In a busy and rustling city amidst the cloudy night sky, the bus stop area along the sidewalk was filled with a crowd of standing people under the ten meter wide waiting shed. Some were sitting on the bench under the shed looking intently on the phone in their hands. There were also people walking through the sidewalk passing the standing flock of people.
Along the crowd was a boy with a black hair and brown eyes so average that can be found everywhere. He took his smartphone from his black pants right pocket, turned it on and check the time. As if he felt that he was already late, he let out a tired internal sigh.
(Sigh. It’s already seven in the evening and there where still many people waiting for the bus.)
The people under the waiting shed were indeed waiting for the next bus to take a stop. Dark nimbus clouds blocking the moonlight of the full moon of the month.
Seeing that, many predicted that it’s gonna be a heavy rain tonight. As a result, the ones who used to walk to go to their destination were waiting by the bus stop to take a ride.
(Mom gonna scold me if I were late again. Better to get hurry and get a ride.)
He did not yet informed his mother that he will be late homeward. Everytime he get home late, he always get reprimanded by his mother due to her fear of him neglecting his studies. He is a scholarship student, after all. He begun typing his phone to inform his mother the reason for his lateness.
(‘We were working research , I’ll be late.’ and send.)
After sending a message to his mother, a pair of lights suddenly appear before his eyes. He reflexively covered his closed eyes with his left arm.
(What the heck was that? I thought I gonna die.)
Thinking what just happened, he heard the footsteps of the others to a certain direction. He slowly opened his eyes when the lights subdued. He turned his head and look at his surroundings to find out what just happened. What he found was the stampede of people who desperately trying to get inside the newly arrived bus.
He could see that only a few among dozens of people managed to get inside the bus. When the bus had its maximum capacity of passengers inside, its big wheels began to move, slowly increasing its acceleration, and departed from the bus stop. 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎
Seeing the bus getting smaller and smaller, the boy lumped his shoulders so low. After lamenting for a while, he regained the strength of his back and decided that it is too early to give up.
(It’s fine. I just have to wait for the next＿)
While thinking that, he felt that something wet just touched his left hand. Then, he felt the same feeling on the other parts of his body. His nape, both arms, and even his white uniform felt the drop of wet.
He hurriedly ran as fast as he could to the nearby shed when he realized what it means. Countless water droplets rained down from the cloudy sky begun.
(Man, how unfortunate am I. I guess I have to use my last resort.)
“Taxi!”
He waved his hand to stop an approaching empty taxi cab. He usually commute by riding a bus to get home. He rarely ride taxi due to the distance between his house and his school.
It distanced several kilometers from his home to school by road. He used to ride bus to save money to buy his favorite manga and light novels.
When the taxi stopped, he opened the door and took a sit. He told the driver his home address and the car started to move.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
Inside the taxi, the boy laid his back on the chair and relaxed his body. Both his body and mind were exhausted from the workload of their research with his classmates.
He closed his eyes for a while and opened it again. He stared at the window and noticed the raindrops flowing down the glass window.
(Water just go with the flow. Yeah, let’s choose a raindrop and have a race.)
He leaned his body to the window and put his elbow on the window and let his head rest on his hand. He rolled his eyes upward and peek at the top of the glass pane. He observed the new flowing droplets and begun selecting his favored raindrop carefully.
(Hmm. Let’s choose this little one.)
What he chose was a small raindrop compared to the other ones. He watched as the raindrops of the same batch at his flows down the glass. While many flows at constant speed, his prided raindrop accelerate at first, then stops, then accelerate again.
(Hey, hey, not bad. My victory is absolute.)
Certain that his victory was guaranteed, he looked up and noticed a big raindrop had entered the battlefield. The raindrop then follow the track of his chosen one at incredible speed.
(Wait, hold up! Don’t＿!)
Despite his desperate internal cry, the big raindrop continued its way to his raindrop. Then the big raindrop collided with his and absorbed the tiny drop of liquid and resume flowing through the bottom.
“…”
A moment of silence.
“…”
Only the sound of the rain and the noise of the car’s engine can be heard in the cab. The deafening silence occurred as if they were in a sealed vacuum.
(Ahhhhhhhhh!!!)
He internally screamed as he readjust his position by leaning his back on the chair. He could not comprehend what was just happened to his absolute and unfathomable victory just now.
(Impossible. It was supposed to be my victory. Sigh. I guess it’s my unlucky day today.)
He sighed as if to accept his fate of the day. This is not the only time when he’s been unlucky today.
Right when he woke up in the morning, he was almost late at school because his phone did not charged properly the whole night and had to charge it again in the morning.
At school, he got injured during P.E. class because he hit his dominant right hand on the corner of the board while playing table tennis. Because of that, he could not take down note properly for the test the next day.
