A few hours had passed. We finished dinner and I am currently inside my parent’s room. To be exact, in front of tou-san’s guitar racks. He has a total of five guitars that he used in his earlier days and is now kept as a collection. Whenever he is bored monitoring the stock market during the afternoon, he would play it while I and Ryuu are watching.

Ryuu’s innocent smile and laughter after that are truly worth seeing. Its effect is even stronger than my cheat giving me relaxation.

‘Modify the practice time of the guitar to ten years later?’

The strange feeling of an itch inside my chest emerged once more. I felt excited once more, both caused by my cheat and my personal feeling about this trial.

Tou-san, it looks like I will belong to a band in the future.

‘Accept… Accept…’

Now, I only have to think of accepting twice before I confirmed the usage of my cheat.

‘Tab sheets… They’re so hard to find for free!’

‘Damn it! I’ll just make my own!’

‘This F Chord! How the f*ck should I do it?!’

‘Ow! It’s my right pointy this time…’

Ten years worth of memories flooded my mind. From my complaints about the F chord’s difficulty to playing the guitar naturally, I “remembered” everything.

Crack-!

Suddenly, I felt the flexibility of both of my hands increasing at a very obvious rate. Soon, it reached the level that I was familiar with. Nothing much changed in me physically, but something inexplicably did. 

‘So that’s what happens if I get affected physically.’

At my first usage, it focused more on knowledge than physical. My increased processing speed might be caused by something unknown, but I did not have any memories inside a white space at that time. 

‘Practice time?’

I noticed a certain difference that set my first and second usage apart. In the former, it is ‘learning time’. In the latter, it is ‘practice time’. Perhaps, this is what sets knowledge-based improvements and physical-based improvements apart. Since the usage of a guitar is more practical than trading, it has a different wording.

Both of these chances might have shown my memories of attaining masteries in those crafts, but only the guitar practice caused a physical improvement. At least, that's what I've noticed.

‘My hands look slightly bigger.’

While it is not the same size as the eighteen-year-old me, it did grow. This confirmed my hunch that my cheat can affect me physically. It’s just that the improvements might be translated to better suit my current age.

I snapped out of my thoughts as I chose one of tou-san’s guitars. I chose Gibson due to its easy usage for those with smaller hands, which better fits me as of now. I strapped it to my shoulder before feeling that familiar feeling once more.

Hum-!

I strum the strings once and struck it. The chord that was once the most difficult for my fingers became easy to do. It is hard for a beginner to do it, and I can attest to it. There’s an alternative though–to play the F Major chord. According to my memories, I used this in my first few months before I adapted enough to do the actual F chord.

Anyways, another mechanism behind my cheat was unraveled again. It took me 200 days to explore another portion of it, but I am satisfied nevertheless.

I could feel that my limit when it comes to absorbing should become higher, too. Even though my limit is still fifty volts, I have a feeling that it will increase soon.

“Nobu-kun?”

I hear my kaa-san call me from the door. The black Gibson guitar is still strapped in my shoulder, creating a ridiculous sight of an eight-year-old using an oversized guitar.

“My, you have an interest in guitars?”

“Um!” I nodded enthusiastically. This is what I did for the next ten years based on my memories. How could I not develop affection towards it?

“You’re just like your father.”

She came close to me and messed up my hair with her head pat. Then, I saw her suddenly nod. I saw her expression become brighter.

“Do you want to learn from your father? He is the best guitarist that I know! He got my heart through his songs, after all…”

Kaa-san made a nostalgic look while facing me. For her who I could not spend as much time as my tou-san, I want to make our time together just as valuable as the moments with Ryuu and tou-san.

It was at this moment that it dawned on me. In this life, I would like to share all my joys with them.

*****

“Hah… Hah…”

“Nobu-kun? W-what’s the matter? Are you alright?”

This feeling of surging heat, I could not take it anymore. My chest tightened as I gasped for hurried breaths. My sight became blurry and dizzy. I feel very lightheaded as if I am floating on cloud nine. 

I see angels. I see demons. I see buddhas. I see fairies.

‘A light? Where does it lead to?’

I followed the ray of light that descended upon me. My surroundings feel vague as I could not recall how they looked when I passed by. Soon, I arrived at the place that the light pointed to.

‘Paradise?’

I could see prairies of grassland and flowers. Butterflies flew around the colorful flowers, sucking out the nectar on them. In return, they left a trail of shining particles in their wake. A clear lake is found moments beneath my feet. I could see my clear reflection in it.

I looked upwards, seeing the clear skies that could not be seen in my world. They are beautiful. I etched this sight in my mind, but I seem to forget about it the next second.

“A human?”

I saw a silhouette. My sight is already blurry from it, but I could tell—this person’s beauty is otherworldly. Nothing could compare to it.

“You are lost.”

Thud-!

After hearing that, I am swallowed by the endless darkness.

*****

A few minutes ago.

Just like usual, Nobu went and met with Hitori. It is the last day of their semester and the beginning of their vacation. 

