The train was running through a residential area. Warm lights streamed past outside the windows, proof of life.
Sakuta stood by the door, oblivious to all of that. His eyes were moving with the scenery, but his mind was elsewhere.
He’d parted ways with Ikumi at Yokohama Station and boarded the Tokaido Line. It was just crowded enough to fill the seats. Most passengers had their eyes on their phones or seemed to be sleeping.
The sights inside the train weren’t changing.
Sakuta himself stood still while his mind kept running over the events of the day again and again.
Things had been normal when he’d woken up.
Nasuno stepping on his face, breakfast with the cat, making more food once Kaede finally got up…
She’d been half-asleep even as she ate but woke up enough to leave just after noon—off to see her old friend Kotomi Kano. They’d planned to attend a Sweet Bullet concert.
Sakuta had seen her out, then got ready to leave himself and was out the door by two PM.
He’d taken a train from Fujisawa to Yokohama Station, then switched to the Minatomirai Line and met Ikumi on the platform.
Up until that point, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Things only got weird at Bashamichi Station.
He’s spotted little Mai in that brick building. With her red knapsack. And not just once—the second time, Mai was a tween.
Outside the station, he’d seen her in a white dress, the one Mai’d worn in the movie where her character had a heart condition.
And at the music festival venue, he’d seen Mai dressed as a bunny girl.
He didn’t think he’d been seeing things.
He’d met Mai on the tour bus before the concert and sensed nothing amiss.
She’d been acting normal.
He was the one who hadn’t been acting normal, and she’d been worried about him.
When she’d hugged him, it had felt like it always did.
Every bit as soft and warm an embrace as any other day.
He’d concluded he didn’t have to worry.
But the result…
She’d gotten up onstage to stake a wild claim.
“I’m Touko Kirishima.”
Just remembering it was unsettling.
It didn’t feel real.
Like he was dreaming right now.
He certainly hoped he was.
The way Mai had acted after the show only made things worse.
She’d been herself—other than insisting she really was Touko Kirishima.
What she’d said was ununsual, but how she’d acted wasn’t.
And that itself seemed strange.
The finishing blow had been the message Ikumi received from the other potential world.
Stop Touko Kirishima.
Before reality is rewritten.
What had the other Sakuta been trying to say? He couldn’t grasp much of it. Their conversation had cut out too soon.
Several things he’d said were concerning.
It sure felt like things were going very wrong.
And Touko Kirishima was at the heart of it.
But was it even possible for him to do something? When the other Sakuta hadn’t been able to perceive her at all?
In his second year of high school, he’d paid a visit to that other world and gained a distinct impression that that world’s Sakuta was better at everything.
He was still thinking about these things when the train dropped him off in Fujisawa.
✦ ✦ ✦
He kept thinking about them on the walk from the station.
Looping back and forth through the day.
But all this thinking didn’t get him anywhere. The only place he managed to get to was the door of his apartment building.
“Guess I should call Futaba.”
He hopped off the elevator and went to his apartment door. After taking a moment to fish the key out of his pocket, Sakuta unlocked it.
“I’m home, Nasuno,” he called, and the cat meowed, poking her head out of the living room.
A moment later…
“Oh! Sakuta, welcome home!”
A tall, thin, black-and-white creature.
Kaede, in panda pajamas.
Sakuta froze with his shoes half off.
“What are you doing, Kaede?”
“Welcoming you home!”
He could see that. She was super enthusiastic about it.
But that wasn’t very Kaede at all. His frown deepened.
“……”
Sakuta studied her face.
Something seemed odd.
“Sakuta?”
Kaede leaned diagonally, studying his scowl.
He knew that body language.
He knew the look on her face.
This was his other sister, the one who always wore panda pajamas.
His rational mind was screaming that this couldn’t be possible.
But once the thought struck him, he couldn’t dismiss it.
The possibility reared up and escaped his lips.
“Is that you, Kaede?” he asked, putting a particular emphasis on her name.
“That’s my name!”
She leaned even farther over, trying to figure out why he asked.
“Are you really?”
“Who else would I be, Sakuta?!”
Her tone was bright and cheery. She was a bit taller than he remembered, but he’d recognize that smile anywhere. This was, without a doubt, the Kaede who wrote her name in hiragana.
Seeing that expression sent ripples through him.
Once more, he felt like he must be dreaming.
That was partially due to his sheer surprise, but that wasn’t the main emotion.
His brain hadn’t caught up enough to be happy.
His feelings were still in turmoil.
He couldn’t quite process this.
As he wandered through the woods, unable to find a way out…
“The bath is full,” an electronic voice said.
“Do you wanna go first?” she asked.
“Nah…”
That was less an answer than a by-product of his confusion.
“Then I’ll take the first round!” Kaede declared, not at all bothered by his behavior.
She padded away into the living room, then came hustling back with a change of clothes and entered the washroom.
Sakuta stared at the closed door, stunned.
After a while, he heard water running.
And then the phone rang, calling to him from the living room. On pure reflex, he finished taking his shoes off and stepped into the apartment. His feet took him down the hall.
The lights on the phone were flashing. He picked up the receiver and held it to his ear.
“Yeah?” he said, his mind blank.
“Oh, Sakuta?” It was a very familiar voice.
He recognized the number on the display.
This was the original Kaede’s voice. Her number.
“……”
He stopped thinking completely.
“Um, Sakuta? Are you there?”
He heard her voice on the line again, and he said “Yeah” automatically.
What was this?
What was happening?
“Kaede?”
“Why was that a question?” she laughed, like he was half-asleep.
“Are you really Kaede?”
“Obviously. What’s the matter?”
That was unmistakably her voice.
“Anyway, I’m gonna stay at Mom and Dad’s place tonight. Forgot to mention it on the way out but figured you’d want a heads-up.”
That attitude and tone made it clear which Kaede he was talking to on the phone.
But then what was the other Kaede doing here? Waiting for him to get home?
One Kaede in the bath, the other on the phone with him.
Both existed at the same time.
That should’ve been impossible.
“Oh, right! Sweet Bullet news! They announced it at the end of the show today! They’re going to Budokan! I’ve gotta be there! ……Earth to Sakuta?”
“I hear you.”
Those words came out reflexively.
He had heard her loud and clear.
He was listening.
But his brain wasn’t processing any of it. It had ground to a halt.
“Uh, Kaede…”
“What?”
“Can you stay with Mom and Dad for a while?”
“Well, I was already planning on staying through spring break. Why?”
“No reason.”
He had no clue what else to say.
He sure as hell couldn’t tell her about the other Kaede.