The crow trotted along the hallway at a surprisingly brisk clip, perhaps aided by its extra leg. Naomi jogged behind it at first, but eventually he had to run just to keep up.
Finally, the crow turned into a boy’s bathroom on the very edge of the building, one that didn’t get much traffic. Following it inside, Naomi found his “future self” waiting with his arms folded.
“Why are we meeting—”
“Shh,” the man interrupted him, holding up a hand. A moment later, there was the sound of a toilet flushing, and an older student emerged from one of the stalls. As he washed his hands, he glanced dubiously over at Naomi, who was just standing there awkwardly.
Once the other student had left the bathroom, the older man lowered his hand, signaling that it was all right to proceed.
“You can’t just start talking to yourself when other people are around, you know. People might think you’re nuts.”
“Thanks. Very considerate of you…”
For what little it was worth, this future version of Naomi did have some consideration for his reputation. Naomi was grateful for that, but not too grateful. He wouldn’t even have this problem if the man had never come here, after all.
“So, did you get a good look at her today?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Naomi had carried out his mission exactly as instructed. He’d observed his target carefully for the entire day.
“I kept an eye on her all day, but… Uhm, are you sure it’s her?”
“I am,” the man said. “You and Ichigyou Ruri will be dating three months from today.” The way he said it made it sound like the most obvious statement in the world.
Naomi frowned involuntarily. His feelings about all this were very mixed.
“What’s with that face, huh?”
“Um, well…I don’t know.” Naomi waved a hand in a vague gesture of protest. “Me and Ichigyou-san? It seems kind of…impossible.”
“Impossible? Why?”
“Well, I mean…” Naomi paused, trying to find the right words. He was a little frightened of the man, so he wanted to explain this as diplomatically as possible. “I’m not sure I could handle her. She’s kind of a lone wolf, and I’m more of a wimp. I feel like she’ll bite me if I get too close. Also, um, I kind of prefer girls on the cuter side of the spectrum, so…”
“What? Are you calling her ugly?”
Apparently, Naomi had blundered straight into a landmine. He suppressed an urge to cover his face with his hands.
In his mind’s eye, he pictured Ichigyou Ruri as accurately as he could.
I mean… Come on…
“Of course not! I think she’s got a really pretty face. But she’s just not the cute type, right?!”
Naomi tried his very best to explain his position; he was scared, but he wasn’t going to lie to himself. If the cold, fearsome face of Ichigyou Ruri was cute, then so was a snarling lion.
“Wrong!” shouted the man angrily. “She’s the cutest girl on the planet Earth. Are you blind or something, kid? Are you sure you were even watching the right person?!”
That was actually seeming kind of plausible to Naomi right now. Maybe there had been a mistake. Maybe he was actually going to be dating some other girl in three months’ time.
Still…you could misremember someone’s face, but the man knew her name perfectly…
As Naomi pondered this mystery, the older man suddenly strode toward him and passed right through his body. “I’ll just have to double-check myself.”
“Huh?”
“She’s in the library, right? Follow me, but don’t say anything!”
With that final declaration, the man passed right through the bathroom door. In his hurry to follow, Naomi nearly walked right into it.
3.
THE OLDER MAN STRODE right into the library as if its glass door didn’t even exist.
Naomi screeched to a halt in front of it, then slowly opened the heavy door. When he entered the room, he found himself in a hushed, peaceful space. He walked cautiously into this holy ground, conscious that it was taboo to make a sound here.
Nishiki High’s main building had undergone a major remodel a few years earlier, and its library had been completely redesigned in a very modern style. The interior was a pleasant mix of clean white and polished wood.
The library was two floors with an atrium in its center. The first floor was home to the book collection, and the second floor was a study space. Since the students who came here to study were up on the second floor, the browsing space on the first floor was usually open. There weren’t many people hanging around today, either.
Naomi moved from one bookshelf to the other, trying to be stealthy. This place ought to be his home turf, but he felt more like a burglar sneaking into someone else’s home.
The older man had stopped next to a shelf not far from the checkout desk and was gazing quietly at it. Naomi crouched down next to him and pointed at Ruri. “See?” he whispered. “That’s Ichigyou-san right there.”
Ruri was still reading at the checkout desk. It was probably the same book she’d been working on earlier, judging from the displeased expression on her face.
“I mean, she’s the only other library committee member from my class, so I don’t think you could have mixed things up, but…”
As he said it, Naomi realized the idea really didn’t make much sense. This girl was the only Ichigyou Ruri he knew; he couldn’t imagine that some other person with the same name was going to show up and become his girlfriend out of nowhere.
Still, the other scenario seemed equally implausible. He couldn’t even imagine how he would start dating this girl in only three months. They’d happened to become classmates in high school and happened to end up on the same committee, but that was as far as their connection went.
Sure, those coincidences might be enough to lead to a friendship at some point. Maybe. Possibly. But at the moment, their ties were totally superficial. And this girl was so different from Naomi.
Her personality was nothing like his. She was so much stronger than him. It felt like they were different kinds of people on some fundamental level. A giant, yawning chasm separated the two of them, and Naomi had no idea how he could ever hope to cross it.
He couldn’t really imagine himself falling in love with her. But just as he thought that, a drop of something fell past his eyes. Naomi looked up.
There were tears running down the invisible man’s cheeks.
Naomi found himself at a loss for words. This felt like seeing something that he shouldn’t. And yet, he couldn’t look away.
The man stared fixedly at the counter with wide eyes. His tears flowed freely, but he didn’t even wipe them away. He just gazed at the girl behind the desk and, for a long, awkward moment, everyone in the room seemed frozen in place.
The tears of Naomi’s “future self” passed right through the floor of the library and disappeared.
4.
THE STREETS OF KYOTO were bathed in orange light.
Naomi looked down on them from the rooftop of his school building. The man that only he could see was standing on top of the low guard wall at its very edge. He probably wasn’t in any danger, but it made Naomi nervous anyway.
Naturally, Naomi wasn’t up there with him. He was leaning against the wall with his feet safely on the roof.
From up here, he had a clear view of the big apartment buildings around Shijo-Omiya, and the mountains further out. Kyoto was surrounded by mountains on all sides, so you could see them any way you looked, and soon, the sun would sink below them.
“The accident took place not long after we started dating,” the man said quietly.
Naomi looked up at him curiously. He’d put up his hood again, so it was impossible to see his expression.