“S-sorry, I guess I didn’t really think that through. Just pretend I never said anything.”
“…No, I think that sounds kinda nice, actually. Let’s do it.”
“Wait. You mean it?”
I was genuinely shocked. I thought for sure she would politely decline the invite, especially since it came completely out of the blue. I wasn’t prepared in the slightest for her to actually say yes, but I couldn’t very well back out now, could I?
“All right, um… Sounds like a plan. Just gotta iron out a time, then. Let’s see, I’ve got plans pretty much all day tomorrow, so…”
I trailed off, recalling that I’d agreed to meet up with Hayase at six in the morning. And since the festival usually went until late into the night, I was pretty sure they’d need my help all day. And I couldn’t make it any later than that, because the next Rollback would occur, which meant I only really had one option.
“Does tonight work for you?”
“Ooh-hoo! A little late-night picnic, huh? Sure. Sounds fun.”
“Awesome. Do you wanna pick a time? I’m free all evening.”
“Hrmmm… Okay, how ’bout eight o’clock?”
“Works for me. I’ll come pick you up at your place right around eight, then.”
“Cool beans. See you then.”
I hung up the phone. That certainly hadn’t gone the way I expected it to, but hey, a picnic would be the perfect setting for us to have a laid-back conversation about things. I bet that the cherry blossoms would look awesome in the dark too. In my rush of excitement-slash-jitteriness, I practically jumped up to my feet—and my cell phone slipped out of my hand in the process.
“Whoops…”
I bent down to grab it but then noticed that the impact with the floor had caused the screen to turn on. When I picked it up properly, I was reminded that there was something I meant to check on my phone. I swiped over and opened the Memos app, where I found a note containing the same three bits of information regarding Akito’s death that I’d seen previously.
4/2: Found Akito’s body @ 6:30 PM in empty lot behind tobacco shop & called police.
Est. time of death between midnight and 2 AM that morning.
Was drinking heavily earlier that night @ the Asuka Tavern, ~9 PM to midnight.
The fact that the note was already here meant I must have left it for myself on either the next Rollback, or the one after that. I’d need to remember to do that at some point—who knew what might happen if I forgot. But before I had the chance to start stressing myself out about time paradoxes and whatnot, I heard my grandmother calling me from downstairs. It was probably dinnertime. I slid my cell phone back in my pocket and headed down to the living room. For now, I would try to keep the Memos thing in the back of my head.
I left the house shortly after finishing my meal. It was freezing cold outside, but after deeply regretting my lack of layers the night before, I remembered to wear an undershirt this time, so thankfully it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I already let my grandmother and Eri know where I was going to be tonight, as well as my plan to get up early and help out at the festival tomorrow morning. They both seemed awfully surprised by this—probably because I’d never gone out to meet up with friends at night in my entire life. Eri asked me who I was going on a picnic with, but the thought of revealing that much left me a bit too embarrassed. I just kinda dodged the question without answering it.
After making my way down the dusky streets for some time, I turned into Akari’s apartment complex. I didn’t feel quite brave enough to go up and ring her doorbell, so I opted to call her cell and let her know I was outside. In less than a minute, she emerged from her second-floor apartment and came scampering down the stairs with a large tote bag slung over her shoulder.
“Hey, Kanae-kun. Fancy seeing you here this evening,” she said, greeting me with a giddy smile. It felt surreal to think that a single night before, she’d been standing right in that exact same place, but with tears streaming down her face. Though that wouldn’t happen until tomorrow night from her perspective, so I supposed that contrast was to be expected. The bright-eyed girl standing before me right now had no way of knowing that in about thirty hours’ time, she’d be breaking into the school with me, or embracing me on the rooftop, or breaking down and crying outside her apartment in front of me. So all I could really do was play it cool and try not to make the mistake of bringing up Akito again.
“Hey, good to see you too,” I said. “Sorry again for inviting you out on such short notice.”
“Nah, don’t mention it. I’ve been wanting to get out of the house and see some cherry blossoms anyway. I really appreciated the invite,” she smiled again—but I could somehow sense she was putting on a brave face. It had been a mere two days since her brother passed away, so there was no way she was already over the grieving process. She was either forcing herself to seem okay, or she was only coming along as a distraction to keep her mind off the pain. She probably wouldn’t appreciate me prodding her about it in either case, so I chose to keep acting casual and treating her the same way I always did.
