[Short-Short] The Waiting Room Adventure. And...

I feel like waiting at a bus stop is the beginning of an adventure.
Don't you think waiting rooms have a mysterious vibe?
They don't have doors, and they're so open that you can freely come and go from the outside.
But the moment you step inside, you suddenly feel tightly enclosed.

In a plain, bleak room, there's a simple wooden bench.

The moment you enter, it feels like time has stopped.

It starts to feel like there's a path leading to a world you've never seen before.

The ceiling and walls meet at right angles.
Looking up, it's orderly.
Yet, looking at the ground, the inside and outside are connected, only vaguely separated.
It's unclear where the inside ends and the outside begins.
It feels like it's connected to the world, yet cut off from it...

It started to rain.
The sky has grown dark.
In the empty waiting room, only the sound of the rain echoes.

Daily life feels like it's drifting away.
It starts to feel like this waiting room is the only thing in the world.

Now that no one is here.
If the space were to warp for a moment, I doubt anyone would notice.
I have a chance that only I can notice.

I secretly braced myself.
In case it warps at any moment.
In case a gateway to another world opens at any moment.

If I find an entrance...
I'll peek inside with a pounding heart.
I'll go in with excitement.

There might be many such places.
They might exist in other places too, if only we noticed them.

Waiting time at a bus stop.
It is the beginning of a mysterious adventure.
The familiar place called a waiting room.
Is a door to a world never seen before.

End

I'm glad I could participate in this!
Thank you as always 😊
If you'd like, please take a look at the sequel below.

20 years later...

Waiting at a bus stop feels like nothing but the start of irritation.
Waiting room... so old!
Sit down... is the dust okay?
Kill time... tapping away on my smartphone.
Huh? It started raining! ...I don't have an umbrella?
Hey, bus!
You're 20 minutes late! ...I don't have time for this!
Look outside... I don't care about anything but the bus.
Still not here... so irritated, so irritated.
Hurry up and get here! ...You're so slow!
Look outside again... you're making me wait too long!
Still not here... so irritated, so irritated.
Hurry up and get here! ...You're so slow!

The familiar place called a waiting room.
An endless, aimless loop.

...Hurry up and get here💢💢

Perhaps this is how the slowly flowing time of childhood changes into the impatient time of adulthood.
Could it be that time feels like it passes faster as an adult because our perspective has narrowed...?

I tried contrasting my past self with my present self.
I want to hold onto that childhood sense forever... that was the story ♪

I used Itsuki-san's #Nigiyakashitai!
Thank you so much, as always!

#ShirokumaLiteratureClub
#AtTheBusStop