While it had only been a couple of months since the start of his time in college, it had felt like Mikomi had been away from home for years. He had broken the promise he made to his parents to return home for his birthday as well as Thanksgiving, each time giving them generic excuses. Deep down, he didn’t want to return home. The pain of knowing that he had failed to save Serah haunted him and his hometown went from a place he grew up in, to a place that became a constant reminder of his failure. To Mikomi, returning home would be the same as admitting defeat and that was something that scared him.
He gave everything he had to change the world. He wanted to do was save the one he loved, he wanted to confront his killer and prevent his death, and he wanted to continue his life the way it should have gone. Every day, Mikomi put on a smile and pretended that everything was okay but his nightmares told those around him another story. He acted like a normal person in front of Derek but it was merely a mask to hide the darkness that stirred in his heart. The fact that Mikomi had failed, ate away at him every minute of every hour of every day.
He didn’t know the exact reason why he chose to return home for the holidays. Part of him felt like he had to confront his failure to move past it but he knew that he was only lying to himself by thinking that. Deep down inside, the real reason he had to return was to confirm that he had failed. He wasn’t seeking justification for his failure, he simply wanted to remind himself that he did fail and accept it.
Those were the thoughts that flowed through his mind as his car passed a sign along the side of the highway, welcoming him to Two Rivers. With that simple passing, Mikomi was back in his hometown. Mikomi gripped the wheel just a little bit tighter as he re-entered Two Rivers. His breathing picked up just a little bit and he began to sweat. He knew this feeling all too well. He first felt it under the stars when Serah took him to Szot Park; the very same night the two of them became engaged. He remembered how they had spent their first anniversary in the original timeline and how Serah took her own life shortly thereafter.
Mikomi’s thoughts began to remember the moment he sat there on the cold, hard concrete in the parking lot in front of Serah’s art class. The smell of a hot engine burned through his nostrils as if he were back there on the night when everything for him changed. He remembered how he was frozen, unable to act; how reality came crashing down around him in an instant and took everything he held dear away from him.
Before Mikomi’s mind became consumed by his memories, he took a deep breath and shook his head, snapping himself out of it. It wasn’t long before Mikomi found himself turning down his street. He purposely took the back way home so that he could approach his house from the south. This ensured that he wouldn’t have to drive past the street Serah used to live on. Soon, he pulled into the driveway, parking his car behind his father’s. Mikomi stepped out and looked a bit surprised to see his father home early. He would have thought he would still be at work, advancing his research on Project: Daphne.
As he walked up the walkway, butterflies began to form in his stomach. He knew that there wasn’t anything to be afraid of but the fear still consumed him, nevertheless. He inserted the key into the doorknob and unlocked it. Slowly, he turned the handle and opened the door, which gave way to an all-too-familiar sight. Everything was the way it was since he had left, right down to the tasteless burgundy leather furniture that his father loved so much. Ryunosuke, was in his chair watching television when his eyes met his son’s. He got up out of his chair and embraced Mikomi in a big hug.
“It’s great to see you, son!”
“I haven’t been gone THAT long, Dad. It’s only been about a month and a half.”
“A parent misses their child, even if they’re gone for a day, Mikomi. Don’t forget that.”
Mikomi realized that the house was relatively quiet and quite void of aroma. He instinctively looked to the coffee table for a note but didn’t see one. Ryunosuke picked up on it rather quickly and cracked a grin.
“I’m sure you know where your mother is by now.”
“Of course, she would be at the store. I never really understood why she doesn’t just buy all of her groceries for the week on Saturday. That way she wouldn’t have to go back to the store every day to buy stuff for dinner.”
“Well, that’s probably my fault. In Japan, families will usually buy weekly necessities one day out of the week, and for the rest of the week, they’ll go back to the store to pick up ingredients for whatever they’re making for dinner that night. When your mom and I met, she spent a lot of time at my house so she just picked up on one of the many facets of Japanese culture and made it her own.”
It was almost as if speaking her name summoned her because another car pulled up into the driveway. Their driveway was wide enough to where two cars could fit side by side so Karoline parked on the right side next to Ryunosuke’s car. Mikomi instinctively headed for the door to help her bring the groceries in, much like he did when he was younger. Karoline’s expression wasn’t one of shock, though. The look on her face told the story of someone who expected her son to walk out and assist her.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
With it being Saturday, it was the bigger load of groceries so Mikomi made himself useful and grabbed as much as he could handle and brought them into the house. He began to take the groceries out and put them away, remembering where everything was supposed to go. It was only after all of the groceries we put away that Karoline hugged Mikomi and welcomed him home.
Karoline didn’t leave the kitchen as now that the food was stocked, it was time to start cooking dinner. While it was still very early in the afternoon, she was making a special roast that was to be slow-cooked for a few hours so it needed to be started right away. Mikomi returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa. His curiosity was piqued as he shot his father a glare before asking a question that had been on his mind.
“Have you made any advancements with the A.I.?”