He was surprised to see her sitting under the tree while holding a tree branch. On the ground, many “正” was written. It is the kanji used for counting, thus it signified her counting the time that she was waiting.

“We are not sitting on the bench?.”

“N-nobu-kun.”

Bocchi saw him sit beside her with a carefree smile. This is how he always arrived, in contrast to her gloomy atmosphere. A part of her envied him for being able to act like this while another admired it. When she realized that Nobu is a loner by choice, it instantly set them apart.

After all, she’s a loner not because she wanted it!

“What’s going on? Did someone bully you?” He asked. “If someone did, I will beat them up.”

Seeing his smile together with his menacing eyes, she immediately replied:

“N-no! No one bullied me. They don’t even know that I exist in our classroom.”

“...Touche.”

A corner of Nobu’s smile trembled as he thought of how Hitori was an expert at inflicting self-burns.

“But… One of my classmates noticed me.”

“Only after an entire semester?”

Nobu could not believe it. Just how unnoticeable was she for her classmates to not notice her after six whole months?!

Her gloominess was further amplified upon hearing his words.

“I-it’s alright. You can now make friends, right?” He said.

“...They said that I am a ghost.”

“...”

In the end, Nobu made her mood worse.

Crack-!

Crack-!

Crack-!

Suddenly, he heard something shatter. When he looked into the skies, he saw a very shocking scene. A portion of the blue sky was torn off. Another sky was attached to it, placing it in disarray in his eyes. Then, he could see a bright blue light seeping into the crack. Another pillar of white light came from it as it headed somewhere.

The moment the light touched the ground, the disjointed sky started disappearing–the crack became smaller.

“Hu…h?”

Nobu suddenly felt his entire body heating up. He started to feel its adverse effects right away. Lightheadedness, dizziness, nausea, blurriness… A dozen of such ailments stacked up onto him.

Thud-!

“N-nobu-kun..?”

Hitori could feel Nobu falling into her shoulders. Just as she was confused, she felt his high temperature immediately.

“Hot..!”

“Hah… Hah…”

She could see that Nobu is having a problem right now. She knew her appearance when she is sick, so she could distinguish that Nobu is suffering from a fever.

“W-what should I do?!”

For a moment, she is blanking out. In this situation that she had not encountered before, she does not know what to do. It is understandable for her to be like this as she is only a nine-year-old child.

Yet…

Yet…

She does not want to sit still while her only friend is like this!

“What… can I do?”

Her sight went to the ice cream store in front of the playground. There was not a single day that Nobu did not have any ice cream before meeting her. If it’s like that, then the shopkeeper must be very familiar with him!

Hitori piggy-backed him. When she stepped into the store, the lazy shopkeeper instantly got alerted.

He got asked by Seiji to take care of Nobu whenever something happens. He was previously Seiji’s acquaintance who had a military rank before quitting. Now, he’s spending his retirement when Seiji coincidentally saw him in this town. In the end, he asked for a favor to help his son whenever needed.

“P-p-p-please help us! M-my friend has a fever!” Hitori said within three seconds. She wanted to end this conversation quickly, which is why she’s accustomed to speaking fast.

“This kid? We need to bring him home. Do you know where he lives?”

“T-that’s right!”

From their conversations, she knew Nobu’s home. It is only a street away from here, is mostly white, has two floors, and can be reached when you go straight to the left of the playground.

He knew where he lived, but his curiosity got ahead of him. He wanted to know how much she knew about Seiji's son.

“Let me carry him.”

The shopkeeper said before taking Nobu from Hitori’s back. After carrying him on his shoulder, she began navigating the shopkeeper to his house. As they had expected, it only took them four minutes before they reached it.

The shopkeeper clicked the doorbell once.

“Who is it?”

The gate was opened, revealing a man with unkempt black hair. His maroon eyes scanned them for a second before they widened.

“Akasaka-san, your son had a problem.”

“Nobu-kun… What happened to him?”

As Seiji carried Nobu inside the house, he asked the shopkeeper.

“She knows it better.” He pointed out to the pink-haired girl who kept looking to the ground.

“You are Nobu’s friend… Bocchi, was it?”

“U-uhm… It’s Hitori…”

“I see. Can you wait in the living room for a bit? You too, Yamada-san.”

Upon agreeing, one adult and one child were left in the living room… except for Ryuu who stopped playing and turned to Hitori.

“You are nii-san’s friend, right? The one that he always talks about!”

“A-ah?!” Her anxiety started to act up again–filling her head with negative thoughts.

‘What if I say something bad?’

‘What if I make things awkward?’

‘What if I make him angry?’

“You know, he does not have any other friends than you. My nii-san is very intelligent, so he should not have any problems with making friends.”

When Ryuu was in his kindergarten, he learned that making friends is not that hard. You just need to take the initiative to talk with them before a friendship is made. Add to that his extraordinary mind, he did not have much difficulty in realizing Nobu’s peculiarity.

“That’s why… Please keep being his friend!”

“I-I will..!”

Looking at this sight, the shopkeeper, Yamada-san, smiled.

“You have two great sons, Seiji.”