Life.

It is full of unexpected things.
Tomorrow may never come, yesterday may be miserable,
but today…
will be special.
It is the day of making things happen.
The day to change a despondent existence,
the day to live.

Live.

To survive without hesitation.
Keep yesterday as memories, face tomorrow without regrets,
and today…
is to challenge.

Life is the will to live.

Live is to have a life.

...............

Main Characters:
Ueto Aya as Ueto Shi-ne
Nishikido Ryo as Nishikido Kiri 

...............

Thud… thud… thud…

Kiri’s heart pounded in his ears as he scanned the faces of the people walking up and down the busy side walk going on with their daily lives.

He looked at the list that’s written in the paper he’s been holding, and looked around once more. It has been a few hours since he stood at that same spot under the shade of a tall building behind him. The white cap he was wearing was starting to itch, and the hooded jacket on his body was not enough to keep him warm. Although it was fifty degrees outside, a cold sweat was forming at his back out of anxiety but he could care less about it as long as he’s done with what he was supposed to do.

In the middle of that busy city side walk, Shi-ne stood to watch the guy who was oblivious of her staring at him. She had been inside the café for almost three hours looking outside the street, observing people who were walking by, when this guy who has been standing by the wall caught her attention.

People watching was her thing and she noticed that he has been there when she got inside the café to get warm and relax. When she left the warmth of the cafe, she realized that the guy she was watching earlier was still standing there and that she will be passing by where he stood. 

Shi-ne couldn’t help but wonder what this guy was doing there when everyone seems to be busy with their own lives.

Was he waiting for a girl friend? Is he a pick pocket or a detective of some sort? Doesn’t that happen only in the movies?

Her mind was running with crazy ideas when suddenly the guy she has been staring at, looked at her direction. Everything around her seemed to stop when their eyes met, his eyes pierced her that she couldn’t make herself look away.

The girl looking at Kiri made him stand up straight immediately. This was what he has waiting for, the right girl. All of his hopes were almost going down the drain, when out of nowhere the short haired girl in a pair of high heeled stiletto, denim skirt and black cardigan appeared before his eyes. Composing himself, he inhaled deeply to gather his courage then strode towards her.

Shi-ne was stunned that the guy was actually walking towards her. Her instincts told her to walk away, but her feet were glued to the ground. They were only a foot apart and the guy stopped abruptly in front of her, stood silently then looked intently into her eyes.

Usually when guys come up to her, they would either look at her chest or legs, but the guy in front of her looked at her eyes without a straying gaze. He was tall, not lanky or thin but rather built. Slowly he lowered his head, took off his cap then stared back at her and because of this she got a clearer view of his face. His eyes were midnight black and almond shape while his nose was pointed. She also observed that he had thin lips.

While looking at the guy’s profile closely, she took notice of the small paper that he was clutching in his hand. Then all of a sudden he swiftly walked closer to her, held her waist to draw her near to him and lowered his face to hers. She was suddenly horrified with the fact that he was about to kiss her, but it was too late before she could react, he already took possession of her lips.

The girl’s lips were small and soft that Kiri let his lips linger a bit longer than he intended to. His eyes were closed to savor the moment and to remember the feeling of kissing a complete stranger. When he opened his eyes, he felt the girl’s hand clutching the back of his jacket. She looked at him wide eyed not knowing if she was about to cry or faint. Instantly he released her and bowed from waist upward before her.

“Honto ni gomenasia!!!” He shouted as loud as he could which made people stop at their tracks and give them a glance. Looking left and right with his head bowed down, he was anticipating some violent reaction from the girl and then instantly he saw the walk sign light up.

Abruptly he stood up straight and looked at the wide eyed, shocked girl in front of him for the last time then bolted to the other side of the street as fast as he could. All he could think was that he would never see her again in his life. Holding that thought in his head, he ran faster to the other side of the city disappearing from the girl’s sight.

The kiss still stunned Shi-ne that she couldn’t move her limbs willingly. When she was eventually able to recover the stranger was long gone. Her hand flew to her lips trying to remember if the kiss actually happened because it was so fast it felt surreal. The slapping instinct that every woman should have during times like this was not even there, the incident stunned her like a stone. She suddenly felt furious for being violated like that, especially in a public area.

What if that guy had AIDS?!

She thought to herself for a moment and knew that AIDS was not transferable just by a simple kiss.

What if that guy had a disease that was contagious other than AIDS? What about Hepatitis?

The cold finally caught up to her that she started to shiver. She braced herself to warm up when she felt a piece of paper stuck at the side of her cardigan. Looking at it, she realized that it was that same paper that the guy who just kissed her was holding. Written on the piece of paper was a to-do-list.

It read: To-do-list should be done by the end of the week.

