Looking back on it, perhaps it wasn't the greatest of ideas to mess with time. A bad idea, sure, but I had all the rights to do so considering I was the one who discovered it. I had intended to only travel back several days to fix this war in the present, but I had accidentally went several years back as a result of that instance being my first time using it. And so, Sasaki Yuji found himself at a point right before his life would change. In the distance was a young me, who was with a young Rin. And getting ready to approach past me was past Noriko. "Oh my, what am I to do?" I thought. As a result of a mistake I was brought to one of the turning points in my life. I acknowledged that this event had brought great misery and despair to Rin, so I pondered. Do I let Noriko take me from Rin to secure the present that I'm oh so familiar with, or do I stop Noriko, and instead risk causing my entire relationship with Noriko to collapse? It's not like this was the first time I had met Noriko, this was just when we began to get much closer, at the cost of Rin's emotional distress. I was too far to hear what I was talking with Rin about, but I could tell we were both having fun. I decided to just idly watch for as long as I could, I wanted to see the moment that Rin despises so much myself because my memory of it was still hazy. When Noriko drew near to my past self, I concluded that I would interfere. I wanted to see how things would be different if my childhood had been spent with Rin rather than Noriko. And so, I took action. "Yuji, how did you prevent Noriko from interfering with past you and Rin?" you may be asking. The answer is quite simple. I employed a strategy that would distract a small child without fail. With my mouth, I imitated the jingle of an ice cream truck. I don't know how to write how it sounded like with words, so use your imagination please. My tactic did work, because I heard Noriko shout "Ice cream!" and run off in an attempt to try to find the truck. Deceiving a small child wasn't my proudest moment, but it was necessary to carry out my time experiment, so don't get the wrong idea about the protagonist of this tale. I observed myself and Rin for the next hour. We sat there, talking away. Noriko did not return. Why? I don't know, maybe she did find an ice cream truck. Either way, mission success! Now all that's left is to see what happens many years later. I'll spoil this now, results were less than optimal. Getting ready to go back, I brought out my giant clock and headed back into the present. I'm lucky that I didn't mess up my return, or maybe I was unlucky, because once I returned to the present, I gained some knowledge. Specifically, the knowledge that I made a huge mistake. I confirmed I was in the present by looking at the once again rusted playground equipment, and headed home after. When I settled down for the day and prepared to relax and read some manga or something, there was quite a noticable absence of Noriko. "Where's Noriko? I asked Rin. "Who's Noriko?" Rin replied.
"What do you mean who? Crazy bitch, purple hair, she lives here."
"I don't recall sharing a roof with any such woman. Are you cheating on me? Bringing other girls here?"
"What do you mean 'Am I cheating on you?'"
"I'm asking if you're cheating on your girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?"
"Have you developed a case of amnesia? Perhaps a swift strike to the head with a chair will clear that up for you. I'm your girlfriend, and you'd do well to remember it." I don't remember making any such commitment with any such tsundere. Speaking of which, since when was Rin this much of a tsundere?
"Liar."
"A liar? Where? That's not funny, Yuji. You know I have liarphobia."
"Yeah, and I have bullshitphobia. Since when are we a couple?"
"Since we were kids. That day at the park, you confessed to me." Sorry, I what? I don't recall having any such desire as a young boy.
"You said you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me. We weren't old enough to take it seriously then, but neither of us forgot. When we got older, we started dating seriously." I guess my short term memory erased that I had just came back from the past, because I only reminded myself of it after hearing that. So, I suppose what happened was this: Noriko was ready to approach past me while I was talking to Rin, I mimicked an ice cream truck to lure away Noriko, and as a result I confessed to Rin and made a cheesy promise? Nothing cheesier than some of the things I'd already said, but that's definitely not something an elementary schooler would say. "Rin, I love you, please spend the rest of your days together with me, so that we may enjoy each other's blissful company until the day death do us part" Just doesn't sound grade-schooler level to me. I just can't believe that young me said that. Well, I was still working out the kinks of time travel, so I didn't question it. I played along.
"Do you not remember any of that, Yuji?"
"Of course I do. I was just messing with you. Sorry."
"I see. You're terrible at messing with you. If you had seriously forgotten about our vow of love, I might have fainted."
"Don't worry, I could never forget." Haha, I never even did such a thing, so in a sense, I totally forgot.
"Then, you also remember that you said you would have sex with me tonight?" Eh?
"I don't remember that."
"Well, you should consult a doctor, because you totally did. Look here." With the most deadpan, expressionless expression on her face, she showed me a piece of paper. It read "I, Sasaki Yuji, promise to make love to my girlfriend Shinozaki Rin." A signature was there. In my handwriting! When did I sign such an egregious statement? Oh well, not that it matters. Time to get my way out of this situation.
"You've gotten awfully good at replicating my handwriting and forging my signature. Do you have a hidden camera on my desk or something?"
"How did you know?"
"Aha!"
"Joking. But that really is your handwriting and signature. You can't remember signing this?"
"I can't. And until I do, I won't be sleeping with you." I can't believe that taking Noriko away from the situation back then would make this happen. Time travel really is a fickle thing.
Rin was about to start bickering again, but was interrupted by the news on the television.
"For tonight's news highlight, a local couple has been found dead in their home. The couple has been identified as Takagi Mitsuo and Takagi Kaede. The police suspect that it was a murder, and they believe that the culprit is the couple's daughter, Takagi Noriko. Since the incident, Noriko has gone missing."
"Oh, weren't you just talking about some girl named Noriko? Come to think of it, the only Noriko I can remember was that one friend of yours from when you were young. What a coincidence, all of this."
I was on my knees in front of the television, before I tried to take in what Rin was saying. At the moment, she was just white noise. Tears were rolling down my eyes as I sniffled and gazed straight down at the ground. I had caused this, it was my fault. The guilt was setting in all at once. As a result of my meddling in the past, the one who got to know me so well was Rin and not Noriko. Rin's mental condition seemed to have stabilized because of it, but Noriko's got worse. I should have considered that Noriko is volatile in the first place before changing the past on a whim, but I failed to take it into account and I was paying the price. It's my fault, I said to myself over and over. After a light breakdown, I remembered that I can still go back and fix things. That's what I determined to do. With the new knowledge that Noriko will always be a psychopath no matter what, I set off to clean up the visceral mess that Noriko made because of me.
"Yuji dear, are you okay?" Rin inquired. I got up off of my knees, and said "Yeah, I'm fine." I gave her a hug.
"Rin, I don't know if this version of you will ever see me again, so, I love you. And I'm sorry we didn't get to have sex." I was telling her what she needed to hear. Minus the sex part. I retracted my arms from around her.
"Wait! What do you mean that this 'version' of me will never see you again?"
I'm sorry Rin, I'll take good care of you once I correct the mistakes, I thought.
I cast my hands aside.
"Moment's Respite."