This was a huge shock to me. I couldn’t imagine Akito behaving like that in my wildest dreams. If he really did have massive unpaid tabs like this, like those guys at the festival were gossiping about, then maybe the stuff about him being involved with some shady organizations wasn’t mere speculation either.
“Oh, hey! Come on in!” the owner yelled over my shoulder. I turned around to see that a new customer had walked through the door. Seeing this as my cue to exit stage right, I thanked the man politely for his help and left the building.
The sun was already beginning its descent in the western sky. It would probably be dark outside after another hour. There were now just thirty minutes left until the next Rollback, but I had pretty much all the information I needed to save Akito at this point. When I got sent back to 6 p.m. on April 1st, I’d know exactly what I needed to do.
It was pretty simple, actually: I would set myself up outside of the Asuka Tavern before nine o’clock and wait for Akito to get there, then convince him not to drink that night in whatever way I could. That was it. I didn’t see any room for error, really…aside from these new and somewhat concerning revelations about his character. While Akito had always been very prideful and competitive, he had always struck me as a good person at heart. According to that barkeeper, at least, my impression of him must be wildly out of date.
I might have been able to shrug this off as an overstatement if not for what Hayase told me at the Ocean’s Bounty Festival, that his personality change coincided with some sort of serious shoulder injury. That was one thing that remained a complete mystery to me. How had he injured it, and how had he changed as a result? I couldn’t help wondering. I really needed to find out the truth. If only I could talk to Hayase real quick, I thought to myself, then realized that I could probably get just as good of an explanation from Akito’s little sister. So I dialed up Akari…but she didn’t answer the phone. Maybe she was too busy helping her mom out with funeral preparations or something.
It looked like trying to reach Hayase was my only option. Unfortunately, I didn’t know her phone number, and there were less than thirty minutes left until the next Rollback. I did know where her family’s liquor store was located, but whether I could actually make it there in time was a different story. Maybe I could look up their phone number online, and…
…No, wait a minute.
I recalled the previous Rollback. Hayase probably wouldn’t be at the liquor store right now. She would be out walking her dog in Central Park. And I only knew this because I woke up there in the middle of a conversation with her. If I ran as fast as I could, it’d take me no more than ten minutes to reach the park. While it did mean playing right into the hands of fate yet again, it was crucial that I had a chance to speak with Hayase. And so I sprinted off toward the park.
True to my original estimate, I reached Central Park in just under ten minutes. I scanned the area and spotted a young woman walking a Shiba Inu right by the entrance to the park. Sure enough, it was Hayase. I called out her name from across the park, and she spun around to look at me. I jogged over to her, took a moment to catch my breath, and then got straight to the point.
“Listen, um… There’s…something I need to ask you…” I panted.
“O-okay? That’s fine, but, uh… Are you all right there, buddy?” she asked, taking a few steps back. I couldn’t blame her. Imagine being suddenly accosted by some random guy running over to you, all out of breath and looking desperate as hell. I tried to collect myself some more before continuing.
“I wanted to ask you a few questions about Akito,” I said.
“Wait. Akito Hoshina?” she clarified.
“Yes. Could you tell me how he changed after his shoulder injury, by any chance?”
She froze up; I saw the corner of her mouth twitch ever so slightly.
“Sorry, no thanks,” she said. “I don’t even know who you are, and I really don’t feel like thinking about all that stuff right now. You’re gonna have to ask someone else.”
“Wait, but…” I stuttered, yet Hayase had already turned her back and resumed walking her dog. I didn’t have time to find someone else to ask, though, with the Rollback fast approaching. So I ran up in front of Hayase, cut her off, and bowed my head to her. “Please! It won’t take long, I promise.”
“No means no, kiddo,” she responded tersely.
Begging wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I needed to find some sort of bargaining chip… Wait, I know exactly how to win her over! Duh!
“Aren’t you in a bit of a bind right now, though?” I asked her knowingly. “I hear you’re short on people for your booth this year.”
“How do you know about that?” she replied, her eyes wide with genuine surprise.
“Just something I heard through the grapevine. Anyway, here’s my offer: You answer a few questions about Akito for me, and I’ll help out at your booth tomorrow. I can be your errand boy or do whatever you need me to do. Happy to work from dawn until…well, the early evening, at least.”
Hayase looked me over suspiciously for a while. Then, after mulling it over a bit, she began to give me a makeshift job interview.
“What’s your name? And how old are you, exactly?”
“Kanae. Kanae Funami. And I’m seventeen.”
“And how did you know Akito, exactly?”
“He was…my hero, back in the day. Even saved me from a group of older kids that were bullying me, once upon a time.”
“Oh really?” she muttered as she continued to size me up. Finally, after an agonizingly awkward silence, she nodded as if to say I’d passed the inspection. “So you’ll really help out at our booth tomorrow, huh?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It’s gonna be backbreaking work, you know. And I can’t pay you anything for it.”
“Fine by me.”
“Okay then. Sounds like you’ve got yourself a deal. C’mon, let’s have a seat,” she said, walking over to a nearby park bench. She seemed willing to talk at long last. I thanked her profusely and followed her lead. I took a seat beside her and got right down to business.
“So when exactly did Akito injure his shoulder?” I asked.
“I think it was in September of our senior year,” she recounted. “It was right at the tail end of summer, just after we got back from nationals at Koshien.”
If Akito was a senior, then…I must have been in ninth grade. I was probably too busy getting ready for the entrance exam for my high school in Tokyo to pay much attention to anything else, explaining why I never heard about it at the time.