Mikomi stood there propped up against the bathroom door. The man in the white suit crossed his legs as he sat on the edge of the bathtub, a small smirk forming in the corner of his mouth. Mikomi was still breathing heavily from the fear of this unknown man but he was also trying to digest what was just said to him.

“Go on… fancy yourself a few minutes if you wish. Not everyone grasps this the first time they hear it.” said the mysterious man. “If it eases your nerves a fair bit, I suppose it would be proper to introduce myself and offer a bit of an explanation, although in this state it may just end up confusing you even more, so let’s take things one step at a time, shall we?”

The man stood up and placed his right hand over his heart and took a bow.

“I am Sebastian and I am a Custodian of Time. I assure you wholeheartedly that I’m not here to harm you in any least bit. I am here to simply guide you through this tasking situation so if you could, please put your trust in me.”

Mikomi’s anxiety slowly faded away and his breathing began to calm a bit. He continued to stare at Sebastian in an effort to understand how he ended up here in his bathroom. He was sure that there was nobody in it when he entered, but yet, there Sebastian stood. The more Mikomi stared at him, the more he began to realize that there was this calming aura about him and perhaps it was that which caused Mikomi to finally speak up with a bit of a catch in his voice.

“Just… what happened to me?”

Sebastian raised his head and looked at Mikomi.

“You wouldn’t want to raise any red flags. Talking to yourself in a washroom after inhabiting it for an unusually long period of time doesn’t bode well for you if you’re aiming to avoid any kind of suspicion. My advice is for you to take your shower first and I’ll explain everything to you on the way to your school. Just focus on getting ready for now and everything will unfold for you properly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll take my leave for privacy reasons.”

With that, Sebastian took another bow and faded away into thin air. That caught Mikomi off guard as he didn’t expect him to just up and disappear like that. He looked around the restroom and saw no trace of him whatsoever. When he felt that he was in the clear, Mikomi walked over to the tub and turned the shower on. He began to disrobe when a blush came over his face.

“He better not be in here still…” Mikomi said to himself.

A few minutes passed. Back inside Mikomi’s bedroom, he entered wearing a towel. He pulled some clothes out of his closet and looked down at them. The memories of wearing these clothes began to flood his mind. Compared to the business suits he grew accustomed to wearing, these clothes just didn’t feel right but he had no choice but to put them on. He remembered that these clothes were some of his favorites growing up. They consisted of a black t-shirt, a black and white flannel shirt that he always wore on top in an unbuttoned manner, as well as a pair of light blue jeans. The color combination suited the colors of his hair and eyes which is probably why he loved them so much.

A few moments later, he entered the kitchen to the tantalizing scent of a home-cooked breakfast. Scrambled eggs, toast with peanut butter, some breakfast sausage links, and a glass of orange juice were set out for him. His mother was at the stove cooking herself a portion. She glanced over and cracked a smile as if it were a rare occurrence.

“Wow… you’re actually on time for breakfast. It hasn’t cooled off yet one bit. Are you feeling okay?” asked Mikomi’s mother.

“Am I feeling okay? Yeah… why?”

“It usually takes me two or three attempts to get you out of bed in the morning. The fact that you got out of bed on the very first try is a bit surprising. I thought that maybe something was wrong with you.”

“Nothing’s wrong. I guess I just wasn’t overly tired this morning.”

Mikomi’s mother was Karoline Saigo. While his father was Japanese, his mother was American. The two of them met while his mother was on a trip overseas to Japan as a photographer. When they were married, they decided to settle in the United States. Karoline was forty-four at this point as she was thirty years older than Mikomi. Despite being in her forties, she was still very much young at heart as she had a very light-hearted personality about her. She always sought the humorous side of things. Sometimes the things she would say embarrassed Mikomi in front of others.

“Make sure to come straight home from school. Your father will be home tonight and wants to spend time with the family.”

Mikomi’s eyes widened. He had completely forgotten that since this was ten years in the past his father would have been alive and well. He then realized that it meant his father would only have eight more years to live since he died in 2002 from a heart attack. Ryunosuke stayed at the office a lot, sometimes until insane hours. It wasn’t unusual for him to come home at two or three o’clock in the morning and that was if he even came home at all. Mikomi remembered that he once spent an entire month at the office, only coming home to shower every few days. Mikomi was kind of frozen at that realization and his mother took notice.

