The Tomorrow of You and I - Chapter One

Kimi to Boku no Ashita no Sekai - 君と僕の明日の – The Tomorrow of You and I

Chapter 1-
"Hey Yuta, after you're done over there, you can go!" I heard someone call out to me. I stacked the boxes onto the truck and released a relieved breath of air.
Looking blankly at my watch as I wiped the sweat off of my forehead, I began heading for the change rooms.
My name is Yuta Fujimori. I am currently 18 years old, and working full time as front offense at the Central Military. My father works abroad and busy with his medical research. My mother is a military elite that is currently working in the West Northern Lands. So simply put, I live alone in the East Northern Land. There's nothing special about me, or so I have known for the time being.

I opened the change room doors. There was nobody in sight.

'Thank god' I muttered to myself grimly as I entered the room.

I sat down on the change room bench. I looked up at the ceiling, then at the walls, and finally at the mirror across the room, noticing my worn out face from a day of work. I was a mess. Hair tangled, dark rings around my eyes due to the lack of sleep I've been having. I stared at my reflection for a moment.  

I blinked, suddenly noticing my eye colour beginning to shift to a pale magenta. There was a sharp pain forming in my right eye. I flinched. The pain caused me to collapse onto the floor. Grunting for roughly a few straight long minutes, it finally ceased. I picked myself up, dragging my body to the mirror.

I glanced at my reflection carefully once more. My eye had returned to its natural dull dark chocolate colour. Shaking my head, I shook off the thought. I convinced myself that it was because of the lack of sleep that I was hallucinating weird things.

I got changed as fast as I could. I didn't want to stall any more time that I had already did. The other staff would come in soon. I stood in front of the door, when it opened on the other side. I looked up at the other personnel.

"You're still here?" He snickered. Oh. It was just Kenta. "Hey, let's go grab a burger or something, Yuta man!"

I grimaced. Kenta was a good friend and all, but today I seriously just wanted to get some rest. I didn't want a repeat of what happened three seconds ago.

"Nah, today I'll pa-" I was cut off.

"Oh c'mon man! Tomorrow's a Sunday! We can go for a drink or somethin', ye know!" He pushed.

"…" I paused for a moment, giving in. I sighed. "Fine, just one drink alright?"

He grinned.

When we got the bar, I went to straight to the restroom. I examined my eye once again.

Nothing.

There was nothing unusual. Just the plain old dull brown.

When I returned to the table, I noticed that Kenta has already ordered something. I sat down on the tall stool, shaking my drink around in my hand and took a small sip.

"So I heard from the captain that there's going to be a full fledged war with 'them'" Kenta began. "And it seems that we're going to be losing quite a lot this time around.

"Hnn… " I just nodded.

I honestly didn't care. We and 'them' had countless wars in the past few years. It just felt all so natural to me now.

"Hm?" he glanced at my face. "Your eyes…"

I froze.

"What about my eyes?!" I immediately snapped. There was a pause. "Ah… sorry."

"Your eyes has some serious black circles, that's all" He continued, clueless.

Oh. That.
'What a fool I am' I thought to myself in relief.

"You never change, huh, Yuta." He stretched, leaning back on his chair. "You'll never find yourself a girlfriend if you're so gloomy all the time, bro!"

Oh no. Not this type of conversation again. Last time we had this conversation I ended up being forced on a date with some female co-worker that I barely knew. I cringed a slighty on the inside as I stared at Kenta with an 'Don't mess with me' face.

"But it's true!" He grinned slyly at me.

'Cheeky bastard' I muttered under my breath. 'Don't get too carried away'

"Huh, you say somethin'?"

"Nothing" I glared at him with an obvious fake smile. "Well, since it's so late, I'd better get going. See ya."

And with that, I got up out of my seat, grabbing my coat and left the doors. I heard Kenta calling after me as I left, and I simply ignored him. 'That's what you get for being a bastard'

My walk home was quiet. I had tried to rub my right eye a few times to check on it, but nothing happened.

'It was just a hallucination from lack of sleep' I thought again.

I approached my apartment's doorstep when in the corner of my eye; I could faintly see a dark figure. I turned around cautiously.

I blinked.

It had disappeared.

'What was that?" I mouthed silently to myself. There was something going on.

Or at least I thought so. Probably.

I took out my key from my back pocket. Opening the door slowly, I entered my apartment. Letting out a breath of exhaustion, I dropped myself onto the couch. Ah, how nice that had felt after a whole day of continuous unfortunate events.

My back ached from the manual labour I had to put up with during work. Preparing for war wasn't my favourite time of the year. It's ridiculous that a forward must carry boxes and load trucks, but our squad is still short on military members.

I groaned at the thought. Ah, well, the pay is good though.

I stared at the building, thinking about the various events that had occurred in my life and slowly drifted off into sleep.  

'Well, hope tomorrow's a better day…" I thought to myself without much of a care in the world.