2x

I reread some of my old blogs recently and found an old post called “1.25x” from September 2016. Back then, I was watching movies/series and listen to audiobooks in 1.25x.

We all have approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds per day, no more no less.  You can always get more money, but not more time. You cannot bank the “free” time to use later, so speeding things up is my habit of saving time.

More than 3 years has passed. Now I watch things on 2x speed. I no longer enjoy movies playing in normal speed as the pace appears to be too slow for me. Time is relative, right Einstein?

When is this habit all started? I guess because I was watching videos while eating, to save time. That was a bad habit for my stomach, so I stopped it. However, I was such a slow eater. I felt like I was wasting the time of my life eating. I definitely do not want to speed up eating. I want to enjoy the food. Hence, I increase my media consumption speed.

Once, I heard someone saying that “Speeding up living? Do you want to die faster?”. Hmm, what if life has an increase speed button? Then I can make some chapters in my life passing through a bit faster. Maybe I can fast forward such a terrible year of 2020. I do not want the “skip” button as I treasure all different types of experience in life as well.

Another friend said “You are just consuming it for the sake of getting the content, not enjoying it.”. They are correct.  I spent those “saved” time on learning more and working more. I always want to know more about this life. Most of the time, I am looking for something meaningful to do. I try not to waste time on pointless things.

Still I love to waste time writing fiction for my soul. My kind of meditation!

---

 

(Souta)

 

“2356!”

Souta turned around toward the direction of the voice and saw Yuuto sitting on the top of the staircase leading to the fifth floor. The vivid afternoon sun was sneaking through the window blinds, gently dropping on his curly messy hair and broad shoulders, creating a stripe pattern on his white shirt.

“2356?”

“It’s the total number of all the stairs in this school.”

“Counting stairs? Why would you do something so pointless?”

“What’s wrong with doing something pointless even if you get nothing out of it? Having enough free time to waste is kinda comforting. I want to do pointless things while I still can. This is mostly likely the only time I will be able to.”

Souta looked at Yuuto, bemused. To Souta, the top student among the first years, high school time was for studying, not wasting on pointless things. Souta had been working hard to get the best scores in all subjects. He also managed to become the best sorcerer in the school team, competing at the national league level. On the other side, Yuuto was an average one, doing enough to pass the subjects, and never participating in any sort of school activity. Even though Souta and Yuuto were in the same school, they were like those parallel lines of light walking down on Yuuto’s shirt, never crossed path with each other before.

“You should spend that time studying.”

“Time! Time is relative. We have approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds per day. There are 2356 stairs in this school. We have 4 seconds to spare.”

“They are not in the same measurement. You cannot convert them like that.”

“Everything, including time, is a form of energy. So, everything, including time, cannot disappear but transformed into another form of energy. Is it the Law of Conservation of Energy?”

Souta was astounded. He did not expect to have such a conversation about Physics with any other students in this school, especially someone like Yuuto. Yuuto was speaking to him in an indifferently soft voice, but his words are significantly heavy. Seeing the perplexed look on Souta’s face, Yuuto suddenly stood up and slowly walked down the stairs towards Souta.

“What can we do in 4 seconds? Blinking our eyes 4 times? Walking down 4 stairs? Saying Yoroshiku onegaishimasu?”

Yuuto then stood in front of Souta, reaching out his hand. Souta unconsciously shook Yuuto’s hand. Yuuto’s hand was warm and tender, while Souta was stronger in his grip with his big hand.

“Yoroshiku!”

Souta replied. Little did he know that was the start of such a “pointless” connection.

---

 

(Yuuto)

 

“Hey Yuuto, look at this news …”

Souta shouted while running up the staircase to the fifth floor. Yuuto always came up here to do pointless things, like counting stairs or reading random books. It had been a month since Yuuto first met Souta when he was wandering around this corridor. Souta now knew that he could always find Yuuto on this staircase during the afternoon break. Yuuto’s lunch break was no longer about doing pointless things.

