4 – August

Haruki Misora watched a sparrow hop to and fro along the ground as she sat on a park bench.

It was now August 13th. Summer vacation had been on for about three weeks, and Haruki had become accustomed to stopping at the park on her way to school, hoping to run into Kurakawa Mari.

She was alone, sitting on a bench, as the same thoughts continued to swirl about in her head.

Am I capable of understanding others’ emotions?

Despite searching for her own feelings for over a month, Haruki still had no definite answer. What she did know was that without understanding both Mari and Mari’s mother’s emotions, she wouldn’t be able to understand Mari’s problems.

But no matter where Haruki searched, she never found emotion. Not in the library, not in the movie theater, not in a box of old toys, not anywhere.

Back when she was five years old, she must have had emotions while she tried to save the cicada. But somewhere along the way to the present, she had lost them. Was there any way of finding where they had gone?

Asai Kei. Could he perhaps know where they were?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she second-guessed it. The connection didn’t even make sense. Among the other classmates that Haruki had seen, Asai Kei seemed to have the least emotional activity.

Suddenly, the many sparrows all flew away, and Haruki found herself looking at empty ground. She had already been waiting in the park for 30 minutes. It was unlikely that she would run into Mari.

Haruki asked herself a question. Am I sad that Mari didn’t come today?

The answer came to her soon enough. I’m not sad.

So, she got up from the bench and began walking away. The empty swing set came into view. Yet another object that meant something to people that possessed emotion. It could be used as play equipment for those that appreciated it.

She exited the park. Then, at that moment, Mari’s voice came to her.

“Onee-chan,” she said. She ran directly towards Haruki from across the street. As she came closer, Haruki noticed she was breathing heavily, and lacked her usual smile.

“You have to help me, Onee-chan!”

Oh, she must be sad right now. That makes the most sense, Haruki thought. “What seems to be the matter?”

“I have to run away. They’re trying to catch me, and they won’t let me see Mom.”

Haruki couldn’t make much sense of things, but it seemed that Mari was running away from something.

“I understand. Let us run away, then,” Haruki responded.

Hand in hand, the two ran off, starting at around 4:30 in the afternoon. It was mid-summer, and the sun was high in the sky. Haruki knew she had to make her way towards a location with more general foot traffic. Eventually, she spotted a fast-food restaurant in the shopping district, and headed straight for it. The location was fairly crowded, which would make it simple for them to blend in and not get caught.

Haruki took deep breaths as she sat in a window seat overlooking the street. She sucked in the cool air of the shop, her lungs heavy with the warm summer air from outside. As her sweat caused chills to course through her, she became concerned that Mari might catch a cold.

Still breathing heavily, Haruki asked, “Who are you running from?”

Mari didn’t answer, instead simply shaking her head.

“Why are you being chased?”

Mari shook her head again. Did she not even understand the situation she was in? Without knowing what was going on, Haruki didn’t know how to respond. Should she contact the police? Should she contact Mari’s mother?

As Haruki mulled things over, Mari started speaking in a small voice. “The man in the black suit told me that Mom was already gone.”

“Is he the one chasing you?”

“It’s my fault. It’s because I’m a fake.”

Conversation was impossible. Haruki gave up the questioning, instead listening to Mari’s quiet voice.

“The real one is already gone, so I’m worthless. Mom was always going to leave eventually, since I’m just a fake.”

Real. Fake. Haruki recalled what Asai Kei had brought up earlier. The late Kurakawa Mari died seven years ago.

Mari’s expression was warped and distorted. By the time Haruki realized she was crying, great tears were already falling down her face. She cried, holding onto Haruki’s dress with an incredibly weak grip. That weak grip clearly transmitted her desire for salvation.

Haruki took a look around. Just outside, she spotted a man in a black suit. Then she spotted a second, followed by a third. They were walking into the surrounding shops, and quickly approaching. Immediately, Haruki stood up, taking Mari’s hand. “Look out the window. Are those the men chasing you?”

