Prologue
Ichigatsu Juroku-nichi, 41st year of the Shinsei Jidai era Kinyobi (January 16th, 2525 Friday)
Daisuke’s POV
The dream replays like an old late 20th-century feature film with the same nostalgic sense of disconnected familiarity. The evocative scent brought forth a feeling of nostalgic warmth, yet at the same time, bitter heartache. The scenery of the picturesque countryside landscape that I strangely feel as though I should blatantly know by heart but for whatever reason simply can’t. Each time that I try and focus on remembering why? I immediately feel my head begin to ache and pulse a sharp profound pain like the sharp tip of a needle jabbing into my skull and pricking my brain,
The dream cast a very surreal scene that unfolded as if plucked straight out of Dorama Anime about to childhood friends becoming lovers with the two children, one a rather meek and boy with short cut raven black hair and dark hazel around ten or eleven years old, dressed in a tanktop style T-shirt with the picture of a Supersentai style character on the front with bold, highlighted kanji on the top corner, and torn short pants and opened toed sandals playfully racing ahead of what, I could only described as a young angel that had lost her wings. She was about nine or ten years old with shoulder-length hair that was a rich, milky chocolate brown color, and she had a lighter skin tone that could best be described as very porcelain-like in complexion, that had a very cool pinkish undertone, with her most unique feature being her bright and vibrant purple eyes that were a beautiful sapphire shade. She wore a white sundress decorated with a checkered pattern of cherry blossoms on its pearl white fabric.
I immediately felt an odd pain in my heart as I bitterly recognized that the boy was a younger version of myself, and the girl next to him, I couldn't help but give a faint smile with an invisible tear slowly streaking down my cheek as I quickly uttered a nickname." Bora-Tan?" I immediately felt the phantom ache in my heart.
I continue to watch my younger self, happy, carefree, and unburdened by the day-to-day concerns that come with being a member of modern society; I strained my ears to hear the two's conversation with almost baited interest. My younger self warmly took the nine-year-old girl's hand, and without realizing the full implications of his words, boldly proposed marriage to the girl, whose name was Nakamura Bora."Bora-Tan...when we're both a little older. W-will you marry me?" I almost laugh when I hear how naive and innocent I was at that age.
The nine year old girl let out a light laugh at my ten-year-old self’s impulsive marriage proposal with her sapphire purple eyes beaming warmly with an affectionate gleam in her eyes and heart-melting smile.”Silly~I’m already your wife.” She says, her tone innocent, and at the same time, also held a certain spark of mischievous pride.
Huh? The girl's words left me with an immediate pain in my heart: 'I'm already your wife.' What does that mean? Wait, didn't he call her 'Bora-Tan'? I immediately felt the whole world around me gradually begin to ripple like the reflective surface of a lake, with the once detailed scenery of the Kanagawa prefecture, a little way south to southeast of Tokyo, along the boundary line of the Tama river, quickly becoming a hazy and almost watery blur that gradually grew more and more faded with time.
"Daisuke?" A familiar, almost distant-sounding voice that was distinctively feminine.
I immediately felt my body grow somewhat heavy, as if feeling the light pressure of another person was currently lying on top of me; for a moment, the world around me was dark and completely devoid of anything that could be recognized as anything worthy of being described as genuine reality. For what felt like an eternity, I seemed to float in utter darkness before my eyes were almost stung by a small, piercing needle of light, which gently burned my eyes.
I quickly blink my eyes open...once...twice. before ultimately fully opening to the sight of an absolutely beautiful image-an angelic face that warmly smiled down at me immediately making my heart melt somewhat as I lied flat on the adaptive smartfoam mattress of the late 21st century Japanese styled smartbed that was spacious enough to accommodate two fully grown up adults with the smart foam nano frabic mattress and adaptable bed frame that despite it’s mahogany wooden surface level finish that perfectly hide the frame true nanite metallic alloy underneath.
The young woman sat over top of me with the full weight of her body with her slender legs and arms immediately spreading wide in a more than somewhat suggestive position, het face inching closer with a suddenly growing darker with an almost imperius tone of voice.” Bathroom?” She asked, her sapphire quickly glinting with a nearly panicked worry in her voice that both confused me, and yet also gave an unfamiliar sense of genuine warmth and affection that I couldn’t help but embrace with a sense of full-heartedness. “No,” I said, my lips quickly curving upward into a light smile.” I just think that this position might be abit too ecchi for you, Bora-san.” I lightly joked before easily flipping the young woman over, and I quickly climbed on top of her." D-Daisuke?" Bora stammered out lightly with her roughly almond-shaped outline of her eyes widening with stunned surprise. For a moment, I calmly stared down at the young woman with an almost hurt sense of longing .” Daisuke?” She repeated, this time with a more gentle and somewhat coquettish tone, now visibly showing in her voice,
What The Hell? I thought inwardly to myself before quickly remembering that Bora was borderline masochist in the original light novel; subsequently Daisuke in addition to having bipolar depression was diagnosed with mild sadistic tendencies.” Yes?” I said, semi-flirtatiously quickly flashing a very playful grin.
