The SoulCast chair that said “Hotaka” on the back was vacant, the computer turned off, the desk cleared of Hotaka’s belongings. Any trash had been disposed of – plastic food wrappers in the plastic bin, paper in the paper bin. There was no coffee cup, no P.E.T. bottle on the desk. Everything had been cleared away, wiped and cleaned. Hotaka was gone.
For weeks he had felt the approach of October. September was still the safe zone but every year with the start of October Hotaka felt the coming of the end of the year, and with that he felt time was running out. There were still so many things to do. This year Hotaka started his October rush early. The first of three time-consuming tasks had been almost completed: coding and filing photographs. But the most onerous of all tasks was still barely started. Labeling the photographs was what took the longest. It required typing out the code numbers, dates, locations and subjects for each photograph set aside for labeling, and typing the labels often meant searching the Internet for exact place names and finding the correct Kanji for unusual names. All labels were to be typed in size 6 font and printed on adhesive paper, which was then cut into individual labels and each label attached to its respective transparency mount. Once this was done photographs could be submitted to magazines, publishers, and the stock agency. For the last three Saturday evenings Hotaka stayed late at work with the intention of typing up the labels but instead spent two hours or more on SoulCast. In the end he got barely any work done.
And now it was October and time to feel the pressure of the closing of the year. Once the labeling was completed Hotaka could start setting aside which photos were going where. Then would come the third and final challenge: writing the letters to go with the submissions. Most had to be written in Japanese. Hotaka would attempt to write them himself and then ask his wife to check and edit them. But writing letters in Japanese was not an easy task for Hotaka. That too would take time. And he had a lot of ideas for submissions to magazines and publishers. He needed time and he was not using it wisely by playing on SoulCast.
There was only one solution really: stay away from the addiction of SoulCast. It was such a shame to think of doing so, especially with some new people to read and the return of mobil and diabolicdame. Plus there was always catching up to do with his favourite Scasters. But it had to be done cold turkey. Even posting once a week or reading and commenting on a few posts a week would mean going back to check “My Conversations” and seeing what people had typed in response. No, cold turkey was the best way.
Those who would come in this weekend would thus find Hotaka’s chair empty, the desk cleared off. There would be no sign of him and the weeks would pass without so much as a peep. The only thing the other SoulCaster’s would find to explain Hotaka’s vanishing act would be a small note that said, “I’ll be back when I am done. Take care everyone.”