There were ten items written in the paper. Number one in the list was, “Kiss a beautiful stranger in a busy city street”.

It was a lovely Monday morning when Shi-ne left the house that day. The cold was nothing new, she went on with her day thinking it would be like any day she usually had. She never thought that something very unusual could ever happen in her life.

This was a first.

Shi-ne does not really consider herself as someone beautiful. Apparently someone did and took advantage of it. Though she felt flattered that someone saw her as a beautiful person, a deep bow and sorry was not enough to remove the damage done to her.

It’s a good thing that the guy wrote the location and time on each task on the list. Now she had some good slapping to do. This was something she had never done before, stalking a person she doesn’t know just to get some revenge. Her life seemed too much boring as it is, perhaps it’s time to turn things around and start slapping good looking strangers in return.

.........................

Number two in Kiri’s to-do-list was to go skinny dipping in Tama River by the city park during sunset. In this cold weather there wouldn’t be much people by the river. The doctor told him that he only had less than a few weeks before his condition could worsen.

How do people go on with their lives when they suddenly get information that they only have a few more weeks to live and that their own body was killing itself little by little? 

There was no cure for this type of disease. In short, he was dying.

Kiri was young, good looking and successful and had so many things to live for. Dying was not part of his plan. It never occurred to him that he could die anytime soon. 

When the nosebleeds started to become frequent during his work, he ignored them. Having nose bleeds was nothing new to him, since he had them when he was a kid. Then one day, a friend told him to go see a doctor for him to be checked out. It was quite annoying and scared half of the girls he dated when he gets a sudden episode of nose bleed.

It was unbelievable that his days were actually counted. The first time he heard about it, there was a major denial in his part. Having no family to comfort him on this ordeal, he kept this information all to himself and decided to lock himself inside the apartment for days, curled up in bed and watched mountains of dvd’s while living off with junk food and tofu. Being an orphan does have its disadvantage when life altering moments like this occur. From being young, good looking and successful… he became miserable, alone and in despair.

Oguri Sano and Inoue Mio, his closest friends tried to lure him out of his house without knowing what he was going through, but to no avail he kept his doors closed. One day he was sulking in his room searching for stashed DVD’s in his locker, when he saw a film where his situation was just the same. That person in the film did not choose to go on a self pity party like what he was doing but instead made a list on how he would like to live his remaining days.

Thinking deeply about this, he finally got the energy to walk out back into the world and live his last days as he wished. Just like in the movie only no sound track this time.

Today was another day that he was alive, he should be thankful that he can feel the cold, see the setting sun and smell the fresh air by the river. Tokyo has never been the same after his resolution to do things until his final day.

Beep... Beep... Beep…

His attention to the sunset was diverted to the phone in his pocket which was beeping for the 10th time. Sighing to himself he finally opened to answer it.

“Mosh mosh.”

---Kiri kun!!! This is Mio. Where have you been? Why on earth were you AWOL at work again? It’s been a month since you’ve been away. Your leave of absence is up since yesterday. We know you have a problem, but we can’t help you if you’re not going to tell us about it. Where are you right now?---

“I’m outside somewhere. Taking in fresh air… this will just be until today. Tomorrow I will be back to work, I promise. I just need time to myself.”

Mio and Sano have been calling him all day since yesterday. He didn’t know how to tell them about his illness and his last days, because pity was the last thing he wanted from his friends. As much as possible, he just wanted to live his life normally until the inevitable happens.

---Are you sure? You know you can tell me or Sano why you’ve been acting so strange. Oh, by the way some clients have been looking for you. They wanted you do the architecture design for a renovation on a certain building. Sano also wants to talk to you, hold on…---

There was a brief silence at the other end of the line then some shuffling noise before he heard Sano’s voice.

---Yo. How long are you going to hide from us? What’s up with locking yourself inside your apartment for weeks?!?---

Sano sounded distressed and worried just like Mio.

“You don’t have to worry about me, I’m ok. I’ll be back to work tomorrow so don’t worry.”

---Souka. It’s just weird man. You’ve been avoiding our calls and have been hiding from us for weeks then all of a sudden you just decide to answer your phone. Kiri, you can always tell me whatever it is you’re going through…---

Kiri cut him off before he can say more things about their friendship and trust, he knew his friends more than they knew him.

“Daijabou… Daijabou… I’m really OK. There’s nothing to worry about Sano, tell that to Mio. You should stop calling too, it’s starting to annoy the hell out of me. Tell the clients that I would meet them tomorrow. So don’t worry about it ok?”

---If you say so. You also got to give me back those DVD’s you borrowed! My sister’s going to kill me if she found out it was out of the house for almost a month.---

“Hai! Hai! I will bring it at work with me tomorrow. Ja!” He clicked the phone off before Sano could begin talking again.

