Chapter 1 - The Past And The Present (Part 2)

 

“Sup Misaki, need some help standing up?”

“...Eh?”

Misaki, surprised by my sudden appearance, let out a noise with a confused tone.

“M-Masato-kun? ...what are you doing up here?” Misaki asked softly while trying to fix herself up, still crouching on the floor.

“Well, I wanted to relax up here, but I guess I accidentally went in the wrong time...” I said, awkwardly looking at the side.

Misaki, finally understanding the situation, tries to stands up. But she wasn’t able to do so, perhaps because her legs were currently weaker than normal. And so she began falling to the side.

“Whoa, didn’t I ask you if you needed help standing up? It’s rude ignoring someone’s request for help, you know?” I said, while helping her not fall and making her stand up upright.

“Ah yes.. Thank you... Wait no, more importantly, did you hear what happened here?”

“...Sorry about that.”

“Ahhh... I have no reason to live anymore then. Goodbye Masato-kun. You were a great friend. It was fun while it lasted.”

Misaki started walking towards the railings on the edge of the rooftop. ‘Is she really...’ I thought, immediately stopping her.

“Hey Misaki! What are you doing! That’s not safe you know?!”

“But It was such an embarrassing sight to see! I’d rather die than be humiliated!

“Oh come on! You know me Misaki, you know I wouldn’t just share such a thing. I’m sure Yuichi won’t do anything malicious too! This secret is safe to me, okay? Please trust me.”

“...Okay...”

Somehow, I managed in making Misaki calm down while holding her hands tightly. We stood still like this for an amount of time I couldn’t count. Rather, I forgot how long we stayed like this.

It was in between the moment of silence that Misaki muttered these words in a small voice.

“Hey, Masato-kun... what do I do now? I just wanted to live a normal life... to be treated like a normal person. I never wanted all of this attention, and all this attention has only caused me misfortune. So please, tell me, what do I do now? Now that the relationship between me and the only person that treated me normally is broken, what do I do now?”

Misaki asked me sincerely. In a voice anyone would recognise. It sounded like the voice of someone breaking apart.

Feeling her hands tightening, I answered the obvious.

“Misaki! You know I’ve always been here for you, and that will always be the case, so please don’t forget about me and think that Yuichi was the only one who cared for you... You might not know it, but I actually cared about you more than him...”

“Eh? ...”

Misaki's eyes widened after she realised the meaning behind my words.

It was almost like a thousand images flashed before her eyes at that moment.

The tightness of her grip holding my hands relaxed, until they were no longer in contact, and she only muttered this short affirmation afterwards.

“...I see...”

Silence , once again, took over the world.

“I’m sorry I forgot about those memories we made together, Masato-kun... You’re right... I still have you... So please, don’t ever leave me, okay?”

There was a tone of desperation in her voice, which only made my heart hurt more. There was no other answer I could give to her besides this-

“Of course Misaki... I’ll never leave you.”

“...Then... Can I stay over at your place tonight?”

Misaki asks innocently. And I gave a straightforward answer.

“Sure.”

And thus, our school week ends with a feeling of melancholy inside of me.

---

Our trip back home was silent, neither of us talked and there was an awkward atmosphere between us. I’d already called my parents on the way and Misaki told her mom about her sleep over.

Her mom simply agreed while my mom agreed whilst teasing me.

Although we were silent, the physical distance between us was miniscule and I could almost feel her warmth as we walked through the road silently.

Finally reaching our house, we were greeted by an overly enthusiastic mother.

“Ara~ welcome back home Masato, oh and Misaki too! It’s been a while since you visited us hasn’t it?”

“Uh, yes... I see you havent changed at all, Matsushita-san...”

“Misaki-chan, come on now, don’t be so stiff with me\~ Please call me Yui like before\~”

“E-erm... thank you for taking care of me all this time, Yui-san...”

“Good enough!”

Well, as expected, Misaki couldn’t respond properly to my mom.

Misaki hasn’t been at our house alone since middle school graduation, and with her current circumstances, she doesn’t know how to deal with my mother. Well, I don’t think anyone has the energy to match my mother though... maybe except for Kou.

