seconds to say, he took his first step towards his fate. This marks the first of the 24 Hours. At exactly 9:32am on May the Fifth, a lonely Monday morning, he began his destiny.
He handed the man the coin. In return he got two boxes, each one around the size of a pack of playing cards. He wondered why the man gave this to him, but as he faced towards the school he always walked to, he forgot about it. He placed the boxes in his right pocket, away from the flowers.
"Aokisa Shou, you are in a lot of trouble."
The teacher said the same thing every time Shou entered the class late. Shou did not care. He took his seat at the back of the class and looked out the window. He saw where he was standing a few minutes ago. He did not care.
It was time for break. People rarely left the class and those who did merely visited another class to see their friends. Shou found it boring. He reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the two boxes. The box was made of wood, handmade by the look of it. It was a shoddy piece of work. He opened it.
And took out a ring and a piece of paper.
The ring looked like it was made of pure gold, it was a magnificent sight. He wondered why the man gave it to him. He decided to wear it for now and sell it later. He would then use the money to do whatever he wanted. He inspected the piece of paper. It looked worthless to him. He did not even bother turning it over.
Eager to see what was in the other box, he opened it and found just a deck of cards. He felt a little disheartened after seeing the beautiful ring on his finger but he did not care. Playing cards are fun.
He called over a few of the boys who were chatting among themselves nearby. He decided that he wanted money, and he knew how to get it.
"Let's gamble. I'll pay you double your bet if you get it right."
"What's the game?"
"Higher or Lower."
He knew how to cheat. He did it to some kids at his old school but got busted. He had checked the bottom ten cards of the pack and smiled. Diversion was key in this.
He dealt out one card to the table, the Jack of Hearts. He knew what they would say as soon as it was revealed. Nobody would guess that it was higher. The leader of the boys placed a bet on the table. It was the same as he had given the man earlier that morning, over double what he had on him. The word lower came out of the boys mouth just as expected.
Shou moved his left hand off the deck, causing the shining ring to dazzle the boys in front of him. While they noticed it, he dealt a card from the bottom of the pack, the King of Clubs. His plan went perfectly.
Every few deals he would let the Rugby Members win. He wanted them to keep playing so he could gain more money. By the end of break, he had over ten times as much as he started with that morning. Lesson started as normal. He cared not about Shakespeare or The Tempest. He hated school.
He was bored. He waited for the lunch bell to ring as he counted the money he had. It was enough to buy a new computer game! He eagerly awaited the lunch bell to ring. And eventually, it did.
"Ermm, sorry about this Aokisa-Kun. I noticed that you got hold of some money this break time."
The girl who always sat in front of him spoke. Konhara Akira, the pride of the classroom. She was always kind and so was voted to be head of the classroom earlier that year. Shou did not care. He never did. Her purple hair and purple eyes were complimentary to each other. While she was not smart, she was popular with most people in the class.
"Yeah, I did. I'm not returning it."
He was blunt. He knew how this kind of thing turned out.
"I'm not asking that!" She blushed. It was one of the many things people liked about her. "I-I-I... I forgot my money today. Can I borrow some from you?"
As he opened his mouth to say something really rude to her, he was stopped. Instead, some other words came out.
"Okay. I'll give you some."
He could not believe what he had said. He hated those who were kind. Why? He did not know. And after that moment, he never knew again. But what he said did not seem natural. It was as if someone else spoke in his stead.
"R-r-r-really?" She did not believe what she heard. She never thought that he could be kind. Then again, neither did he. "Thank you!"
With his words, even though they were not his own, he was obligated to hand over some money. He reached into his pocket and took out enough for a school lunch.
And the flowers.
He was surprised they had not withered. He truly was. He forgot about them but they looked as fresh as he picked them. She noticed them and took a step back.
"I-I-I... I didn't know you felt that way!"
He wanted to say it was a misunderstanding but the words could not come to him. He handed her the money and the flowers and left, leaving her dumbfounded. As soon as he out of sight, he broke into a sprint and ran to the bench where he usually sat in the mornings.