After rubbing her eyes, Mari nodded ever so slightly. They couldn’t afford to stay, but they couldn’t run away forever, either. How long can we keep this up?

Then, a single word passed through Haruki’s mind.

Reset.

Mari was crying, and men were chasing them. They could try again, give it another go.

At that moment, she recalled Asai Kei’s words.

There’s no point in using a reset by yourself. A reset wouldn’t stop her from crying.

She knew that. Everything would just happen again, in the same way. Resetting wouldn’t solve anything.

But hey, if you ever want to start trying to make that girl happy, be sure to make the right choices. You have to visualize the right outcomes. You really have to put in your best effort, more than just following your rules.

She had been thinking. She had spent all month thinking. But nothing came to mind. What could she possibly do? How could she make Mari smile? She didn’t know.

“Onee-chan.” Mari pulled on Haruki. In her hand was a small blue envelope that looked familiar. Then, she remembered that she had received it from Souma, and given it to Mari.

Think of it like a good luck charm. Whenever you’re in trouble, open it.

Of course. Mari had put the envelope in her pouch, and she always had her green pouch with her. Had she held onto it for all that time, believing that it could one day save her?

“Please let me have that envelope.”

Haruki doubted there was any point in opening it. The envelope couldn’t be that much different from a reset. It wouldn’t be enough to save Mari. But there weren’t many other options. If the envelope failed, they could just keep on running. They could run until they got caught, then reset. It didn’t make any sense, but Haruki couldn’t think of anything else.

Haruki tore into the envelope, which turned out to contain a small piece of memo paper. On it were written several numbers separated by hyphens.

Souma had handed over the envelope saying, Whenever you’re in trouble, open it and say a wish out loud. It’ll make your wish come true.

Suddenly, everything Souma had told her fell into place.

Beside the numbers, in beautiful handwriting, were the words Asai Kei.

✽

At the same moment, Kei was lying in bed, reading an old mystery novel. It had been forever since he had bought it, but after getting through a bit, he ended up shelving it for a while. It wasn’t bad or anything, but he wasn’t really gelling with it.

Someone had died at the end of the second chapter, and just as he was about to turn the page, he heard a knock on his door. He recognized the pattern. Nakano Tomoki was knocking. Kei got up and opened his door.

“Phone for you.” Tomoki grinned wide, handing over a cordless phone.

“Mm, thanks,” Kei replied, taking the phone and pushing the answer button. Tomoki let himself into Kei’s room, smiling all the while. Kei put the phone to his ear, immediately hearing a voice. It was Haruki Misora.

“Am I speaking to Asai Kei?”

“Yup.” Something about being called by his full name didn’t sit well with Kei.

“I have a request for you. I want to save Mari. Please lend me your assistance.”

Kei’s mouth involuntarily formed a smile. “Explain.”

“Mari is being chased by multiple men in black suits. We need to escape from them.”

The news wasn’t too surprising. Kurakawa Mari was a person of interest, to say the least. Any type of news surrounding her would be believable. “Have you contacted the police?”

“Not yet. I plan to immediately after this call.”

“No, you probably shouldn’t.” Kei didn’t know enough to trust if the social justice system could help Mari more than hurt her. “We need to meet up ASAP. Where are you right now?”

“In the shopping district, southwest from school.”

Kei closed his eyes, placing her on a mental map. Fortunately, there were only two public phones in the shopping district. “You’re using a public phone, right? Are you in front of a convenience store or a pharmacy?”

“The pharmacy,” Haruki answered.

“Are you familiar with the bus stop to the west of there?”

“No.”

“Take a look at the side street directly to your right. Take that, and make your first left. There will be a stop just off the main street from there.” Kei turned to look at his bedside clock, simultaneously pulling up the bus’s timetable in his mind. “There’ll be an eastbound bus leaving in two minutes. You can make it if you run. I’ll be at the third stop from there.”

