Friday was quite an eventful day for Mikomi. That night; however, Mikomi experienced first-hand the effects of what such events can do to a person. As the sun arose on a cool Saturday morning, there laid Mikomi in his bed, the covers pulled up over his mouth, his eyes wide open. His eyes told the story perfectly as he knew that today was the day Serah had asked him out on a date. He laid there in a mummified state as he knew that he didn’t want to go through with this but felt obligated to because he was the one who reached out to her, to begin with. It was his own morals that got him into this situation so it was only fair for him to see it through.
As the note stated, Serah wanted him to come over to his house just before lunch. Mikomi, rightfully exhausted from the week he had just experienced, stayed in bed until almost 10:00 AM. Slowly, he turned his head and glanced at his alarm clock before slowly turning back to its original position. Each time the minute hand drew closer to completing another revolution around the hour, his heart began to beat just a little faster, and his muscles tensed up just a little tighter.
As time ticked away and the inevitable drew ever closer, Mikomi let out a heavy sigh and pulled himself out from underneath his covers, sitting on the edge of his bed for he knew that he couldn’t halt the progress of time despite rewinding 10 years.
“What have I gotten myself into? Is she really getting the wrong impression here? She seemed awfully happy when she was invited to eat dinner with us and those questions mom asked… could they have led her on? It’s true that I didn’t have a girlfriend when I was in high school in my other life but doing something like this is one of those massive changes that could drastically change everything. Alternate timeline or not… I don’t really think I should change stuff that much. On the other hand, if I decline, what kind of changes would that make? There could be even more unseen variables than just going through with this. This is making my head hurt…”
Mikomi stood up and walked to the bathroom. After several minutes, he emerged dressed in a variation of his favorite outfit. He sported a dark gray t-shirt with a black and dark blue flannel shirt on top, unbuttoned with back jeans and light gray shoes. Mikomi gave himself a once-over in the mirror to see if everything was in order and headed into the living room. He was about to grab ahold of the door handle when his mother stopped him.
“Good morning, sleepyhead. Where are you off to in such a hurry?”
Mikomi had forgotten to tell his mother about the love letter as he didn’t want to raise any suspicion; however, he knew that his mother saw through his lie before about the letter to his father so he opted to just tell the truth this time around and bear any embarrassment that would stem from it.
“I’m going to Serah’s house. She invited me over at school yesterday.”
Mikomi’s mother grinned from ear to ear. She didn’t have to say a word as he instantly knew what she was thinking. He shot her a death glare as if to say ‘Don’t you dare’ but that only made her smile even more. Mikomi let out a sigh and opened the door.
“Have fun but don’t have FUN. Got it?”
Mikomi almost turned beat red and muttered something unintelligible under his breath as he closed the door behind him with a little more force than he normally would. Mikomi stuck his hands in his pockets as he looked up into the sky. Some gray clouds appeared to be gathering and it looked as if a light shower could break out at any time. Mikomi took a couple of steps forward and kicked a random rock out of annoyance. He turned onto the sidewalk and began to walk towards Serah’s house, becoming lost in thought.
“Ugh… she didn’t have to insinuate that the two of us… “
Mikomi shook his head.
“Even with those thoughts just now… why am I doing this? I’m pretty sure I’m the only person that has willingly talked to her at school but that doesn’t mean she should read this deeply into it. I was just trying to be friendly. It doesn’t mean I want to become attached to the ankle or anything like that. Maybe I’ll just entertain her for a few hours and then tell her I’d only rather be friends.”
Mikomi let out a sigh as he continued to rationalize the situation.
“Will that even work, though? I mean… she IS pretty lonely. What if rejection breaks her or something? If I hadn’t forgotten my wallet, none of this would be happening at all. It’s all because of that one little oversight that this happened. I guess Sebastian was right about little things affecting the people around you.”
The look on Mikomi’s face changed to one of suspicion as if he couldn’t figure something out.
“Still… something doesn’t sit right with me. While ‘Sarah” is a common name, hers is spelled uniquely. Something like that should have stuck out in my memories like a sore thumb. Even if she blended into the background, I would have at least known her name. She’s not in any of my classes so the chance of knowing it is slim but with the way Ryan pointed her out, I’m sure others think the same way. There are bound to be others who talk behind her back. That means rumors would have been spread and at some point, I would have heard that name but why can’t I remember it?”