“Are you okay, Mikomi? I know your father hasn’t been around a lot lately because of his job, but he hasn’t been gone THAT long to act so surprised.”

Mikomi snapped out of it and laughed a bit as he put his hand behind his head, giving it a slight rub. One thing he remembered about his mother was that she had an uncanny sixth sense so if he made his emotions too obvious, she would pick up on them in an instant. Even when he tried to hide his emotions, his mother would figure out what he was thinking. There were times that he felt she would have made a better psychic than a photographer.

“Sorry, I guess I don’t see him all too often so I was just a bit surprised that he’s going to be home tonight,” said MIkomi as he grinned to himself thinking that was the perfect coverup.

“I’m glad you’re excited but you need to get through school first so finish your breakfast and get going or you’re going to be late!”

Mikomi looked up at the clock and realized what time it was. He scarfed down the rest of his breakfast and grabbed his backpack from the living room. He slung it over his shoulder and exited out the back door to his house, bidding his mother farewell in the process.

“I’ll be going then.”

“Have a good day at school, honey.”

Mikomi took a shortcut through his backyard as it saved time from having to walk around the block to get to the main road. Mikomi had to pass through a small wooded area to get to a side street that led to where he wanted to go. While he was passing through that area, he became a bit startled when he heard a voice behind him.

“This September morning air is quite chilly, isn’t it? Quite the indication of the change of seasons, wouldn’t you say?”

Mikomi jumped and turned to see Sebastian had faded in from seemingly nowhere. While he was a bit startled, he was a bit angry that Sebastian would just come out of thin air without warning. It was something he would probably have to get used to.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Sorry for startling you. I’ll try to be a bit more careful from now on,” said Sebastian before clearing his throat. “I suppose it’s time that I explain things. What would you like to know?”

“First off, just what happened to me? I remember I got shot and then I was in the hospital. That was the last thing I remember before waking up in my old room.”

Mikomi’s footsteps slowed as his mind began to wander. Sebastian began to walk a bit faster, pulling away from Mikomi. He was attempting to lead him on his way since he did have a class to get to. Mikomi, without realizing he was being led, began to walk a little faster behind Sebastian through the small wooded area, and eventually, they ended up on the side street behind Mikomi’s house.

“There is no simple way to answer what happened to you but I’ll try and make sense of it. There are only a select few who are chosen to be given a second chance. Typically when you die you are judged and during that judgment, sometimes, an exception is made for the deceased. Their past lives, their accomplishments, their hearts… all of which are carefully measured. If they are filled with too much regret or they have a strong sense of unfinished business, they could be a potential candidate for saving and have their soul transferred back through time and be given a second chance.”

“So what you’re saying is that I was one of the ones who were chosen?”

“Indeed, you are correct! After learning about your father’s past and all of the hard work you put into your company, you were filled with deep regret,” said Sebastian before taking a brief pause to try and recall something. “Alice was her name, I believe? You made a promise to her that everything would be okay and you felt deep sorrow for having to break that promise. All of that was weighed in your judgment and it was decided that you would be the one selected to be given a second chance. We don’t just hand these out, either. It’s a very rare and special judgment.”

Mikomi still couldn’t believe what was being said to him. He felt as if this were just one big giant illusion. He knew that the brain lived for a few minutes after everything else in the body shut down. Maybe this was his final dream before oxygen deprivation caused his brain to shut down completely. The story was a bit far-fetched but everything around Mikomi felt too real to be considered a dream. Needless to say, Mikomi was still as confused as ever as they reached the main road. Mikomi and Sebastian turned left and began to walk along the sidewalk.

“Your silence makes me wonder whether or not you’re still a bit jumbled up in the head over all this.”

“It’s just a lot of information to process. I’m trying to understand it but it just seems too far-fetched. It feels like something out of a science fiction novel more than anything but yet… I’m here. I’m back in my body when I was fourteen and despite that… I remember everything from when I was twenty-four. Was that some sort of mistake?”

“No, it’s quite intended, you see. Those who are given a second chance are granted the ability to retain their memories up until the point where they died. It was decided that being able to recall all of your life’s experiences could cause you to alter your own path to achieve a different outcome. Besides, what is the point of being handed a second chance if you have no knowledge of what is to come? You’ll just end up repeating the same life and you’ll meet the same end. This way, you’re given the ability to change all of that. That’s also the other reason why I’m here… to explain to you the Laws of Time.”

