‘JEEZ … WHAT THE HELL?’
Each of them had gone to their room to ensure they didn’t leave anything behind, while Masamune stayed in the Game Room, rummaging through the rubble for his video games.
Some of the consoles had been crushed underneath the overturned table and the cases with games looked utterly squashed. Sighing and tutting, he placed them one by one inside his backpack, wondering if he could return them to the manufacturer.
‘If I’d known this was going to happen, I would never have brought them.’
He continued to mutter and grumble under his breath when he heard his name.
‘Masamune.’
He turned around to see Subaru at the door. ‘What d’ya want?’ Masamune asked. ‘Have you finished checking your room?’
‘It’s OK. I didn’t bring much from home. And I didn’t use the room much either. I spent most of my time in here playing games with you. Here, let me help,’ Subaru said, crouching on the rug. ‘We’ll pick up everything together.’
As he watched Subaru straightening up a chair which had toppled on its side, Masamune had a strange feeling.
This boy, Subaru, had spent the best part of a year in this room playing video games. One was in ninth grade, the other in eighth, and despite all the hours they’d spent together, laughing and exclaiming over the games, it was still hard to believe that Subaru came from a different age – that he was a junior high student from 1985.
He is now twenty-nine years older than me, thought Masamune.
He plucked the ruined PlayStation 2 from the mountain of rubble. Damn it, he thought, what’re ya gonna do with this? He still had a PlayStation 3 at home, and 4 was launching soon; he knew his dad would buy it for him if he pestered him enough.
He decided he wouldn’t bother lugging back the broken TV. It was an old Braun tube TV his father had forgotten about. Masamune had discovered it in their storage shed, and compared to an LCD TV it was unbelievably bulky and heavy. It was no better than some antique.
‘Masamune, you mentioned earlier that you had an even newer game console at home? But that it didn’t fit the TV terminal. What do you mean?’
‘Ah – that’s this one, PlayStation 2.’
So I even have to explain that, eh? Masamune chose his words carefully. ‘At home I have a more advanced version of this, PlayStation 3, and that’s the device I really wanted to bring over, but they have more sophisticated TVs now and if you don’t have one, the plugs won’t fit. This retro TV isn’t compatible. This PlayStation 2 was actually used by my dad back in the day.’
‘Really?’
He probably still doesn’t get it, Masamune thought, but Subaru was humming, with a smile on his face.
‘Do you really understand?’ Masamune couldn’t help asking.
‘Not completely, but it’s cool to think that the future will turn out like that,’ he said. ‘So your father liked video games too, did he? Is that why you like them so much?’
‘Maybe that’s partly why.’
He and his father rarely played games together any more, but ever since he could remember he was used to seeing his father collect games. Even now, if he badgered his dad he’d usually buy him whatever games he asked for, since he understood the appeal himself. That’s the kind of father he was – and Masamune was thankful.
‘You know …’ Subaru said, as he rummaged through the scattered games.
‘What now?’ Masamune said.
‘I’m thinking of becoming one,’ Subaru said.
‘One what?’
‘Someone who designs games.’
Masamune was on his hands and knees on the floor at this point, but he stopped searching and fell silent. Subaru stopped rummaging too, and caught Masamune’s eye.
He sat up. ‘I’ve been thinking about it. In 2013, the year you live in now, I’ll be, what, forty-three … or forty-four? Hard to believe, but a decent age, I was thinking, though to you I’d be an old guy. An adult, in other words.’ Subaru laughed. ‘That’s why – that’s what will be my goal from now on. To become a game designer. Then you can say, “A friend of mine designed this game,” and it’ll be true.’
Masamune did not know what to say.
He felt like he couldn’t breathe, as if an unseen force was pressing down on his chest. He felt a sharp twinge in his nose, his eyes began to fill with tears, and he looked down quickly.
‘What’re you talking about?’ he managed to say, his voice cracking. ‘We’re all going to forget anything we’ve said here, so what’s the point? It won’t stop me boasting.’
‘You think? Still, don’t you want to believe that some things will change, that this is all somehow meaningful? Because I’ve never had anything I really wanted to aim for, until now.’
He spoke so casually it made Masamune wish he could be a bit more serious.
‘So if I can find something I’m really keen to do, I’d be so excited. I think I can remember that much when I go back through the mirror, if I will myself to. I promise you. So even if you and I forget each other, you won’t be lying. You do have a friend who makes video games.’
Masamune bit his lip to stop the tears.
‘Masamune?’
‘Thank you, Subaru,’ he said quietly, before Subaru could look too closely at his tear-stained cheeks. But Subaru looked relieved.
‘Um,’ he said, nodding. He rested his eyes on the wrecked devices. ‘Great,’ he murmured.
✦ ✦ ✦
FUKA CLOSED THE LID TO the piano.
She trailed her eyes around the room with a thankful heart.
Taking her handkerchief out of her pocket, she gave the lid a good wipe.
As she tidied up the rest of the room, there was a knock at her door.
‘Yes?’
‘It’s me. Ureshino.’
They’d all decided to come together for one last time in the grand foyer, so why was he now outside her door? She opened it just wide enough to see the side of his face.
He was standing in the hallway alone.
‘What is it?’ she asked quietly.
‘Well … there’s something I wanted to tell you.’
His face was flushed and he was clutching his hands in front of him. Before she could even think what it might be, he said, ‘The thing is …’ and looked directly at her. ‘Fuka – will you go out with me?’
He said it so boldly it surely echoed through the whole castle. Fuka opened the door wide in astonishment. Ureshino looked totally serious.
‘You can give me your answer when we go back through the mirrors, but will you think about it and let me know? Even … even if you don’t remember, it will feel like a drama where two people are fated to be together and one of them spies the other in a crowd. If you see me, something will click.’
‘Yeah, but …’
They lived in different times.
Seven years apart, to be exact. In Ureshino’s time, while he was in junior high, Fuka would have already graduated.
‘I’m so much older than you – plus, we’re going to forget everything anyway.’
‘But even so, I still like you,’ Ureshino said. He was dead serious, squeezing his balled-up fists with such force they turned a porcelain white.
Fuka smiled. She was simply extremely happy.
‘I understand,’ she said. ‘If I see you somewhere, and fate tugs at me somehow, I’ll call out to you. Though by then you might be head over heels for someone your own age.’
‘No way! I like you! I like you so much, Fuka!’
They were still talking in the doorway when someone joined them.
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah … I like you, I like you. Give me a break!’
It was Aki, who’d apparently just emerged from her room. She rapped Ureshino on the back of his head. ‘Ow!’ he cried, rubbing it. Behind Aki were Rion and Kokoro, who was looking flushed, and holding her hands out in a gesture of apology to Fuka.
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ she mouthed.
‘What are you saying?’ Ureshino said. ‘From my perspective, Aki, you’re an old woman, so there’s no chance I could fancy you.’
‘Try saying that again?’ Aki grimaced and she yanked at Ureshino’s ear. Fuka couldn’t help but smile again.
‘Ureshino,’ Fuka said, ‘if I bump into you, I might not remember you, but you’ll understand why, won’t you? If you remember me, then you can tell me the whole story and convince me to go out with you. I can be a bit stubborn sometimes, so I might not believe you.’
Ureshino looked stunned for a second.
‘Whaaat?’ he exclaimed, exaggerating his question. ‘Is that how you answer me? So cool, so disdainful?’
‘God, you really are so annoying, y’know?’ Aki said.
And Fuka just felt content that they could all chat like this.