"What the hell is wrong with me!" He screamed to himself. Nobody heard him, or rather, nobody cared. His shouts were nothing next to the daily lives of the football team practising near him.
"Nothing."
The word echoed in his mind. He felt scared. Someone was talking to him from within his mind. He hated that.
"Who are you?" He yelled at himself.
"I am Sora. I am an angel."
He thought it was a joke. He thought that someone had placed a walkie-talkie in his pocket or something. He frantically dug through his pockets looking for it. He did this for five minutes before giving up.
"An angel? Prove it." He began to question this angel. Who would believe in them?
"As you wish."
The words resonated in his mind. In front of him stood a woman, a young woman dressed in white. He blonde hair flowed like a waterfall and he face looked as beautiful as some of the models he occasionally saw in magazines. She had appeared from nowhere. For a short amount of time, he was too overcome with shock to move.
"What are you doing here?" He yelled. He still did not like this. The wings on this woman's back were too much for him.
"I am here on a mission. There is a boy at this school who thinks nobody cares about him. My mission is to prove him wrong."
Shou was dumbfounded. An angel was here to prove him wrong. He thought he must have snapped.
"What if I don't want your help? What if I want some peace?"
He wanted to get away. Angels never just appear in front of you for no reason. Why choose him?
"The ring. At midnight, I will go no matter what you ask of me. If at some point during the next day, exactly 24 hours after receiving the ring, you take it off and give it to someone as a present, my work will be done. But of you are wearing it at 9:32am tomorrow, you will find yourself without any memory of me and will be returned to before you got the ring."
He was still dumbfounded. It was a very complicated situation. Still, one day of being nice could not hurt. He decided to follow through with what Sora said.
"Okay. But if you fail your mission, you will have to give me a lot of money."
Sora smiled, "You will have the ring. And I will make it so that you can sell it for enough money to buy that car you read about in the magazine. Is that enough?"
Shou decided to try his luck one more time.
"And you must promise that you will not change anything from now on. No more flowers, no more making me say things I don't want to and no more controlling what I do!"
"I promise."
And at that point in time, he repeated himself.
"Deal."
And so the path to destiny began. Fate had started. But before you read on, just remember that Sora never controlled Shou after that. From here on out, he made all the choices. Sora had already set all the pieces in motion.
Lunch ended soon after his discussion with Sora. Sora went back into Shou's mind and remained there as Shou returned to lessons. He could not stop thinking of all the riches we would have the following day. He smiled at the thought.
"A-A-Aokisa-Kun?"
Akira spoke to him partway through the lesson, they were meant to be discussing algebra but Shou did not want to. Her voice was as timid as always.
"C-c-can I borrow some piper?"
"Piper?"
Akira looked really sad, she blushed as Shou repeated her faux pas. In her shyness, she had made a mistake.
"I-I-I... I mean paper!"
She sounded like she was about to cry, she began to turn away from Shou but before the tears could rain from the clouds known as her eyes, She felt a tap on her back. Shou held out a piece of paper he had found in his pocket, the same piece that was in the box that morning.
"Thank you." Once again, she was struck for words. She pinched herself to check if all this was real.
Class was boring for the next few minutes. Just more and more algebra. Shou was not an idiot, just lazy. He could do most of the stuff on the board and did not care about the rest. Near the end of the lesson, something else did happen that even caused Shou to care.
"...Equals 27x. Konhara, please tell the class how to do the next question."
Most of the class looked towards the usually energetic Akira, but she did not seem to notice. She seemed to be reading something.
"Akira!"
Akira looked up, she seemed a little oblivious to her surroundings. She looked up from something on her desk.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
The class fell silent. The boy behind her was worried. As the teacher began searching for the words to express how he felt, Shou spoke to Sora within his mind.
"You promised not to do anything!"
"I didn't. You didn't check the other side."
Shou was still annoyed at Sora despite what she said. However, the class became a little more active.
"Akira! Because you are not usually like this, I will excuse it if you answer the question!"
Akira stood up quickly, and after a few seconds, she came up with an answer to the question on the board.
"Y = 5X + 7. Sorry for not answering right away."
Akira began to sit down but the girl next to her grabbed the note she had been reading and stopped Akira from reclaiming it.
