As with anything, the first idea isn’t always the best. While Mikomi was elated that he found a way to deliver the solution to his father’s problem a sudden realization hit him pretty hard. When he realized it, he let out a bit of a sigh as it was, yet, another roadblock put in front of him.
“I… can’t write Dad a letter. He’ll recognize my handwriting and know it was written by me. How am I going to explain to him that I came up with the solution to create a near-perfect A.I.? Seeing how this is ten years in the past, I don’t have access to a computer here at home and the school hasn’t invested in any for their library. Come to think of it, I don’t think the public library has any computers either. The only place I know that has them for sure is Dad’s office and I don’t think they’ll let me in just to use a word processor.”
Mikomi began to pace back and forth, trying to think of a way to pull this off when it hit him.
“WAIT! The school library doesn’t have any modern computers, but Mr. Midura’s classroom has old 8088 computers! He uses them to teach students how to write essays using modern technology. Not that an 8088 is modern or anything but if I could get to his classroom after hours, borrow a computer and write everything out, then I can seal it in an envelope and mix it in with the day’s mail delivery! He won’t have to know who sent it but as long as he gets the information, then everything will get put back in order! That means Dad will have his breakthrough and then he’ll…. He’ll….”
Mikomi stopped cold in his tracks. A look of sadness came over his face but he gritted his teeth and shook it off. Mikomi looked at the clock and saw that nearly an hour had passed.
“It’s too late to pull this off now. Tomorrow. That will be the day I set everything right. I just hope to God it’s not too late.”
Just then, the door opened and his mother, Karoline, stepped in with a grocery bag in hand.
“Too late for what, sweetie?”
“Crap! She must have heard me through the door! Was I talking that loud to myself? I REALLY need to be more careful. Think… THINK!”
“Oh... yeah. I got the news of a test popping up on us at the end of the week and I need to study for it but when I got home and looked through my books and notes, I realized that the resources I need are in the school library and it’s too late for me to go there now. I’ll probably be late coming home tomorrow as I’ll be holding a cram session after school.”
“Perfect, Mikomi. Simply perfect! I ought to pat myself on the back for that one.”
“I knew there was a reason your grades have skyrocketed lately. I’m happy to see that you’re taking school so seriously! I need to start making dinner. I’m afraid it’s just going to be the two of us tonight. Your father called earlier and said that there have been some problems at work he needs to fix. Some of the executives disagreed with your father wanting to abandon the project. He said it’s a real mess and they’re trying to work it out.”
“This is great news! If they didn’t stop my father, then I surely would have run out of time! I bet it was Michael who decided to give my father grief. The two of them were always at odds. I wonder if Michael even works there in this timeline? Probably best not to think about that kind of stuff now. At least Mom thinks I’m taking school seriously. I didn’t start doing that until I became interested in the company and creating the advanced A.I. I guess being 24 and a freshman in high school does give me an edge. Even these AP classes are nothing for someone like me. That’s a bit conceited of me but as long as I can maintain cover, it should be fine.”
“I’m going to just hang out in my room until dinner.”
“Okay, honey. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
Mikomi went into his room and opened his notebook. He began to jot down everything he remembered about how he solved the issue of getting the advanced A.I. to work. It was a complicated mess in the code and he remembered that it had to be rewritten almost entirely from scratch. The fundamentals were there in the code but it was all heading in the wrong direction. He remembered everything as if it were yesterday… which wasn’t that far off. He had solved the coding issue within a year of taking over the company and was the one who noticed the flaw, to begin with.
Mikomi drifted off a bit in his thoughts and began to wonder what role Janice played if she played a role at all. After all, it was merely an assumption that Mikomi had. He didn’t have any concrete proof of Janice’s involvement. Still, the fact that things have changed in this timeline and her absence seemed to be too much of a coincidence.
Mikomi continued to feverishly write down the most intricate details of the problems and how to solve them. He didn’t notice how much time had passed until he heard a voice call out.
“MIKOMI! DINNER!”
He snapped out of it and shook his head. He, too, couldn’t believe that so much time had passed already. He closed his notebook and hopped out of bed and headed to the kitchen. Mikomi ate dinner, took an evening shower, then retired for the night. He wanted to get as much sleep as he could. Tomorrow, after all, would be the day when he would fix everything.
Morning, once again, came quickly. Like the night before, he didn’t get much sleep but the power of youth pulled him through. Mikomi rose out of bed and noticed his mom sitting in the chair in the living room and she didn’t seem all too happy. It didn’t take long for him to piece the puzzle together. Even if his father had left for work early, there were still faint traces of cologne that would linger in the air. Those faint traces were noticeably absent which meant that Ryunosuke didn’t come home at all last night. After realizing it, Mikomi decided to confirm his suspicions.
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“Dad’s not coming home for a while again, is he?”
Mikomi’s mother looked up at him as he stood there in the hallway.
