Epilogue…or Prologue
JUST THEN, I snapped back to my senses.
In front of me was a crosswalk at a large intersection. The light was currently red, and cars were flying past. Now, what was I doing before I zoned out?
Ah, that’s right. There was a girl standing on the crosswalk, and when I called out to her, she vanished. I thought maybe I parallel shifted, so I went to check my IP, only to find that my device was broken, and I was trying to figure out what to do about it.
I checked the IP band on my left wrist again.
ERROR
Definitely broken.
How odd—a moment ago, I felt uneasy at the prospect of not knowing my IP, but now, I wasn’t scared at all. Actually, the more I thought about it, it didn’t seem that odd at all.
When I was a kid, we didn’t have IPs. Parallel worlds were the stuff of fiction, and people lived their lives blissfully unaware of them. Really, I just gone back to the way life used to be. Likewise, this world was a single die—I just couldn’t see what side was facing up. Sure, this old dog was on his last legs, but that was no excuse to stop loving every world and their possibilities! The girl who vanished was still on my mind, but there was nothing I could do about it. I decided I would tell myself I merely saw a ghost.
Now then, I was in something of a pickle. I was supposed to be meeting someone here. Even though the IP function was glitched, the rest of my device still worked fine. Current time read 10:05. It was well past our meetup time, but I didn’t see any familiar faces.
August 17th, 10 a.m., Showa-dori intersection, Leotard Girl.
I was definitely in the right place at the right time, so what was going on?
Granted, I didn’t have any other plans today, so I could just wait and see. But unfortunately, this wasn’t a park—it was a public intersection. If an old man in a wheelchair sat around here for too long, some good Samaritan might call the cops to take me home.
Still, seeing as I was already here, I could afford to wait, say, thirty minutes. With that thought, I rolled my wheelchair up onto the greenery by the statue where I wouldn’t be in anyone’s way. Then I turned myself to face the intersection—
“Hggh…!”
A familiar pain erupted in the pit of my stomach, like someone had wedged a wooden pestle into my chest and was crushing my innards. This pain struck at random intervals and triggered intense nausea every time. Sweating and breathing heavily, I pulled my pill case out of my pocket.
“Agh…!”
My hand was shaking so hard, I went and dropped the damn thing. I tried to lean over and grab it off the ground, but I couldn’t possibly reach from in my chair. That said, if I got out of my wheelchair, there was no way I could get back into it on my own. Meanwhile, the pain was growing more and more intense with each passing moment, making it hard to think.
Boy, I hope I don’t die here—would that be too much to ask? I’d rather take my last breath with Ai, Eri-chan, Ryou, and Kazune all there to see me off…
“…lo? Hello? Are you okay, dear?!”
Just then, I heard a woman’s voice approaching. She sounded to be around my age. Whoever she was, she must have seen me struggling and come to my aid.
“I’ll call you an ambulance—”
“My…pills…!” I groaned out.
“Huh?”
“Please…get my…pills…!”
Desperately, I pointed at the pill case lying at my feet. She saw it and immediately knelt down to grab it, unconcerned that her expensive-looking clothes would get dirty. That was how I knew she had to be a good person at heart.
“Now, which pills do you need?! There are a lot in here!”
“All of them… One of each…”
“Okay, one of each… This one, this one, this one… Here you are. Need a drink?”
I held out my hand, but she ignored it and brought the pills up to my lips with her own palm. She followed it up with a sip from her water bottle to wash them down.
“Should I still call you an ambulance?” she asked.
“No…I’m all right. Thank you, though…”
Over the next few minutes, my breathing slowed. Mind you, the medicine couldn’t possibly work that fast; it was more willpower. A few minutes after that, I finally started to feel better. And when I slowly opened my eyes…I could scarcely believe it. The kindly woman was still standing there, watching over me with concern.
“Well now… It seems I really owe you one,” I said to her.
“No, it’s fine! Are you sure you’re okay now?”
“Quite sure, thanks to you.”
“Good! I’m so glad to hear it!” Her bright smile was the sweetest thing.
“You truly saved my life… I’d like to thank you somehow. Could I perhaps ask your name?”
“Oh, I’m no one special! I just did what anyone would do.”
“But…” When I tried to protest, however, she broke out into a giggle. “What is it?” I asked.
“I just… Hee hee! I was hoping I’d get to drop that line before I died. ‘I’m no one special!’ Glad I made it right before the finish line,” she said with a laugh.
“Ha ha! Well then, perhaps my blunder was worth it in the end.”
“Oh, you!”
Though we’d never met before, the two of us laughed together like old friends. Then Kazune came to mind. Surely this didn’t count as cheating, though, did it? Still…
“Say… Is it possible we’ve met somewhere before?” I asked.
“What?”
Wait—why in the world would I ask her such a thing?
She paused to scrutinize my face for a moment. “What’s your name, sir?”
“Takasaki Koyomi.”
“…Sorry, I don’t think it sounds familiar.”
I had her give me her name too, just in case, but sure enough, I didn’t recognize it. Perhaps it was all in my head…or…
“Ah, I know. Perhaps we met in some parallel world somewhere,” I mused.
“Ooh, that is a distinct possibility.”
“And given our age, we might simply be too senile to remember it!”
“You’re too funny! Hee hee hee!” she said, giggling again.
We shared another chuckle. For some reason, it was a blissful moment, and I was curious to know how this elegant old woman was feeling. “Have you lived a happy life?” I asked her.
Despite the sudden question, she didn’t bat a lash. “Yes, I’m very happy,” she replied, grinning from ear to ear.
“Glad to hear it!” Indeed, I truly was, from the bottom of my heart. “Now, how are you doing on time?”
“What?”
“Weren’t you on your way somewhere?” I asked.
“No, no… Hee hee hee! Not at all, really. I was just out on a walk, and I felt like coming here today.”
“Oh, I see.”
“But you know, now that I’ve met you and had a little chat, I’m feeling very satisfied with my outing. I think I might walk right back home!” she said cheerfully.
“Well then, I’m sorry for keeping you.”
“Don’t be! I had a wonderful time. What about you?”
“Oh, I’m…waiting to meet with someone, you see,” I said.
“Is that so! Well, I’d best run along.”
“Right. Thanks again for all your help.”
And so, having spread her cheer to me, the cheerful old woman briskly strolled over to the crosswalk and crossed the street.
I checked the time again. 11:00. For some reason I couldn’t explain, I somehow knew that whoever I was waiting for wasn’t coming.
No, the one I was waiting for wasn’t here at this crosswalk at all.
“…Time to head back.”
Back to Ai, back to Eri-chan, back to Ryou, and most of all, back to Kazune.
I left the empty intersection and went back to a world full of people I loved.