“Mom, Can’t you see Misaki is feeling uncomfortable? Please stop that”

“Heh~ Is that so, Misaki-chan? I’m sorry then\~ Well, please just head upstairs to Masato-kun’s room. He just bought a new console a few weeks ago, so you guys should play around with that before dinner. Well, just don’t play around with your bodies... but since you’re already in that age, if you reeaallyy want to, please use the rubber I sneaked in Masato’s closet\~”

As expected, Misaki started to feel embarrassed with what my mom was talking about, and her face became bright pink.

“Stop it. Misaki, please ignore my mom... You can go ahead and head upstairs before me. I still have some stuff to do here downstairs, feel free to play with anything so you don’t get bored.”

“Un...”

Misaki nodded and rushed upstairs to my room.

Me and my mother watched as she used the stairs in silence.

In a very uncharacteristic moment of her, my mom actually noticed that there was something wrong with Misaki.

“Hmm... Say, Masato, did something bad happen with Misaki?”

“...Wow, I didn’t expect you to notice.”

“Rude! You should treat your elders with respect, you know!”

“I see, so I should always keep your old age in mind, right?”

“I’ll cut your allowance.”

“... I was joking. But, yeah, something happened to Misaki... She was rejected by the person she likes.”

“EH!? She had someone that she liked?! Well... that means you have a chance now don’t you?”

“Mom, I’m not the type of person who would take advantage of someone for my own gain.”

“Ah\~ I raised you well then”

She said, tipping her toes in an attempt to reach and pat my head.

“Yes yes...”

I then passed over her and finally entered the house.

While drinking a glass of water, I asked mom:

“Is dad not here today?”

To which she answered after closing the door and coming near me.

“Yeah, he’s on a business trip and won’t be back for quite a while.”

“I see then...”

Finally, having finished all the things I had to do in downstairs, I began the journey to my room.

And while I was going up the stairs, my mom said one last thing.

“Hey, Masato... comfort Misaki, okay? I think she really needs it...”

“...Yeah mom, you didn’t have to tell me.”

And so, I finally entered the room.

There I saw Misaki playing a racing game with the 5th generation console of Cuny, the Gamestation 5

“Ah, welcome back?”

“...I’m here.”

I responded to her before promptly sitting down next to her.

My room isn’t really that decorated. There’s a bed that can fit two people on the corner, a TV facing the left side of the bed with a table in between the two where we currently sat.

There’s a desk on the other side of the room, which is large enough to be my work desk and have my computer setup in it. Near it are bookshelves and that’s pretty much it.

I’ve kept my hobbies from my previous life and surprisingly, the novels in this world weren’t in my old one. Well, that might just be because of time because some older novels have an uncanny resemblance to the novels from my previous world. Anyhow, after this, we started playing some games together.

At first it was a bit awkward, but as we got into the game, things lightened up a lot and it was almost like the events from a few hours ago did not happen.

“Hey Misaki.”

“Hmm?”

“Check your right.”

“Hm? ...E-Ehhh?! How did you catch up with me!?”

---

“That was a great round... Misaki, would you like to play again?”

“...yes.” Misaki said with a small smile on her face. Her beauty, amplified by multiple magnitudes just from her small smile was enough to relieve me of all stress from today.

Before we knew it, dinner came around and when it was time for sleep, Misaki asked me a favour.

“Masato... can we sleep together for tonight?”

“Eh? What?”

Her sudden request shocked me.

After we started being more conscious of each other because of our age during middle school, we stopped sleeping together in the same bed whenever she’d come over and instead, I would sleep on the floor with a futon. So it was odd that Misaki would ask to sleep in the same bed as me again when she was the one who pointed out how it’s weird for two teenagers of different sexes to sleep together in the same bed. thus resulting to my current confusion.

And, well another part of me being shocked because such an request something I did not expect.

“W-well... it’s just that I feel more safe around you for some reason... Masato-kun... And... I’m kinda sad about the thing that happened today and somehow, I think I’ll feel better if you were next to me so... O-Of course if you don’t like it you could always refuse...”

“...No. It’s fine.”

“Eh?”

And so, not even a day after the story finished, the gears of time have started moving towards a different direction, and the mysterious force that has kept this world together weakens.