“The two of us went to see the fireworks together. It was a cloudy day, so they’d considered canceling the show, but they decided to rush through it before the rain started. And then, just as the show reached its climax, a bolt of lightning hit a tree on the riverbank.”
Naomi’s heart thudded in his chest, and a cold shiver ran down his spine. Somehow, his body knew what was coming next.
“Unfortunately, Ruri was standing right next to it…” The man paused, then continued solemnly, “and she never opened her eyes again.”
He fell silent. The sounds of cars in the distance seemed oddly loud all of a sudden. Naomi needed some time to process what he’d just heard. This was far more serious than he’d expected.
This man was telling him that Ichigyou Ruri had died.
Honestly, it wasn’t easy to believe. He’d only met the girl recently, and he’d seen her alive and well only minutes earlier. But this man was talking about the future, so of course it didn’t feel real—her death hadn’t happened yet.
There was one thing Naomi could believe, though…because he’d seen it with his own two eyes. This arrogant, self-confident man who claimed to be his future self had broken down in tears.
“My objective is to falsify the record of that event,” the man continued. “We’ll prevent the accident three months from now, overwriting it completely. When she survives, it should create a ripple effect through the simulation as a whole. Within AllTale’s infinite storage space, a world where Ichigyou Ruri survived will form.”
Naomi thought this through as best he could. The man’s words fit with what he knew, at least. If this AllTale system really did have infinite capacity, creating a new world might be possible.
He had one question, though.
“Uh…” Naomi started to speak, but his voice faltered for a moment. “Is there…any point to doing that?”
The words came out sounding hesitant and fearful. Naomi found himself looking down at his shoes. Maybe he shouldn’t have asked, but he hadn’t been able to resist the urge.
“Even if you save Ichigyou-san inside the simulation…”
“She won’t come back in the real world,” the man responded in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone.
“Then why do it?”
There was a lengthy silence. After a while, the man’s mouth quirked into a smile.
“You know, it happened just after we started going out.” He reached up and pulled down his hood before continuing, exposing his face again. “We never got a chance to go anywhere together. We didn’t make any memories. We didn’t even take a single picture together.” There was no intensity or anger to the way he spoke.
“I just want one smile.” He continued, quietly and earnestly. “Just once, I want to see her really, truly happy. I want a record of that to exist. I want that memory. Even if it’s not real.”
The man’s gaze turned to Naomi.
“Even if she’s not smiling at me.”
Naomi could see the determination in his eyes. It was deep, and strong, and completely beyond his understanding.
Maybe it was meaningless. Maybe this was all a simulation. Maybe the girl he’d loved would really be dating “someone else.” But this man was still going to make it happen.
Hopping down from the wall, the man approached Naomi, who found himself frozen. He tensed up reflexively as the man reached for his arm, but the hand didn’t make contact. It just passed right through him.
“I can’t do much here. This is only an avatar, unable to touch anything in this world. I’m powerless on my own.”
With that, he took one step back and bowed his head deeply.
“Please help me, Naomi.”
His words were simple and straightforward. Maybe that was why they hit Naomi as hard as they did.
Naomi was at a total loss for words; this imposing, intimidating man, this confident and arrogant adult, was bowing to him. Begging him for help.
“Look, uh…”
Naomi’s hands rose up defensively. He hadn’t yet decided how to respond, but his body seemed ready to reject this plea.
His mind, on the other hand, wanted time to think this through. This man was asking him earnestly for help. He’d been honest with Naomi and told him the whole story. Naomi owed him a thoughtful response.
“Okay, well…” With a conscious effort, Naomi lowered his hands. “This is all new to me, and it hasn’t really sunk in yet. I don’t know Ichigyou-san that well, either. So, um, I can’t really imagine going out with her, but…”
He mentally ran through the words he’d just spoken. He still couldn’t imagine dating her, at all.
But that said—
“I mean, maybe she’s not the cute type, exactly, but…uh, it would be nice to have a girlfriend that pretty…” Naomi’s halting, stumbling words came out sounding painfully crass and selfish, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. He was only being honest.
“Also…” The words flowed more easily now. “If we can stop that accident from happening, and save her life…I want to do it. I want to save her.”
Naomi’s future self looked up with an expression of surprise.
“Um…”
Naomi forced a dopey smile on his face in an attempt to disguise his embarrassment. It felt a bit pathetic, even to him.
“So what am I supposed to call you, anyway? I mean, you’re me.”
The man smiled. That familiar confidence was returning to his face, and for some reason, that made Naomi happy.
“You can call me Sensei,” he said, finally straightening up out of his bow.
“Sensei? Like you’re my mentor or something? I mean, I guess that works…” It was funny—the kanji that make up the word Sensei mean “previous,” and “life.” Naomi wondered if that was intentional.
He was also kind of impressed—it took guts to give yourself a nickname like that. It wasn’t the choice he would have made. Apparently he was going to acquire a lot more self-confidence at some point in the next ten years.
Sensei reached out his right hand.
Naomi stared at it uncertainly. The two of them couldn’t touch each other.
“It’s just a ritual. Can’t hurt to go through the motions,” Sensei said.
Naomi nodded and reached out as well. Their hands clasped awkwardly in midair, both gripping at something that wasn’t there.
They didn’t make physical contact in that moment, but they did make a pact. Naomi was going to help Sensei, and together, they would save Ichigyou Ruri’s life.
“I’ll teach you all sorts of things. I do have ten years more experience than you, after all.”
“So how can I help?” He was finally feeling calmer, so he could consider the details of this arrangement better than before.
Sensei claimed he couldn’t touch this world directly. In that case, Naomi would probably be at least somewhat useful, since he could interact with it freely. That said, he was only a high-school student, and not a particularly competent one. He was a weak-willed waffler who couldn’t even make his own decisions.
“I can’t do anything special. I’m kind of useless, really. I’m sure you know that...” He hadn’t intended to put himself down, but this was the truth—there was no point running from it.
Sensei answered him with a bold smile.
“Wrong. You can do anything.”
Suddenly, a black shadow jumped across the roof. Naomi jerked his head up to look for its source. That three-legged crow had taken flight again.
“Right now, you’ve got me on your side…”
It was flying right at them. Specifically right at their hands, still “shaking” in midair. Naomi couldn’t jerk away in time.
The bird flew into his hand—and quickly began to transform.
“And you’ve got this guy, too.”
The thing that had been a crow distorted itself into a soft, supple substance, wrapping itself around Naomi’s hand. It spread over his palm, between his fingers, then down to his wrist; the sensation was like nothing he’d ever felt before.
For just an instant, he though he saw a spray of feathers in the air. When the dust had settled, Naomi looked down at his right hand. It was covered in an odd blue glove with a surface that swayed like the waters of a deep and ancient sea.