Before Mikomi knew it, he had turned down the road where Serah’s house was. He stopped in his tracks for a moment as he could see her house from his vantage point. It wasn’t that far down the road as it was the fourth house on the left. The houses were pretty spaced apart, most of them having big yards but Serah’s had multiple trees surrounding hers. It was almost like hers was in a world of its own.
Mikomi took a deep breath and started walking down the street. He crossed over and began to walk up Serah’s walkway. The gutters still weren’t cleaned and there were still weeds along the side of the house. It was apparent it needed work in the dusk light yesterday but now that he had seen what it looked like in broad daylight, it was really evident that the lot needed some serious TLC. Mikomi opened the rusty screen door and gritted his teeth a little as he knocked three times. He heard faint thuds on the other side of the door getting louder and louder until they stopped.
Slowly, the handle turned and the door creaked open little by little. A pale little face peeked around the door as it was Serah checking to see who it was. When she saw it was Mikomi, she let out a small “eek!” and slammed the door in his face!
“O-o-one s-s-sec-second!” she muttered nervously from behind the door.
A lot of noise could be heard on the other side as he could only stand there wearing a befuddled look. Even though Serah had asked for just a second, a good five minutes went by before the door swung back open. Serah stood there wearing a black hoodie sweater and some baggy grey sweatpants with the drawstring hanging down in front of her.
“Surely she’s not coming outside wearing THAT, is she?”
Serah then stepped to the side of the doorway and looked away for a moment.
“C-c-come in.”
“I thought I was coming to pick her up? After all, her note said to meet her at her house. She didn’t say anything about coming inside. Well, I did say I was going to entertain this so…”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Mikomi stepped inside Serah’s house and took a look around. The front windows were covered by a room-darkening curtain that made the front room rather dark. Immediately to the right of the door was, what looked to be, a cushy fabric chair. There was another one in the corner to the right and a television propped to the wall to the right of that. On the wall opposite the door were two openings. The left opening went to the kitchen, the right opening went to, what looked to be, a small hallway. In the middle of the openings was a plaid fabric sofa.
“P-please… sit”
Serah motioned to the couch so Mikomi internally shrugged and walked over, taking a seat on the right cushion. Serah closed the door and walked over, taking a seat next to Mikomi. Mikomi glanced over at Serah who just sat there with her hands folded on her lap, staring at an angle down towards the floor. Mikomi waited for her to say something but… nothing was said. It was a dead, awkward silence.
“What the hell kind of date is this? First, I thought I was picking her up and taking her somewhere but now I’m just sitting here on the couch with her and she’s as still as a statue! I know she has a hard time talking to people so maybe I should break the ice here?”
Mikomi rubbed the back of his head as he looked around the room, trying to come up with something to say to Serah.
“So… uh… looks like it might rain today, huh?”
Mikomi’s eyes glanced over at Serah. Her hands which were once resting on her lap were now clenched into fists. The look on her face turned from one that looked vacant to one that looked rather nervous.
“Guh! Did I overdo it? I mean… talking about the weather is a typical icebreaker but why is she so nervous? Is it because I talked to her? That doesn’t make too much sense because she talked to me at school. She had no problem talking to my mother at dinner the other night. Is it the environment? The situation? This is seriously starting to creep me out… like more than usual with her!”
Mikomi sighed heavily and decided to get right to the heart of the matter. He turned toward Serah and asked her the one question that might shed some light on her behavior.
“Serah… it’s pretty obvious that you’re nervous. Are you afraid to talk to me? You don’t have to be, you know. You mustered up the courage to talk to me at school. You even summoned the strength to write that letter to invite me over here to your house. If there’s anything you want to say, just go ahead and say it. I don’t bite.”
“I know that I probably just opened up a huge can of worms by saying that but it was probably the only way to end this awkward silence.”
Serah began to fidget a bit as she sat there. It’s like she was afraid to say what was on her mind. Mikomi saw that this was getting nowhere and decided to address the proverbial elephant in the room.