“Look at this …” – Souta was showing Yuuto the newspaper while still catching up with his breathing. – “This pianist who won international prizes since such a small age decided to end his career and live as a normal student in a small school.”

“So …” – Yuuto was still puzzled.

“Do you have the same story? You were probably a child prodigy in Physics who fed up with high expectation and decided to live a normal life doing pointless things.”

“Hahaha, no no. Not at all. What on Earth makes you think so?”

“Well, that’s the only explanation. You know a lot about Physics and Maths. You can definitely beat my score in those subjects. You just waste time doing pointless things.”

“I got those from reading random books. Memorizing them does not make me a prodigy in Physics or Maths.”

“Is learning all start from memorizing the past experience, the past knowledge and try to either apply or advance them?”

“It is our choices, Souta, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

“That’s too deep. You are such a philosopher.”

“No, haha, I was quoting Harry Potter. You should read more.”

Yuuto laughed. He was never a sociable kid. Mostly because other kids could not understand what he was saying. Yuuto was not interested in daily topics like the newest video games or the latest comic books. He did not bother trying to fit in and eventually stopped talking to his classmates. Souta was different. He did not judge Yuuto’s way of seeing the world. After their first strange and surprise introduction, Souta learned not to be surprised by the random pointless things that got jumbled into their conversation.

“I wish I have time. It’s hard to keep up with both the examination and the soccer tournament coming up.”

“We have the same amount of time.”

“Blah blah, yeah, I know your 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds per day speech already. But Yuuto, if you waste all the free time now, you might not be able to get to a good university. Then you will end up working harder jobs in the future, which will be more time expensive.”

“You mean like a credit term on time? We cannot bank our free time so I don’t think there is a credit on it also. But don’t worry, I will do just fine.”

“Just fine? You can do much better than just fine.”

“I can, not that I should. Just fine is totally fine with me.”

Yuuto smiled. People might say he was a stoic person. He did not like labeling things. He was more into nameless pointless things. He just loved the way it was on these hazy afternoons when he and Souta can talk about random things rather than worrying about the exams. He had been happier recently with Souta bugging him, even though it interrupted his reading.

“What book are you reading now? A children story book?” – Souta asked, judging the cute grizzly bear printed on the book cover.

“No. What to do when you encounter a bear!”

“Pss hahahaha, are you serious? Why? You are living in the city, in the middle of a concrete jungle. How can you encounter a bear?”

“Who knows? There might be a bear knocking on the front door one day.”

“As if. You probably encounter a street cat.”

“We will see about that. Wanna bet?”

“Sure!”

Yuuto and Souta shook their hands again. Yuuto never felt such comforting touch before with any of his friends. He did not have any friend to begin with. Souta was not just a friend, more like a soulmate. 

---

 

(Souta)

“Knock knock”

It was almost 7pm on Saturday night. Souta was at home and about to have dinner with his family when he heard the knocking on the front door. When he opened it, a panda was standing there. To be exact, someone in a big fluffy panda costume was standing in front of Souta. It’s Yuuto!

“Good evening!” – Yuuto greeted Souta while taking the head of the panda costume off. Sweets were running down from his hair to his long neck.

“Yuuto? What are you doing here? Why are you in a panda costume?”

“I am promoting a Chinese restaurant nearby. I drop by to give you this discount coupon.”

Yuuto put a 50% off coupon on Souta’s hand. Knowing Yuuto for a couple months did not help Souta understand this situation. Souta was still surprised, but happy to see Yuuto at his house. They had never met outside of school before. And Souta could never imagine Yuuto in anything but his student uniform with white shirt and black pants. Yuuto was still in black and white clothing tonight, black and white panda.

“You came here just for this? You can give me it at school. You are wasting time doing pointless things again.”

“Not really. Remember our bet? There is a bear at your front door now. Looks like reading a book on bear encounter is not pointless after all.” – Yuuto said with a big smile on his face.

