2 – The same day, 1:30 PM

There wasn’t any point in staying at school after that. Kei skipped out the back gates while lunch break continued on.

With about four hours before he was expected at Haruki’s house, he jumped on a bus headed for the train station. His next move had been planned out since he woke up that morning.

It had been about four years since his last train ride. He hadn’t ridden one since the day that he first visited Sakurada in that summer four years past. He hadn’t been allowed to leave, since he would keep his ability even if he left town. But that didn’t matter anymore.

Kei passed through the automatic ticket gate, buying a canned coffee from a nearby vending machine. The train arrived at the platform just as he was finishing it. The doors opened, and a few passengers filed off. Kei boarded the train himself, and the doors closed.

There were only a few passengers on the train. Kei selected a nearby empty seat as the train started moving and an automated voice announced the next stop. He never thought he’d get a second chance at seeing the outside world. He never thought leaving Sakurada would have been that easy.

Kei watched the scenery flow and rush past him, reminded of the several train excursions he used to take when he was younger.

Every now and then, he had simply wanted to go far away. When he couldn’t stand staying in one place any longer, he would hop on the train. He would ride it till the sunset, going in a new direction.

Looking back, it was a kind of pseudo-escape. He didn’t really want to run away, but all the same, he had been looking for his own utopia.

Utopia. A particularly sad word. It was supposed to mean an ideal location, but broken down, it was made up of the Greek words for “no place”.

Kei used to get on the train, looking for a place that wasn’t real, and that he knew he would never find.

The circumstances brought a certain woman to mind. The woman with future sight who had previously protected Sakurada, calling herself the Witch.

You’re looking for the place where you belong.

She was right. That was all he had ever been looking for.

Sakurada will grab hold of you, and not let go.

That had certainly been correct. After all, once Kei stepped foot in Sakurada, he had been incapable of leaving.

But still…

Not even Sakurada was the exact place I was looking for.

Asai Kei loved Sakurada, but it wasn’t the true place he had been searching for. The place he had been seeking, and was still seeking, was a dreamlike paradise. A place that couldn’t be reached just by following a set of tracks, and that likely didn’t even exist in all the world.

But if that was the case, why be on the train at all?

That morning, as soon as he had woken up, he had decided to get on that train. It just seemed like the natural thing to do. Like turning on the lights when returning home past dark. Like waving back at a person who waved first. That same kind of reflex had decided he should get on the train.

Was it just another pseudo-escape? That was possible. But it wasn’t at all like his actions four years prior. He wasn’t searching for a utopia, or a place that didn’t even exist. He was searching for a very real, very ordinary town.

Something told him that he wouldn’t be complete without going there. He felt certain that the final piece lay in that town.

The train continued forward smoothly. Kei closed his eyes, thinking he might get some sleep on the way over. But that didn’t happen. Instead, his thoughts began to be entirely dominated by Souma Sumire.

She was able to live happily in a world without abilities. She could just be a girl, experiencing normal joys and sorrows.

If he were to return abilities to the world, all her suffering would return to her as well. Future sight, death, Swampmen, and everything else that brought her torturous pain and would come right back.

He could do nothing, and Souma Sumire could be happy. He knew that.

I know that, but I still want to reset.

Why? To bring back the original Haruki Misora? That was definitely part of it. Kei was quite sure that the present Haruki knew nothing about him. She would only know what had happened up to the end of her first year of junior high, followed by a life of being cut off from everyone else she had ever known. That was horribly sad.

But that wasn’t the end. Even in the present world, Kei could still go and find Haruki. They could have countless new exchanges, slowly building up a new relationship. It would never be like the old one, but it could be just as happy, and it could begin from right where he was.

So Haruki Misora couldn’t be his excuse. Nobody could.

It’s just that I personally want Sakurada’s abilities to come back.

Asai Kei’s personal, selfish values informed him that it was wrong to throw away Sakurada’s abilities. He couldn’t accept the idea that abilities were a mistake. So he wanted to get them back with a reset.

That was his reason.