"Sir, she was reading this."
The teacher walked over to Akira's table and took the note. Upon reading the contents, he began to smile and used the same evil grin he used on me whenever I misbehaved.
"If this was more important to you than the lesson, I'll read it out in front of everyone!"
Akira begged the teacher not to do so but he did so anyway. It was at this point that Shou realised he was not the only one bullied after all. This made him both very happy and very sad at the same time.
"Well: 'To the beauty who has eyes like gems, glittering whenever I see them. You are a treasure to this world and a blessing to all around you. I am glad I've known you these past few years and I will like to walk you home today. Meet me at the gates if you're interested.' A very mysterious message there Akira, I wonder which boy is paying so much attention to you."
At that point, every boy in the class seemed to be looking in any other direction but Akira. Shou, however, was focussed on the paper in the teachers hand, unlike the others who turned away.
"Well, because of this outburst, it's too late to finish all the other questions on the board. If you haven't done them, I'm setting them as homework. Class dismissed."
As Shou left, he heard a few whispers coming from the group of girls gossiping about the love letter.
"I wonder who it is who wrote that letter..."
"I think I saw Aokisa hand her a piece of paper earlier."
"Eww... No way. He's too gross for something like that."
"I'm too what now?"
Shou had crept up behind the talker and in that moment, every one of the girls screamed and ran. Shou and even Sora suspected them of going away to gossip about the letter even more. Luckily, as he was walking to the main gates, he heard some talking from the nearby toilets.
"...He was probably just delivering the message. He's too weird for stuff like that anyway. He probably doesn't care about anyone."
Shou felt a little sad that that was the only way he was perceived. He was too caught up in thinking about the letter that he forgot that he was walking so fast. Usually it took him ten minutes to leave the building. On that day, it only took him 2.
Shou walked through the gates and out of curiosity looked left. He saw the last in the trio of flowers that he had found that morning while searching for the coin. That seemed like ages ago. Shou wondered if he made the right choices back then.
"...Aokisa-Kun?"
A surprised sound came from behind him. He knew what had happened and cursed his foolishness. He was right by the gate when he would usually be walking home. The flowers from earlier did not help his case. He turned around.
"Hey Konhara-Chan. Are you waiting for that guy?"
Akira was right behind him. She did not seem to hear the end of the sentence as she was busy looking at the flower Shou had been looking at just a few seconds ago.
"It's so cute!"
Shou looked at the flower again, the natural beauty of it reminded him of the girl right next to him.
"Ohh, I guess it is."
Shou stopped caring about the flower. He did not know that Akira would get distracted by cute things so easily. He wondered what he did not know about her. Akira turned to face him.
"I'm sorry, are you what?"
Shou smiled, then blamed Sora for it. He sighed and looked right at Akira.
"Are you ready to go, Akira-Chan?"
Without hesitation, Akira responded. Shou was still wondering how he did not know so much about her despite always being next to each other. He did not even know her birthday.
"Okay, Aokisa-Kun!"
As the two of them walked down the hill together under the blooming flowers, Shou got a strange feeling that a bunch of girls from his class had fainted in disbelief. The thought of so much confusion made Shou chuckle. Sora smiled as well, seeing how different this man was to the boy she had met that morning.
The two of them passed by the the shopping district together. On the way, they had not spoken at all on the way but as they passed, Shou got a feeling to ask Akira something.
"Hey, want to spend the rest of the day together? I know some nice places to eat."
In honesty, he was just bored and after a burger but when he looked at Akira, he felt like he wanted to get to know her a little bit more. Besides, he would always get this day back later when Sora left. Akira, however, saw this as him asking her on a date.
"That sounds lovely Shou-Kun!"
Shou was not sure what was more surprising, the sudden change in atmosphere to a really happy one or the sudden usage of his first name. [Editors note, in Japan people are referred to by their surnames unless they give permission to use the first name.] He decided to kill the time waiting for 9:32am the next day with her, as it would be more fun that just going on the arcade machines.