Shoving the phone back into his pocket, he took a deep breath then looked around the park if anyone was around. To his relief there was no one in that area except for himself. The sun was almost gone. It was time for his next task. In quick movements he was able to strip off all his clothes including his underwear. It would be a pointless skinny dipping if he left that on. He was totally and shivering from the cold.

If his illness wouldn’t kill him by then, he would probably die in this cold.

Looking at the shallow water in front of him, he swallowed hard then swiftly waded into the freezing water before he changed his mind. He swam as far as he could, then after a couple of minutes he was starting to feel numb. While paddling his hand and foot to keep afloat he looked upwards the sky, the sun was completely gone by then and was replaced by the brilliant full moon.

He gazed at the sky for a few moments and contemplated with himself on how many full moons he would be able to see before he’s gone. When he could no longer stand the cold, he swam back to shore. As he got out of the biting ice-cold water, his body shook involuntarily from the chill in the air. He rubbed his shoulders vigorously to keep warm while he walked quickly to where he left his clothes. When he got to the place where he left his belongings, it was nowhere to be found. He looked around frantically, but it was completely gone.

Panic crept slowly to him when he found out that his clothes were missing. He was wet and cold and starting to get numb by the minute. Feeling hopeless, he squatted to the ground to cover himself as much as possible while he gathered his thoughts.

His clothes might have been stolen by some homeless person. When he thought about this, it gave him a bit of comfort that he was able to help someone some way or another. It might not have been in the best circumstances but nevertheless he was still able to help. But then how the heck will he get home, being and all? He was starting to feel really stressed out when he heard shuffling sounds behind him, his head swerved and his eyes grew big when he recognized the person who was looking at him. 

This was not happening…

.........................

He must suffer for a while after what he did.

Shi-ne thought to herself while smirking at the guy who was crouching on the ground covering his balls trying to keep himself from getting frozen. He looks like a pitiful sight that she just chuckled to herself as she saw his almost hitting the grass.

Kiri didn’t know what to do since he couldn’t stand up or run away. It was embarrassing enough to be caught stark in the park by the girl he intentionally kissed in the street, then add the fact that the bitter cold did not help at all to how he was already feeling by then.

Suddenly he heard her chuckle and saw her reach out his clothes to him. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or humiliated, since she found him skinny dipping in this cold water. For all he knew, she could have run away with his clothes for what he did to her yesterday, but she chose to give it back. Her heart must be good.

“What on earth were you thinking? Do you have a death wish or something?” Shi-ne curiously asked the guy as he extended his hand to reach for his clothes and slowly turned around from her to wear them.

Obviously the guy was shivering from the cold, she suddenly felt bad for giving him distress but she didn’t look away as he dressed because she still had something to do before she could let him off the hook.

“I… I… I…aaaacccchooo!!!” Kiri sneezed, then wiped his nose from the snot that’s starting to run down.

“Ho..ho…how di..di..did yo...yo...you know I wo...wo...would.. be… be… here?” He stuttered while asking the girl who was standing before him, looking utterly curious at his almost pathetic being. His teeth were chattering loudly and he was still numb from the cold.

The girl reached out her hand while holding a piece of paper, he took it and recognized his own hand writing. To his dismay, he realized it was his list which he must have left near her when he ran away. That’s why he couldn’t find it when he got home.

In truth he didn’t need the list since it was already embedded in his memory but it was an encouragement every time he looked at it. Kiri slowly gazed back at the girl and looked at her in the eye. When he started to open his mouth to speak, all of a sudden a hand flew in front of his face and a sounding slap crossed his right cheek. The chill he was feeling disappeared for a few moments along with the shivering of his body.

That was unexpected.

Shock was registered on Kiri's face when the girl's hand hit his face. He stared at her looking completely stunned.

“That was for kissing me without permission yesterday. So now we’re even.”

Shi-ne looked straight at the guy’s face without a feeling of remorse to what she just did. She was waiting for the guy to shout at her or tell her off that that wasn’t really necessary, but the guy just nodded at her and rubbed his arms. Then she noticed that something was trickling down his nose.

“Oh my god! I didn’t mean to hit you that hard. I mean your list sounded pathetic and you looked rather stupid for doing these things but I seriously didn’t intend to hurt you this bad.”

The girl exclaimed at Kiri, which he didn’t understand. He was far too cold to understand why she sounded too alarmed. She started shuffling through her pockets for something. When he saw her feel that thing she was looking for, she took it out and quickly but gently dabbed it to his nose.