The train wove in and out with a mechanical consistency. The tracks ahead were leading directly towards the town that Kei had been born in.

After a transfer to an express train, the total journey took about an hour and a half. Then, Kei finally heard the station he was waiting for come from the announcement speakers. He stood up, disembarked the train, and stared down at the row of buildings spread before the high platform.

One building was designated as a family restaurant, and signage indicated an Internet café on another section. Opposite to them was a shopping mall with a movie theater, several large posters splayed across its front.

Not too much had changed in the past four years. The most significant difference was a chain drug store right on a corner. Previously, that section had housed a privately run café. Kei had always liked the little café and its sophisticated atmosphere, so he was sad to see that it had been replaced.

Kei was back in the town he grew up in. But although he had lived there up until the very end of elementary school, nobody would remember him. One way or another, the Administration Bureau had completely erased Kei’s past prior to his life in Sakurada. Not even the loss of abilities within Sakurada had undone that. Kei’s false set of memories placed him in Sakurada from the day of his birth. The filler to make his memories add up was that his parents had tragically died four years ago, leading to his adoption by the Nakano family.

Nobody outside of Sakurada knows that I exist. Kei was the only one aware that one more boy used to live within the town he was facing.

Given the time that Kei had promised to be at Haruki’s, he knew that he only had about 30 minutes to visit. He walked down the platform stairs and through the ticket station. The light flicked green, and he began walking in the most natural direction. He passed by the drugstore that had replaced the café, continuing on.

He turned off the main street, taking a back alley that led him into the shopping district. Passing further into that, he came across a small park.

He remembered everything. Every detail that he saw was packed full of memories. Memories that only he would ever know.

He came to a stop in the middle of the park. Before him towered a tall apartment complex. He glanced towards the southern end, fixing his gaze on the window third down from the top.

I’m home.

He had thrown away the key to that apartment four years ago. Even the keychain that the key had once been on was now turned into a strap, hanging from a girl’s cell phone. Not that the girl would understand why she owned that strap anymore.

After all that had changed, and all that had been forgotten… Kei still remembered. He was the only one who did.

That apartment room used to be where Kei called home. No doubt the couple inside had entirely forgotten about him, but Kei knew that he grew up in there. He still remembered the taste of that chicken curry.

It was similar to what he had helped make the previous night, but Souma’s wasn’t quite there. The chicken curry his mother made was just slightly different somehow.

Kei closed his eyes.

I feel so sad. He felt so selfishly sad about something he had so selfishly decided to throw away of his own accord. And he knew he could never get it back.

He kept looking into the window for a silhouette, or even just a shape, but never saw one. But he still thought he had done enough. It would do. He had seen everything he had come for.

Guess it’s time to go visit Haruki. Time to get back on the train and return to Sakurada. Kei turned on his heel and began walking out of the park.

In front of him, a little girl was running, her feet scuttling restlessly across the ground, headed directly towards him. She looked around two or three years old. Just as they were about to pass each other, the girl got distracted, then stumbled. Kei immediately knelt down to catch her.

It happened right after that.

There was a voice. A woman’s voice.

“Megumi!”

He almost thought his heart had stopped. He wanted to thank God for such a miraculous event, but it could have been coincidence. A woman was crossing the street, headed into the park.

Kei let go of the little girl, turning his attention towards the woman.

His first thought was that she was shorter. Of course, that wasn’t true, just a trick of his mind. She should have been 39 years old, but she looked much younger. It was good to know that she was in such good health.

The little girl was still holding tightly to Kei’s pants leg, likely out of shock from her close call.

The woman took in the situation with a slightly embarrassed smile. “I am so sorry. I take my eyes off her for one moment, and she’s already miles away.”

Her voice was so familiar. It hadn’t changed at all. He never thought he’d get to hear it again.

Kei forced a smile onto his face. “I suppose her name is Megumi-chan?”

“It is.”

“Does that use the kanji character for grace (恵み), as in, ‘the grace of God (天の恵み)?’”

“It does.”

