Mikomi folded his arms while he continued to stare at Sebastian. His eyes narrowed a bit to make it obvious that he found something about this conversation that was rather suspicious. He knew that Sebastian was still hiding something from him and he decided that he was going to call him out on it.
“Sebastian… you once said that there were some differences in this world because it was an alternate timeline but that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. You are afraid of drastic change but what you haven’t told me is that you’ve already caused some drastic changes, haven’t you? The fact that things are different in this world is because you, not only, hid away some of my memories but you changed some as well. That’s why Janice never became my father’s secretary and how Alice got chosen for the position ahead of schedule. You knew that by altering my memories, it would cause one of your so-called ripples so you had to apply a quick fix, didn’t you?”
Sebastian cracked a smile and nodded in agreement. He laid back into the couch and folded his arms as if he were pleased with Mikomi coming up with that answer on his own.
“I always felt you had a rapier wit about you, Mikomi and you have not disappointed me yet. That is exactly correct.”
“Then that makes you a hypocrite,” said Mikomi with almost zero hesitation, almost as if he were fully anticipating Sebastian to acknowledge his deeds.
“Come again?” asked Sebastian with a nuance of shock in his tone.
“How can you sit there and preach to me about ripples and changes and how you have to protect this world when you, yourself, went against the very same rules you established? What about Janice’s life and the people around her? What about Alice’s life? How much did you change to get them to where they are right now and what about the effects that had on everyone around them? This world has already changed so what’s the point if I change it even more!?”
Sebastian closed his eyes because he knew he didn’t have a good reason. Eventually, Sebastian let out a heavy sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose.
“What would you have of me then, Mikomi?”
“I already said it. If your job is to protect this world… that’s fine but you’re going to have to protect MY world.”
Sebastian reluctantly nodded. He knew that this was a situation that was beyond reasoning. Mikomi had backed Sebastian up into a proverbial corner and he had no way out other than to agree with Mikomi. After everything Mikomi had said, there would be no answer he could give that would sway his mind any other way. Sebastian shook his head as he knew his job was about to become increasingly difficult.
“Is there anything else you would have of me, then?”
“Just one last question. What else did you change?”
Sebastian stood up and walked around the coffee table. He held out his hand and what appeared on it was the note his mother would usually leave for Mikomi whenever she went out shopping. Mikomi took the note into his hand and read it.
“I’m showing you this to prove a point. I can add or remove anything in this world as I see fit as long as I think it would preserve balance. That piece of people is inconsequential so don’t think much of it but I did remove something else from this world and perhaps knowing about it would put your mind at ease a bit. It may be against my better judgment to tell you but I’m sure you would have figured it out eventually.”
Sebastian briefly paused as Mikomi lowered the note left by his mother and looked at Sebastian with keen interest.
“The company that hounded your father and you for years, the very same that paid you a visit on the day you were killed, are not in this world any longer.”
Mikomi’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what Sebastian had just said. He knew how Mr.Rutherford and his son Leif had hounded his father for years and how Janice and Alice both had to be subjected to that but now all of that wasn’t even a factor.
“I erased them from this timeline, Mikomi. I felt that it would have made things a bit easier for you and your father. After all, part of your father’s death was the fact that stress kept piling up having to deal with those ruffians. It was a tasking chore for sure. I simply made the burden for both you and him that much lighter. Don’t worry… I don’t intend to put them back. If you’re going to change this world, you have enough challenges ahead of you. I will keep my end of the bargain and protect your world, Mikomi.”
“Wait… if he removed Mr. Rutherford and Leif from this world then that automatically eliminates them as suspects… or does it? Did Leif have me killed? Was my outcome of finding my killer and overcoming it already decided? No… it can’t be otherwise Sebastian wouldn’t have eluded to changing my own future. That means someone else is the culprit. Wait… if I do prevent my death, what about the world changing from that?”
“Sebastian. Another question. You were so adamant about change and not overdoing it but what was the point of giving me the chance to prevent my death? Wouldn’t that cause the biggest ripple of them all?”
“A keen observation, my dear Mikomi; however, the future hadn’t been written after your death. The world remained a blank canvas so your continuing to live would simply shape the world from that point forward. A new timeline would be created that included you in it as the future would continue to be painted according to that change.”
That’s when something clicked inside Mikomi’s head. Something that would allow him to have complete and total freedom to do as he pleased. He wasn’t about to state it, though. He decided to keep that thought in his back pocket as a trump card of sorts. For now, he decided to just go with it and offer up some gratitude for making part of his life easier.
“I...I’m sorry, Sebastian, and… thank you.”
“Don’t go all sappy on me now, Mikomi. Your anger was justified. I hid a lot from you and I was foolish for doing so but given the circumstances, I’m sure you can understand the reasons behind my caution. Now that everything's out in the open, I’m letting you do what you want… against my better judgment. I will still be watching and I will still be here if you need me. However, before you go and change the world, go help your poor mum with the parcels, would you?”
Stolen story; please report.
Sebastian nodded his head and Mikomi turned his gaze toward the window. His mother had pulled up with the groceries and was beginning to unload them. Sebastian took that chance to disappear and suddenly, Mikomi felt all alone in the house.
The day passed quickly. Mikomi helped his mother put away the groceries and then confined himself to his room for the rest of the day. By the time night came, he laid there in bed wide awake. He stared up at the ceiling with his arms behind his head.
“That talk with Sebastian went pretty well. I guess I was convincing enough to get him to change his mind. Still, I can’t help but feel like he’s going to change it back. It almost seemed a bit too easy to convince him. I’m not exactly sure what Sebastian is capable of fully as a Custodian of Time but if he is allowing me to shape this world as I see fit, then he either has tremendous confidence in me or he knows something that I don’t. Maybe he figures that he can still protect this world even if it changes. Whatever the case may be, I don’t have to worry too much about handcuffs anymore and that means I can begin working on my major goals.”