“Understood.” With that, the call was cut off.

Tomoki spoke up, the same smile pasted onto his face. “My oh my, did I just hear you plan out a date?”

“Close enough. I’m helping with an escape attempt.”

“Ooh, really? Oh, to be young and carefree.”

“I want you to come, too.”

“Huh?”

“There’ll be two girls there.” Kei threw the cordless phone onto his bed as the corners of his mouth bent into a grin. “C’mon, pick up the pace.”

“Oh, okay. You’re rather excitable.”

“‘Course I am. We have the chance to help a couple of girls in need. We’re obliged to do everything we can.”

With another grin, Tomoki replied, “I may not know much, but I know that.”

By the time he finished his sentence, the two of them already had their shoes on.

After cycling as hard as possible, Kei made it to the agreed upon bus stop within ten minutes. Although Kei didn’t personally own a bicycle, Tomoki’s dad had offered his own bike for Kei’s free use.

While catching his breath, Tomoki asked, “So these girls… one of them’s Haruki, right?”

“Naturally.”

“And the other one’s Souma?”

“Nope. You don’t know her.”

“Is she cute?”

“Yup. Even more so than Haruki.”

Tomoki whistled. If nothing else, the boy was good at making noise.

“Haruki’s pretty cute, too. Well, aside from her weirdness.”

“Oh, yeah?” Personally, Kei wouldn’t have described Haruki as cute. He would have preferred the word lovely. Everything about her was pure and flawless.

In no time, a bus was pulling up to the stop. Haruki got off, holding Mari’s hand. Both of them were wearing dresses, Haruki’s a pale light blue and Mari’s a checkered pattern with thick diagonal lines.

When Tomoki saw Mari, he muttered, “Is that the other girl?”

“Mhm. Cute, right?”

“Well, sure. But I prefer ‘em with a bigger rack, myself.”

As soon as Haruki noticed Kei, she began running towards him. As she approached, she opened her mouth, then closed it, as if not knowing what to say. It was incredibly human of her.

Kei smiled. “Get on back. We’re outta here.”

“Understood.”

Behind Kei, Tomoki was asking Mari for her name. She hung her head silently, looking tired from all her crying.

With Haruki on the back of his bike, Kei started pedaling away. The bicycle chains rattled as they turned. It was just after 5 PM, so they had a decent amount of time before sunset.

Tomoki lined up his bike with Kei’s, balancing Mari on the back. “Where are we going?”

“Anywhere’s fine, as long as it’s not obvious. For now, we’ll head back to your place.”

Kei could distinctly feel Haruki’s hands on his back. It was the first time they had ever touched. Her palms were warm, just like any human’s. “Can you explain everything in detail, Haruki?”

“I do not fully understand it myself.”

“Then just tell me what you know.”

Haruki Misora slowly began relaying her story. She met Mari in front of the park, who told her that she was being chased by men in black suits. She said she was a fake, and her mother left her because she wasn’t real.

The information fit pretty well with Kei’s assumptions. How she shared names with the deceased Kurakawa Mari. Why she was getting tests done on her constantly. Why she was being chased. And why her mother didn’t love her.

“When was your last save?” Kei asked.

Haruki’s answer was quieter than usual. “The day before yesterday, just after 9 PM.”

That was good news. She really had been saving like he told her to.

His next question was for Mari, but he knew how much it would hurt her. It was hard to imagine that causing further hurt to a little girl already clearly suffering was right.

But I’m no stranger to cutting people down, Kei thought, taking a breath. “Mari. You were created by an ability, weren’t you?”

She didn’t answer. She was looking straight down.

“You were created by your mother when the real Kurakawa Mari died. She gained the ability to create a child just like the one she had lost. That’s who you really are, isn’t it?”

Mari gave the tiniest of nods.

He could feel Haruki’s hand on his back tighten.

I must have really asked a horrible question if it was enough to stir up Haruki, he thought.

