My Childhood

This place is a park by the river. The place where my lonely days turn into happiness. I look back and it's a beautiful memory. But that only happened in my childhood.

When I was little, I always played alone in this place because the other kids didn't want to be friends with me. The reason they don't want to be friends with me is because of my family. However, my days in solitude ended when I met him. When I was playing alone in the park, suddenly a boy appeared.

"Hey, why are you playing alone? How about we play together?"

The boy asked me with a big smile on his face. However, I ignored him so that the other kids wouldn't ostracize him for hanging out with me. But he doesn't seem to understand and keeps forcing me to play with him.

"Don't be so quiet. Let's play together."

I don't know what's on this kid's mind, but I think it would be good to play with someone.

"Alright, let's play together."

The boy looks thrilled.

"Really? You really want to play with me? Hooray."

The first game we did was rock paper scissors with the loser having to obey the winner's words. It was a fun game. Unfortunately, I kept losing. He told me various things like climbing trees, making weird faces, and so on.

Day after day we spend playing together in this park. Even though it's just the two of us, we feel thrilled to play together. He always smiled and tried to look cool in front of me.

But one day he did not come to the park. I waited for him while playing alone, but he never came. I'm worried if he doesn't want to play with me anymore and doesn't come to this park anymore. But the next day he came early with a smiling face.

"I'm sorry I couldn't accompany you to play yesterday because I had to do something."

The boy looked so sad, like he was going to cry.

"It's okay. I'm also used to playing alone. You don't need to apologize."

The boy smiled again.

"Then how about we play together one last time?"

I knew this day would definitely come when this boy wanted to leave me.

"Last time? What do you mean? You don't want to play with me anymore, do you?"

The boy shook his head.

"No, no, it's not like that. It's just that I have to go somewhere very far away."

His smiling face changed, and he shed tears.

"I'm really sorry. This wasn't what I wanted, but I had to go somewhere very far away."

My previous friends who want to stay away from me will also usually use words like that until I tire of hearing them, but this boy was the only one who wanted to play with me for a long time.

"If so, how about we make a promise? We'll meet again at this place when we grow up."

He wiped his tears and looked at me seriously.

"Alright, I'll definitely keep that promise. I'll definitely come back to this place and see you once again when I'm an adult."

We intertwine our little fingers as proof of our promise. Even though we've been playing for quite a while, I still don't know his name. So far we only call each other as you and I. Therefore I asked his name.

"Can we exchange names to make it easier to remember each other?"

The boy stretched out his hand as if inviting me to shake hands

"Of course, my name is Takuma Jin. And you?"

I took a handshake from the boy.

"My name is Takahashi Rei. Keep that in mind."

The boy smiled widely.

"Of course!"

After that we played our last game before splitting up, and the game was fun. Of course, I lost badly as usual, and the big smile on Jin's face has returned.

When the sun was about to set, Jin said goodbye and walk away from me. But he looked back with a big smile and waved at me.

"Make sure you keep our promise, Jin!"

The boy's face looked like he was being awkward, but I didn't think it really mattered.

"O-of course, Rei!"

Jin never came to the park again, and my days of solitude returned. I kept going back to the park every day until I graduated from college. But Jin never appeared.

"Should I put an end to this nonsense? There's no way he'll ever come back to this place. Maybe he's even forgotten about me."

I bought a board and a carving tool. I carve an inscription on the board and hung it on the tree I used to climb with Jin.

The text reads like this.

'Jin, if you really remember our promise and come back to this place, thank you. I've been waiting for your arrival for a long time, but you didn't come. That's why I left this board here for you to read.'

I went to see the cleaners who always take care of this place. I told her not to throw away the board I was hanging on because one day, someone would definitely come looking for me.

Day after day passed. I've never come to that park again. I focus on my work as an office worker. Even though I'm an adult, I still find it difficult to relate to other people. They seem afraid of me.

I don't know what their problem is, is it because of my face? Or my body odor? Or maybe my family? Why does everyone always stay away from me except Jin? This made me want to see him again.

However, I don't mind even if they stay away from me. Besides, I don't think being on good terms with them would benefit me either.

Today, when I came home from work after overtime, I saw a person I really wanted to meet. I'm sure that figure is Jin. He was in the middle of a walking crowd.

"Jin!"

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