“It’s probably best not to think about this for much longer. Tomorrow will be the day I begin to set things in motion. Tomorrow, I’m going to go to Serah’s house and ask her out. Then, it’s a matter of protecting her.”
Mikomi smiled before he turned onto his side and closed his eyes. Morning came quickly and before he knew it, the morning was about to leave him behind. The only reason why he woke up was that there was a knock on his bedroom door. Mikomi groggily looked up at his alarm clock which read 11:02 A.M. Even he was a bit startled that he had slept in that late! When the door to his room slowly creaked open, a head poked through that caught Mikomi’s attention. Still half asleep, he squinted, and then his eyes snapped open.
“S-SERAH!!?”
Serah realized that he was still in bed and her face turned red. She backed away and shut the door rather quickly in a panic. Her nervous voice, muffled, spoke out to Mikomi.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were still sleeping. I’ll come back later.”
“NO! WAIT!” Mikomi shouted. “It’s okay, you can come in!”
The door slowly creaked back open and Serah poked her head back in, her face still a bit red with embarrassment. She was worried that Mikomi wasn’t dressed for the occasion but she gave him a quick once over which caused him to smile when he realized what was going on.
“It’s fine. I’m decent. You can come in.”
Decent was a relevant term if you didn’t count Mikomi’s case of bed hair. He sat up as Serah entered his room. She closed the door behind her and just stood there awkwardly and began to fidget just a little bit. She kind of gave the room a once over as did Mikomi. He began to get a little nervous as he hoped Serah wouldn’t question some of the more… embarrassing things in his room, such as his collection of video game action figures. He decided to direct traffic a bit before she analyzed his room too thoroughly.
“You can sit if you want. The edge of the bed is fine.”
Serah took a seat and sat there looking down at the floor. Mikomi began to wonder if that was her favorite sitting position because she did the same thing when she invited him over to her house. Once again, it looked like it was up to Mikomi to break the ice.
“So, uh… what brings you here?”
Serah looked up for a moment and then turned her head towards Mikomi.
“I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing. I guess you were still resting. Sorry, if I woke you.”
“Oh, it’s no problem at all. I usually stay up late on the weekends anyway and sleep in. You did me a service because if you hadn’t, I probably would have wasted the rest of the morning away in bed.”
Mikomi shot her a smile to comfort her and she smiled back. Her smile was so radiant that it captivated him. Mikomi realized that he was focusing too much on her adorable face and snapped himself out of it. Serah took notice of it and felt that Mikomi was just tired.
“Do you want me to let you get back to sleep? I can go if you want.”
“No! I said it was fine. You’re more than welcome to stay. Besides, There's… something I want to ask you.”
Mikomi’s face began to turn red. After seeing it, Serah’s face became a bit flushed as well. He hesitated for a moment because this was happening a lot faster than he had planned. He began to remember the other timeline and knew that the circumstances were a lot different this time. In the original timeline, he asked Serah out as a complete and total stranger and she still said yes but here in this timeline, he had made it a goal to get to know her first. Still, even though the circumstances were different, he was every bit as nervous as he was in the original timeline. Mikomi steeled himself and decided just to go for it.
“You see, Serah. I… uh… wanted to know if maybe you would like to-”
Before Mikomi could finish, Karoline opened the door and stepped inside. Mikomi practically jumped out of bed from the shock of her interruption. At the same time, he was also a bit relieved because he wasn’t fully mentally prepared for all of this. He didn’t expect Serah to come over but then again, his mother did say she would probably try to come to see him. Mikomi realized he had let his entire guard down but there was no use blaming himself now. At least this bought him a little more time.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting but I think you should come to see this Mikomi. There’s going to be a special story on the news about your father’s company. You’re more than welcome to come to join in as well, Serah.”
“Dad’s company? Mom wouldn’t come to get me if it was something bad. Besides, she doesn’t seem distraught over it at all. Does that mean…”
“Sure! Serah… want to come to watch it with me?”
She nodded in agreement. Mikomi hopped out of bed and tried his best to fix his hair without a comb. The two of them headed to the living room and turned their attention to the television. By the time they got there, the news was already talking about the company. Karoline sat there while Mikomi and Serah stood side by side with their full attention dedicated to the television.
“...for some financial news. Onyx Technology Ventures’ CEO Ryunosuke Saigo stated that tomorrow at 9 A.M. eastern daylight time, his company will be making an announcement that will change the face of technology forever. He promises that the announcement will be so revolutionary, that what has been accomplished is something others in the tech industry could only dream of. We here at Channel 22 will bring you full coverage of this exciting announcement as it happens! The stock market saw an upward swing at the closing bell yester....”
The sounds of the television became muffled in Mikomi’s ears. Now that the news snippet about his father’s company was over, the rest of what the news anchor was saying became irrelevant to him.
“He did it! He must have implemented my code and run the experiments! This means that the advanced A.I. is complete!”
Mikomi looked at Serah with a sense of wonder in his eyes. Serah looked back at him and blushed a little bit. She also became a little confused as to why Mikomi was giving her that kind of look. Nevertheless, he made a bold move and grabbed Serah’s hand. She didn’t know what to think but she didn’t reject him at all. Karoline simply sat there grinning from ear to ear.
Even though he tried asking her out just moments ago, that was the furthest thing on his mind. After hearing that announcement, Mikomi could only think of one thing.
“Finally. Project: Serah is a reality!”