The pair started by going shopping, Shou did not mind shopping as much as he thought he would. He was surprised that he was not bored, as it seemed like he got along well with her and they had similar interests. All day he wondered about her, as she would try on some bizarre stuff that was usually cosplay related.
That evening, he took her into his favourite restaurant, a coffee shop called Cuppa C. [Editors Note, Cuppa C appears in The Chosen, Katsuro, Sors Castrum and will appear in many more projects. All under the same guise.] He ordered some chips and a couple of burgers and had a chat with the girl who dared to sit opposite him.
"So, Akira-Chan, why is it that you love cosplay so much?"
Akira looked like Shou said the wrong thing. Shou noticed instantly that cosplay was very important to her.
"I like cosplay because I get to be the people I admire most. Also, it's cute."
Shou agreed with her and they spent the next hour laughing, talking and eating together. During this time, he realised how much he had spent on coffee and cosplay items. He barely had enough left for the game he wanted. He decided to walk there with the girl he had grown to like.
On the way, he saw a young boy crying with an ice-cream cone in his hand but the ice cream on the floor. He knew that if he bought him a new one then he would not have enough for the game he wanted. Shou decided that seeing as he only had one day like this before he forgot everything, he might as well just do the morally right thing.
Shou bought three ice-creams. One for the boy, one for Akira and one for himself. He was down to the last few coins left, less than he started the day with before he made the deal. He knew that he would not have enough money to waste any like this ever again, but then he realised that he was going to be rich the next day so felt happy.
As the sun began to set, Shou and Akira walked across the road to the park, hand in hand, and sat on the bench there. Shou often came here and knew that it was a lovely place for a conversation. He was still puzzled about one last thing, though.
"Akira-Chan, why did you agree to this so easily?"
Akira was a little confused at the question, so he repeated himself. After a few minutes, she responded.
"Well, I've always been near you in class," she began to blush, "And I always thought you were cool. I could sense some sort of beauty inside you. I guess I would have said yes to you at any time. It's was not just the flowers or the letter, it was only you that made me want to come here with you."
Shou felt something inside his chest grip him. He wondered, was this love?
"Shou-Kun, can you tell me a little about why you hide your true self from everyone."
Until that point on that day, Shou never realised that this him that he had been since he spoke with Sora was the true Shou. He thought he was just pretending up until then. He never realised that he was such a delinquent because of what happened until then.
"6 years ago, my mother died. It traumatised both my dad and myself. I lashed out at school and got suspended. Dad kicked me out on that day. He told me to move away, to another town and I did. I was happy to get away from him. He never told me that he loved me and he never will. He sends me a monthly cheque covering all the necessitates. I guess that made me feel lonely, having no family or friends."
Shou could feel tears running down his face, he always acted tough so he would not cry but this girl that he sat with brought it all out. She lent him a shoulder and he cried for a long time. When he stopped crying, he embraced Akira. Together, they hugged for hours. The sun slowly set on this scene but Shou never wanted it to stop.
When it was dark, he looked Akira in the eyes and spoke.
"I will see you tomorrow morning."
He fumbled in his pocket for a present to give her but could only find the Cards from earlier.
"Sorry it's not much. I hope to do this again."
He walked her across the road and began to wave goodbye to her. He watched her for a bit as she began to leave. Sora smiled at him as she saw this scene. Sora felt happy at this point.
Shou sat on the bench and looked up at the stars. He looked down at his ring and wondered, should he give up fortune for what he felt today? In less than 12 hours, he would forget everything that happened. He began to have doubts for the first time since seeing the ring.
"I can't believe I dropped it."
Shou opened his eyes. It was very late. He realised he must have been asleep for a few hours on the bench. He turned towards Sora, who commented on the time being only 10pm. Shou saw a familiar figure in the distance, looking for something.
"I can't believe I lost his present."
Akira. She was looking for something. He could see the cards on the middle of the road and was going to go and pick them up when he remembered that this park was often used for drag races. He watched as Akira walked into the middle of the road, the darkness above preventing her from seeing that it was a road, and she began to pick up the deck.
Shou saw a light coming at a very fast speed towards her and before he knew it, he was running towards her. He pushed her at the last second and got hit by the car instead. He could feel the bones in his leg break as he hit the ground.