“Your nose is bleeding. Cover it with this then pinch the upper bridge of your nose to temporarily stop it. Breathe through your mouth and tilt your head downward a bit.” She ordered him which he found astonishing, because all the girls he knew or dated would either freak out or call 911 immediately after seeing him have a nosebleed. Amazingly this girl knew what to do and was calm with the whole situation.

Taking her long woolen scarf off her shoulders, Shi-ne wrapped it around the guy’s neck. He looked too cold for his comfort, but she noticed that the nosebleed was receding. She was really feeling sorry for hitting him, that all she could do was bite her lip from feeling guilty and wrap the scarf securely at his neck.

“Ano… I’m really sorry for hitting you. I swear that would be the first and last time I would be hitting you. Are you going to be ok?” She asked worriedly at the guy who was now looking warm enough. He nodded at her in response while still holding the handkerchief on this his nose.

“Yeah… thanks for the handkerchief. I’m just curious, you’re not afraid of blood aren’t you?” Kiri inquired.

“No. It’s part of my job description not to be scared of blood.” She smiled softly at him this time.

Kiri didn’t ask any more questions because he felt it wasn’t right to know more than what she’s willing to tell him, aside from this he couldn’t help feeling warm inside by just looking at her smile. He wasn’t wrong when he thought she was the perfect girl to kiss. All of a sudden he felt embarrassed for doing such a stupid thing to her.

“I’m really sorry for kissing you yesterday.” He abruptly told her after removing the blood covered handkerchief in his hand.

“It’s just that… the list. Ano… it’s something that I have to do… before… before I… before I die.” He couldn’t understand why he felt it was alright to tell this stranger in front of him about his ordeal and not his closest friends, but he couldn’t contain the information to himself anymore. The thought of dying without anyone knowing, seemed rather lonely. At that moment it just felt right to tell her.

The guy looked healthy enough to show no signs of an illness. Shi-ne suddenly understood the reason for the list. He looked so young, probably mid twenties. Experience taught her never to judge a person’s life span just by their appearance. She felt instantly sad with the realization that this good looking guy in front of her has his days counted.

“How many months do you have?” She asked out of habit.

“Few weeks or less.” He answered truthfully.

“Souka… I really hope you get to complete your list. I think we both should get back to our own places before we both actually die in this cold.”

Kiri was relieved that she didn’t ask further questions about his counted days but was partly disappointed that she suggested it was time they part ways. He was also itching to know her name, but he figured it would be useless to know when he’s going to eventually die. It would be meaningless to pursue something he’s not sure he could finish and besides he had no time to have romantic feelings for some stranger he randomly kissed on the street. This was for the best.

“Oh… your scarf.” Kiri motioned to remove the scarf from his neck, when the girl put her hands on his.

“No, you keep it. It could be a good reminder of the craziness on the two tasks which you were able to successfully accomplish.” Shi-ne smiled and paused for a few moments, and then in the spur of the moment she hugged him.

Kiri was taken aback that the girl was unexpectedly giving him a hug. Not that he was complaining, it felt good on his part to be hugged by a beautiful stranger. It didn’t feel like he was receiving sympathy from her, instead he felt like she was trying her best to support him.

Shi-ne couldn’t understand quite well why she suddenly had the urge to hug him. It felt that he needed some encouragement to go on with his life and that she could give him one right there and then.

After that brief hug, both strangers looked at each other and exchanged smiles for the last time.

“Honestly I don’t know what came over me and made me hug you.” Shi-ne muttered in a soft whisper as she slowly released the guy from her arms.

“Maybe… you’re a bit attracted with me?” Kiri suggested to her, and then the girl laughed heartily at him.

“In your dreams, maybe.” Shi-ne shook her head teasingly while still chuckling.

“Hmmm… while you’re at it you could probably kiss me too. Pay back for yesterday.” Kiri said jokingly while puckering his lips at her.

“Oh. Don’t you think that would be too much already? Besides I already had my pay back earlier. Seeing you was just a throw in. That is unless you want your nose to bleed again? But I wouldn’t have any hanky to hand out anymore.” Shi-ne said with a smirk on her face.

“Ouch… that bruised my ego.” Kiri gently threw his head back slightly and placed both of his hands on his chest acting as if he was just shot in slow motion.

“Don't worry, your ego may be bruised but it's still intact. Gambatte for the rest of your to-do-list!” Shi-ne nodded at him, and smiled one last time before turning around to walk away.

Kiri was amazed at how it felt to know that someone, who is a complete stranger, could comfort him in the simplest way. He held the woolen scarf which is wrapped around his neck and moved it closer to his face. This might really be the last time he would be seeing this beautiful stranger. He looked at her, took a deep breath and opened his mouth to speak.

“Thank you.” Kiri yelled out after her.

“You’re welcome.” Shi-ne shouts back without even looking back and raised her hand as a sign of acknowledgment.

~The End~