“He said that the board pushed him into continuing the project. They threatened to walk out on the company so he had no choice. He said that money is going to be very tight from now on.”
“Of course, being the current CEO of the company, I knew what it meant to have your Board of Directors walk out on you. The company is left in shambles. A hiring process is put in place all while you have to play damage control as the CEO. Stocks fall as investors become worried about the company’s future and millions of dollars are lost in the process. Continuing the project and risking bankruptcy was the lesser of two evils and Dad had to have chosen that. Even though I fully understood the reason, I had to play dumb because how would a 14-year-old know something like this?”
“Why doesn’t he just tell them no? I mean, he owns the company, right? Couldn’t he just get new people to help him run it?”
“It’s more complicated than that, sweetie. It might be a bit too hard for you to understand.”
“Try me.”
“Everything will be fine, though. Your father has been in tougher situations before and he’s pulled through. Go to school and don’t worry about anything, okay?”
“When mom tells me not to worry, it usually means just the opposite but she is right, though. My father has been in tougher situations… especially with Malcolm Rutherford. He made it through those issues just fine but this time it’s different. This timeline itself is different so Dad is going to need a little help. Just hang in there for the rest of today, Dad. Help is coming!”
Mikomi grabbed his book bag and hugged his mother before leaving. He made his way to school and as per usual, Ryan was there to greet him on the sidewalk. One annoying tackle and headlock later, they arrived. Business carried on as normal that day although Mikomi’s mind was preoccupied with focusing on the one thing he was set to do. The 2:30 bell couldn’t have come fast enough for him. When it rang he picked up his bag and headed for his locker.
“Hey, Mikomi. Aren’t you going home? You usually look like you’re auditioning for the track team once that bell rings,” asked Ryan.
“No, I need to stay behind. I have something to take care of. You’ll have to walk yourself home today, I’m afraid.”
“Oooooo. Waiting for that girl from yesterday, are we?”
“No, I’m not waiting for Serah.”
“Oooooo! She has a name! How lucky of you to be the one who knows it!”
“Enough, Ryan. I’m not waiting for her. If you must know, I need to talk to Mr. Midura.”
“The AP English teacher? Why? Thinking about switching out one of your electives for the sake of becoming an even bigger bookworm?”
“Yeah… something like that. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to see what his class has to offer.”
“Well… that does sound rather boring so I’ll leave you to it. Good luck and I guess I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
Mikomi nodded and waited until Ryan left. As soon as he was out of sight, he made his way over to Mr. Midura’s classroom. The room was void of students but Mr. Midura was still there.
“So he hasn’t left yet, eh? Well, I suppose I should ask for permission. It’s not like he knows my true intentions or anything. I’m sure if I say that I want to type up a report, he’ll buy it and let me use one of the computers. Teachers are always wanting to encourage academic stuff like that so it might not be a far-fetched request.”
With that, Mikomi stepped halfway through the doorway and gently knocked on the door. Mr. Midura turned his attention and spied him.
“Can I help you?”
“Hi, Mr. Midura. My name is Mikomi Saigo and even though I’m not part of your class, I was wondering if I could stay here after hours today and use one of your computers to type up a report. They want us to try and use modern technology for the report and I don’t have access to any.”
“Sure thing but you’ll have to do me a favor. Just make sure you power down all of the machines and lock the door before you leave. If you promise to do that, I’ll let you use a computer.”
“I can do that, no problem!”
“All right. I’m taking off, then. Good luck with your report.”
“Thanks!”
“That was almost too easy. Absolutely zero resistance and a fair tradeoff for using the computer, although I feel like I was just roped into doing his duties so he could leave early. I guess I really can’t complain. This is for the sake of saving Onyx Technology Ventures and my father, after all.”
With that, Mr. Midura left the classroom, closing the door behind him. Mikomi went right to work. He reached into his book bag and pulled out the notebook he had scribbled all of his notes in. Once he gathered his thoughts and how he wanted to word things, he began to type out the letter to his father.
“The first thing I need to do is make this look like a business letter. Perhaps, this way, it will look like someone from within his company sent it to him. Then, once I get that part down, it’s time to explain the details. I need to be careful here and make sure I don’t make any mistakes. Every detail needs to be precise.”
Mikomi toiled away for almost an hour on the letter. Once he was done, he read it over to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. He played the situation over and over again in his head until he was confident that he had left no detail out. Once satisfied, Mikomi printed the letter. The old, yet familiar noise of a dot matrix printer was heard over in the corner of the room. Mikomi walked over to the printer and shook his head.
“I never thought I would see one of these again. Sheesh.”
Once the printer finished, Mikomi tore the perforated sides off the paper and folded up the letter, which ended up being about four pages long. He placed the letter in his bag and then held up his end of the bargain by powering down all of the computers, one by one. Before he left, he made sure to lock the door. He closed it behind him and took two steps out of the room when he spotted a familiar face.
“Serah?”