“Hahaha, you punk. This is cheating.”

Souta punched Yuuto right in the chest, but the panda costume was too thick for his punch to get through to his smartass friend. Why were Souta still laughing when he lost the bet?

“Anyway, I have to go back now. See you at school!”

Souta and Yuuto shook their hands again, a human hand and a panda hand. Suddenly, Souta wanted to go out to eat Chinese food instead of having dinner at home.

---

 

(Yuuto)

“Welcome!”

It was a hot Sunday afternoon. Yuuto was wiping a table and refilling the soy sauce bottle when the front door of the restaurant opened. The new customer was Souta. Souta was a tall guy, at least 1m9, with a tanned skin from his soccer playing. He looked like a famous soccer player wearing a short-sleeved blue jersey with number 9 on his back, capturing everyone’s attention when walking in. Yuuto smiled and showed him to the table he just cleaned.

“Back from practice?” – Yuuto asked.

“Yes, I guessed I can find you here.”

“The soccer jersey suits you more than the school uniform.”

“This also suits you better than the panda costume.”

Yuuto was wearing a white t-shirt inside a black apron with a panda printed on it. Yuuto quickly got Souta an ice tea to cool down. They have been friends for months but Yuuto never went to Souta’s practice or match. He guessed those kinds of things are not “pointless” enough. Meeting Souta outside of staircase on the fifth floor also altered their conversation, which seemed to be like a normal conversation between two friends now.

“How’s the tournament?”

“We will have the finale next week. Then depending on the outcome, we might get call to the national U19 team.”

“That’s great. But I thought you mentioned you want to go to University of Tokyo? Your grade is definitely good enough.”

“It is our choices, Yuuto, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

“Haha, are you quoting Harry Potter now?”

“No, I’m quoting you haha.”

“You punk”

Yuuto laughed. He was a bit tired after a long day cleaning tables and dishes. Souta was like a cool wind breathing life back to his mind. The sunlight was getting through the window blinds, drawing vivid stripes on the table, just like the first afternoon they met.

“How about you? How long have you been working here?”

“Just three months.”

“Just three months? Is this the just fine you are talking about.”

“Hahaha, no.”

“So what is your just fine?”

“University of Tokyo.”

Ptooey! Souta was so surprised and spitted a lots of ice tea on Yuuto. Yuuto did not expect this will backfire at him as well. He grabbed a paper towel to wipe his face and the table while Souta was still staring at him with his jaw opened.

“University of Tokyo?”

“Yup!”

“But how? That’s not possible with your current grade and a part-time job.”

“We have 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds per day. If we leave out Saturday and Sunday when I work at this restaurant, then we have 5 days per week. If we minus the 9 hours I waste doing pointless things at school, 1 hour for shower and dinner, 8 hours of sleep, then we have 6 hours of “not free” time. If I use those hours to study, that’s 30 hours per week, for 52 weeks per year in the next 2 years. Now let’s talk about probability …”

“Well if you put it like that, there seems to be enough time. Why don’t you use the time at school to study as well?”

“I only need to past the two exams, the high school graduation and the university entrance. So why would I need to waste time on exams in the class now.”

“Oh, are you just study for the test taking? Do you go to cram school or night class?”

“No.”

“So how can you be so confident?”

“Because I have enough free time to do pointless things.”

“That’s not the solution.”

“Remember our bet?”

“Ye?”

“Let’s raise it. Bet if I can make it to University of Tokyo.”

“Ok, deal.”

Yuuto and Souta shook their hands again. Yuuto could feel the hesitation in that shake. He was glad Souta did not dig deeper and asked why he chose University of Tokyo. He was never the ambitious one. Unlike Souta who wanted to be the best student, Yuuto wanted to be a normal student doing pointless things. But since their lives crossed path, Yuuto now needed more than pointless things.

 ---

(might be continued)

Inspired by Muchū-sa, kimi ni - There Is No Other  - 夢中さ、きみに