“I swear I’m gonna find Alice,” I mumbled half to myself. “And I’m gonna interrogate her. If she’s not in Japan, then I’ll follow her to America.”
“I” answered, “Yeah. Except for one thing. It’s not ‘me’ who’s gonna chase her down. It’s us.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We will.”
“Absolutely. We’re gonna get her together.”
✦ ✦ ✦
We both agreed that first I should try questioning Yukari’s father. I’d ask him to take me along to inspect Jaunt. I’d have to miss school, but whatever.
Yukari’s father was reluctant. My parents weren’t hot on the idea, either. It’s not good to miss school—it could even affect my entrance exams—and after all I’d said about studying for them, it’s no wonder my parents looked askance. But I didn’t budge: day after day, I went to Yukari’s house and made my appeal directly. Shamelessly I claimed to be the one who knew Yukari the best, and I hinted that there was a secret promise between us (which unfortunately was not true).
I gave the impression that I knew something about Yukari’s death, as if I had received her final wishes—and of course I didn’t know anything, but I was positive there was something. I tried everything I could think of to plead my case. I even indirectly threatened them. And I told them about how my left hand was a cell phone (though of course I couldn’t show them proof, so I’m not so sure they believed me).
Yes, I tried every possibility that presented itself; Probably the clincher was when I got a passport application. I thrust the form in front of my parents and demanded their signatures. And I told them that if Yukari’s father wouldn’t take me, then fine, I’d get there by myself—without a guardian. If you think I can’t do it, you have another think coming! At the very least, I’m not going to give up until I try everything I can!!!
Finally, my parents caved to my stubbornness—which they’d long known well—and joined me in asking Yukari’s father to take me. That’s how at last it was settled that I was going to Jaunt.
✦ ✦ ✦
How do I explain this? It’s hard.
So why don’t I start by just telling you what happened?
Jaunt paid the travel expenses not only for Yukari’s family but even for me, and even booked the flight for us. We left Japan right away. Our plane soared through the night sky.
And then blew up over the Pacific Ocean.
The last things I saw before I died were the oxygen masks dropping from the ceiling, the face of Yukari’s mother looking back at me worriedly, and my left hand, its screen faintly lit. The next moment, the burning flames engulfed me.
✦ ✦ ✦
I shot up in the dark.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was like I was awoken by rage. Yes, the shock of being killed was not as intense as the rage boiling inside me. The indignation overcame everything.
I didn’t consider for a moment the possibility it could have been an accident. They blew up an airplane? Who the heck does that?
That’s right—Jaunt had wiped out Yukari’s family to avoid inspection and nip any problems right in the bud. They’d killed me and all those passengers who had nothing to do with it and made it look like a complete accident…
It sounds crazy, but what would you expect from people who teach kids to call normal people nobodies? And if they had geniuses on their side, then they might be capable of something on this level. Freakin’ bastards. Anyway, that settled it. Jaunt was guilty: Yukari hadn’t died in an accident.
Jaunt had murdered her.
And I mean, if they had murdered Yukari’s family and even me, then they must have been trying to make Yukari do what they wanted, but then Yukari said no, so they—
“Huh?”
Suddenly I realized and looked around. I was lying on my futon. But why? Wasn’t I just on a plane? That’s right, I was on a plane—and all of a sudden it started rocking—
Was that a dream…?
I was hungry.
I got out of my futon, and my hands spontaneously groped for sweets. I opened a box of caramels, looked at the digital clock on my desk, and checked the date. Right, today, I should be flying to America with Yukari’s parents, on the airplane already—
“Wait, what am I talking about?” I asked myself aloud. I searched my memories. Right! Now I remembered. I had managed to get Yukari’s parents to call off the investigation. They weren’t enthusiastic about that, but I’d begged them. I asked them to leave Yukari to me. I said I couldn’t tell them the details yet, but I had an ally with the power to investigate what happened to Yukari, so please, call off the investigation and leave it to me.
I was as incredulous as anyone would be that they actually took my word.
So of course I wasn’t on the plane—of course no one was dead.
Look at this. Look at this world!
My left-hand phone rang. I put a caramel in my mouth, answered the phone, and said, “Hello?”
“Um!” said the voice on the other end, out of breath. “Uh, well, sorry. I know it’s late. Were you sleeping?”
“No. But I think this is the second time I’ve had this call, and it’s probably the same for you. So maybe we should get right to the point.”
“S-so—you felt it too?”
“Mm-hmm.”
We already shared our memories and understood each other. What in the world had happened to us?
“Just now—that was me in a world where I went to investigate…”
“Or a possibility that I went to investigate.”
It wasn’t a dream. The explosion really happened. It just wasn’t determined. It was just one possibility that had arisen and disappeared, in a parallel world.
“So what about us? We’re in the world where we didn’t go investigate?”
“Yeah. Probably your world and my world differ in some details, but I think that’s the case. Sorry—I’m getting dizzy. You must be too, right? I think I’d better get some energy in me. You should too.”
“Uh, yeah, you’re right. ’Kay, bye.”
I hung up, popped a second caramel into my mouth, chewed it, and made a face.
The one who died was me. The one who was here now was also me.
What was I?
But that wasn’t the important thing right now. The important thing was—
I burst out laughing.