“The Laws of Time? This is getting a little complicated, but nothing is ever really simple.”

As they continued to walk down the street, Sebastian held up his index finger as if he were savoring the fact that he was giving a lecture.

“The Laws of Time aren’t laws or rules that must be followed, per se, but rather they are guidelines that you must understand. In the Laws of Time, every action has a consequence. Balance has to be maintained and if you change something enough, there would have to be compensation for that change.”

Mikomi rubbed the back of his head.

“So what you’re saying is if I step on a bug then a city might not exist?”

Sebastian cracked up at that statement. It was a common stereotypical depiction in science fiction pertaining to the effects of time travel. Mikomi narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow as he knew he was obviously being made fun of for asking that. Sebastian calmed himself down and proceeded with explaining it further.

“No... nothing to that extreme but let’s say that you had an after-school job in your previous life and now you decided on a different place to work or you elected to not get a job at all. That is a major change that will cause a ripple outwards. Depending on the events that happened at your job, it could just change the future for you, or it would affect others. Say, for example, you let a coworker borrow something when you worked there. Now they never would have borrowed anything from you and their life events will change accordingly. So you have to be mindful of what you do because it just may cause a ripple big enough to disrupt the worlds of everyone else around you.”

Mikomi looked down and rubbed his chin. He understood what Sebastian was saying but he also began to wonder just how he was going to change things without causing too much feedback. More importantly, he had to try and remember just what he did in his childhood so big changes like Sebastian mentioned wouldn’t take place. Mikomi suddenly realized that this was going to be harder than it seemed. He asked Sebastian a question just to make sure he understood what was being said.

“But if I know what happens in the future, up to when I was brought back, I could make those kinds of decisions by predicting the outcome?”

“You catch on quick, Mikomi! That’s exactly right and that is why your memories have been preserved!”

Those words…. “You catch on quick” caused a memory to flash in front of Mikomi’s eyes. Almost as if it were a trigger of sorts. He recalled Lief Rutherford’s visit to his office making a similar comment and it occurred to him to ask.

“Say… you don’t know who it was that shot me, do you?” asked Mikomi with a tone of hopefulness in his voice.

Sebastian shook his head regretfully.

“I’m sorry, but when you die, it’s simply my job to accompany you once you’ve been given your second chance. My knowledge of your death is limited. I was unaware that you had died from a gunshot wound until you told me a few moments ago. The information I am given is what was detailed in your judgment. For example, because you broke your promise to Alice, I knew her name, but I don’t know any in-depth details about who this Alice really is. I am truly very sorry, but I just don’t have that answer for you.”

Mikomi let out a heavy sigh as he placed his hands into his pockets. He was disappointed that he couldn’t learn of the circumstances around his own death. Then again, if Sebastian knew who had killed him, that would make this journey way too easy and mostly pointless. Mikomi saw this situation as a puzzle and it was going to be up to him to put all of the pieces back together. Based on what Sebastian had said so far, even if he did know Mikomi’s killer, it was pretty unlikely that he would tell him that kind of information.

“I guess I’ll just have to wait ten years to see if I can figure that out, although I have my suspicions.”

“All in due time, Mikomi. All in due time.”

It seemed like a cliche answer that someone with the title of Custodian of Time would give but it’s the only answer Sebastian could give. As they talked, Mikomi didn’t realize they had traveled the distance to his school already. Mikomi stopped at the front gates of Two Rivers Comprehensive High School and peered inside. He began to laugh to himself just a bit as he looked at the school building. Sebastian glanced over at Mikomi as he took a deep breath, letting out an amused sigh.

“Whoever thought that someone like me, who holds a college degree in business, would be back here in high school?”

“Well, your current situation does present some unique advantages in that regard. I’m rather optimistic that someone as quick-witted as you will be able to realize that,” said Sebastian. “I’ll just disappear for now. If you need me, just find a safe spot and call out to me and I will appear before you. Remember that others can’t see me so be mindful of your surroundings should you seek my assistance.”

With that, Sebastian looked around to make sure the coast was clear and then disappeared into thin air once again. Mikomi shook his head as he still hadn’t gotten used to someone just appearing and disappearing like that.

“Well… I guess there’s no point in delaying this anymore,” said Mikomi to himself. He gripped the straps on his backpack tightly and began the first day of his old life for a second time.