Bora’s face was completely flushed with a bright, reddish-pink color; her breath immediately became more husky, as if she were experiencing a feeling of ecstasy that glowed brightly in her sapphire-purple irises. She lightly bit her lower lip. I quickly leaned down, lowered my face close to hers, close enough for a quick but passionate kiss that almost felt like static coursing through my entire body.
"Mmm," Bora cried out in muffled protest, the slender and somewhat curvaceous outline of her body immediately beginning to wiggle and squirm lightly underneath me.
She soon began to pound her fists in a semi-frantic manner, with disparate yet weak, I feel the rampant strikes of her fists on my chest, and the muffled noises of my protest accompanied by her faint wimpers. As if instinctively sensing Bora's discomfort, I snapped back to my senses, immediately pulling myself away from the passionate...if admittedly more than somewhat forced-embrace with the fifteen-year-old marriage adoptee quickly, my expression apologetic but also visibly conveying profound disappointment.
"Sorry, sorry. I might have gone a little bit too far," I apologized
I immediately roll over back onto the bed, with my back flat on the soft nanite infused smart-foam matress with my head carefully seeping back into the soft cushion of the right hand sided pillow quickly turning to my side in order to face, the young woman calmly lying beside me with a thinly traced smile on my face. Bora, also gave a somewhat sheepish smile as she lied down on her left side of the bed; her face was still somewhat flushed with a bright reddish pink color that brought a splash of color to the near porcelain tone of her skin, her Sapphire purple eyes narrowing slightly, with her milky chocolate hued brown hair.
She was dressed in a plain white T-shirt that was precisely four sizes too large for her slithe and somewhat athletic build; behind her, the bright lights of busy city streets and nearby apartment buildings; I looked into her eyes with my heart aching, both guilt and regret quickly washing over me as I promptly heard Bora murmur out a weak sounding 'I'm sorry' with the glistened sheen of tears that threatened to once more flood the soft corners of her cheeks." I'm sorry that I have Genophobia. Sorry that I'm...' broken'." she said pausing somewhat trembling violently with her facial expression quickly shifting from fear to anxiety with body visibly tremoring until I felt a strong urge to comfort her, my arms almost instinctively wrapping around Bora's slender and youthful form that continued to noticeably tremble and whimper almost sobbingly.
I immediately began to softly cradle her slightly, my voice automatically growing softer with an affectionate warmth and loving tenderness as I spoke to her with a mix of somewhat conflicted feelings." Shh, there, there, it's alright," I said, trying to reassure her. "You're not broken, Bora. You're just-" I began to say, with a soft warmth before abruptly being cut off mid-word.
My words immediately triggered a miniature episode as she quickly replied in a croaked, half-choked voice." No! I'm broken...because if I weren't, we would have had a child by now." Her voice broke abruptly, with her words coming out cracked and high-pitched.
*****
I remain dead silent, a painful swirl of emotions: love, sorrow, and ones that I could not quite put into clear words. I continued to hold Bora warmly in my arms until she finally stopped shaking in my arms. I didn't have to ask her what she meant by 'we would have had a child by now', in the 'speculative' 26th-century Japanese society, where state-sponsored arranged marriage is woven into the fabric of daily life and demographic strategy, naturally in such a world...one would assume that it is only natural that parenthood begins quite early.
Generations of this structured lifestyle...skills training, comprehensive social support, and an accelerated educational framework that by the year 2525, has been normalized, early unions and family formation. As a result, the average age range for first-time parenthood hovers roughly between sixteen to twenty-two years of age.
I had not been married or had any kids in my previous life, so I wouldn't be able to adequately understand or relate to a Genophobic fifteen-year-old girl, who was a 'Marital ward' since the very day that she was born. I briefly look at the antique 21st-century digital clock mounted on the wall near the mass window, its diamond-shaped Acrylic face lightly blinks 21:37 in bright neon lime font. I quickly allowed myself to become lax with my chin subtly burying deep into the soft area of skin between the shoulder and neck."It's ok...we're still young and have all the time we need to decide," I gently coaxed her." For now, let's take it just slow and enjoy each other's company, hm?" I offered sweetly.
Bora's answer was a simple but understanding 'ok' before gradually drifting into a deep and blissful sleep, while I continued to lightly cradle her sleeping frame in my arms. To my surprise Bora, sleepy and maybe feeling just tad bit playful wrapped her arms around me along the waist immediately entrapping me in a tight yet still affectionate and warm but also somewhat freightened and semi-possessive embrace, her arm squeezing tight around the outline of my waist as the bulk of her elegant frame pressed closely to mine. For a moment I thought about carefully removing her arms and gently nudging her away without waking her.
“Daisuke,” she murmured, her voice groggy and sleepy with just the faintest twinge of worry and regret in her voice that was so faded, so weak sounding that I had to almost strain my ears to hear clearly.” I-I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-“ I reflexively began rubbing small, traceable circles along the outlining of her back in a tender display of affection.” Shh it’s alright, Bora-Tan.” I whispered, the soft, affectionate sound of the childish styled variation of the standard honorific san seemed to sooth the young woman still shaking in my arms.
“It’s ok” I promised before gradually drifting off into sleep alongside Bora, who also floated towards dreamland due to both exhaustion and sorrow having finally overwhelmed her as I quickly followed not far behind.