Souma Sumire’s words floated through his mind once more.

Who’s the android?

He doubted that she could have had the present situation in mind while asking, but it still shook him.

Kurakawa Mari. A girl created to look entirely human. An artificial existence brought into being by an ability.

Two years later – August 30th (Wednesday)

Asai Kei and Haruki Misora, both high school first-years, were sitting atop tetrapods. When Kei opened his eyes to the peaceful sunset, Haruki was still staring at him. She quietly spoke.

“Will the girl in the photograph be the real Souma Sumire? If we really could take her out of that picture, would that count as bringing her back to life?”

He had heard that question before. It was the same question she brought up when Kei initially announced his plan to take out Souma Sumire from within a picture.

I’m sure that she remembers Mari.

The girl created to look just like the late Kurakawa Mari.

Mari was in a very similar circumstance to Souma Sumire within the photo. The real one died, and an ability recreated a being that was in all manners the same to what had been lost.

Kei answered in the same way he had the first time. “I don’t know.”

He didn’t know what it meant for a strikingly similar recreation to replace the original. He couldn’t say if it was good or bad.

“But maybe it’s not for us to say, Haruki. If she’s really there, maybe all we need to do is smile, be glad to see her, and have a chat.” He was trying to be honest, but he was shaken with worry.

He was trying to bring back a dead person. One who could see into the future, no less. Kei only knew of one woman who had that same ability. She had lost her identity, being relegated to the title of a Witch. Even if Souma Sumire could be brought back, her life would be fraught with trouble.

She probably knew how much I would be worrying, too.

Perhaps that was why she held out the MacGuffin within the photo. That MacGuffin in her right hand may have been a message for Kei. Others called it nothing more than an insignificant pebble, yet it being in her hand showed that it was part of a grand design. Souma had planned the whole thing out, and now was relaying to Kei her desire to be brought back.

Of course, he still had no understanding of Souma Sumire’s greater intentions. Why did she have to die, and why come back now? Why come back in such a strange and roundabout way, from the world of a photograph? What could it possibly accomplish? Nobody knew the answer. All they could know was that it was somehow part of a greater plan on her end.

But you know something, Souma? I’m actually incredibly selfish.

It didn’t really come down to what she was thinking, in the end.

“I’m going to bring her out of that photo. No matter what.”

It was his own selfish desire that won out. He just couldn’t let her die.

Haruki Misora nodded. As usual, she obediently replied, “Understood.”

Souma must have been suffering for a long time. Maybe she wanted him to notice. Maybe that was why she had asked that question those two summers ago.

Who’s the android?

She was begging to be noticed as she smiled everything away and played pretend. But Kei hadn’t noticed. He was too busy paying attention to Haruki Misora.

Souma Sumire was incredibly strong. Maybe too much for her own good. Even as a second-year middle schooler, she could steel herself and not overstep her bounds as a future seer. She continued down her path, ignoring the pain, alone in it the whole time.

She could have afforded to be a little weaker, Kei thought.

Maybe it wouldn’t have led to the optimal future, and maybe it would have meant taking a wrong step or two. She could have stopped just a bit short, and completely prevented her own death. But reality was different.

She was like a feral, daring, and carefree cat, and yet she was the farthest from having actual freedom. She lived under a controlling program from the moment it started till the moment it ceased. Her ability to see the future bound her.

“Kei,” came Haruki Misora’s voice. She looked at Kei with a somewhat timid expression. “Are you crying?”

That line brought back memories. She had asked the same question two years prior. This time, however, he answered differently. “No. I’m smiling, actually.”

Souma Sumire would be reborn. Or at least, something that appeared incredibly similar to her would be brought into being. Either way, whatever was coming, all he could do was shut up, smile, and go along with the ride. That had to start now, no matter how forced.

No doubt Souma Sumire had felt the same way, smiling as she walked down her predetermined path, faithfully keeping up her act till the end.

End of Chapter 2