The Chess of Time

The rain flowed slowly and the ticking of the drops on the window reminded Shiro of that endless history lesson, the professor talked and talked but Shiro was elsewhere, he was thinking about the chess game he had won at the club the day before, it had been an overwhelming victory, his opponent a senior student was left speechless, Shiro was a prodigy.

The bell rang and Shiro was finally free from that heartreshing lesson, it was the last of the day, he couldn't wait to get home and start thinking about the strategy of the next chess match, he ran out of school and took the road to his grandmother's house, Shiro lived with her, he didn't know anything about his parents and to be honest he had never even asked himself, the red and black handkerchief on his neck was getting wet and he was trying to run to escape the rain.

Suddenly a strange figure from the back of an alley peeked out, Shiro noticed that she had the same school uniform as him, she had red hair tied in two long pigtails and a black mask with an x on top that covered her mouth, it was not strange to see a student with a mask in Tokyo, but the way she stared at him was disturbing, Shiro tried to get home as soon as possible by taking the door of the house, he took off his shoes and his grandmother was there asleep on the couch, Shiro went up the stairs with great tranquillity and threw himself on the bed.

He was scrolling through social media when a strange advertisement for a do-it-it-yourself appliance in the shape of a rabbit appeared on the home page, Shiro tried to scroll but the advertisement was insistent, he was struggling when suddenly the phone turned off and began to make sparks, when Shiro looked up in front of him there was just the object of the advertisement, a sphere with rabbit ears and eyes, Shiro thought he was just tired and heclose the device outside the window,

but when he looked down the the girl he had saw that afternoon returning from school was climbing his window and with a jump entered, Shirò threatened her that he would call the police but she cheerfully told him not to do it, the girl introduced herself saying that her name was Emi and the talking rabbit is Ban Ban.

Shiro with that know-it-all air asked: "Are you government spies? Or simple thieves?."

The girl replied: "On the contrary, we've been looking for you for a long time." Shiro looked at them with bewilderment and Emi tells him that the two of them were robots, they are guardians of time, responsible for maintaining the balance within the history of humanity, but above all they are here because Shiro's parents are looking for him.

Shiro looked at them with a confused air as far as he knew his parents were either dead or had disappeared into thin air, Emi replied that she had the answers that Shiro was looking for, she pointed out the star-shaped desire he had on his cheek and told him that he does not belong to this timeline, Shiro looks at her with the expression of someone that think is talking with two crazy people but Emi with a gesture of one hand shows him an alternative universe where his parents are

alive.

Shiro was amazed and asked: Who are you really?

Emi replied: "As I mentioned before we are guardians of time and no your parents are alive and you shouldn't be here, your presence in this timeline is an anomaly, your parents are agents just like us and have been looking for you for a long time.”

Emi replied with a joyful air that they would take him home but Shiro didn't seem very happy, he looked at Emi and looked at the chessboard on the table.

Shiro asked: "But this is my house, here is where my grandmother lives,my life....."

Emi looks at him and says: "I know, but the problem is that this timeline shouldn't even exist, if we don't take you away from here the space time will proceed to fix itself and you will be deleted, you will never see your parents.”

Shiro refused but Emi told him that once he learns the secret he can't escape from fate, either he accepts his condition and have a second chance in life or the space himself will find a way to make him disappear.

Shiro leaves the room and peeks at his grandmother on the sleeping sofa and then comes back and asks if the life he has built is all fake, Emi replies that it is not, in this timeline he is the orphaned Shiro, the student Shiro, but this is not what fate had in store for him.

Shiro asks her: "What should I do now? Where will you take me?"

Shiro sighs for a second and then convinces himself to go with them, Emi is very happy and helps him get down from the window.

Shiro asked: "Where are we heading now?"

Emi replied: "To my spaceship, I just don't remember where I left it ahahaha".

Shiro was annoyed, he had decided to leave everything to follow two robots that didn't even know where they had left the spaceship, the boy was convinced that it couldn't go worse than that, in the worst case they would have kidnapped him and sold him to the black market.

Emi: "Here we are, behind that konbini!

Shiro: "Not to kill your enthusiasm but I don't see anything .

Emi took out what seemed to be the key to a car and by pressing a button a spaceship began to emerge from the ox alley of the kombini, Shiro thought he must be dreaming.

Emi: "Everyone on board, direction station X!!"

Shiro: "If this is a dream, I might as well live it to the end, l’m coming”.

Emi started the engine and the spaceship got up from the ground, Shiro looked at the city of Tokyo from above, it was the first time he had never been on a plane and much less on a spaceship, Shiro asked where they were going but Emi while humming did not pay much attention to him, the boy got comfortable with his heart still in that small house in Tokyo where he lived with his grandmother.