“Well, that’s interesting. My name is written with the same character (恵). It’s just read differently.”

“How so?”

“Kei. It’s read as Kei.”

The woman’s eyes widened slightly, and she smiled. Her gaze dropped down to the little girl, who was still grabbing onto Kei. “What a coincidence. If she turned out to be a boy, I was going to name her Kei. My husband and I had decided long ago on using that specific character for our child’s name. It would be pronounced Kei for a boy, and Megumi for a girl.”

“It’s a great girl’s name, but it always got misread for me.”

“Oh, that’s okay. If someone reads it wrong the first time, that just means they’ll remember it faster.”

“Well, I guess that’s true.”

The woman crouched down and gently stroked the little girl’s head. The girl finally let go of Kei, throwing her arms around the woman.

Watching the little girl, Kei asked, “Why did you want to use that particular character?”

“Hm?”

“Well, my name uses that character, too, but I don’t know why. Maybe my parents had the same line of thought as yours.”

The woman put on a shy smile that made her look exactly like the child in her hands. “Well, it was more for us than it was for her.” Stroking her little girl’s head, the woman continued, “Megumi as a word can include the concept of deep love. It invites the interpretation of tenderness and affection.”

“So, you wanted a child who could hold deep love for others?”

The woman shook her head. “That’s part of it, but… names are always called by other people, right? You see, when I say my little girl’s name, I’m calling out my deep love. So are her friends, her future loved ones, and everyone else. And that… makes me very happy.”

Wow… that’s such a wonderful name. Kei wanted to share how he felt. But the words just wouldn’t come.

Heat flushed his cheeks. He knew that if he tried to speak, his voice would come out quivering. He forced his breathing to halt, swallowing down the scorching hot lump forming within his throat.

“What’s wrong?” The woman asked, looking into his face. “You look like you’re about to cry.”

Kei shook his head, but he didn’t mean anything by it. “I… did something terrible to my mom and dad. I betrayed them… in the worst way possible.”

Four years ago, Kei had stopped being their child.

Purposely, of his own decision, he had cut them out of his life.

The woman stood up, smiling. “Did you make sure to apologize, and to make it sincere?”

“No. I can’t apologize.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t… deserve it.”

“Oh, that can’t be true.” The woman placed a hand over her young daughter’s shoulders. “You can’t break the bond of a parent and child that easily. You will always be their son. Just go and apologize already.”

“If I do… will they forgive me?”

“I don’t know. But even if they can’t… they’ll always love you.”

“Then…” It wouldn’t be fair. It wouldn’t be worth forgiveness.

But he had to ask.

“Can I practice apologizing… with you?”

“Practice?”

“Yes. If I do it too suddenly, then… it might not come out right.”

The woman tilted her head in confusion. But with another bright smile, she nodded. “That’s fine. I’ll be your mother for just a moment.”

She held her daughter’s shoulders, looking at him. Her eyes were steady. Kei could see his face reflected in them, looking ready to burst into tears. He looked like a child.

Despite all his efforts, his voice still trembled.

“Mom… I am so sorry.”

So very, very sorry.

He couldn’t think of anything else. He just repeated the apology over and over in his heart.

The woman’s face blossomed into a lovely smile. “Okay.”

It was a short, simple response of affirmation.

But it was… those words were…

This was what I had thrown away.

He had thrown away that which couldn’t possibly be thrown away.

It was the first thing he had tried to do upon getting to Sakurada and becoming aware of his ability. He had been so foolish.

The girl in the woman’s arms shouted something in a high-pitched voice. Kei couldn’t really hear it, but the woman seemed to understand.

Kei took a deep breath in, then let it out.

Then, he smiled. “Thank you so very much. I feel… much better now.”

“Then make sure you apologize to your parents next.” Without waiting for an answer, the woman excused herself, and began walking away.

It was time to go back to Sakurada.

It was still hard to hear, but Kei could make out the little girl calling to him.

“Bye bye, Onii-chan!”

With the deepest love he could muster, Asai Kei called her name.

“Goodbye… 恵.”