Double Planet Episode 9

Double Planet
Episode 9: "Are you Tamaru-san?"
Satoru Aono (Furuta Jun & Kanda Yota / Radio Shonan Personality)

"I'm sorry. I can't meet you. I'm sorry... Tamaru Luka."

I've read this message so many times, I think I've read it 30 times already.
I read it 30 times and it always said the same thing.
However, I felt like maybe I had misread it and it actually said "it's okay," so I read it over and over again.
I felt sorry for making him say "I'm sorry," and every time I saw the final "...", I let out a sigh for some reason.

Even though I'm a second-year high school student, I still don't understand girls' feelings.
Mr. Tamaru and I only know each other vaguely through radio.
We only exchanged messages a few times on Twitter.
However, maybe I was getting too cocky when I asked to meet and talk.
Maybe they thought I was a weird person after all.
By the way, I don't think I was getting too cocky.
I wanted to meet Tamaru-san and hear about the play "Sora to Puzzle." That's all.
People express their feelings in the way they speak. I wanted to get a hint at those feelings.
I wanted to get a glimpse into Tamaru's hidden feelings.
My rival Kanda didn't know about my feelings, so I thought that was the place to make a difference.
But that has now become difficult.
My strategy was back to square one.

Time passed without me being able to send any message back to Tamaru. I had no idea what words to use. I even looked it up on Google. But there was no answer.

During class, I would think about "The Sky and Puzzles" so much that I couldn't concentrate on the lesson and would fall asleep without realizing it. Naturally, the teacher got angry at me. Even though there are no answers in dreams, I felt like the answers were lying in my dreams. It was an escape from reality.

School ended early that day.

Not feeling like going straight home, I decided to buy a manga at a bookstore near Fujisawa Station and read it at a cafe. It was a manga about band members, and while I was reading, I felt like I was playing music myself. Once I finished reading the manga, I woke up from my dream and returned to reality. While wondering what to do, I suddenly felt like taking the Enoden train for the first time in a while. It's been a while since I last rode it. I don't have anywhere I want to go, but I'd be happy if I could just go to Kamakura, turn around, and come back. I wanted to see the ocean while being rocked on the train. Maybe looking at the ocean would help me come up with a good idea for "Sky and Puzzle."

The Enoshima Electric Railway is a mysterious train. Just when you think it's running on the road, it snakes through the houses like the roller coaster at Hanayashiki and heads out to the sea. I love that "It's coming, it's coming" feeling.

As I looked around the train as it departed Fujisawa, there weren't many tourists, as it was a weekday evening. Instead, there were a lot of high school students around my age on board. Watching the high school girls chatting by the window, I couldn't help but think of this.

What if that girl was Tamaru-san?

I don't even know her face. I can't say there's no chance that the girl in front of me is Tamaru-san.
I wonder what would happen if I took a chance and asked, "Are you Tamaru-san?"

I'm definitely a suspicious guy. This is no time to raise my fist and act defiant.
Seriously, deep down I'm such a hopeless guy.

Today, I realized I hadn't thought about what time I'd be home by. If I was late, my parents would worry. I didn't have the money to eat out for dinner. I had no choice but to give up at some point and go home. It was a short, half-hearted solo trip that couldn't really be called an adventure.

Before I knew it, the train had arrived at Koshigoe station. The next station was Kamakura High School. It's famous for appearing in the anime "Slam Dunk." The students of Kamakura High School always have a sparkling presence. I was too shy to get off at that station, and I don't remember getting off there. I felt like I would be burned by the brilliance of Kamakura High School. The sea came into view. The setting sun. The familiar sea caught my eye from the train window. The setting sun. The high school girls who had been chatting also stopped their conversations and looked toward the sea. The setting sun. A flood of orange light poured into the train.

Perfect, I thought.

"Stop time"

I muttered to myself, "Today, I feel like I want to watch the sun go down."

Where can I see it?

If you want to get off, the only option is the next stop, Kamakura High School.
It's a great location for going out to sea.
When we arrived at the station, the doors opened and the students from Kamakura High School boarded the train all at once. A glittering procession.
As I was about to be swallowed up by the galactic group, I was torn between thoughts. Should I get off or not? If I did, I'd be late getting home today. I had homework to do. There were live streams I wanted to watch. But it seemed I couldn't win against today's sunset.

Just before the doors closed, I collapsed through the gap and jumped onto the platform.

When the doors closed, I fell flat on the platform.

The Enoshima Electric Railway departed for the next station, Shichirigahama Station, as if nothing had happened.
At this time of night, there were hardly any passengers getting off at Kamakura High School Station.

"Um... are you okay?"

I turned around and was called out to by a high school girl who had gotten off at the platform just like me. Judging from her uniform, she wasn't a student at Kamakura High School, nor was she from the same high school as me. Of course, I wasn't sure. How could I ever be sure? I had no basis for it. Nothing. I was acting crazy, despite the fact that there was nothing. Maybe I had hit my head when I collapsed on the platform. My mouth was moving on its own.

"Are you Tamaru-san by any chance?"

If this were a scene from a TV drama, the high school girl would probably be Tamaru Ruka. A screenwriter once said that a convenient "chance encounter" depicted in a TV drama is allowed only once, because the audience will swallow the lie. But twice is not okay, because the audience is not stupid. So, is that once something that happens in one's long life? Even in this corner of the world where someone like me lives.

"How do you know my name?"

"to be continued"

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