While remembering the misfortunes he experienced on this day, the taxi overtake the bus from before. It seemed that the bus were loading and unloading passengers.
He just peeked it for a while and then remembered his misfortunes for today.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
Minutes have passed since the boy lose the raindrop race. The taxi had escaped the rush hour of the downtown and now strolling the highway that has 60 kilometers per hour speed limit.
The boy once again fixed his gaze at the window of the cab. He saw the lights emitted from the houses and establishments around the area. People taking shelter under the the roofs of various structures.
Blooming businesses still occurred amidst the rain shows the resilience the the citizens in this city. Customers pouring in and out the buildings as they help the economy the move the money in the circulation.
The boy just watched the liveliness of the city night when he sensed that the taxi stopped. He turned his gaze to the front and saw the traffic light turned red.
Pedestrians, wielded with umbrella in their hand or equipped with raincoat, begun to cross the intersection as they saw the color of the light emitted the traffic light.
Moving people filled the line of vision of the boy and the driver. The boy looked around the taxi while waiting for the green light. The dashboard had a small stuffed toy of a dog and a bubble head figure of a famous English rock band vocalist.
(So he listens to their songs, huh.)
He scanned again the taxi and and fixed his eyes the the mirror. Stuffed dice were hanging around the mirror just like the typical taxis. He stares at the mirror and noticed that the driver were already starting at him.
“…”
The two of them looking each other for a while. The driver was still at his late twenties. The driver who were the first one to avert its eyes first and then looked the the side mirror.
Then, a pair of light can be seen in the mirror. Seeing this, both the boy and the driver turned their bodies and looked at the rear.
It was the same bus that the boy missed and overtaken by the driver earlier. But the bus’ atmosphere was different from before. Instead of slowing down due to the red light, it runs over the highway’s speed limit with no signs of slowing down.
The bus were honking its horn loudly and repeatedly. The volume of the horn were so loud that it made the pedestrians cover their ears. There were also the shouts of the panicked passengers that were mixed along the noise.
Seeing that both the boy and the driver begun to panic.
“H-hey. Is’nt that bus going to hit us with such speed?”
“Y-your right.”
The boy asked the driver if what he was seeing is right. The driver set his foot to the pedal and ready to set off but there were pedestrians still crossing in front of them.
“Move aside immediately!”
The driver poked his head out of the window and shouted to the pedestrians.
The pedestrians turned their head upon hearing the driver’s cry. They hurriedly ran towads the sidewalk when they saw the honking bus rushing towards them.
The boy stopped thinking for a while. He came to his senses when the noise became louder and louder.
(I have to get out of＿)
The moments he almost grab the handle, he heard the sharp creaking sound of clashing metals. The bus already hit the rear of the cab. The bus dragged the taxi pass the already emptied pedestrian line.
“Shit!”
“I’m gonna die!”
The driver and the shouted as they were in the verge of despair. The boy reminded this situation the same as how the big raindrop absorbed his raindrop in the race.
The boy and the driver panicked as they don’t know what to do. The bus with its broken brakes continued to drag the taxi until someone big was blocking the way.
The thing that obstructing the intersection was a truck loaded with gravel. The taxi, dragged by the bus crashed to the left side of the load of the truck.
The bumper of the taxi went under the truck while the metallic edge corner shattered of the truck the wind shield. That same metal also crushed the upper body of the driver in the process. The driver died of the spot.
The impact of collision also sandwiched the body of the boy between the seats. The truck moved a little due to the collision.
“Ahhhhhh! It hurts like hell!”
The boy suffering in intense pain that he never felt in his whole seventeen years of living. The boy could not ever feel both of his legs. Blood gushing out of his mouth. Broken bones all over his body.
(I’m really gonna die this time.)
The bus finally stopped after sandwiching the taxi to the truck. The pedestrians immediately ran to the taxi to check the condition of the people inside. Seeing the upper body of the driver missing, the people went haywire.
“The driver’s already dead but the passenger is still breathing! Quick, call an ambulance!”
The passengers of the bus immediately poured out of the bus.
(Ahh, what an unlucky day for me. I’m sorry mom, I cannot go home anymore. I’m sorry for my classmates for not helping the research again.)
Slowly closing his teary eyes, his endured the intense pain just to apologize to the people who would be troubled after this incident. He narrowed his mind, ignoring the pain as he could, as he apologizing in his mind.
<Pain Resistance has acquired.>
(Ahh, I’m having hallucinations now.)
Hearing an electronic voice of a woman in his head, the boy bugged it off as he thought it’s just an imaginary oasis in the desert.
(If I have a chance, I wish that I get reborn just like in the light novels…)
Losing his body strength, that was his last thought as his life gradually fade away.