“Is the reason why you’re nervous is that… you have a crush on me?”
Serah’s expression immediately changed to one of shock. She immediately turned toward Mikomi and waved her hands in front of her while negatively shaking her head.
“OH! NO! N-nothing like that!”
“That was abrupt and defiant!”
Serah stopped for a moment and then sheepishly looked away from Mikomi.
“Well… maybe just a little….”
“Wha... WHAAAT!?”
“But it’s not the reason why I asked you here! I swear! It’s just… I wanted to thank you but I don’t know how to say it.”
Serah’s normal soft tone changed. Mikomi heard her real voice for the first time when she talked with his mother and now he was hearing it again. He was a bit confused but decided to roll with it to see where the conversation would go.
“You just said thank you so I think you do know how to say it after all but what are you thanking me for?”
“That’s the part I’m having trouble with. I’m nervous telling you the reason why because I’m afraid if I tell you, you won’t talk to me anymore.”
It began to make sense to him at that point. He let out a sigh of relief and decided to try and take a stab at the heart of the matter.
“Let me take a guess. It’s the reason why you have trouble talking to people. You want to thank me for being someone who reached out to you… something someone else hasn’t done in a long time, right?”
Serah simply nodded her head “Yes.”
“I figured as much. You wear your heart on your sleeve a bit too much. I’m sure there is a deeper reason as to why you have trouble talking to people but if my talking to you made you happy, then I’m glad I was able to help. You don’t have to worry about telling me a deeper reason if you don’t want to. Even if you do, though… I promise I won’t run away screaming or anything.”
Mikomi shot her a smile and Serah faintly smiled back.
“Thank you, Mikomi but I want to tell you. For the first time in years, I felt like I'd made a friend. I’m also sorry for being so nervous around you because I didn’t think it was possible.”
“Didn’t think what was possible? That you could have made a friend?”
Serah nodded in agreement. She took a deep breath and turned away from him where she turned her gaze at the floor.
“I never had many friends throughout my life. Any friends I had made eventually stopped talking to me. One of them moved away and promised that she would stay in contact but I never heard from her once. In middle school, someone who I thought was my best friend started hanging out with other people, and soon, I was forgotten. I tried to make new friends but none of them even seemed interested in me. I began to think making friends was pointless. I stopped talking to people and, for the first time in my life, understood what it felt like to be alone. I didn’t think it could get any worse but... “
Serah stopped. She began to tear up.
“...I…”
Mikomi placed his hand on her shoulder.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to.”
Serah nodded and balled up her hands into fists as she rested them on her lap.
“Even now… I’m still afraid that if I accept you as a friend, that you’ll, one day, leave me, too. Especially since I… I….”
Serah’s face began to turn bright red as her voice quivered.
“..... kind of… you know….”
Mikomi laughed a bit hoping that it would lighten the moon and help ease her mind.
“Hey… don’t worry about saying it. I gotcha.”
Mikomi shot Serah a wink and she looked up at his smiling face. That’s all that Serah needed to see. She lunged at Mikomi and embraced him in a tight hug. She buried her face into his shoulder, squeezing even tighter.
“Mikomi… thank you!”
Mikomi smiled and hugged her back. He placed his hand on the back of her head and held her tight.
“You’re welc--”
He couldn’t finish that statement. A sharp, jolting pain suddenly surged through his head. He let out a piercing scream as he grasped the sides of his head. Serah immediately backed off and looked extremely worried. Mikomi shot to his feet and hunched over in pain. It was so severe that it felt as if someone just stabbed it with a hot knife. Mikomi’s eyes were opened as far as they could go. Tears poured from them as a reaction to the intense pain.
“This pain… What is this pain!? It feels like my mind is about to get ripped straight out of my skull! Am I…. going to die!?”
Serah called out to Mikomi but he wasn’t responding. Not because of the pain, but because the world around him began to dampen. He couldn’t hear anything but a sharp ringing in his ears. Soon, he became weak-kneed and fell to the floor, hunched over.
“Why won’t it stop!? What is this!? What is going on? Wait... I can see something in front of me… It’s a person but it’s not here… it’s somewhere else. Wait… is that… Serah!?”