Ryunosuke placed the television on mute and laid the remote down on a small end table next to his chair. He leaned forward and interlaced his fingers as he rested his hands in his lap. He shook his head “no” before offering a justification for his answer.
“I don’t understand why it can’t be advanced. We can run the A.I. on our machines. We can communicate with it but we can’t find a way to support the practical implementation of the software. Once you start integrating it into more complex software, it either fails to run completely or runs very poorly. It’s like we’re being held back by technical limitations.”
That was my fault. I had already realized that I gave you code from ten years in the future. Still, at this point in time, it’ll be another six years before the technology can advance far enough for the A.I. to work efficiently. I can’t believe I made such an oversight. I’m sorry, Dad.
“Mikomi… this code that you gave me. It’s so advanced. I realized that some of the code utilizes rules and methods that were only just announced by the I.T. industry. It’s like you gave me something that’s far ahead of its time and yet… It works. It’s been bothering me for quite a while. Not even my best programmers, some of which keep up with the latest trends, ever thought to go the route that you did with the code. I’ve always wanted to ask you how you even came up with this?”
This isn’t the first time I’ve had my back against the wall. Obviously, I’m not going to tell him that I’m from the future. Even joking about it like I normally do wouldn’t even have any kind of impact here. I have no explanation to give for this so I guess I’m just going to have to wing it here.
“Maybe your programmers don’t stay as up-to-date as they claim to. Professor Edwards recently told us about the innovations in A.I. coding in one of his lectures. These are the same innovations that have been worked on for years… the same innovations that I looked into myself. Maybe, these are a bit ahead of their time.”
I hope he buys that because I have zero explanation as to how I even knew to look into this four years ago when I wrote him that letter.
“I get that, but what I don’t understand is how you knew to research this. You wrote me that letter when you were still a freshman in high school. That was four years ago, Mikomi. We barely even had computers back then and if we did, internet access was severely limited.”
Aaaand I’m busted. Great.
“I don’t remember where it was, exactly but I just remember taking an interest in A.I. programming and I came across a few articles online and I read them. The school library had internet so that’s where I did most of my research. I guess you could call it impressionism.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It’s like someone who is well-versed in a subject and then, all of a sudden, someone new comes along and does the same thing you’re doing, only better but in a completely different way. The person who is set in their ways finds it difficult to comprehend how it’s even possible. It would mean having to relearn everything from scratch all while defying your ego because you’ve been an expert at what you’ve known up until this point. The other side of the coin is the person who replaced your way of thinking with something new and unconventional. That person probably didn’t learn the same information the expert had. They learned the new, unconventional way from scratch. To them, the newer method was the only method that existed. I’m sure, someday, someone else will come up with a new way and replace the person who took the expert’s spot. It’s a cycle that will repeat itself over and over. It’s simple evolution.”
That was, probably, the most intelligent ass pull I had ever come up with. Even I have no clue what I’m talking about but it sure sounded good.
“Well, I guess that makes sense.”
Wait… It worked!? You have to be kidding me! Dad, you seriously didn’t just buy all of that, did you? I mean, a man of your caliber shouldn’t just accept random drivel like that!
“A fresh mind is often one that will surprise and challenge the most experienced. I can’t wait to have your brand of thinking at Onyx. Just hearing that makes me believe that you’re not only going to just take over the company someday but make it prosper more than I ever could.”
You’re seriously thinking that just based on what I said!? I mean, it’s kind of true that I took over the company and solved the A.I. problem in the other timeline but I think you’re giving me too much credit!
“Eh... but enough about that. How are you holding up, Mikomi? I know being back here must be rough for you.”
This was the one question that I didn’t want to answer more than anything. Having to answer tough questions about how I know information that I’m not supposed to is enough to make me hyperventilate, but a question like this is akin to a death sentence. Even knowing that I just can’t stay silent. That’s the worst part about all of this. It’s for questions like these I carry many masks with me. All that’s left is to choose which one to put on.
“I’m doing fine but I am a bit tired. I’m going to take a bit of a breather in my old room before dinner is ready.”
Ryunosuke nodded as Mikomi excused himself. He retreated to his room where he closed the door and let out a heavy sigh. The room was a bit dark since the curtains to his windows were closed but the afternoon sun still let enough light in to fully illuminate everything. Mikomi sauntered over to his bed and plopped himself down, sitting in the middle of it. He leaned back against the wall and just stared up at the ceiling for a moment before closing his eyes.
Mikomi clenched his fist and gritted his teeth as he fought back the urge to scream. He had come back home to face his failure but it seemed that it was becoming too much for him to handle. He knew that just a couple of streets down was Serah’s house and that she wouldn’t be there if he went to stop by. He knew that a couple of miles away was the art studio he had brought her to and from every single week and knew he would never do that again.
Despite it being Christmas, he knew that Serah wouldn’t be there to share in his joy and happiness. It was as if Mikomi finally understood what Serah had gone through in the original timeline. He finally understood what it meant to be abandoned.