“Cool, glad to hear it,” I said. “Well then—shall we?”
We set off toward the temple grounds. The backstreets of Sodeshima were in desperate need of more lampposts, yet despite the dim lighting and gloomy atmosphere, Akari was practically skipping through the neighborhood with a cheerful spring in her step.
“So, what’s in the bag?” I asked, pointing to the large canvas tote over her shoulder.
“Oh, y’know. Just the basic stuff. A picnic blanket, a couple smaller blankets for if we get cold, and a little bit of food in case we get hungry.”
If cringing had a sound, you could have heard my embarrassment from a mile away. I’d invited her out on a picnic, and yet I didn’t even think to bring any of the necessary stuff and just showed up empty-handed on her doorstep. I should have at least brought some sort of food item to contribute. I guess I figured since it was already eight o’clock, she’d probably eaten beforehand.
“Aw, shoot, my bad!” I apologized. “I should’ve brought something too. Here, let’s swing by the supermarket real quick.”
“No, that’s okay. I made enough for both of us.”
Akari’s kindness and consideration was a warm balm for my weary heart. I was eternally grateful to have such an angel for a lifelong friend.
“Thanks… You didn’t go too overboard making food just for this, I hope?”
“Gosh, no. I clumped together some rice balls, that’s all. Don’t get your hopes up too high.”
“Oh, they’re already way up there, I’m afraid. Don’t think I’ve ever gotten to try your home cooking before, have I?”
“Aw, stop it,” she blushed, looking down at the ground. “Rice balls don’t count as home cooking. You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”
We reached the temple grounds before long. I was surprised to see that there were actually quite a lot of people there, mostly middle-aged, drinking alcohol and making merry. This was not the quiet, secluded atmosphere I’d been hoping for.
“…Lot of people here, huh?” said Akari, clearly a little disappointed as well.
“Yeah, I guess they must be pregaming for the big festival tomorrow.”
“Oh, right. I kinda forgot that was tomorrow… Oh well. We’re here now, I guess,” she shrugged. It was pretty obvious that all of her enthusiasm had just crawled into a hole and died. Desperate to salvage the situation, I mulled over our options for a minute before offering an alternate solution.
“Y’know, we could just go to the old, abandoned park instead,” I suggested. “No one would bother us there.”
“Wait… You mean the one in the run-down part of town? With the little wooden shrine that you said you thought might be the cause of the Rollback?”
“Yep, that’s the one. Why do you say it like you haven’t already been there?”
“Because I haven’t… I’ve only heard about it from you.”
“Huh? But you were the one who invited me there the other day when we—” I began but stopped myself short. I was confusing the order in which I experienced events with the actual, chronological timeline again. Akari wouldn’t experience that for another several days—I really needed to get my head on straight with this stuff. “Sorry, now I’m with you. Of course you haven’t been there yet. But hey, now’s as good a time as any to take you there, right? C’mon, let’s go.”
I turned on my heels and headed off in the direction of the abandoned park, and Akari—though quite bewildered by my impulsiveness—followed close behind. As we made the long trek over there, I couldn’t help but grumble internally about how convoluted this whole thing was. How was I supposed to explain the rules of the Rollback phenomenon to Akari one of these days (so she could turn around and explain it to me on the 6th) when it felt like I still didn’t even have a very good handle on it? When had I explained it to her, for that matter? Judging by the fact that she already knew about it now, it had to have been sometime prior to 6 p.m. on April 3rd. Maybe I should just ask her.
“Hey, Akari?”
“Yeah?”
“You remember how I explained the Rollback phenomenon to you and all that jazz? When was that?” I asked, looking over at her through the corner of my eye.
“Uhhh, lemme think. That was…two nights ago, I think?” she recollected.
Okay, hold the phone. How could that make any sense? Two nights ago would have been April 1st—but Akari had previously told me that she and I didn’t meet up that night in any capacity. Did she have the date wrong? Otherwise, I didn’t see how I could’ve explained things to her on that particular night.