There I was, once again. At the time of separation, that day at the park. Looking around, I had seen no ice cream truck, though I wasn't sure what time it was. I didn't know if the ice cream truck would even enter the scene or when it would come in if it did.
All I needed to do was watch Noriko take me away from Run. Simple as that. It happened the first time. I may have interfered the second time, but the third time's the charm, so they say. I was really hoping that I could just watch the events play out in their "normal" sequence. But no. That didn't happen, because of course it didn't.
"Don't move." I heard an audible, but quiet enough to not draw attention voice from behind me. Turning my head around, I saw a girl I hadn't seen before. She was a tall girl, like, really tall. It's more appropriate to call her stalky. she was tall, and had a gun pointed at me. Her weapon of choice was something straight out of a science fiction movie. It was so futuristic, I initially thought it was a prop, but intuition knew it wasn't. Her outfit was a slim, silky, one piece dress-skirt thing, of which the design and quality were simply unique. It was like she had time travelled from a runway show in the far future. Her attire was way ahead of my time. The clothes further enhanced my suspicion, but then,
Bang.
Her "prop" gun went off. I hoped she wasn't a cop from the future, since I hadn't moved a muscle other than turning my head around, yet she shot. I could also tell that she was trying to avoid drawing attention from the way she spoke to me, and shooting a gun is one quick way to make her effort to stay unnoticed all for naught.
She had missed. Even if she didn't miss, she still wouldn't have me, but she was reckless! You shouldn't shoot at someone who isn't showing aggression, at least in this situation. But the miracle isn't that she missed, or I survived, but that past Rin and my past self hasn't heard a thing. I was mentally relieving myself that this random girl's appearance didn't ruin things, when I thought "What if, since this girl appeared, Noriko won't?"
The thought worried me. so I spoke to the girl.
"Why'd you shoot at me?"
"That was a warning. I won't miss next time."
"Am I a target or something?"
"Something like that. I'm gonna stop you from messing up time and creating a massive mistake."
"Too late. I'm trying to fix it right now, so please go away."
She grunted with a visible expression of anger, and fired at me again.
I caught the projectile between my right index and middle fingers. It was less of a projectile and more of condensed light energy. Don't ask me how I knew what it was. I don't know.
"Wow, this is definitely some futuristic weaponry. So then somebody invents time travel in the future?"
"Yeah, they do."
"It's a shame that I already did it."
"Huh? what are you on about?"
"I created a time travel technique. That's how I got here."
"That isn't right. The only way you could be in this situation right now is if you're from my time."
It appeared she did not know what I could do.
"Well I'm not. I don't know how time travel works in the age you come from, I'm guessing technology from that weapon of yours, but I can just slip through time on my own."
"That's ridiculous!"
"It's not. In fact, check this ou-"
I saw her approaching. The young Noriko was ready to attack.
"Hey. Lady. Shut up and stay hidden for a second."
"Huh? Why should I-"
I silenced her with some sort of mute spirit magic. I didn't know I could do such a thing, but it was good to learn that I have it, and convenient that it came out right when the future lady was about to start yapping.
Crouched behind a bush, I sat in tension, watching, waiting for the young Noriko to come pick up the young me. The tension came not from watching the events unfold hopefully without incident, but from making sure the future lady didn't try anything funny.
She was next to me behind the bush and she, surprisingly enough, obliged my request to shut up and stay hidden. Though she opted to go prone all the way on the ground. Dirt and grass stains smeared her attire. Maybe her clothes were the normal and nothing special in the time she comes from, but I was aggravated seeing such a nice outfit get so scuffed.
A minute later, the ice cream truck never snagged Noriko's attention. She took the young me from Rin and they ran off to wherever her and I went back then. I didn't know, nor did I care to because my objective was just to make sure it happens. Young Rin's dejected eyes were also something I didn't want to see, as experiencing such an event like she did hurts. Seeing her make such a melancholic expression because of me would make me feel guilty. But I knew that turning away from it was dodging responsibility for my actions, and that alone made me feel guilty. Wanting to slowly but over time make up for what I did, then and now, I resolved to be better to Rin in general from then on.
I didn't like that I had to put someone through suffering to achieve my goal, but I was able to go through with it since doing so would set the world back on the right path and prevent unnecessary deaths. Despite hesitation, I did indeed accomplish my goal. With that out of the way, it was about time to take care of the other problem. So I turned to the odd man out.
"Hey, I'm done here. I'm going back to my time, so do what you want."
"..."
"Sorry about silencing you. I'll undo that as I head out."
"Oh, and whatever you do, don't interact with those two kids down that way, or the girl over there. You came here to prevent me from making a mistake, yeah? Leave them be, and everything will be set for you to go back to your time without incident. Pray that I did things right, and also that we never meet again."
"..."
"If I see you,"
I shot up a serious and intimidating glare.
"I'll kill you."
I wasn't going to do any such thing, but time is a fragile concept that can produce detrimental consequences for messing with it. I'd experienced this first hand, and I'd had my fill. My desire to never meet her again was nothing personal. It was crucial that any further manipulation of time should be prevented, and going our separate ways for good was a crucial step in keeping time in check. This was not something we needed to agree upon; her and I both understood this very well. And it's not like we were friends, or involved in some circumstance that would obligate us to be around each other. We weren't on amicable terms either. She shot at me. She'd likely do it again. We met by chance through a time slip, and that's all there was to it.
So I had no qualms parting ways with her, and I returned to my original time, without saying another word, and I had no regrets.
"Moment's Respite."