Akira looked at the figure that had saved her in horror as the rain landed on his once perfect skin. Blood trickled down his face as she held him close. Sora broke her promise by making an ambulance appear before it was too late, but Akira never knew that. She helped the unconscious boy who gave his body to protect her into the ambulance.
11:50pm. Shou could not open his eyes because of the pain. his left leg felt dreadful. He somehow was able to tilt his head to the left and open his eyes slightly. His wet, bloody body was in too much pain for anything else.
"Shou, it's almost time for me to go. Looking around the room, I may have fulfilled my mission."
"Sora," Shou mustered all his strength into speaking, "Thank you for today."
And with that, Sora disappears from our tale. Shou fell back asleep at the stroke of twelve.
He had already has his operation of his foot. His real one was replaced by a false one. He did not know about it until morning though, as the hospital could not wake him.
"Shou, I'll be back later."
The clock on the table next to the bed said that it was 9:00am. The voice of the girl made him smile. Her felt something warm against his cheek and then heard a door shut.
He woke up suddenly. He saw his bloody clothes on the top of a chair nearby. He saw the torn cards on the table near the chair and finally, he saw the ring on his finger. He did not want to ring any more. A nurse walked in.
"Aokisa Shou? I'm the nurse. You have had your foot amputated and replaced. You are excused from school for a month while you recover here."
Shou did not care.
"Can I walk?"
The nurse did not know what he was on about, the force of the incident was too much for him to walk for at least another few days.
Shou did not care. He stood up and felt the force of the pain. If only by miracle, he managed to start walking, despite the burning agony in his legs. He did not care. In ten minutes, he would forget everything and the world would go back to as it was before he met Sora. He did not want that.
Akira gazed out of the window. The gossip about her was blooming, as many people saw her with Shou.
"Did you hear that Konhara is going out with Aokisa?"
"Did you hear that Aokisa got hit by a car yesterday?"
"OMG! I hope she's okay."
She wanted to cry. He got hurt because of him. 9:28. Lesson would start in two minutes. She did not want to be here, she wanted to be with Shou.
A woman walked into class. She had blonde hair and looked like she was in her early twenties. She went unnoticed by the rest of the class but slowly approached the girl who was on the brink of tears.
"Akira, go to the school gates now or you'll never feel happy again."
It sounded like a threat but Akira could see something in the distance. She did not care what it was. She ran as fast as she can to it. She tripped twice but she did not care. She had to get there as soon as she could.
At the school gates, she saw a man stagger through the last few steps in agony. She could not say anything, seeing Shou in so much pain.
"Shou-Kun..."
She dropped to her knees, the bell rang from the school but she did not care. Already a commotion was rising in the classroom. Some people thought she was crying in the toilets, some people thought she was embarrassed of the rumours.
"Akira!" Shou dropped down on his good knee in front of her. The pain had finally stopped him. The two of them looked each other in the eyes and finally, after what seemed like an eternity he said, "I love you."
And they kissed, in the arms of the one they loved on the most difficult morning of their life they kissed. As they kissed, Shou felt the last of his strength leave him and he fell down yet again. She let him sleep on her lap. She looked at her watch. 9:31am on May the Fifth. She would remember that moment forever.
She felt something cold enter her hand from the hand that was still holding Shou's. She looked at it and saw a ring. It was beautiful. She put it on and never took it off. As the clock turned forward another minute, an extraordinary thing happened.
Nothing.
He had chosen her over fortune and body.
"And that, Sora, is how I met mummy."
It was12 years later. While he could not walk for another 3 months, he was always with Akira. And, soon after graduating together, the two of them got married. He got a job as a shop assistant in Cuppa C to support his wife through Med School. He was the manager of the local Cuppa C and she was a doctor when they had their daughter 7 years before.
Akira thought that the name was chosen because it complimented Shou, as his name meant Flying and their daughters meant Flying as well. Shou chose it because he believed that his daughter was an angel.
After the story, the three of them played a few card games. No matter how torn or stained they were, they always used the same deck.
By Katsu Aoki.
